Tensions could be raised by second act of immolation in six months in Sichuan province, south-west China A Tibetan Buddhist monk calling for the return of the Dalai Lama has burned himself to death in south-west China. The 29-year-old monk’s self-immolation at a monastery in Tawu could spark fresh tensions in the heavily ethnic Tibetan parts of Sichuan, which borders Tibet, after protests in March when a Tibetan monk there also burned himself to death. “Tsewang Norbu drank petrol, sprayed petrol on himself and then set himself on fire,” the Free Tibet organisation in London said, citing an unnamed witness. “He was heard calling out ‘we Tibetan people want freedom’, ‘long live the Dalai Lama’ and ‘let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet’. He is believed to have died at the scene,” the group said. China’s official Xinhua news agency also reported the monk’s death, but said “it was unclear why he had burned himself”. Tawu, known as Daofu in Chinese, is in a largely ethnic Tibetan part of western Sichuan that many advocates of self-rule say should form part of a larger homeland under Tibetan control. Tensions over the fate of the exiled Dalai Lama and his calls for Tibetan self-determination sometimes flare into protests in the region. In March 2008, Tibetan protests led by monks in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, were suppressed by police and turned violent. Rioters torched shops and turned on Han Chinese residents, whom many Tibetans see as intruders threatening their culture. Unrest spilled over into other ethnic Tibetan parts of China, including mountainous western Sichuan. Beijing has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of being a separatist who has abetted violence. China rejects accusations that it oppresses Tibetans, saying its rule has bought huge benefits. The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the 1989 Nobel peace prize, denies seeking independence for Tibet, saying he wants a peaceful transition to autonomy for his remote mountain homeland, which the People’s Republic of China has ruled since its troops invaded in 1950. Security forces detained about 300 Tibetan monks in western China for a month amid a crackdown sparked by the previous self-immolation, according to exiled Tibetans and a prominent writer. “Today’s news exposes how desperate some Tibetans feel,” said Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet. After the self-immolation in March, she said Chinese authorities “deployed troops on to the streets, imposed curfews, undertook house searches and set up military road blocks.” Tibet China Dalai Lama guardian.co.uk
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Palestinians accuse Ehud Barak of contempt for peace talks by giving approval for building of 277 homes in Ariel The Israeli government has authorised the construction of 277 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, a move that will diminish the prospects for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. An announcement from the defence ministry said approval for the scheme was given last week. The government also backed the building of 1,600 homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo. Further announcements are expected in the coming days. Ariel, home to almost 20,000 Israelis, extends 12 miles (20km) inside the West Bank. Its future under any agreement on borders with the Palestinians is uncertain. Israel is determined to annex such a large settlement, but the Palestinians and many in the international community argue that it would cut the West Bank nearly in two, making a contiguous Palestinian state almost impossible. The housing units had been in the planning process for several years before being approved by the defence minister, Ehud Barak. One hundred homes will be reserved for settlers evacuated from Gaza in 2005; the remainder will be sold on the open market. The Palestinian Authority said the approval “makes clear to the world Israel’s contempt for a negotiated two-state solution”. Israel, it said in a statement, was “racing against time to make the two-state solution harder and harder by building on the land that is supposed to be the Palestinian state. The international community must ask Israel how it can pretend to be ready to negotiate while expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank?” Hagit Ofran of the Israeli organisation Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity, described the approval as a cynical move amid the current Israel-wide tent protests about the cost of renting and buying homes. “The government is taking advantage of the housing crisis in Israel to expand its settlement policy,” she said. “Most Israelis are not settlers and don’t want to be settlers, and construction in Ariel is not relevant to them.” A spokesman for the US embassy said unilateral actions by either side were “not helpful to the process to try to get both parties back to the table”. Israel appears to be stepping up approval of settlement construction before the Palestinians’ bid for recognition of their state at the UN next month. The government is opposed to the Palestinians making a unilateral move, saying that only negotiations can bring about a Palestinian state within agreed borders. Attempts by the US and EU to persuade the parties to resume talks have not been successful. The US wants the pre-1967 border between Israel and the West Bank to be the basis of negotiations, with agreed land swaps to compensate for Jewish settlements Israel would retain. The Palestinians have identified continued settlement expansion as the main obstacle to resuming direct talks, which broke down last September after Israel refused to extend a temporary freeze on settlement construction. It emerged this week that Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, held a series of secret meetings with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in recent weeks. The talks were brought to an abrupt end when Peres was forced to cancel a meeting at short notice reportedly after