Current Affairs
 

Dharmshala: 4 July 2008Special Envoy for H.H the Dalai Lama, Mr. Lodi Gyari and Envoy Mr. Kelsang Gyaltsen ended days of talks with Chinese government officials Thursday with no immediate reports of substantive progress on easing tensions in Tibet and Tibet issues, something the United States, France, UK and other foreign governments have being strongly urging china since unrest in Tibet.

A report on the talks in state-controlled media contained no concessions on the part of the Chinese in allowing more Culture and religious autonomy for Tibet and Tibetan people in the wake of world wide protests this spring against Chinese rule.
Slightly, the report repeated by the state media that the conditions that the Tibetan spiritual leader H.H the Dalai Lama would be compulsory to meet before the Chinese would agree to eighth round talks between two sides before the end of the year 2008.
Most considerably, Dalai Lama must to prove that he does not support activities that would disturb next month's Beijing Olympic Games 2008, and agree to "concretely curb" violent activities of groups advocating Tibetan independence.
The two envoys left Beijing on Thursday afternoon, and they will brief the media on the latest round of discussions they held with the representatives of the Chinese leadership in Beijing after briefing His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Kashag and the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile tomorrow morning 5 July 2008 as according to Tibetan official media report.
Some Tibet experts had hoped for good signs that the talks were more than a Chinese attempt to take international focus off Tibet until after the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. The experts found only slight shifts in which to take hearts to hearts.
"After all they are implicitly accusing His Holiness the Dalai Lama of 'supporting' violence instead of directly insisting that he masterminds it," said Thomas, a Tibet scholar from Austria. "I can't see this going down very well in Tibet or anywhere else."

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British minister: Muslims feel like ?Jews of Europe?
 

Shock warning on rise of anti-Islamic prejudice

Friday, July 04, 2008
Britain's first Muslim minister has attacked the growing culture ofhostility against Muslims in the United Kingdom, saying that many feeltargeted like Shahid Malik, who was appointed as a minister in the Department for International Development (Dfid) by Gordon Brown last summer, said it has become legitimate to target Muslims in the media and society at large in a way that would be unacceptable for any other minority.
Mr Malik made clear that he was not equating the situation with the Holocaust but warned that many British Muslims now felt like "aliens in their own country". He said he himself had been the target of a string of racist incidents, including the firebombing of his family car and an attempt to run him down at a petrol station.
"I think most people would agree that if you ask Muslims today what do they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe," he said. "I don't mean to equate that with the Holocaust but in the way that it was legitimate almost – and still is in some parts – to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way.
"Somehow there's a message out there that it's OK to target people as long as it's Muslims. And you don't have to worry about the facts, and people will turn a blind eye."
The claims are made in an interview to be broadcast on Monday in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme to coincide with the third anniversary of the London bombings of 7 July.
A poll to accompany the documentary highlights the growing polarisation of opinion among Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, who say they have suffered a marked increase in hostility since the London bombings.
The ICM survey found that 51 per cent of Britons blame Islam to some degree for the 2005 attacks while more than a quarter of Muslims now believe Islamic values are not compatible with British values. While 90 per cent of Muslims said they felt attached to Britain, eight out of 10 said they felt there was more religious prejudice against their faith since the July bombings.
The Dispatches film, "It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim", presented by the writer and broadcaster Peter Oborne, examines claims that negative attitudes to Muslims have become legitimised by think-tanks and newspaper commentators, who use language that is now being parroted by the far right.
Mr Malik, who narrowly escaped serious injury when a car was driven at him at a petrol station in his home town of Burnley in 2002, said he regularly receives anti-Muslim hate mail at his constituency office in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, which has the highest BNP vote in the country and was home to Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the suicide attackers who killed 52 people in London in 2005.
The MP said the negative portrayal of Muslims in the media, including a story run by several national newspapers in December last year wrongly stating that staff in the Dewsbury and District Hospital had been ordered to turn the beds of Muslim patients towards Mecca five times a day, was a key example of how his co-religionists were being alienated from the mainstream.
He said: "It's almost as if you don't have to check your facts when it comes to certain people, and you can just run with those stories. It makes Muslims feel like aliens in their own country. At a time when we want to engage with Muslims, actually the opposite happens."
The Dispatches programme also speaks to Andy Hayman, the former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner who was Britain's most senior anti-terrorism officer until he resigned last December. Mr Hayman, who was criticised for failing to tell senior Scotland Yard officers that an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, had been shot dead after being mistaken for a suicide bomber, is asked why he thinks it is important to engage with Muslims expressing extreme views.
Mr Hayman said: "Because we're tackling head on the people that we feel are at the heartbeat of this whole complex agenda. Not to have a dialogue with them would seem that we are apprehensive, we're scared, we're frightened... So even if it's appeasement in some quarters, that is still a conversation that is not being had and needs to be had."
Mr Malik's comments were backed by Simon Woolley, a member of the Government's task force on race equality, and co-founder of Operation Black Vote. He said: "On an almost daily basis, there is rampant Islamophobia in this country, the effect of which is not for our Muslim community to get closer to a sense of Britishness but to feel further away from a feeling of belonging in British society."

