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Berlin - Germany passed controversial legislation Thursday that requires web providers to post "stop" signs when internet users are about to access child- pornography websites.

Opponents, who had rounded up 130,000 signatures on a protest petition, charged that the bill would prove to be the beginning of censorship of the web in Germany.

The bill, which was passed in a 389-128 vote by the governing parties in the Bundestag parliament, was modified to meet some criticism, with a sunset clause that will cause the legislation to expire after three years.

Washington - NASA was in the final countdown Thursday before launching a dual moon mission intended to pave the way for humans to return to the moon.

Launch was set for 2112 from Florida's Cape Canaveral, where the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) are to blast off aboard a single rocket.

Farmingdale, New York - The first round of the US Open was abandoned in the early afternoon on Thursday after torrential rain swamped the Bethpage "Black Course" in New York state.

A total of 78 players had not even started their first round but organizers said they would try to catch up over the next two days.

"We may be looking at Saturday morning to get the second round finished, get the cut and go from there," said Jim Hyler, the chairman of the USGA championship committee.

Washington - The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that convicted criminals do not have the constitutional right to demand DNA testing, a relatively new technology that has overturned the convictions of more than 200 people.

In a 5-4 decision, the highest US court said it was up to individual states to decide how they would deal with the new technology. Forty-seven states already have laws that give convicts at least some access to genetic evidence.

Silverstone, Britain - Spanish driver Fernando Alonso is very worried about the current state of Formula 1: he thinks it is boring, as well as showing poor quality racing, and he is not even fighting for the championship.

"It's the worst Formula 1 we have in many years, in history, because of the politics and all the fights," Alonso complained Thursday in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa and two other media in Silverstone ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.