the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, refused to allow him room to negotiate. Approximately 300,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Another 200,000 live in settlements in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community. Israel Palestinian territories Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, is seen as supply lynchpin in Gaddafi’s war machine – but taking capital is another matter Thirty-miles west of Tripoli, the one major asset that Muammar Gaddafi cannot afford to lose is starting to slip from his grasp for the second time. The oil refinery in the town of Zawiya has been a holy grail for Libya’s rebels since the start of the civil war. They took control of the town once in March, but were violently driven out by Gaddafi’s army, which knew that losing it meant probably defeat in the long run. Now, with what seems to be a sizable rebel force again inside Zawiya, a decisive battle in the western-backed Libyan campaign looms. Gaddafi on Monday acknowledged as much, urging his followers to liberate the country “inch by inch”, as what remains of his military makes its way towards the town. The oil from the Zawiya refinery, along with resupplies by road from Tunisia , have kept Gaddafi’s forces moving over the past five months. Few others, including the rebels, have had the same luxury – an oil shortage has kept most of the country at a near standstill since May. With petrol in their tanks, the vital re-supply route to Tunisia cut, and Nato jets overhead presumably able to pick off Gaddafi’s men as they attempt to retake Zawiya, the run east to the capital should theoretically be straightforward. But the winding streets of Tripoli are where the resolve of Gaddafi and his loyalists will truly be tested. And by most assessments he remains popular and in control of much of the capital that he has run like a fiefdom for more than four decades. Regular pleas from the African Union, as well as Russia and Belarus, have failed to shift the autocrat, who has given every indication that he is digging in for a last stand. And so too, apparently, are many thousands of loyalists, convinced by Gaddafi’s angry retorts against months of Nato bombings and an economic siege that is being widely perceived as an unjust collective punishment. Gaddafi’s defiance has resonated on a personal level with many in the capital, who view the continued bombing and rebel assault, in the face of repeated calls for a negotiated ceasefire, as a slight to their dignity – a serious affront in the Arab world, and one which very much drove the early days of the anti-American uprising in Iraq. Those who may be motivated to put right a perceived wrong will also have the means to do so. Since the start of the war any family demonstrating loyalty to the regime has been issued at least one Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition from government armouries in Tripoli. Tens of thousands of the firearm have been handed out, according to locals who have said they would use them to defend both their homes and their dignity. Short of a dramatic backdown by Gaddafi, Tripoli will not be taken without a fight. Strategically there is very little left for Nato to bomb there, so any fighting will probably be street to street – a scenario that raises the prospect of a protracted guerrilla campaign. After months of tentative advances followed by rapid retreats and confusion, the rebels would be unlikely to welcome this. With Zawiya again in play, along with Ghariyan to its immediate south, and finally some movement near the dead-locked eastern oil town of Brega, the situation has grown more delicate for Gaddafi. However, he has been underestimated throughout the campaign, emboldened by withstanding the cream of Europe’s air forces and buoyed by supporters in the capital. It may not be the end game just yet. Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Nato Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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Now that we have finally fixed the FAA funding problem, another major funding bill is expiring and will need to be reauthorized or readjusted on September 30th. The Federal Gasoline Tax collects 18.4 percent per gallon of gas and 24.4 percent per gallon of diesel and pays for a majority of our transportation and highway projects across the country. But the reality is that it is yet another tax on Americans and we all know that the Tea Party Congress doesn’t like that. This time the public is behind them. In a May survey Rasmussen Reports found that 44 percent of Americans favor eliminating the federal gas tax, but those numbers are actually down from 60 percent in early 2008 when gas prices were through the roof. Interestingly, however, most people (60 percent) believe the gas tax goes up every year according to a 2009 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research survey, but the reality is it hasn’t moved since 1993. That shouldn’t preclude the tea party from taking another hard stance against taxes and spending. After all our government is hurting and we need to make drastic cuts, right? Sacrifices? Taxes like these prevent businesses from doing business because they pay such a huge amount in transportation each year. I can see the arguments developing as I type. In a surly unrelated story, two tea loving members of Congress are taking their own action on transportation funding. Rep. James Lankford and Sen. Tom Coburn, both from Oklahoma, have authored a bill that would opt states out of all federal highway and mass transit funding. The State Transportation and Flexibility Act would leave the revenue earned from the gas tax to the states to decide how to use it. The Oklahoma leaders aren’t the only gas tax foes, 13 additional Senators and 23 members of Congress have signed onto the bill. This includes seven members of the Tea Party Caucus and Rep. Ron Paul. In a graphic done by ESRI , counties across the country are highlighted if they have “structurally deficient bridges.” In Coburn and Lankford’s state a full third of the counties