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Showing posts from October 20, 2019

Thousands in Tibet Mourn Passing of Senior Religious Teacher Trained in Exile

nd laypeople gathered in western China’s Sichuan province this week to mourn the death of a senior religious leader who trained as a young man in exile in India and then returned to Tibet to teach, Tibetan sources said. Geshe Jampel Lobshe, 53, passed away on Oct. 19 of an unspecified illness after being suddenly discharged from a hospital in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu which had sent him home to die, sources said. His body has now been taken to Sershul monastery in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) province, where it will remain for five days while members of the clergy and the public pay respects and offer prayers, the monastery’s memorial service committee said on Friday. Afterward, he will be taken to his family home in Denkhok for a one-day ceremony and then brought to Kaphu Samdrub Ling monastery for further observances before his remains are cremated on Nov. 4, the service committee said. Relapse came quickly Speaking to RFA’s Tibetan Service, a relative living in Switzerland said that

Tibet and Hong Kong Activists Demonstrate at Raptors, Nets NBA Game

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Videos on social media showed the protestors carrying signs that read "Human Rights Matter! Here + There!" and "NBA Stand for Freedom." A group of Tibet and Hong Kong activists demonstrated side-by-side at Friday night's NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets in clear protest of the sports league's recent handling of pro-Hong Kong activism. Videos on social media showed the protestors carrying signs that read "Human Rights Matter! Here + There!" and "NBA Stand for Freedom" while wearing T-shirts that read "Free Tibet" and "Stand With Hong Kong" at Barclay Center in New York City. A representative for the group reported that the protestors continued chanting until security guided them out of the venue and that they will continue to appear at NBA games to come. The protest responded to the NBA's recent statements about Hong Kong after Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey  tweeted a message

M Venkaiah Naidu hits out at Pakistan for misusing NAM summit; says it must abjure terrorism

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has hit out at Pakistan for misusing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to justify its long-standing policy of cross-border terrorism against its neighbours. Addressing the 18th NAM summit at Baku in Azerbaijan, he said, Pakistan must decisively abjure terrorism for its own good, for that of its neighbours and for the good of the world. Mr Naidu called upon all NAM countries to come together to forge a common front against terror in all its forms as there was no justification for violent extremist ideologies and terrorist actions that maim and murder innocents.  Mr Naidu said terrorism is the single most destructive threat to international peace and security, which respect no borders. Vice President called for strengthening all international laws and mechanisms to combat terrorists and their enablers. Vice President urged the NAM to re-focus to remain an influential grouping and find solutions to challenges relating to terrorism, global governance re

At least 40 killed as fresh protests engulf Iraq

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The bloodshed is the second major bout of violence this month. A series of clashes two weeks ago between protesters and security forces left 157 people dead and over 6,000 wounded. At least 40 protesters were killed in Iraq on Friday when security forces used tear gas and an Iranian-backed militia opened fire to try to quell renewed demonstrations against corruption and economic hardship, security sources said. A government intelligence officer and a member of the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia were killed in a clash with protesters in the southern city of Amara, police sources said. More than 2,000 people were injured nationwide, according to medical sources and the Iraqi High Commission on Human Rights (IHCHR), as demonstrators vented frustration at political elites they say have failed to improve their lives after years of conflict. “All we want are four things: jobs, water, electricity, and safety. That’s all we want,” said 16-year-old Ali Mohammed who had covered his

Biggest demonstrations yet rock protest-stricken Chile

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Santiago governor Karla Rubilar said almost a million people marched in the capital — more than five percent of the country's population. As many as a million Chileans protested on Friday in the capital Santiago in the biggest demonstrations yet since violence broke out a week ago over entrenched inequality in the South American nation. Demonstrators waving national flags, blowing whistles and horns, wafting incense and bearing placards urging political and social change streamed through the streets, walking for miles from around Santiago to converge on Plaza Italia. The scenes were replicated in cities around the country. Traffic already hobbled by truck and taxi drivers adding their own protest over road tolls ground to a standstill in Santiago as roads were closed and public transport shut down early ahead of marches that built throughout the afternoon. Santiago governor Karla Rubilar said almost a million people marched in the capital — more than five percent of the

New laureate stays mum on violence in Ethiopia

Abiy remained at a summit of African leaders in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Russia, when thousands of people took to the streets of the Ethiopian capital and several regional towns Wednesday. Weeks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is coming under harsh criticism over his silence in the face of protests this week that police said had resulted in the deaths of 67 people. Abiy remained at a summit of African leaders in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Russia, when thousands of people took to the streets of the Ethiopian capital and several regional towns Wednesday. The protests were spurred by a prominent critic of the prime minister who had accused police of plotting an attack on him. The critic, Jawar Mohammed, is the founder of an independent media network and claimed that there was a plan to arrest or possibly kill him at his house in the capital, Addis Ababa. The accusations stoked long-standing tensions in Ethiopia, the second-most

Pakistan High Commission telling Hurriyat leaders how to use funds for anti-India activities: NIA

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in its latest supplementary chargesheet filed in a terror funding case, has said that the Pakistan High Commission here had organised a function and meeting where it invited Hurriyat leaders and gave them instructions on how to use funds in illegal activities. "These funds are being raised out of illegal benefits drawn from the Line of Control (LoC) trade and the same are routed by the buyers of the imported goods in New Delhi by using Hawala channels and through shell companies to the concerned in Kashmir," the NIA said in its chargesheet. "A part of the benefits drawn out of the imports and export of the Kashmiri handloom goods is also becoming part of the funds accumulated by the Hurriyat leaders." On October 4, the NIA filed a second supplementary chargesheet in the terror funding case under new Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, as w

Trudeau’s victory sparks ‘Wexit’ separatist talk in Canada’s west

Within hours of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party winning re-election on Monday, a hashtag began trending in Canada that reflects the deep regional divisions that emerged from the poll: #Wexit, as in Western exit, or more specifically, Alberta separatism. By the next morning a group called Alberta Fights Back had put up billboards in the province stating “I support an independent Alberta”, complete with a maple leaf, a symbol from Canada’s flag, with a line struck through it. The separatist rhetoric, while on the fringes, reflects a drawn-out period of economic malaise in the region and poses an early test for Mr Trudeau. He has faced intense criticism in fossil fuel-dependent Alberta over his government’s national price on carbon and inability to get a pipeline built to transport crude from the oil sands to world markets. The Liberals won the most seats in the House of Commons but not enough to secure a majority, and were completely shut out of the two western provinces of Albert

Rights groups: Turkey forcibly deported Syrian refugees

Turkish government denies claims as 'untrue and imaginary', adding that it sticks to its policy of 'non-refoulement'. The Turkish government has been forcibly deporting refugees to war-torn Syria, two international rights groups have alleged, days after Ankara concluded a cross-border operation partly aimed at creating a so-called "safe zone" to settle millions of refugees living in   Turkey . Amnesty International said in a  report , which was released on Friday and was based on 28 interviews with refugees, that Turkish police had beaten, threatened or tricked them into signing documents stating they were asking to return to Syria. In a written statement to Al Jazeera, Hami Aksoy, spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry spokesman, said the report's claims that Syrians have been forcibly returned to their country, threatened and ill-treated were "untrue and imaginary". "While we are hosting four million Syrian refugees, i