Merkel takes tough stance on Zimbabwe sanctions
 

Merkel takes tough stance on Zimbabwe sanctions

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is interviewed by reporters of the Associated Press in her Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Merkel took a tough stance against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, condemning his re-election last week as illegitimate and vowing in an interview with The Associated Press that the European Union would seek "all possible sanctions" against the country's government and leader. (AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski) BERLIN?German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a tough stance against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, condemning his re-election last week as illegitimate and vowing in an interview with The Associated Press that the European Union would seek "all possible sanctions" against the country's government and leader. "We will take up the issue again within the EU, under the leadership of the French presidency," Merkel said. "We will think up all possible sanctions and check to see what more we can do, such as travel bans" for members of Mugabe's regime. The EU, which is calling for new elections, said Friday it was ready to consider "appropriate measures" against those responsible for violence in Zimbabwe, but did not elaborate. The U.S. also is seeking international sanctions against Mugabe and his top aides. In a wide-ranging interview this week in her vast office with sweeping views of the Reichstag parliament building, Merkel spoke of her priorities ahead of next week's summit of Group of Eight industrialized nations in Japan -- and cited Zimbabwe as a key issue on the agenda. She hinted that the G-8 may apply pressure on African leaders invited to the summit to take a more forceful position against Mugabe. A gathering of African Union leaders in Egypt failed to yield a strong unified message over voting widely dismissed as a farce after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out, citing violence and intimidation. "We will speak to the African countries that are invited to the summit. And we will of course all voice our opinions about Zimbabwe," she said. Merkel said G-8 leaders would strive to find solutions to the food crisis that threatens millions in poor nations with hunger -- and emphasized the need to help developing nations help themselves through modern agricultural reforms. "Germany will come up with a contribution of a half-a billion euros for the coming years to support agriculture in the developing countries," Merkel said. "The cooperation in development needs to be more concentrated on water management and agriculture." Merkel said the G-8 summit will provide a chance to continue work on issues such as climate change and the state of the global economy begun the year before, when she hosted the gathering in the German seaside resort of Heiligendamm. That summit was lauded as a success for the German leader, who was raised in the former East Germany and became the nation's first woman chancellor in Nov. 2005. Since then she has enjoyed solid support, despite leading a fractious coalition of her conservative Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats. Praised at home for a diplomatic approach widely seen here as subtle yet firm, Merkel succeeded at last year's summit in winning Bush's backing for a statement that mentions a fixed cut in greenhouse gas emissions, while falling short of persuading him to commit to target cuts. Merkel remained pragmatic on global warming ahead of the Japan summit, saying Germany would back an American initiative for a fund that would "promote climate-friendly technology until a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto protocol would take effect." The "issue has also become more important for the United States and the government there," she said. Merkel recognized it was unrealistic to expect the U.S. -- whether led by Republicans or Democrats -- to agree to a global pact on climate change unless developing nations did their part as well. "Even a new American administration" is going to insist that any climate agreement entail that emerging economies contribute to stemming global warming, she said, noting that had been Washington's major sticking point on the Kyoto pact. Referring to the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, Merkel emphasized that the European Union would continue to target Tehran with sanctions, noting that the 27-nation bloc "has shown it is serious" about that approach. Merkel also called for a discussion of international standards for producing biofuels "to avoid unnecessary competition between the cultivation of food and biofuels." Merkel broke from other EU nations -- and from some of her own previous positions -- regarding genetically modified foods, coming out in favor of using them to fight the food crisis in poor countries. "In developing countries we have very different problems than in Germany. Here we have an over abundance of food and a well-fed population," she said. "In other parts of the world, the fight to survive is a daily struggle." Concerning U.S-German ties, Merkel said the relationship would move forward regardless of whether Barack Obama or John McCain is elected in November. "I have always said that I will work toward a good trans-Atlantic relationship with whomever president is elected by the American people," Merkel said.http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/F...y_end_icon.gif

Scientist: Pakistan Knew of Nuke Deal
 

Scientist: Pakistan Knew of Nuke Deal

Friday, Jul. 04, 2008 By AP

(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) ? Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan says North Korea received centrifuges from Pakistan in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf.
Khan told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials.
He said the army had "complete knowledge" of the shipment and that it must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
Pakistan has repeatedly denied that the army or government knew about Khan's nuclear proliferation activities.