have over a hundred bridges categorized as deficient. But Senator Coburn believes “Washington’s addiction to spending has bankrupted the Highway Trust Fund.” enlarge Credit: ESRI If states can opt out of the health insurance reform bill – why can’t they opt out of all federal funding and federal programs. Isn’t this the kind of secessionist attitude that Texas Governor Rick Perry has? If the Coburn/Lankford bill passed would it then mean that a renewal of the gas tax is unnecessary and require states to set their own gas taxes? If that happened states with larger populations and higher gas tax revenue could have lower gas taxes and smaller states that are more rural would need to raise enough taxes for their infrastructure programs. Businesses that have a higher need for transporting goods or services might then relocate to states with lower gas prices. The alternative is states that couldn’t afford their programs could opt to allow their roads and bridges to fall into disrepair. Additionally, if Congress doesn’t renew the gas tax the results might be just as gloomy. Thousands of contract and construction workers on existing projects might not get paid, and it’s doubtful they’d stick around working for free assuming the re-authorization will be there down the road. Projects could come to a grinding halt across the country. It is unclear how Lankford or Coburn feel about pot-holes or how they would respond if one of these deficient bridges collapsed in the Oklahoma heat that was blamed for a recent buckling of a steel expansion joint on I-44. A few years ago when a bridge collapsed in Oklahoma it was federal money that came in to help fix it. The problem with this thinking is that our interstate system is so-called because it’s multi-state. It goes across more than one state and connects us all together. Let’s not forget that the highway system was originally built for national defense because we didn’t have the logistics to move equipment where it needed to go. We’re not an island, and the infrastructure problems on the Mississippi might not be in Oklahoma, but it impacts the water flowing into the state that is used by farmers for irrigation. We are one country – one team – and we’re all in it together.
Continue reading …It Doesn’t Bleed, But Will It Lead?: Richmond Newspaper Finds Drop in Gun Crimes After Va. Allowed Guns in Bars
August 15, 2011 No CommentHere's a story I don't expect the media to trumpet, partly because it cuts against the MSM's preferred narrative on gun laws. “Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses,” Mark Bowes of the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted in an August 14 story :
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Wellington residents enjoy ‘once in a lifetime’ weather Residents of Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, are taking delight in the unusual sight of snowflakes falling in what forecasters are describing as a once in a lifetime event. Services across the country on Monday were disrupted by the snowfall, which were accompanied by heavy rain and high winds. Mail delivery in many areas was cancelled, as were several flights. Some roads were closed and recreational facilities such as libraries and swimming pools were shut. Wellington rarely gets snow – the few inches it got on Sunday and Monday is the most in at least 30 years – and people have been taking to the streets to photograph the event. Forecasters predict the cold snap will continue until Wednesday. New Zealand New Zealand Australasia New Zealand guardian.co.uk
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Ed Miliband joins those criticising historian’s claim that ‘whites have become black’, saying it is ‘disgusting and outrageous’ The BBC has received more than 700 complaints about the controversial claim by historian and broadcaster David Starkey that “whites have become black” in a discussion about last week’s riots on Newsnight. Of those contacting the BBC, 696 were protesting about Starkey’s comments, with 21 supporting him, complaining the debate was chaired poorly and he was treated “unfairly” as a result. Media regulator Ofcom has also had complaints while an online campaign by an organisation called gopetition.co.uk demanding the BBC should issue a public apology for “unacceptable comments” had attracted more than 3,600 signatures by mid-afternoon on Monday. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, on Monday described Starkey’s comments on race as “disgusting and outrageous”. Speaking at Haverstock School, his former school in Chalk Farm in London, Miliband said it was “absolutely outrageous that someone in the 21st century could be making that sort of comment”. He added: “There should be condemnation from every politician, from every political party of those sorts of comments.” Starkey’s remarks, made during a debate about the riots on Friday’s Newsnight, provoked an immediate storm of controversy, with BBC business editor Robert Peston tweeting: “David Starkey’s nasty ignorance is best ignored, not worthy of comment or debate – though I fear there will be a media feeding frenzy”. CNN presenter Piers Morgan described him on Twitter as “a racist idiot” and said he had committed career suicide. The majority of complainants said the BBC was wrong to allow him to express such a view and should not have had him on as a guest, or at the very least should have challenged him more robustly. Starkey was in the middle of a heated discussion with Owen Jones, author of Chavs: the Demonisation of the Working Classes, when he made his remarks during a debate hosted by Emily Maitlis. “What has happened is that the substantial section of the chavs that you wrote about have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion,” he said. “Black and white, boy and girl operate in this language together. This language, which is wholly false, which is this Jamaican patois that has intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country.” Starkey then referred to Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy, who he described as “an archetypal successful black man”. He said he sounded white. “If you turn the screen off, so you were listening to him on radio, you would think he was white.” Lammy has since denounced Starkey’s remarks as “dangerous and divisive”. The BBC said while it acknowledged that some people will have found Starkey’s comments “offensive”, “he was robustly challenged by presenter Emily Maitlis and the other contributors who took issue with his comments”. Jones highlighted the potential offence Starkey may have given and Maitlis provided further context by pointing out that David Cameron had already said the riots were not a race issue, the corporation added. •
