Rock album 'an attack on China'

A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party has labelled the latest Guns N' Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation.

Delayed since recording began in 1994, Chinese Democracy hit stores in the US on Sunday. Although it is unlikely to be sold legally in China, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications, an article in the Global Times said unidentified Chinese internet users had described the hard-rock album as part of a Western plot to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn".

Songs from the album could be heard on Internet sites such as YouTube and the band's MySpace page yesterday and it was not immediately possible to tell whether China's internet monitors were seeking to block access to it.