Free Republic

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A man claiming to be the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq vowed in an audiotape released Saturday to launch a monthlong offensive against U.S. troops. There was no independent confirmation that the voice belonged to Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, but it sounded exactly like the one heard on previous audiotapes. Al-Muhajir has been the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq since his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad in 2006. "We call on our beloved ones ... that each unit should present the head of...

Tibet an 'international issue,' Japan PM tells China AFP[Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:50] Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (L) talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during a meeting held at the premier's office in Tokyo. Fukuda bluntly told China Friday that Tibetan unrest had become an international issue, contradicting Beijing's official line, and hinted it could hit the Olympics. (AFP/POOL/Dai Kurokawa) TOKYO, April 18 - Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda bluntly told China Friday that Tibetan unrest had become an international issue, contradicting Beijing's official line, and hinted it could hit the Olympics. Yasuo Fukuda made the remarks to...

Dalai Lama draws 50,000 to Seattle stadium By Laura Myers Sat Apr 12, 7:27 PM ET Tens of thousands of people packed a Seattle sports stadium on Saturday to hear the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, call for nonviolence and to make the 21st century a "century of dialogue." Drums played, American Indian chiefs wearing feathered head-dresses danced and organizers said about 51,000 people -- many of them families -- listened under sunny skies to the Dalai Lama speak about compassion. Sitting in a red chair under a canopied stage on the stadium field, the robed leader made no...

9 monks accused of bombing in Tibet 15 minutes ago China has arrested nine Buddhist monks and accused them of planting a homemade bomb in a government office building in Tibet last month, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday. There were no known deaths or damage from the first reported bombing since anti-government protests by monks began March 10 in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. Xinhua said that nine monks from Tongxia monastery confessed to taking part in the bombing in Gyanbe Township in Tibet on March 23. One of the suspects allegedly used a motorcycle to transport the bomb...

9 April 2008 [For Immediate Release] Around 70 monks of Ramoche Temple detain in midnight raid, whereabouts still unknown Zhu Wei Qun, Vice Minister of the United Work Front Department (UWFD) paying visit to PAP and PSB personnel at Gaden Monastery on 7 April 2008 In contrary to what the Chinese authorities are proclaiming about the calm and normalcy restored in Lhasa city, the reality in the area underlines that severe restriction and mass detention are continuing especially in monasteries which were proactive in the recent series of demonstration in Lhasa and other parts of Eastern Tibet. In the latest...

9 April 2008 [For Immediate Release] Tortured monk released in unstable mental condition Around fifteen Tibetan monks today defiantly briefed a group of foreign media personnel on a government managed tour currently in Sangchu County (Ch: Xiahe) in Gansu Province. The monks revealed the grave situation in the area and also delivered a clear cut message to the media group, concerning human rights abuses by the authorities in the area. According to a report by Reuters today (Protesting monks storm media tour in western China, By Lucy Hornby), "They said eight monks were still being held by authorities, but did...

China's Tibetan frontiers rekindle tradition of defiance By Chris Buckley 2 hours, 58 minutes ago Across China's mountainous west, armed troops watch over the Tibetan monasteries and towns that have emerged as hotbeds of protest kindled by traditions of defiance and newer economic grievances. More than the Tibet Autonomous Region itself, where the upsurge of anti-Chinese protests and riots erupted last month, the historically Tibetan parts of neighbouring provinces have defied efforts to smother unrest with troop convoys, roadblocks and patrols, and warnings of harsh punishment to lawbreakers. In Zhuoni, a county in the northwest province of Gansu, protesters in...

April 6, 2008 China struggles to quell Tibet rebels Michael Sheridan, Far East Correspondent A PICTURE is emerging of desperate and prolonged Tibetan resistance despite the huge scale of China’s military operation across the mountainous region that one ancient poet called “a place where snow lions dance”. The Chinese press focused yesterday on a campaign to whip up resentment against the foreign media as reports outside China spoke of at least eight unarmed Tibetans shot dead by paramilitary police. Scraps of evidence collected by exiles, campaigners, military analysts and daring witnesses inside Tibet all point to the conclusion that China...

