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China's education minister has told universities to stop using textbooks that promote Western values, reports NPR's Frank Langfitt from Shanghai, a move seen as part of a larger ideological crackdown.

At an educational forum, Yuan Guiren said universities should also forbid criticism of China's leaders and the country's political system, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Frank says the edict comes as the government disrupts virtual private networks, or VPNs, which help people access foreign websites that China's Internet cops have already blocked.

He says that earlier this week, an annual Human Rights Watch report criticized China for tightening already limited free speech in the media and on the Internet as well as for jailing rights activists, lawyers and critics.

Also, as the BBC reports, restrictions on academics appear to have tightened in recent months.

"In December, law professor Zhang Xuehong said he was sacked by the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai after refusing to apologise for writing articles criticising the government.

"His dismissal followed the expulsion of outspoken economist and free speech advocate Xia Yeliang from Peking University in October.

"Mr Xia was a signatory to a high-profile document calling for democratic reforms, Charter 08."

The news agency also noted that prominent Uighur academic Ilham Tohti, who has urged Beijing to open a dialogue with the Uighur minority in Xinjiang province, was jailed for life on charges of separatism last year.

China

Censorship

Moscow has awarded a $3 billion contract to build a bridge linking Russia with the newly annexed Crimean peninsula to a close friend of President Vladimir Putin.

The bridge that would join Russia and Crimea across the Kerch Strait will be constructed by the SGM Group, majority owned by Arkady Rotenberg, which the BBC describes as "a childhood friend and judo partner of the Russian president." Further, Rotenberg, 63, "was among the first Russian businessmen to be put under Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis," Reuters says.

SGM, which specializes in building pipelines, has no previous experience at building bridges, the news agency notes. The company was assembled in 2008 from several units sold by state-owned gas producer Gazprom, Reuters says.

According to the Kremlin announcement of the deal, the bridge is set for completion no later than Dec. 2018.

The Moscow Times reported in March that it will be Russia's most costly bridge. The project, it said, was estimated in March at a cost of 50 billion rubles, but by June the estimated cost had tripled.

However, the BBC says "it is still unclear where on the Kerch Strait the structure will be erected, meaning the span could be anything from 4km to 15km (2.5 to 9 miles)."

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says he isn't running for president in 2016.

"After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I've decided it is best to give other leaders in the Party the opportunity to become our next nominee," Romney said in a statement to supporters.

The former Massachusetts governor was the GOP nominee in 2012, but lost to President Obama in the general election. He also ran in 2008, but lost to eventual Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Romney's decision still leaves a crowded Republican field. Although there have been no other major announcements, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is considering a run, as are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is widely expected to be the party's nominee.

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Mitt Romney

US Presidential Election

Russia's worsening economy is having an impact far beyond its borders — even affecting Alpine ski resorts where Russians once flocked.

For the past decade, they've come in large numbers to ski the fabled Alpine slopes around Mont Blanc. But the drop in the ruble is now keeping them away. And that's having an effect on the wintertime economy in the region.

In the cozy and chic village of Megeve in southeastern France, horse-drawn carriages jingle through the snowy streets. People gather around a steaming cauldron of mulled wine in the town's central plaza. And the boutiques are lit up and full of shoppers.

Megeve's mayor, Catherine Jullien, looks over the scene from her upstairs office in the town hall. Jullien says Russians make up just 10 percent of Megeve's winter tourists, but they play a key role.

"They're an extremely important clientele because they come right on the tail of Christmas and New Year, because of their later Orthodox celebrations," she says. "They spend big and allow the resort to prolong the holiday season well into the month of January."

Jullien says the plunging ruble has hit middle class Russian families especially hard, and many haven't returned this year.

Frederic Vepierre is the manager of Le Fer a Cheval, one of Megeve's most exclusive, 5-star hotels.

"We began to worry way last spring when we saw what was going on in Ukraine and the standoff between Russia and the West. And then we heard all kinds of rumors, like [Russian] President Vladimir Putin wasn't going to let people leave with their money," Vepierre says. "We're all worried."

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Horse-drawn carriages wait for clients on Dec. 19, 2012, in Megeve. Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

Horse-drawn carriages wait for clients on Dec. 19, 2012, in Megeve.

Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

Towns and resorts throughout the Alps are being affected by the ruble's collapse, which has cast a pall over Russian tourism across Europe. The French resort of Courchevel is perhaps the biggest mecca for Russian skiers in the region. Tourism bureau director Adeline Roux says they won't know the real impact until the season is over, but the signs are not good.

Right now, luxury chalets are still available, which is unprecedented, Roux says. As well, Russian tourists usually come back to the region in March, which she fears will not happen this year.

For now, you can still hear Russian on the slopes, and drifting through the crisp, Alpine air.

Muscovite Natalia Resiska is having a smoke before taking the ski lift. She says her group was lucky – they booked and paid for their trip six months ago. Resiska says Russians love skiing in the Alps.

"First, it's not so far from Russia. And second, it's very comfortable here," the 29-year-old says. "Good slopes, good food, you know, very nice, nice atmosphere, and so on."

I ask them if they've felt any hostility over the Ukraine conflict and the standoff between the West and Russia.

"No," says 55-year-old Liliyana Asyanava, another Muscovite in the group. "It's all just a political game."

Their companion Sergei Gouchev says Putin and Obama should just sit down and talk and drink some vodka together.

But there'll be no vodka for this group. They plan to enjoy their aprs ski the French way, with oysters and champagne.

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Russia

France