SYDNEY - A PROPOSED Internet filter dubbed the 'Great Aussie Firewall' is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.

Consumers, civil-rights activists, engineers, Internet providers and politicians from opposition parties are among the critics of a mandatory Internet filter that would block at least 1,300 Web sites prohibited by the government - mostly child pornography, excessive violence, instructions in crime or drug use and advocacy of terrorism.

NEW YORK - US RETAIL giant Wal-Mart will start selling Apple's iPhone 3G on Sunday in stores across the United States, the company said on Friday, but not at the big discount which many had been anticipating.

LONDON - THE kind of ratings used for films could be applied to Web sites in a bid to better police the Internet and protect children from harmful and offensive material, Britain's minister for culture has said.