Six In The Morning

Self-immolations reflect rising Tibetan anger



By Simon Denyer, Monday, April 2,
DHARMSALA, India — He walked three times around the rural monastery he had attended as a small child, cycled into town and had a simple vegetarian meal with a friend. Then 22-year-old Lobsang Jamyang excused himself to go to the bathroom. Inside, he doused himself with gasoline. When he emerged, he was already in flames. Jamyang then ran a few yards to the intersection at the center of the eastern Tibetan town of Ngaba, faced its huge main Kirti monastery and shouted slogans calling for Tibetan independence from China and for the return of the Dalai Lama, the region’s exiled religious leader.

After 22 years of waiting, Suu Kyi to take first step into parliament
Supporters celebrate historic by-election victory, but military to retain grip on power

Rangoon Monday 02 April 2012
A wave of hope and excitement – shackled and repressed here during so many years of military rule – gripped parts of Burma yesterday as Aung San Suu Kyi and her party claimed victory in a series of polls that could determine whether the country continues on its stumbling journey towards democracy. Although the outcome of the 45 by-election seats contested will do little to immediately take power from the hands of military-backed government, the opportunity for thousands of people to vote for the Nobel laureate and her party for the first time in more than two decades created a rare buzz of optimism.

Expanded powers to monitor UK email planned


The Irish Times - Monday, April 2, 2012
British ministers are preparing a major expansion of the government’s powers to monitor the email exchanges and website visits of every person in the UK, it was reported yesterday. Under legislation expected in next month’s queen’s speech, internet firms will be instructed to install hardware enabling GCHQ – the government’s electronic “listening” agency – to examine “on demand” any phone call made, text message and email sent, and website accessed in “real time”, the Sunday Times reported. An attempt to bring in a similar law was abandoned by the former Labour government in 2006 in the face of fierce opposition.

Mali rebels attack Timbuktu


TIEMOKO DIALLO AND ADAMA DIARRA BAMAKO, MALI
Residents and rebels say separatist insurgents are besieging the ancient town of Timbuktu as they take their fight for a homeland for the nomadic Tuareg people to one of the last government holdouts in northern Mali. Residents reported gunfire on Sunday and army soldiers abandoning their bases, as rebels pressed ahead with their lightning campaign to carve out a desert homeland.

'Tea Party socialists?' Why the left is leading a tax revolt in Ireland.
As the deadline passed midnight Sunday for payment of a new government fee, only 49 percent of households had signed up to pay amid frustration with the government's austerity agenda.

By Jason Walsh, Corresponden
A majority of Irish households have refused to pay a new government fee in a tax revolt led, unusually, by socialists. The Irish government levied the new tax in an attempt to shore up the country's finances that were devastated by economic collapse and a series of bank bailouts. But as the deadline passed midnight Sunday, only 49 percent of households had signed up to pay. With no rioting and few protests, Ireland had been until now the quietest of the ravaged economies on the fringes of the European Union. However, the tax revolt reveals significant frustration here to budgetary reforms and foreshadows trouble ahead for the government's efforts to meet EU bailout demands.

Aid pledged to Syrian opposition groups
Gulf states to create fund to pay members of armed opposition, as contact group demands Assad comply with peace plan.

Last Modified: 02 Apr 2012 06:22
An international coalition including the United States, the United Kingdom and several Arab states, has pledged to send millions of dollars in aid and equipment to Syria's opposition groups, signalling a deeper international involvement in the conflict there. In a communique issued after a meeting of the "Friends of the Syrian People" group in Istanbul on Sunday, world leaders called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to immediately comply with an earlier promise to abide by a United Nations-Arab League peace plan. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, meanwhile, have pledged to set up a multi-million dollar fund to pay members of the armed opposition, known as the "Free Syrian Army", a move aimed at encouraging defections from the ranks of the Syrian armed forces.