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Tough language on Tibet despite China talks offer (World, 16 articles)
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" The Dalai Lama is always open to have a dialogue Samdhong Rimpoche, prime minister of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile, told the Associated Press at the government's headquarters in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala. Beijing has faced a chorus of calls from world leaders to open a dialogue, and White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Bush administration was encouraged by the news. BEIJING As the Olympic flame continues its tumultuous journey around the world, the lives of two young Chinese women whose brief gestures during the torch relay were captured on video have emerged center stage in the black-and-white world of Chinese public opinion. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the Sera Monastery opened its doors on Monday and other monasteries will also be reopened soon. DHARMSALA, INDIA The Dalai Lama welcomed China's offer to meet his envoy but said the two sides needed a meaningful discussion about how to resolve the problems that triggered riots in the Tibetan capital last month. Four Chinese supporters were injured and five men were arrested, fire officials and police said, including one man who was wrestled to the ground after running into the relay path holding a Tibetan flag and shouting " Free Tibet.
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Other stories about Tibet, China and Chinese:
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Al-Sadr tells followers to honor truce - (World, 20 articles)
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In a statement read in mosques during Friday prayers, al-Sadr said his recent threat of "open war" was aimed only at U.S.-led forces and urged his followers not to fight Iraqi troops. Abrams tanks were used to repel attacks on two army checkpoints, killing 22 militants in one clash late Sunday, the U.S. military said on Monday. US and Iraqi officials typically attribute such attacks to Shi'ite militiamen, who have been trading sporadic fire with government security forces since a crackdown targeted militants in the southern port city of Basra a month ago.
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Afghanistan clashes, bombing leave 23 Taliban militants dead (World, 14 articles)
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KABUL, AFGHANISTAN The attempted assassination Sunday of President Hamid Karzai deepened fears that Islamic militants remain able to penetrate the defenses of security forces here despite a boost in international and Afghan troop strength. Militants firing rockets and automatic rifles attacked the Afghan president at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday, missing their target but killing three and wounding eight others. Three people were killed Sunday in the brazen assault, ruining what was supposed to have been a proud moment for Afghan security forces.
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Other stories about Afghan, Taliban and Afghanistan:
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The Seattle Times: Blast during Gaza fight kills Palestinian mother, 4 children (World, 20 articles)
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Abbas' foreign minister , Riad Malki, said the shooting was meant to undermine the Palestinian demand for an Israeli withdrawal to improve the prospect of U.S.-backed peace talks. An explosion shattered a tiny Gaza Strip house as Israeli troops battled militants Monday, killing a Palestinian woman and four of her children in new bloodshed that threatened efforts to arrange a truce between the warring sides. Palestinians said the house was hit by an Israeli tank shell; Israel said explosives being carried by militants blew up and brought down the two-room structure.
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Zimbabwe's opposition reunites, calls for Mugabe to step aside (World, 18 articles)
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About 250 riot police wielding batons arrested about 300 people in a sweep on the opposition's offices in the capital, Harare, the party reported. JOHANNESBURG - Evidence of widespread retribution against people who supported Zimbabwe s opposition party in last month's election has begun to stream out despite the government's efforts to restrict press access to the worst of the violence. Zimbabwe's opposition movement united on Monday to declare itself the winner of last month's parliamentary election and to urge longtime President Robert Mugabe to concede defeat.
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Bhutto Assassination: Funeral and Prognosis for Pakistan (World, 6 articles)
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Senior members of Pakistan's governing coalition have been trying to reach agreement on the reinstatement of judges sacked by President Musharraf. Divisions have emerged within the two main governing parties, the PPP and the PML-N, over how much power the restored judges should have. The realities in Pakistan are that the government is trying to deal with a deep and broad challenge to its authority from various radical and extremist groups.
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66 dead in China train accident (World, 13 articles)
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BEIJING At least 66 people were killed and 247 were injured when a passenger train derailed early today and slammed into another train in eastern China, state-run media reported. Some passengers were sleeping, but others were standing in the aisle waiting to get off when their high-speed train derailed, toppling into a ditch "like a roller coaster" and slamming into another train. China reacted swiftly to its worst train accident in a decade, sending top officials and soldiers to Zibo, the site of Monday's pre-dawn crash in eastern China's Shandong province, and sacking two railway officials.
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George T. Butler Jr., 76; Columbia executive greatly influenced jazz (World, 4 articles)
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Butler called the play " a big momentum booster but it took facing James several times over the past five seasons for Butler to time that one play perfectly. When it comes to James, Butler admits he's still trying to figure out how to slow down the league's leading scorer. Working for the firm Contractors Pacific Naval Bases, Mr. Butler joined about 1,000 other civilian contractors who had come to help the Marines and other service members transform the desolate coral strip into a strategic naval air station and submarine base.
