BBC off air in China

Beijing: China barred Britain's BBC World News from airing yesterday and Hong Kong's public broadcaster said it was dropping the channel, a week after Britain's media regulator revoked Chinese state television's UK broadcast licence.

China's National Radio and Television Administration said an investigation found BBC World News' Chinarelated reports had ``seriously violated'' regulations, including that news should be ``truthful and fair’’, had harmed China's interests and undermined national unity.

The channel’s application to air for another year would not be accepted, it said.

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the publicly funded broadcaster in the former British territory, said it was suspending the relay of BBC news programming from yesterday, following Beijing's decision.