All Blog Posts from World Watch

By CBS News' Robert Hendin and Marsha Cooke

(SHANGHAI, China) One of more interesting moments in today's first ever Presidential town hall in China, came when President Obama was asked about Twitter and freedom of expression over the Internet. China is the world's biggest user of the Internet, with more people online here than any other country in the world. But since July, the Chinese government has blocked the popular social-networking sites Twitter and Facebook, to tamp down on criticism after the riots in the Xinjiang province.

The question came, guess what, over the Internet to the U.S. embassy here. Ambassador Jon Huntsman read the question posed via the Internet: "In a country with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers, do you know of the firewall?... should we be able to use Twitter freely?"

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China may be leading the global economic recovery, but the country's domestic dating market is sluggish.

"I've been single for four years straight, and I really want to get married," complains Dong Chun, an eligible 28-year-old Beijing resident with a Master's degree.

Dong has achieved significant career success working long hours in her top position with a prestigious media company, but despite her good fortune, she's worried about the future — specifically, about whom she will spend it with.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il issued a "special pardon" today for two jailed American journalists, following talks with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

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CBS News consultant on terrorism Jere Van Dyk files an update on conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


Osama bin Laden


I believe he is alive. I know Benazir Bhutto told David Frost on al-Jazeera (11/2/07) that he is dead. The most recent outside news confirming this comes from Pakistan's The News where on 7/21 Rahimullah Yousafzai, the only reporter to interview OBL, Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri, more than once, writes of OBL in the present tense. He has excellent jihadi and intel contacts.

On 6/3/09, on the eve of Obama's trip to Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda issued an OBL audio tape, which experts like Richard Clarke claim is valid.

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The Taliban is on the move, in a new offensive to prevent people from voting in the August 20 elections.

The "CBS Evening News" Monday featured exclusive video of a U.S. operation to re-capture a small town of 2,500 people in the eastern part of the country.

The battle for Barge Matal started at dusk yesterday, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark. Hundreds of Taliban overran the town – the largest in the eastern province of Nuristan – a week ago. A hundred U.S. troops from the 10th Mountain Division backed by the Afghanistan Army are now fighting to win it back.

This battle lasted an hour. One U.S. soldier was killed along with 10 insurgents.

Watch the exclusive video shot by CBS News cameras in Afghanistan:


Watch CBS Videos Online

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Group of Eight leaders said they deplore the violence in the aftermath of Iran's disputed election last month and remain "seriously concerned" about the situation.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the statement by G8 leaders "shows the unity of the G8 against the situation in Iran."

The G8 statement, seen by The Associated Press, said G8 leaders "deplore post-electoral violence, which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians." The leaders also "condemn the declarations of President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust."

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As a top U.S. Marines commander said that more Afghan soldiers with better training are needed to help clear the Taliban from a key poppy-growing providence in Southern Afghanistan, an online video was released Wednesday giving an inside look at Marines on the ground in the company.

In this video provided by DVIDS, who works with the military's public affairs unit to distribute images and video of soldiers in combat zones, Marines from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion are shown conducting Operation Strike of the Sword. The Marines of Fox Company were met with no resistance from the Taliban, but several IEDs were found. Scenes include Marines waiting then boarding helicopters and on patrol in Sorhduz, a village in between Nawa, to the north, and Garmsir, to the south.

Click below to watch the video.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has flown back to Beijing following rioting in a northwestern region of China and will miss this week's G8 summit hosted by Italy, according to the BBC and Reuters.

State news agency Xinhua said he had flown back to Beijing early on Wednesday, cutting short his visit to Rome and leaving officials to represent China at the G8 talks, according to the BBC.

Bloody ethnic clashes in the capital of Xinjiang earlier this week killed 156 people and wounded more than 1,000.

Uighurs have been angered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan, according to the Associated Press.

Track the latest coverage of Iran's election upheaval.

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Some Taliban leaders are initiating third-party talks that could lay the groundwork for progress between the U.S. and Afghan governments and the Taliban insurgents. In the video below, Charles Sennott of international news site GlobalPost.com reports on how moderate Taliban leaders are engaged in shuttle negotiations, and have been in contact with Mullah Mohammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban.

An agreement would call for a halt of Taliban attacks on schools and on those engaged in reconstruction projects, and the Afghan government would agree to release detainees and halt U.S. military attacks on civilians. Watch the video:

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