Chinese security forces sealed off parts of Lhasa on Saturday and Tibet’s government-in-exile said it was investigating reports of fresh protests, weeks after the city was shaken by an anti-government riot. The reports coincided with a visit by a group of diplomats, who were led on a closely guarded tour of the city.
Tibetan monks stormed a news briefing at a temple in Lhasa on Thursday, accusing Chinese authorities of lying about recent unrest and saying the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with the violence. The incident was an embarrassment to the Chinese government, which brought a select group of foreign reporters to Lhasa for a stage-managed tour of the city.
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/ 4 February 2008
Millions remained stranded in China on Monday ahead of the biggest holiday of the year as parts of the country suffered their coldest winter in a century. Freezing storms have killed scores of people and left travellers stranded before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival — the only opportunity many people have to take a holiday all year.
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/ 2 February 2008
Emergency crews struggled on Saturday to restore power to parts of southern China blacked out for a week by heavy snow as forecasters warned of no quick end to the worst winter weather in 50 years. The freak weather has killed at least 60 people and doomed millions to a cold, dark Lunar New Year holiday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Millions of Chinese faced a humanitarian crisis on Friday, as petrol and food reserves dwindled and yet more bad weather was forecast for a country paralysed by record-breaking cold and snow. More than 160 counties and cities in central China were suffering blackouts and water shortages, Xinhua news agency said.
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/ 31 January 2008
China has turned its battle against brutal winter weather into a propaganda push to try to comfort millions of cold, stranded and dismayed citizens, even as storms threaten to continue lashing many areas. Snow, sleet and ice blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have killed dozens.
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/ 8 February 2007
There are no signs of life behind the bay windows of the cream-coloured seaside villas on a secluded side of Macau, reportedly home these days to the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. ”He’s here in Macau. That’s true,” said a watchman, who looked at once amused and annoyed by the sudden interest in the four-storey homes.
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/ 10 October 2006
A day after North Korea said it tested a nuclear device and seismic sensors registered tremors consistent with a small test, the question remains: What exactly happened at that mountain site near the Chinese border? Many scientists and most governments concerned have yet to definitively conclude whether it was a small nuclear device, a dud test of what might have been a much larger device.