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.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday declared the birth of an Anglo-French axis as a force for progress in Europe and the world, on issues ranging from climate change and nuclear power to United Nations reform and the war in Afghanistan.
Democratic hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed Republican White House candidate John McCain’s economic plan as an insult, which left homeowners to face a mortgage crunch alone. In his first campaign appearance since a short vacation, Obama fired a new volley at the Arizona senator in a battle that is sure to intensify.
China requires the Dalai Lama to stop sabotaging the Olympics as a condition for talks, Chinese President Hu Jintao told his United States counterpart, George Bush, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Hu’s demand appeared to mark a new addition to a list of actions the exiled Tibetan leader must undertake before China is willing to talk with him.
Barack Obama’s camp has accused Hillary Clinton of trying to divert attention from her exaggerated account of a 1996 trip to Bosnia after she revived a row over her rival’s fiery pastor. With Obama set to return to the campaign trail on Wednesday after a short Easter holiday, the Democratic White House foes were braced for more bitterness.
China said Wednesday at least 660 people had surrendered over deadly protests in and near Tibet as French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the prospect of boycotting the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. More than 280 people had given themselves up to authorities following deadly protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa against Chinese rule.
Pakistan’s new prime minister was sworn in by President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday as two senior United States envoys arrived for talks aimed at shoring up Islamabad’s role in the ”war on terror”.
One may wind up as the first woman to lead the United States Senate. Another is relatively young and could run again for president. The third may simply resume his role as a congressional maverick and retire in two years. These are among the options that await the losers in the three-way race for the White House.
Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev maintained pressure on Nato on Tuesday not to grant membership to Ukraine and Georgia, saying a week before an alliance summit that it would undermine European security. Ukraine and Georgia are lobbying Nato to grant them a Membership Action Plan, which is seen as the first step towards joining the alliance.
Hillary Clinton on Monday pitched a plan to stop a mortgage crisis degenerating into a full-blown recession as new vitriol spilled over in her Democratic White House struggle with Barack Obama. Obama’s camp said Clinton would do anything to win, while her aides accused him of stooping to gutter politics.
The number of United States soldiers to die in Iraq has reached 4Â 000, the US military said on Monday, just days after the fifth anniversary of a war that President George Bush says the US is on track to win. The US military said in a statement four soldiers were killed late on Sunday by a roadside bomb.
Senator Barack Obama won a coveted endorsement from fellow Democrat Bill Richardson on Friday as the State Department apologized for snooping into his passport files and those of his two main White House rivals. The decision by the Hispanic governor of New Mexico is a victory for Obama and could improve the Illinois Democrat’s chances of winning over Latino voters.
Tibet authorities said on Thursday they had arrested dozens of people involved in a wave of anti-Chinese violence and prompted Beijing to pour in troops to crush further unrest. China’s response to last week’s violence has sparked international criticism and has clouded preparations for the Beijing Olympics.
George Bush marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion on Wednesday with an uncompromising speech in which he described the war as noble, necessary and just and claimed there was now an unprecedented Arab uprising under way against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
United States President George Bush said on Wednesday he had no regrets about the unpopular war in Iraq despite the ”high cost in lives and treasure” and declared that the US was on track for victory. With less than 11 months left in office and his approval ratings near the lows of his presidency, Bush is trying to shore up support for the Iraq campaign.
President George Bush will acknowledge on Wednesday the Iraq war has been fought at a high cost but will insist a United States troop build-up has opened the door to a ”major strategic victory” against Islamic militants. ”The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable,” Bush will say in an upbeat assessment.
Egypt’s High Court on Monday rejected the latest bid by jailed opposition leader Ayman Nur to be released on medical grounds, his lawyer said, adding that he would now seek a presidential pardon. The court was due to release details of its verdict against the one-time pro-democracy darling of the West later.
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney, an architect of the US-led invasion of Iraq, made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday to assess the success of a troop build-up five years after the war began. Cheney arrived as Republican candidate John McCain, who will be the Republican choice in November’s presidential election, was meeting Iraqi leaders.
The global credit crunch claimed its biggest victim yet on Friday when the United States Federal Reserve orchestrated an emergency bail-out for Bear Stearns after a cash crisis prompted a run on the US’s fifth-biggest investment bank. President George Bush sought to calm fears of a deep recession in the world’s biggest economy.
Kidnappers of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop found dead in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul had demanded a -million ransom, a senior police official said on Friday. Paulos Faraj Rahho, the archbishop of Mosul, 390km north of Baghdad, was abducted on February 29 after gunmen attacked his car and killed his driver and two guards.
An affiliate of United States-based buyout firm Carlyle Group has defaulted on about ,6-billion of debt and expects its lenders to seize remaining assets as the global credit crunch tightens around leveraged investors. A ”successful refinancing is not possible,” Carlyle Capital said.
Gold rose to all-time high on Thursday as investor buying speeded up after the dollar sank and oil hovered near lifetime peaks. Gold rose to .70 an ounce before easing to trade at ,60/992,0 at 11.08am GMT, against ,90/982,70 late in New York on Wednesday.
When rumours of a ”gay wedding” spread through the town of Ksar el Kebir, the only evidence produced was a video on YouTube of a man dancing in women’s clothes. Four people are now in prison accused of homosexual acts, Islamists are decrying a decline in morals and liberals are warning that the kingdom risks sleep-walking into extremism.
Oil prices were close to $109 in Asian trade on Wednesday, underpinned by the United States dollar’s dive to a new low against the euro and supply concerns, dealers said. In late morning trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, traded briefly at $108,90 a barrel, up 15 cents from its record closing high of $108,75 on Tuesday.
The United States is not satisfied with the pace at which Israel is moving to implement a long-stalled peace ”road map”, US and Western officials said ahead of a key meeting to assess compliance with the plan. Officials said Washington also believed the Palestinians needed to do far more to meet their obligations to boost security.
The prospect of recession is looming over the American presidential election campaign, amid a wave of job losses and collapsing home prices that could see the political battle being fought in the middle of an economy in crisis. Last week was marked by rising oil prices, tens of thousands of lost jobs and plummeting share prices.
United States employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the world’s largest economy has skidded into recession. ”The question appears no longer to be are we going into a recession but how long and deep it will be,” said economist Joel Naroff.
United States Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton questioned each other’s sincerity and leadership on national security and the economy on Friday as they geared up for the next tests in a gruelling struggle for the White House. Clinton told audiences in Wyoming it was time to end the Iraq war that she backed in 2002.
Europe’s European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) won its share of a huge contract to build aerial tankers for the United States thanks in part to improved French-American ties, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted on Thursday as saying.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to resume peace talks suspended over an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. Signalling a willingness by Israel to hold fire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there would not be further attacks on Gaza if Palestinian militants stop rocket salvoes.
Ministers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on Wednesday agreed to keep oil output steady and said record high prices had been driven by factors that were beyond their control. United States crude hit a record of ,95 a barrel on Monday and was trading above on Wednesday.
Now that he is the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain has a big decision ahead of him — who to choose as his vice-presidential running mate. A top priority for him is to pick a running mate whose presence on the ticket would reassure Americans concerned about McCain’s age.