Army knew about nuclear deals, renegade Pakistani scientist says
 

ISLAMABAD: North Korea received centrifuges from Pakistan in 2000 in a shipment supervised by the army under the government of President Pervez Musharraf, the nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said Friday.
Khan said in a telephone interview that the equipment for uranium enrichment had been sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials.
His claims contradicted his confession in 2004 in which he said he had been solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. They also contradicted the repeated denials by Pakistan that its army or government knew about Khan's nuclear proliferation activities.
Khan said that the army had "complete knowledge" of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that the centrifuges must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, who was army chief at the time and who had taken power in a coup in 1999.
Army and Foreign Ministry spokesmen declined to comment Friday. Musharraf's spokesman said he would respond to Khan's allegations after speaking with the president.



Khan is regarded as a hero by many in Pakistan for his critical role in the program that gave it the Islamic world's first nuclear bomb in 1998.
After his 2004 confession and televised statement of contrition, Khan was pardoned by Musharraf, but he has been kept under virtual house arrest at his spacious villa in Islamabad.
Asked why he had taken sole responsibility for the nuclear proliferation, Khan said he had been persuaded by friends, including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a major figure in the ruling party at the time, that his doing so would be in the national interest.
North Korea wants fuel faster
North Korea has accused its nuclear negotiating partners of being too slow in shipping fuel oil under an aid-for-disarmament deal, The Associated Press reported Friday from Seoul.
The North's Foreign Ministry says it has abided by the agreement by submitting a declaration of its nuclear program and destroying a cooling tower at its main nuclear complex. It says the countries involved in six-party disarmament talks have not followed through on their end of the bargain.
The energy-starved North was promised aid equivalent to one million tons of heavy fuel oil under the deal. The North said Friday in a statement that it would move to the next phase of the denuclearization process only after receiving more fuel.

Afghan president orders probe into civilian deaths
 

Reuters
July 6, 2008 at 11:19 AM EDT

KABUL ? Afghanistan's president has ordered an investigation into allegations that missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians, though the Ministry of Defence said Sunday that the attack killed or wounded 20 militants.
President Hamid Karzai ordered the defence and interior ministries, as well as local government officials, to investigate Friday's attack in eastern Afghanistan.
The issue of civilian casualties has caused friction between the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO troops in the past, and it has weakened the standing of the Western-backed Mr. Karzai in the eyes of the population.
Mr. Karzai has repeatedly called for better co-ordination between Afghan and foreign troops in pursuing militants through populated areas, and he has pleaded for international troops to cut down on civilian casualties.
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Enlarge Image An Afghan boy is treated at a hospital in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, Sunday after he allegedly got injured by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul. (Associated Press)

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Deaths of ordinary Afghans caused a huge outcry in summer of 2007, but there have been fewer accusations of such killings in recent months.
Mr. Karzai's statement quoted allegations from Governor Tamin Nuristani, the governor of Nuristan province, as saying 15 civilians were killed and seven others were wounded.
However, the Ministry of Defence on Sunday said up to 20 militants were killed and wounded in an air attack in Kunar province Friday.
The area of the attack is on the border between Kunar and Nuristan, and both statements referred to the same incident.
The U.S.-led coalition insists those killed were militants who had previously attacked a NATO base with mortars.
Despite Nuristani's claims, a coalition statement said there are "no official reports of non-combatant injuries or casualties."
Meanwhile, the chief government official in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province said villagers reported that between 30 and 35 people walking in a group toward a wedding were killed in a bombing early Sunday.
Up to 10 others were wounded, he said.
Haji Amishah Gul said the group was hit while resting in the shadow of a mountain. Those killed included men, women and children, he said.
No other officials could immediately confirm Mr. Gul's claim because of the remote location of the incident. No hospitals reported receiving any of the wounded.
The U.S.-led coalition said an air strike killed several militants in Nangarhar. A U.S. military spokesman said he had no reports that civilians were among those killed.
Mr. Karzai's statement appeared to indicate that Afghan civilians were fleeing in cars during the time of the air strike by coalition helicopters because of a warning from the U.S. coalition.
"Coalition forces are saying that this operation was against armed insurgents in the area, but Gov. Nuristani is insisting that three hours before this air strike the people were informed by international forces that they should leave the area because of a possible air strike against insurgents," the statement said.
Military reports still indicated that Friday's strike in Nuristan hit two vehicles carrying militants who had attacked a NATO base with mortars.
U.S. coalition reporting indicates that the Kunar and Nuristan incidents, reported by the Ministry of Defence and Mr. Nuristani respectively, were the same.
Elsewhere, in the southern province of Helmand ? the country's other hotly contested region ? a clash killed seven Taliban and two police, said Helmand provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.
Five other officers were wounded during the Saturday fight in Nawa district.
The coalition said several militants were also killed Friday during an operation in Ghazni province.
More than 2,100 people, mostly militants, have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year.
More than 8,000 people died in attacks last year, according to the UN, the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
The number of militant attacks have been on the rise this summer compared with the same period last year, NATO officials say.

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