Russia to block YouTube's Islamic video

Russia may block access to YouTube beginning next month so an inflammatory anti-Muslim video cannot be seen, a communications ministry official says. Nikolai Nikiforov, the government's minister of communications and mass media, posted notice of the potential ban on his Twitter blog, ITAR-Tass reported Tuesday. "Funny or not, but because of this video, we may block fully YouTube in the territory of Russia on Nov. 3-5," he wrote. The ban coincides with the implementation of a law on protection of children from hazardous information, which goes into effect on Nov. 1. The U.S.-produced film, "Innocence of Muslims," has already fanned violent protects in North Africa,the Middle East and Australia. The minister said that if Google, which owns YouTube, did not block access to the video in Russia, the government would block all access to the video-viewing site.