It's a testimony to the power of the Internet. It's a reaffirmation of the Chinese government's commitment to the Great Firewall of China as a means of controlling what information reaches the Chinese public. It's a violation of International trade laws (maybe). Call it what you want, China has blocked YouTube to keep its citizens from seeing video images of the protests in tibet.

According to Businessweek and Mazaqah, Baidu, 56.com and the Chinese versions of Yahoo! and MSN are still available to Chinese users because they are "sticking to the party line." Of course, that raises questions about their value as news sources. But you knew that already...

The Beijing government admits that 16 people have died in the protests that started Friday, but denies that security forces have used lethal force. Tibetan exile groups in India claim that up to 80 civilians have died in the protests.

The anti-Chinese protests have spread to neighboring provinces. The majority of China's ethnic Tibetans live outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region - in Sichuan, Qinghai, and Yunnan provinces. According to the NY Times, protests have occurred as far away as Beijing itself, at the Central University for Minorities there.

Tibet has been seeking independence from China since the 1950's.