International pressure mounts on China to stop the violence in Tibet as Chinese rule spreads to other regions. The New York Times reports that United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who is currently living in self-imposed exile in India. A similar plea was made by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
A group of Nobel laureates also condemned the violence against protesters and asked the Chinese government to halt its unwarranted campaign against the Dalai Lama. Other reports say that the Dalai Lama is willing to meet Chinese leaders in Beijing if they are ready for a Tibet dialogue. However, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the Dalai Lama needs to stop separatist activities and give up his stance for Tibet’s independence before a dialogue can occur.
Two separate attacks in Mosul, Iraq injured 35 civillians and killed six people, five of whom were police officers. According to the Kuwait News Service, the five police officers were killed by a suicide attack on the al-Waggas police station in Ras al-Jadda by an explosives-ridden car. Two other bombings killed one person and injured fourteen when explosives set off in front of a police officer’s home. There were no casualties during the first explosion. When people gathered in front of the house after the first bomb exploded, the second bomb got detonated.
Um al-Reiban police arrested 11 suspects in the al-Tanak district. During an inspection of their houses, weapons were found in one of the suspects’ homes.
“ Its 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House and its ringing. Something’s happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call.”
Then shows Hilary Clinton picking up the phone. This is the campaign ad of Senator Hilary Clinton airing in Texas. The Senator wants to implicate that she is more qualified in handling National Security crisis and issues. The ad wants the people to base their decision on who’s got more leadership experience.
Obama on the other hand has this to say “They’re usually the kind that play upon peoples’ fears, try to scare up votes.”
Patrick Hillery, former President of Ireland died aged 84 Dr Hillery was external affairs minister from 1969 when his major accomplishment was negotiating Ireland’s entry into the European Economic Community, now the European Union, on January 1, 1973. He was a medical doctor by profession until he became a lawmaker for 21 years at Fianna Fail party.
In America there is an institution called Electoral College thru which the Americans vote their President and Vice President. When the people vote they do not directly vote their President and Vice President but instead they vote for official electors. These Official electors will be the ones to cast the vote for President and Vice President thru Electoral College.
Each Presidential candidate has an assembly of Electors assigned to that candidate and each state is allotted a number of electors equal to the number of its representative and senators in the US congress. When the candidate wins by popular vote in a particular district, the electors assigned to that candidate will be the one to vote to the Electoral College. However when there is close election wherein there is a vote deadlock the Electoral College decides who will win the election and sometimes its not the candidate with the most popular vote.
Haitian President Rene Preval, announced an emergency plan to reduce the price of rice in the wake of a riot that left at least five people dead. Price of rice will approximately down by about 15 per cent. But this is not enough to put the government out of trouble as the rice shortage crisis continues.
Consumption lifestyles in the major economies are based on burning huge amounts of fossil fuels and, particularly, oil and gas Since oil and gas are not mainly sourced in the countries using them the geo-politics of the USA, the UK, and other industrial economies uses military-diplomatic mechanisms, to achieve control and compliance over local elites in producing countries.
The BBC reports that Vatican’s representatives in the Middle East met with Saudi Arabian officials to discuss building the church in the country. According to Archbishop Paul-Mounged el-Hachem, negotiations began a few weeks ago after the November 2007 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Saudi’s King Abdallah.
Two weeks ago the Pope set up a Catholic-Muslim forum to smooth the relations between Catholics and Muslims. In 2006 he angered many Muslims during a speech that insinuated a link between Islam and violence.
There are about 1 million Catholics in Saudi Arabia, most of which are overseas workers who can practice their religion at home though not in public. In 1985, Saudi Arabia expelled the last Christian priest, saying that Mohammed’s teachings only allow the practice of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
Sri Lankan police arrested five Tamil journalists in Colombo after they were accused of receiving bribes from Tamil Tiger rebels. The act is being condemned by a media freedom group called Reporters Without Borders as some of the journalists received brutal beatings during their first days in detention as a means to extract confessions from them. According to the group, the money received by two of the arrested journalists were to help Tamil students and to fund the Outreach website. The group is demanding an explanation from the Sri Lankan government, who has not yet made any comment on the matter.
According to the BBC, Sri Lanka has become unsafe for journalists since the escalation of violence in the country. The Tiger Rebels have been fighting for an independent homeland for the Tamil-speaking minority group since 1983.
Lebanese official might not be attending the Arab League Summit on March 29-30 in Damascus due to Lebanon’s political vacuum and a long-standing row with Syria. The Kuwaiti News Agency reports that according to Lebanese Communication Minister Marwan Hamada, the decision to attend the summit was not made because they have not received any invitation. Lebanon is the only Arab country that was not given a formal invitation from Syria.
Because of this, Lebanese Member of Parliament Walid Jumblatt called for an Arab boycott of the summit. According to Jumblaett, “Participating in the summit is a reward for the crime of the Assad regime.” However, Hamada notes that there is no formal way to accept the invitation while the Lebanese Cabinet assumes presidential duties. Lebanon has had no president since Emile Lahoud’s term ended in November 2007.