5 April 2008 [For Immediate Release] China arrests over 2300 Tibetans in Tibet The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) learns that the Chinese authorities are stepping up the offensive arrest drive inside Tibet with renewed vigour and fervour. The latest information emanating from Tibet indicates over 2,300 Tibetans from various parts of Tibet have so far been arrested by the Chinese authorities currently detained in detention centres located in Townships, Counties and Prefectures in various administrative regions of Tibet. According to TCHRD documentation since 10 March 2008, the Centre has documented a list of 301 Tibetans whose...

Ethnic Unrest Continues in China By HOWARD W. FRENCH SHANGHAI — Fresh ethnic violence has erupted in a Tibetan region of southwestern China, with disputed reports of eight people shot dead by the police, and the Chinese government on Friday vowed swift and severe punishment of Tibetans accused of rioting and taking part in last month’s antigovernment protests. Police officers on Thursday evening fired on a crowd of protesters outside government offices in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, along the Tibet border. A Tibet activist group said the shooting killed eight protesters, but other unconfirmed reports put...

China to step-up “re-education’ of Tibetans (AFP) 5 April 2008 BEIJING - China on Saturday signalled it would step up a campaign to re-educate Tibetans in an effort to turn them into “patriots”, following nearly a month of protests against Chinese rule of Tibet. “It is necessary to reinforce patriotic education,” Tibet’s deputy Communist Party chief Hao Peng was quoted in the Tibet Daily as telling a group of influential monks in the remote Himalayan region. “Guide the monks so that they continue to foster the tradition of love of religion, love of the country and to hold high the...

3 April 2008 [Press Release] In solidarity, Tibetans march with prayers in Tsolho Upon witnessing a massive protests across the Tibetan plateau since 10 March, Tibetan people from all walks of life in Holkha Township, Tsigorthang County (Xinghai Xian) Tsolho "TAP" Qinghai Province staged a peaceful solidarity march and later held a prayer session for those who lost their lives in the recent series of protests in Tibet on 25 March. Following the peace march and prayer session at the township government headquarters, three Tibetans were arbitrarily arrested in an early morning raid in their home by the People's Armed...

Tibetans Rioters Facing Quick Trials By Sky News SkyNews - 31 minutes ago Tibetans accused of rioting and protesting against Chinese rule will face swift trials and harsh sentences, state media reports have said. Tibet's regional capital Lhasa was hit in March by Buddhist monks' protests against Chinese rule that gave way to deadly clashes on March 14. Security forces were poured in to re-impose control the city and other restive Tibetan areas. China says 19 people died in the Lhasa violence but representatives of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, say some 140 people were killed in...

1 April 2008 [For Immediate Release] China arrest over 572 monks from Kirti Monastery in two-day raid From credible information received from multiple sources in Tibet by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a total of 572 monks from Ngaba Kirti Monastery were arrested by the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) following a two day raid in monks' residence on 28 and 29 March 2008. As reported earlier by the Centre, more information on the number of monks arrested following two days of raids in Ngaba Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County (Ch:Aba...

Muslim extremists attempt uprising in western China: government 57 minutes ago China has accused Muslim extremists in the nation's northwest of trying to start a rebellion, an incident that an exile group said Wednesday was mainly a women's protest against Chinese rule. According to a statement from the Khotan government in the Uighur Muslim dominated Xinjiang region, extremist forces tried to incite an uprising in a local marketplace on March 23. "A small number of elements... tried to incite splittism, create disturbances in the market place and even trick the masses into an uprising," the statement said. The statement said...

China alleges Tibetan 'suicide squads' By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 1, 2:36 PM ET China has branded the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" and his followers the "scum of Buddhism." It stepped up the rhetoric Tuesday, accusing the Nobel Peace laureate and his supporters of planning suicide attacks. The Tibetan government-in-exile swiftly denied the charge, and the Bush administration rushed to the Tibetan Buddhist leader's defense, calling him "a man of peace." "There is absolutely no indication that he wants to do anything other than have a dialogue with China on how to discuss the...