Continue reading …Laura Ingraham Repeats Right-Wing Distortion that the President No Longer Gets Daily Briefing on the Economy
August 15, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Who needs Fox News when we’ve got right-wing flame thrower Laura Ingraham as one of the panelists on ABC’s This Week ? Media Matters already debunked this recent attack on President Obama last month, but Ingraham claims she just heard about this in the LA Times the day before. Right-Wing Media Deceptively Attack Obama For Not Receiving Daily In-Person Economic Updates : Right-wing media have attacked President Obama for his decision to stop receiving daily in-person economic briefings. In fact, Obama still receives a daily economic briefing on paper and regularly meets with members of his economic team as well as outside economists and experts. Read on… Transcript via ABC News : INGRAHAM: We learned in the LA Times yesterday that the president no longer gets a daily briefing on the economy. I had to read it two or three times. This must be a satire. Someone’s written this. The president is not getting a daily briefing on the economy? What does that — message does that send to the markets? I think what — Matthew’s right. There is not a sense that this president is actively engaged on the most serious problem facing our country now, which is, we’re on the brink of economic stagnation as far as the eye can see. He needs to look engaged. He has to be able to come out and say, you know, I said it a couple of months ago, and I’m going to say it again: The buck stops here. I’m bringing in a new economic team. Thanks, Tim Geithner, but we are retooling our shop, and we are going to be coming out with a series of ideas that are going to surprise people. They’re not ideological. They’re about creating jobs in this country. It has to be bold. And I would agree. We have to change the momentum right now. He seems like the absentee president. I’m no more of a fan of Tim Geithner than Ingraham apparently is. I’m also fairly sure that President Obama would have a lot of trouble getting anyone past a Republican filibuster in the Senate to replace Geithner that I’d be happy with as much as I’d love to see him gone myself. All anyone has to do is look at the way they treated Elizabeth Warren for proof of that. I’m curious if Ingraham were asked who she thought should replace him, what names she’d toss out there. I suspect they would not be as ridiculous as Mike Huckabee’s recommendation the other day, but probably choices that are equally as bad or worse than Geithner. I guess we’ll never know since Jake Tapper didn’t ask her, and he didn’t correct her distortion either.
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Could Ryan Seacrest go from interviewing pop star Katy Perry on American Idol to just announced GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on the Today show in the very near future? If some execs at Comcast, which owns NBC, have their way it could happen. According to Colby Hall at Mediate.com “rumors have persisted” that longtime Today show co-anchor Matt lauer will leave his duties after his current contract ends in 2012 and “Mediate has learned that the top choice of certain key Comcast and NBC execs is American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.” Colby went on to report: “Seacrest has become a household name hosting American Idol, his radio show and co-hosting E! News on the E! network, which is owned by Comcast. With GMA shrinking The Today Show’s lead in the past few months, the internal discussions have been intensifying, Mediaite has learned. Key NBC insiders now believe that only someone with Seacrest’s name recognition and appeal to women could allow for a smooth transition, and ensure that the incredibly profitable Today Show remains on top in the morning. When reached, an NBC spokesperson had no comment.”
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One-year ban and fined £150 for motorist caught speaking on one phone and texting on another A man spotted behind the wheel on a 70mph road as he used two mobile phones has been banned from driving. Police spotted David Secker making a phone call with one hand and apparently sending a text message with the other, Norwich magistrates’ court heard. When officers pulled over the 34-year-old they had to wait for him to finish his conversation. Prosecutor Denis King said: “He was seen holding a mobile phone to his right ear and as he moved closer the officer saw he was holding another phone in his other hand as though he was texting.” Simon Nicholls, in mitigation, said his client had been reading a number from one phone to somebody on the other end of the line. He disputed claims that his client had been driving his M-reg Vauxhall Tigra with his knees. Secker was caught on a 70mph dual-carriageway on the outskirts of Norwich on 17 May. Secker was found guilty in his absence at an earlier hearing of using a mobile while driving, having no insurance and not being in a position to have proper control. Secker was given a total of 14 points on his licence. He was banned for 12 months and fined £150. Outside court, Secker said: “I think the magistrates treated me fairly.” Nicholls said: “We hear about people driving while eating apples and doing all kind of stupid things. He accepts he made a mistake and will learn from it.” guardian.co.uk
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