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Showing posts from June 2, 2013

What's Really Fueling The Turkish Protests?

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In a photo adopted by protesters as a symbol of their struggle, a Turkish policeman uses tear gas against a woman during a rally in Taksim Square in central Istanbul on May 28. O stensibly, the protests rocking Istanbul now are over the government's plans to raze one of the city's remaining parks to build new commercial properties.   But beneath that issue lie much deeper tensions that account for the rapidly escalating violence. Many analysts see the clashes -- the most violent since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took office in 2002 -- as an explosion of frustration among Turkish secularists against his leadership style. At issue is his perceived authoritarianism in pushing his own view of Turkey as a modern but conservative Muslim country with little regard for the views of his more liberal, but divided, opposition. Barcin Yinanc, the opinion page editor of the English-language "Hurriyet Daily News" in Istanbul, puts the views of the protesters' message

A Year for Human Rights in China

From June 2013 to June 2014, the world will approach the 25th anniversary of China's crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, when the Chinese military opened fire, killing thousands of students and other peaceful demonstrators. Today there are calls from incoming President Xi Jinping for a "renaissance" in China, and the realization of the China dream. At the same time, many in the Chinese leadership and media have recognized that the dream for China cannot become a reality without social and political reform. We have taken President Xi Jinping's statements as a small opportunity for hope that China, in expanding its role as a world power, will begin to throw off some of its more oppressive practices. We find reason to hope that he and others in the Chinese leadership will hear the voices of ordinary citizens across the globe, when we say that the China dream will not and cannot be realized while its citizens are subject to "thought reform" through th

China sentences two monks for offering prayers for Tibetan self-immolator

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Sentenced monk Tsundue of the Bido Monastery DHARAMSHALA, June 4: In continuing crackdown on “crimes” related to the self-immolation protests in Tibet, two monks have been sentenced to three years in prison for offering prayers for Tibetan self-immolator Wangchen Norbu who passed away in his fiery protest last November. According to reports, the two monks, Tsundue, 27 and Gedun Tsultrim, in his 30s, both from the Bido Monastery in Kangtsa region of Tsongon, eastern Tibet were sentenced on March 8. Sources in exile say that the monks were not represented by any lawyer and none of their family members were informed of the court proceedings. Tsundue has been accused of organising a prayer service for Wangchen Norbu at the Monastery and also for leading a separate prayer service as chant master, which was attended by a large number of monks from the Bido Monastery and local Tibetans.   The other monk Gedun Tsultrim has been found guilty of coordinating the prayer service, organising

US offers $23 million for West African terror chiefs

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The United States has offered $23 million in reward money for help in capturing militant leaders in West Africa, including senior members of al Qaeda's regional branch AQIM and the leader of Nigeria-based terror group Boko Haram (pictured) In an unprecedented move, the United States on Monday posted up to $23 million in rewards to help track down five leaders of militant groups accused of spreading terror in west Africa. The highest reward of $7 million is offered for the   Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau , who last week called on Islamists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to join the bloody fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria. The US State Department's Rewards for Justice program also targeted Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), offering its first ever bounties for wanted militants in west Africa. Up to $5 million was posted for   Al-Qaeda veteran Mokhtar Belmokhtar , the one-eyed Islamist behind the devastating   attack on an Algerian gas plant   in J