The Uyghur People will Independence es like Tibet! Hotan, Uyghuristan, China strongly protests the outbreak of repression CNA World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilixiati today that the East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and Hotan City recently broke out nearly 1,000 protests, the Chinese government launched a large-scale crackdown, seizing nearly 500 people, and comprehensive information blackout. Dilixiadi of the CNA, protests occurred in 23 and 24, participating in the protest activities of the nearly 1,000 people in 80 per cent are women. Chinese authorities arrested within two days 500 people, the fear of the incident spread to other Uyghur-populated areas, the local news...

28 March 2008 [For Immediate Release] Over hundred of monks arrested after a raid in Ngaba Kirti Monastery After days of unrest and protests in Ngaba County since 15 March, which saw the death of at least 23 Tibetans, arrest and injury of over hundreds, the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) forces arrested over a hundred monks from Ngaba Kirti Monastery during a raid of the monastery this afternoon, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Earlier this morning, hundreds of PAP and PSB came to Ngaba...

27 March 2008 [Press Release] Elderly woman brutally beaten during Township meeting Following the protests by monks in Drango (Ch: Luhuo) County on 24 March, leading to the death of an 18-year-old monk and the subsequent solidarity protest on 25 March 2008, the local authority has expelled a large number of monks from Chogri Monastery and arrested some nuns of Nanggong (Tib translit: nganga sgong) Nunnery, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Sources also reported disappearances of many lay people from the area. On 26 March 2008, under the pretext of...

Tibet monks disrupt China media event By Geoff Dyer in Lhasa Published: March 27 2008 12:27 | Last updated: March 27 2008 12:39 The simmering political tensions in Tibet burst into the open on Thursday in one of Lhasa’s most important temples when a group of 30 young Buddhist monks interrupted a government-organised visit by journalists with shouts about the lack of freedom in Tibet and in support of the Dalai Lama. The monks were clearly agitated and several wept openly as they accused the authorities of lying to the visiting journalists and promised further demonstrations. “We want a free...

Countries urged to see 'true face' of Dalai Lama By Qin Jize (China Daily) Updated: 2008-03-26 07:10 Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang yesterday again urged the international community to see the Dalai Lama's "true face" and offer no support for his secessionist activities. Qin made the remarks in response to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent call for China to consider a new policy to address the Tibet issue and to start talks with the Dalai Lama. US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi also visited the Dalai Lama last week. Qin said the position of just a few...

China tightens monastery blockade, monk dies of starvation - Update Posted : Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:10:05 GMT Author : DPA Category : Asia (World) Asia World News | Home Beijing - A 12-day blockade of food and water to major monasteries in Lhasa by Chinese forces has killed a Buddhist monk of starvation, reported Tibetans in exile Wednesday. Monk Thokmey died on Monday in the Ramoche monastery in Lhasa, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). The Chinese military have not been allowing food and water into the monastery since March 14 and fires teargas...

25 March 2008 [Press Release] Protest erupts after prayer for deceased in Drango County Following a peaceful protest in Drango County (Ch: Luhuo xian), Kardze "TAP", Sichuan Province, on 24 March 2008 which resulted in the death of one Tibetan and another left in critical condition after People's Armed Police (PAP) fired indiscriminately into the protesting crowd, the monks of Drango Gaden Rabten Nampargyalpeling Monastery organized a special prayer session for the deceased in the morning of 25 March. According to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), at around 8:00 AM (Beijing Standard...

25 March 2008 [Press Release] Death toll rise to 79, over 1200 arrests and more than 100 disappear in Tibet The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has been closely monitoring the situation inside Tibet particularly since 10 March 2008 when the first peaceful protest led by Tibetan Buddhist monks broke up in Lhasa on the 49th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day. For the past more than two weeks, the exact figures on the number of arrest, death, injury or disappeared from the violent crackdowns during protests in various parts of Tibet is difficult to ascertain due to...

China Moves to Tighten Control Over Religion in Tibet By Maureen Fan Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, March 26, 2008; A11 BEIJING, March 25 -- China's security chief called for stepping up "patriotic education" in Tibet's monasteries, the state-run Tibet Daily said Tuesday, as prosecutors for the first time charged demonstrators in the largely peaceful, monk-led protests that later exploded into riots in the region. Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu led the first high-level central government visit to Tibet since the riots broke out this month. In the face of international criticism of China's crackdown, he stressed that the government...

