Shanghai - Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has won a license from the Chinese government to provide original news reports on its website, Reuters reported, citing government and industry sources.

"A news license is a rare resource to Internet companies in China. So far only very few Web sites are allowed to report news legally in the country," a government source told Reuters.

Other sites that have won news licenses include Sohu.com and Sina.com, China's largest Internet portal.

The Chinese government is relaxing many of its restrictions on native and foreign journalists as the 2008 Beijing Olympics draw near.

U.S. companies including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have drawn criticism for capitulating to Chinese government censors to block certain searches and websites, on issues like Falun Gong, Taiwan and Tibet.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3e2fsz (Reuters)
http://www.baidu.com