Rants —

The Chinese government has refused a request by the International Olympic Committee to relent in its censorship of the Internet for the summer games.

Wildfires near Daytona Beach, Fla., forced hundreds to flee their homes earlier this week.

Raves —

Cigarette vending machines in Japan will use cameras to determine the approximate age of a potential smoker based on facial features and will deny access if the person appears to be under 20 years old, the country’s smoking age.

Yahoo! is teaming with McAfee Inc. to alert web users of potentially virus-laden Web sites.