Update on Death Toll from Tibet demonstrations 24th March 2008 While the most recent death toll from the demonstrations in Tibet is around 140, we are releasing the names and details of 40 identified people. Since the start of the Demonstrations in Tibet on March 10, there has been a steady rise in the death toll. As the demonstrations continue to spread vastly to many areas in Tibet, the number of people who have died from the brutal military and police suppression during the peaceful demonstrations is astounding. While we have confirmed information on the death toll from the demonstrations...

March 24, 2008 China accuses Dalai Lama of being a terrorist The Chinese government continue to present the violence in Tibet as a plot supported by only a minority Jane Macartney in Beijing Far from heeding international calls for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, China has accused Tibet’s exiled god-king of colluding with Muslim terrorists to destabilise the country before the Olympic Games. State-run newspapers have issued prominent leading articles that are part of a campaign to portray the Dalai Lama as the mastermind of the deadly riots that have rippled through Tibet and ethnic Tibetan communities. In Lhasa, the...

Complete one-week update on Tibet Protests Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 4:50 p.m. Chronological Information outlined below shows how pressure has been building up towards the current turmoil in Tibet. 10th March 2008 Tibetan National Uprising anniversary- Lhasa protest On the 49th Tibetan National Uprising anniversary, about 7 monks staged a peaceful demonstration in the Barkhor area of Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, carrying three Tibetan national flags. As soon as the monks began to shout slogans, the public joined in to support them. But before it gained momentum, the Chinese police appeared at the scene arresting first the monks...

China says using Dalai to reach ulterior motive doomed to fail China said Friday that near 100 countries had already demonstrated their support for China's action in the Tibet riot, noting that attempts of "using Dalai to reach ulterior motive" were doomed to fail. The governments of almost 100 countries had conveyed to China or demonstrated in public their support for China's action to safeguard the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability in Tibet and condemned the violence and those who masterminded the crimes, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a written statement, "It is a clear proof that...

China defies international calls for Tibet talks By David Eimer in Beijing Last Updated: 3:45pm GMT 22/03/2008 China has defied international calls for it to hold talks with the Dalai Lama and pledged to intensify its brutal crackdown on Tibetan protests against its rule. Nancy Pelosi challenges world over Tibet Alice Thomson: Gordon Brown must back Tibet's freedom fight An editorial in People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party which is often used to announce state policy, promised to "resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash Tibet independence forces." Campaigners march through London in a colourful demonstration...

Beijing accused of Tibet ‘lies’ By Amy Yee in Dharamsala Published: March 20 2008 14:20 | Last updated: March 20 2008 14:20 Tibet’s government-in-exile on Thursday accused China of spreading “propaganda” and “lies” alleging Tibetans instigated violent protests. It also urged pro-Tibet demonstrators strictly to adhere to non-violence in an attempt to rein in brewing anger from Tibetan exile groups as China reportedly sends more military troops into Tibetan regions to quell violent protests that erupted last week. ”China is infamous for using all state machineries to doctor evidence and propaganda hoping to confuse and fool the world with additional...

Beijing's claims of an "unwavering stand" in support of Tibet are groundless By Howard W. French Thursday, March 20, 2008 XINING, China: Count the ways that China has sought to bring Tibet to heel since the People's Liberation Army rolled into the country in 1950, brutally ending a phase of nominal independence. It has tried decapitation. No, heads didn't roll, but one of the heads of Tibetan Buddhism has disappeared. Here, I speak of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, a 6-year-old boy who was apprehended by Beijing after the Dalai Lama named him Panchen Lama, the second holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism,...

Bomb attack hardens Chinese resolve in Tibet Jane Macartney, Beijing A homemade bomb thrown at a paramilitary police patrol in Lhasa has hardened Beijing’s resolve to punish anti-Chinese rioters, with officials issuing wanted lists for 17 Tibetans, including two monks and a woman. The hardline Communist Party secretary of the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region warned officials they faced a “life or death” struggle that involved nothing less than the stability of the entire country as it prepares to play host to the Olympic Games in August. Anti-Chinese protests flared this week across Tibet and in neighbouring provinces where many Tibetans...

