Indexes faltered to a mixed close Wednesday as slipping crude oil prices and a possibly final interest-rate cut failed to buttress buyers. The NYSE composite closed 0.2% higher, based on early figures, led by energy stocks. But the Nasdaq notched a 0.6% loss. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% while the Dow ended down a fraction. Preliminary figures showed volume rose across the board, marking the Nasdaq’s second distribution day in recent weeks. It was also a distribution day for the...

Chinese authorities appeared to have lifted a block on the English-language version of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, but politically sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square are still off limits.

Internet users in Beijing and Shanghai confirmed today they could access the English-language version of one of the world’s most popular websites, but the Chinese language version was still restricted.

While searches of random topics such as “Johann Sebastian Bach” and “dim sum” brought up English-language articles, sensitive words such as Tibet were met with a message that the browser was unable to connect to the internet.

The move comes after International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors told Beijing organisers that the internet must be open for the duration of the 2008 Olympics and that blocking it “would reflect very poorly” on the host country.

China’s government, keen to avoid sparking social discontent, keeps a tight watch over the media and often blocks or censors popular websites and forums where dissent may brew.

Wikipedia and Yahoo’s photo-sharing network Flickr have been periodically blocked before, while Google’s YouTube is often blocked during high-level political events in China.

Wikipedia, which is written collaboratively by volunteers, has more than two million articles in English.

These include politically sensitive subjects such as Tibet and Taiwan independence, the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and the bloodily suppressed pro-democracy protests of 1989.

REUTERS

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