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Cubans Hope Raul Castro Brings Reform (World, 6 articles)
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HAVANA - Cuba's government on Sunday announced sizable raises for retirees and court employees, and promised future pay increases for other government workers, saying the raises would target lower-income islanders in a bid to reduce inequalities. The pay increases - which will affect almost one in five Cubans - were the first since 2005 and the first since Raul Castro replaced his ailing brother , Fidel, as president. The Bush administration is ruling out any changes in its Cuba policy - including lifting a five-decade trade embargo - deriding Fidel Castro's brother and heir apparent, Raul, as " dictator lite.
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FARC, ELN: Colombia's Left-Wing Guerrillas (World, 5 articles)
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BOGOTA, Colombia France's foreign minister and President Alvaro Uribe on Monday sought to advance efforts to free hostages held by Colombia's leftist rebels. France recently sent a plane with a doctor aboard in a failed attempt to help hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen kidnapped while running for president in 2002. FARC and ELN were both founded in the 1960s, after Colombia's two main political parties ended more than a decade of political violence and agreed to share power.
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Iran, Pakistan 'in pipeline deal' (World, 5 articles)
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Barbed wire and antiaircraft guns ring a maze of buildings in the Iranian desert that lie at the heart of the West's five-year standoff with Tehran over its program to enrich uranium. Iran is emerging as a major economic donor in Sri Lanka which is under pressure on human rights issues as war has resumed with the Tamil Tigers. The news came during a visit to Pakistan by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the first leg of a tour of South Asia.
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Splintering of Rebel Groups Adds to Chaos in Darfur (World, 4 articles)
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GEREIDA, Sudan The quasi-rebel group ostensibly controlling this desert town of displaced thousands is called SLM-Minni, which stands for Sudan Liberation Movement, Minni Minnawi faction. In the increasingly perplexing world of rebel politics in Darfur, SLM-Minni is not to be confused with SLM-Free Will, SLM-Unity or Greater-SLM, whose leader was a spokesman for SLM-Minni until he became disillusioned and left to form his own group. The current Darfur crisis has become one of the worst human disasters in Africa, with an estimated 450,000 killed, 2.5 million displaced and up to 4 million dependent on outside aid.
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EU states seek to end divisions on Russia and Serbia (World, 4 articles)
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Dmitry Medvedev's election as Russian president offers the west a chance to improve relations with Moscow, says Radoslaw Sikorski Ban Ki-moon hosts a meeting of UN agency heads in Geneva, where the food price crisis and climate change will be under discussion. Karel Schwarzenberg visits the US to meet Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, for talks on the proposed US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic.
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UN troops 'armed DR Congo rebels' (World, 5 articles)
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A BBC investigation into United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo has put the spotlight on Indian troops for the first time, and revived questions about Pakistani troops there. The use of a UN helicopter to fly into the Virunga national park, to exchange ammunition for ivory with the rebels. The UN has covered up claims that its troops in Democratic Republic of Congo gave arms to militias and smuggled gold and ivory, the BBC has learned.
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Other stories about UN, peacekeepers and BBC:
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Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno embodies 'surge' in Iraq (World, 5 articles)
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" This race to victory based on a timeline did not pass the common-sense test said a top Odierno aide, citing the threat of widespread violence. So Odierno made a fateful move: He challenged his boss , Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., to change the strategy. The tall, intimidating artilleryman with a shaved head and a grave bearing was an early believer in what is now basic U.S. policy in Iraq.
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Conservatives Prevail in Iran Vote, but Opposition Scores, Too (World, 5 articles)
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According to the results of Friday's run-off, released by the interior ministry at the weekend, conservatives won 69 per cent of the 287 seats in parliament for the next four-year term. Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's supporters will occupy about two-thirds of the conservatives' seats, but the rest will be held by a bloc - led by former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani - which has been critical of the president's economic policies. TEHRAN - Polls opened in Tehran and other areas of Iran on Friday for runoff elections to fill the 82 seats in the 290-member Parliament in which there was not a clear winner in the first round.
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Mystery surrounds Tijuana drug shootings (World, 4 articles)
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MEXICO CITY On Sunday, following one of the bloodiest days in Tijuana's history, authorities held no news conferences. The death toll in the gangland-style shootings early Saturday between rival drug traffickers increased to 15 from 13, after two men died of their injuries. Two more deaths raised the toll to 15 from the pre-dawn Saturday shootouts in the violence-plagued Mexican city across the U.S. border from San Diego, local news media reported.
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blaster@cs.columbia.edu
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