BEIJING – China without Google — a prospect that looks increasingly likely — could mean no more maps on mobile phones. A free music service that has helped to fight piracy might be in jeopardy. China’s fledgling Web outfits would face less pressure to improve, eroding their ability to one day compete abroad.

The extent of a possible Google Inc. pullout from China in its dispute with the communist government over censorship and hacking is unclear. But on top of a local search site that Google says it may close, services that might be affected range from advertising support for Chinese companies to online entertainment.

“If Google leaves, it’s a lose-lose scenario, instead of Google loses and others gain,” said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.

Chinese news reports say Google is on the verge of shutting its China site, Google.cn, and has stopped censoring results. A Google spokesman, Scott Rubin, denied censorship had stopped and would not confirm whether Google.cn might close.

“We have not changed our operations in China,” Rubin said by phone from Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. CEO Eric Schmidt said last week something would happen soon, and Rubin said he had no further details.

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NEW YORK – Police departments across the country are stepping up efforts to recruit officers who can speak more than one language, in some cases offering raises or even sending cops abroad as part of immersion programs.

Police chiefs hope the investment pays off by improving service to immigrant communities and easing fear of officers in those areas.

“To fight crime you have to be able to communicate,” said Susan Shah of the Vera Institute of Justice in New York, which used a federal grant to review the language practices of nearly 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has emphasized hiring bilingual officers — especially those fluent in languages spoken in countries with terrorist ties.

“It helps immensely working with the communities in the city, the most diverse city in the world,” Kelly said. “We can, in very short order, get someone on the scene who speaks the language.”

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YANGON (Reuters) –
Myanmar’s military government has allowed the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to reopen regional branch offices that have been closed since May 2003, a party spokesman said on Thursday.

“So far as we have heard, about 100 branch offices have been reopened across the country, effective Wednesday,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

The government closed down NLD branch offices after an attack on Suu Kyi’s convoy by pro-regime elements on May 30, 2003. Scores of NLD followers were killed, according to her supporters.

Nyan Win gave a guarded welcome to the government’s move.

“Yes, it’s a positive step,” he said. “I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven’t made up our mind about this. We still need to talk it over among the top leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

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HARARE (Reuters) –
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday Zimbabwe should invite international observers and a peacekeeping force to ensure that its next national election is free and fair.

Tsvangirai formed a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe a year ago to end a political and economic crisis, but analysts say mutual suspicion and strategic positioning are delaying democratic reforms meant to clear the way for a poll next year.

Addressing a party rally just outside Harare, Tsvangirai told supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that Zimbabwe could guarantee that violence which has marred previous parliamentary and presidential elections is avoided by accepting observers and a peacekeeping force.

“Lets bring in foreign observers for the next elections… We can use the African Union and SADC (Southern African Development Community) forces for peacekeeping during the election period,” he said.

There was no peacekeeping force in 2008. Mugabe allowed poll observers from SADC and the AU but refused those from Western countries, saying they were biased against his ZANU-PF party.

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AUSTIN, Texas – Before Rick Perry can parlay his tea party-powered victory in the Texas governor’s primary into something bigger — a 2012 Republican presidential ticket, perhaps — he’ll have to actually win a record-setting, third four-year term.

Doing that will require beating Bill White, the former Houston mayor who might be the only Democrat with the cash and base of support to counter Perry’s Texas swagger and cutthroat campaign style and end his undefeated streak at the ballot box.

“This will be the toughest race that Rick Perry has ever been in,” said Craig Varoga, a Houston-based political consultant who has known the mild-mannered White for years.

Perry, who defeated Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary Tuesday with a relentless anti-Washington message, plans to keep up that theme ahead of the November general election. He’ll say that White aligned himself with President Barack Obama on issues like health care and climate change and try to paint the ex-mayor as a “liberal Democrat trial lawyer that’s out of touch with mainstream Texans,” said Perry spokesman Mark Miner.

The Perry game plan also centers on raising questions about Houston’s city finances while portraying it as too friendly with illegal immigrants, Perry associates say.

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