March 19, 2008 China brands Dalai Lama a monster and forces students to denounce him (Arko Datta/Reuters) "The Dalai Lama is a wolf wrapped in a habit, a monster with human face and the hearf of an animal," said the Chinese leader of Tibet Jane Macartney in Beijing The hardline leader of Tibet has branded the Dalai Lama a “monster” as it emerged that Tibetan students in Beijing have been ordered to effectively renounce any allegiance to their god-king. Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party Secretary in Tibet, said that the struggle to crush the unrest in the deeply Buddhist Himalayan...

Dalai Lama 'wolf in monk's robes': China March 19, 2008 ] Associated Press BEIJING – A top Chinese Communist party official has launched a stinging personal attack on the Dalai Lama, calling Tibet's revered religious leader a "wolf in monk's robes." Zhang Qingli, hardline leader of the Communist party in Tibet, also says China is locked in a "life-and-death battle" with protesters making their biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Himalayan region in almost two decades. China's state media, meanwhile, says more than 100 people have surrendered to police in and around Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa, where peaceful protests...

China says Tibet rioters trying to wreck Olympics By Chris Buckley and Lindsay Beck BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating riots in Tibet in which dozens may have died and said his followers were trying to "incite sabotage" of Beijing's August Olympic Games. And a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman went as far as saying the Dalai Lama should face trial. Premier Wen defended the crackdown on Lhasa, capital of the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region, after last week's protests, and on neighboring Chinese provinces where copycat rioting by Tibetans erupted over the weekend. "There is...

China vows to hold onto Tibet By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 33 minutes ago China vowed to defend its sovereignty in Tibet, and a deadline issued for protesters involved in violent anti-government riots to turn themselves in or face severe punishment passed without any apparent surrenders or arrests Tuesday. In the central government's first comment on the protests, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao blamed the violence in Lhasa on supporters of the Dalai Lama, the revered spiritual leader who fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. "The Chinese government will unwaveringly protect its national...

/begin my translation China: Diplomatic Missions in 16 countries Attacked Yonhap News China said on Mar. 17 that Tibetan separatists attacked and destroyed overseas diplomatic missions of China including its embassies, located in 16 countries. China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said in an urgently called press interview, "Tibetan Separatist elements in 16 countries in the world, including U.S. and Europe, attacked vehicles and buildings of (China's) diplomatic missions, threatening life of its diplomats." /end my translation

Hundreds dead in Tibet unrest: parliament-in-exile 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Tibet's prime minister-in-exile said Monday that around 100 people have died in unrest in the Chinese-ruled region, while the Tibetan parliament reported hundreds killed. "It's very difficult to have precise numbers, but I think it's almost close to the number of 100," Samdhong Rinpoche told reporters in Dharamshala, home to the Dalai Lama and the seat of the exiled Tibetan government and parliament. "We are requesting the international community and the United Nations send delegations or commissions inside Tibet," he added. The Tibetan parliament in the northern Indian hilltop...

URGENT APPEAL Since 10th March 2008 there has been successive peaceful demonstrations in various parts of Tibet (inside and outside TAR), which were brutally suppressed. The current situation in Tibet is extremely serious. The Chinese government's ultimatum is due to expire at mid-night today. Therefore, we are extremely concerned that there is every possibility of a huge massacre of Tibetans taking place after the ultimatum. The Central Tibetan Administration urgently appeal to the international community including the United Nations, governments, parliaments, Human Rights groups and Tibet Support groups to effectively urge the Chinese leadership to immediately stop repression and to...

Fresh Protests Reported, School Children Turn Latest Victims Phayul[Monday, March 17, 2008 11:18] By Kalsang Rinchen New York March 17 - As the protests in Tibet's capital city Lhasa spread like wild fire monks from Thangkor Soktsang Monastery, Zoegey County, Ngaba Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, are demonstrating in front of Chinese government office 8kms from the monastery. At the time of this report going online slogans of free Tibet and Dalai Lama's long life could be heard in the background as a protester tries to reach the outside world through his phone. Click here for audio of the phone...

