Microsoft's Bing search engine is inaccessible in China following a government order, the Financial Times reported late Wednesday.

State-owned telecom company China Unicom confirmed that the government had ordered the block, the Financial Times reported, citing a source. Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but is reportedly investigating the matter.

If Bing is indeed blocked in China, it would become the second major search engine to exit the country. Google withdrew its search engine and other websites in 2010 to avoid censorship and any compromise to its commitment to a free and open internet.

Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo are among the thousands of websites originating in the west that are blocked by the so-called Great Firewall of China.

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsofts-bing-search-engine-blocked-in-china/

>>4883917

"Plate full."

Pompeo deflects Kansas Senate talk, says he has ‘full plate’

By AP Reports

January 23, 2019 at 5:53pm

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is deflecting speculation that he might run for Senate in Kansas, saying he has a “very full plate” in his current job.

Pompeo was asked Wednesday night in a Fox News television interview about whether he might run next year for the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. He stopped short of ruling it out but said his “singular focus” is his work as the nation’s top diplomat under President Donald Trump.

He acknowledged receiving encouragement from several Republicans to seek the seat. At least seven Republicans have said they’re interested in running.

Pompeo represented a Wichita-area district in the House for six years before Trump named him CIA director in 2017. He became secretary of state in April 2018.

https://www.westernjournal.com/ap-pompeo-deflects-kansas-senate-talk-says-he-has-full-plate/

Russia's Su-27 fighter jet intercepts Swedish reconnaissance plane over Baltic Sea

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Swedish reconnaissance plane was conducting a flight over the Baltic Sea with its transponder switched off

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russia's Su-27 fighter jet has intercepted a Swedish Gulfstream reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Thursday

"An aerial target approaching Russia's state border was spotted by Russian airspace controls. A Su-27 fighter jet from the Air Force was employed to intercept the target," the defense ministry said.

The Russian fighter jet "approached the object at a safe distance, identified it as a Gulfstream reconnaissance plane from the Swedish Air Force that was conducting a flight with its transponder switched off," the defense ministry said adding that after that, the Swedish plane flew away from the Russian state border, while the Su-27 jet returned to its base.

The Russian military regularly make public the statistics of how often Russian fighter jets intercept or accompany foreign military aircraft near Russian borders. However, they usually do not specify the circumstances.

http://tass.com/defense/1041528