World in brief: China denies role in hacking
BEIJING – The Chinese government denied involvement in Internet attacks and defended its online censorship today after the United States urged Beijing to investigate complaints of cyber intrusions in a dispute that has added tension to bilateral relations.
China’s policy against Internet hacking attacks is transparent and consistent, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said, nearly two weeks after search giant Google Inc. threatened to pull out of the country after finding that the e-mails of activists had been pried into.
“Any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyber attacks, either in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China,” a ministry spokesman said.
“We are firmly opposed to that,” the spokesman said, according to a transcript of an interview with the Xinhua News Agency posted on the ministry’s Web site.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, defended the country’s regulation of the Internet, saying it is legal and that other parties should not interfere in Beijing’s domestic affairs, Xinhua reported.
The remarks follow a Jan. 12 threat from Google to pull out of China unless the government relented on censorship.
Crash injures at least 46
TEHRAN, Iran – A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 157 passengers and 13 crew crash landed in northeastern Iran on Sunday injuring at least 46 people, state television reported.
The broadcast quoted Iran’s civil aviation spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh, as saying that no one was killed in the accident. He gave no indication of what might have caused the accident.
The Taban Air plane caught fire upon landing at Mashhad airport at 7:20 a.m. The injured have been taken to hospitals in Mashhad, the report added.
Jafarzadeh said the Tupolev plane initially took off from Abadan airport in southwestern Iran Saturday evening but landed in Isfahan, central Iran, because of bad weather in Mashhad, its destination.
Tribesmen claim they shot drone
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. drone crashed in Pakistan’s lawless tribal area near the Afghan border Sunday, a rare mishap for a program Washington has increasingly relied on to kill Taliban and al-Qaida militants, said intelligence officials and a local resident.
Local tribesman in North Waziristan were congratulating each other for shooting down the drone, said resident Saudur Rehman.
But the Pakistani army rejected similar claims after a drone crashed in neighboring South Waziristan in 2008, saying it was a technical problem.
The crash occurred around 6 p.m. in the Hamdhoni area of North Waziristan, about 2 ½ miles northwest of the main town of Miran Shah, said two intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.