Dalai Lama under fire from Tibetan radicals (AFP) 17 March 2008 DHRAMSHALA, India - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama came in for tough criticism Monday from prominent radical exiles demanding a review of his non-violent campaign for autonomy within China. The leader of the pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress publicly criticised the Dalai Lama’s refusal to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games and urged protests in the Himalayan region to continue. ‘China does not deserve to host the Olympics. Human-rights issues inside Tibet have deteriorated. It’s evident that they do not deserve the Olympics,’ Tsewang Rigzin told...

March 16, 2008 Fears of another Tiananmen as Tibet explodes in hatred The Olympics, just months away, will not stop Beijing cracking down on riots that may have left more than 30 dead James Miles of The Economist in Lhasa and Michael Sheridan in Hong Kong VENGEFUL rioters returned to the streets of the old Tibetan quarter of Lhasa yesterday, defying the gunshots and tear gas of Chinese troops surrounding the centre of the city. They broke into the few remaining shops untouched by a rampage of destruction on Friday and tore them apart, wrecking interiors and flinging debris into...

'100 Dead' In Anti-China Protests In Tibet By Sky News SkyNews - 9 minutes agoChina has locked down the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and set a deadline for rioters to surrender following the worst violence in 20 years. Beijing said that 10 people had been burnt to death during a day of unrest, while Tibet's government-in-exile in India warned that the number could be much higher. In a statement from its northern India base, it said: "We have unconfirmed reports about 100 people had been killed and martial law imposed in Lhasa." The government said it was "deeply concerned" by...

China says seven killed in Tibet by Dan Martin 2 hours, 27 minutes ago BEIJING, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - China warned Saturday it would use a firm hand to quash the biggest protests in Tibet for decades, acknowledging seven people had been killed in unrest there just months before the Olympic Games. ADVERTISEMENT Witnesses said tanks were in the streets of the Tibetan capital Lhasa as part of a heavy security clampdown after violent riots erupted on Friday following days of protests against China's controversial rule in the region. China's top official in Tibet, a vast region formally annexed...

The heroism of the Burmese, the shame of China These protests heve exposed Beijing’s own fear and failure Rosemary Righter When China joined Russia last January to veto a fairly mild United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Burma to free political prisoners and improve its abominable human rights record, Beijing’s Ambassador at the UN helpfully explained that “no country is perfect” and that “similar problems exist in other countries”. Including, as he of course did not say, China. The parallels may not seem all that obvious this week. Leaving aside the contrast between China’s boom economy and the misery...

Myanmar troops threaten to shoot By Aung Hla Tun 32 minutes ago Troops cleared the streets of central Yangon on Thursday, telling protesters they had 10 minutes to go home or be shot, as the Myanmar junta intensified its two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years. Crowds scattered as 200 soldiers marched slowly through the streets, rifles at their sides and loudspeakers blaring out warnings -- ominous reminders of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 people were killed in the crushing of nationwide demonstrations. Riot police walking from Sule Pagoda, end-point of more than a week of monk-led marches...

On a plantation just outside the Jamaican capital, Kingston, we watched workers with long machetes slice down towering stalks of sugar cane with industrial precision. Sugar is still harvested by hand, when it is too wet for machines The crop is only harvested by hand on modern plantations when it rains and today there is a steady drizzle. Usually machines do the graft. But for more than 300 years until the early 19th century the machines were African slaves. Men, women and children were overworked and brutalised. Cruelty and torture meant as many as a third of all slaves...

"In this uncomfortably humorous survival guide, Wilson, a Ph.D. candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, reminds readers that "any machine could rebel, from a toaster to a Terminator," and though the forms our future robot enemies may take are manifold, they each have exploitable weaknesses that, fortuitously, match our natural human strengths. So, if a two-legged android gives chase, seek out a body of water, as "most robots will sink in water or mud and fall through ice." It also may be a good idea to carry around a pair of welder's goggles, as lasers will likely...