Saudis block Yahoo's clubs site

"The decision to block the Clubs.yahoo.com site is irreversible. Matters have gone beyond what is acceptable, and pornographic and other offensive sites are mushrooming," said Khalil al-Jadaan, an official with the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, the kingdom's sole Internet provider. French judge on Friday ordered a team of technology experts to find ways to block French Internet users from accessing Yahoo's auction site--the latest step in a trans-Atlantic legal battle over racism in cyberspace. The Web pages that have unleashed the impassioned debate in France are posted on Yahoo's online auction, where shoppers can buy more than 1,000 objects of Nazi memorabilia. On the site at Auctions.yahoo.com, a Nazi battle flag sells for $16, while a Third Reich dress sword is priced at $150. In April, two angry Paris-based advocacy groups targeted Yahoo for "banalizing the Holocaust" and sued the company. Blocking in Saudi Arabia began last week, al-Jadaan said, adding that authorities monitored the site for three months before making the decision.