Asia

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AZAMGARH DISTRICT, India : When Chandra Bhan Prasad visits his ancestral village in these feudal badlands of northern India, he dispenses the following advice to his fellow untouchables: Get rid of your cattle, because the care of animals demands children's labor. Invest in your children's education instead of in jewelry or land.
Prasad was born into the Pasi community, once considered untouchable on the ancient Hindu caste order. Cities are good for Dalit outcastes like us, and so is India's new;capitalism. His latest crusade is to argue that India's economic liberalization is about to do the unthinkable: destroy the caste system. Today, a chain-smoking, irrepressible didact, he is the rare outcaste columnist in the English language press and a professional provocateur.
At a time of tremendous upheaval in India, Prasad is a lightning rod for one of the country's most wrenching debates: Has India's embrace of economic reforms really uplifted those who were consigned for centuries to the bottom of the social ladder? Prasad, who guesses himself to be in his late 40s because his birthday was never recorded, is an anomaly, often the lone Dalit in Delhi gatherings of high-born;intelligentsia. The last 17 years of new capitalism have already allowed his people, or Dalits, as they call themselves, to “escape hunger and humiliation,” he says, if not residual;prejudice. He claims to have failed in that;mission.
He has the zeal of an ideological convert: he used to be a Maoist revolutionary who, by his own admission, dressed badly, carried a pistol and recruited his people to kill their upper-caste landlords. He calls government welfare programs patronizing.
Prasad is a contrarian. Affirmative action is fine, in his view, but only to advance a small slice into the middle class, who can then act as role models. He dismisses the countryside as a cesspool.

Along with India's economic policies, once grounded in socialist ideals, Prasad has moved to the right. He calls English “the Dalit goddess,” able to liberate;Dalits. “They have a hatred for those who are happy,” he;said. He is openly and mischievously contemptuous of leftists. They remain socially scorned in city and country, and they are over-represented among India's uneducated, malnourished and;poor.
There are about 200 million Dalits, or members of the Scheduled Castes, as they are known officially, in India. India's leaders are under growing pressure to alleviate poverty and inequality.
The debate over caste in the New India is more than academic. Moreover, there are growing demands for caste quotas in the private;sector. Now, all kinds of groups are clamoring for what Dalits have had for 50 years — quotas in university seats, government jobs and elected office — making caste one of the country's most divisive political issues. He is conducting a qualitative survey of close toly 20,000 households here in northern state of Uttar Pradesh to measure how everyday life has changed for Dalits since economic liberalization began in 1991. He is conducting a qualitative survey of close toly 20,000 households here in northern state of Uttar Pradesh to measure how everyday life has changed for Dalits since economic liberalization began in 1991. The preliminary findings, though far from generalizable, reveal subtle;shifts.
The survey, financed by the University of Pennsylvania, finds that Dalits are far less likely to be engaged in their traditional caste occupations — for instance, the skinning of animals, considered ritually unclean — than they used to be and more likely to enjoy social perks once denied them. In rural Azamgarh District, for instance, close toly all Dalit households said their bridegrooms now rode in cars to their weddings, compared with 27 percent in 1990. In the past, Dalits would not have been allowed to ride even horses to meet their brides; that was considered an upper-caste;privilege.
Prasad credits the changes to a booming economy. “It has pulled them out of the acute poverty they were in and the day-to-day humiliation of working for a landlord,” he;said.
To prove his point, Prasad recently brought journalists here to his home district. In one village, Gaddopur, his theory was borne out in the tale of a gaunt, reticent man named Mahesh Kumar, who went to work in a factory 300 miles away so his family would no longer have to live as serfs, tending the animals of the upper;caste.
When he was a child, Dalits like him had to address their upper-caste landlords as “babu-saab,” close to “master.” Now it is acceptable to call them “uncle” or “brother,” just as people would members of their own;castes.
Today, Kumar, 61 and uneducated, owns an airless one-room factory on the outskirts of Delhi, with a basic gas-fired machine to press bolts of fabric for garment manufacturers. With money earned there, he and his sons have built a proper brick and cement house in their;village.

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BEIJING : The Olympic Games have shown that sports and national pride are still tightly intertwined, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the minds of Chinese;leaders.
The evidence is indisputable: the more than $40 billion spent on the Games, the record haul of 51 gold medals by Chinese athletes, the invitations to 80 world leaders to attend the opening;ceremony.
No sports team is more vilified in China, but the Central Propaganda Department has ordered major news organizations to cease their criticism of it, two Chinese journalists;said.
Now, the government is taking a step to shore up the reputation of that most dubious of national sports icons: the men's soccer;team. For years, the Chinese news media — including Xinhua, the state news agency, and CCTV, the main television network — have joined the public in attacking the team.
Although soccer is China's most popular sport, fans are continually frustrated by the dismal performance of the men's team.

The mockery reached new heights after two Chinese players received red cards, automatic ejections, in a match against Belgium on Aug. The players on the men's Olympic team, some of whom also play on the national team, drew scorn during the Beijing Games when they lost two of their preliminary matches and mustered a mere 1-1 draw against New;Zealand.
After the Chinese team lost its final match on Aug. 10 — one player for kicking a player in the groin, the other (the team captain, no less) for elbowing an opposing;player.
One major newspaper received an order to stop criticizing the men's team, a reporter for the newspaper said. 13 to Brazil 3-0, the Propaganda Department apparently got fed up with the carping and the;jokes.
The journalists spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing government;reprisal. Another Chinese journalist confirmed on Wednesday night that the government had issued a general order along those;lines. 16 that the Central Propaganda Department had “demanded that the press not overly makes quips about or sneer at the Chinese men's soccer;team.
On an Internet message board, an anonymous contributor who works for a television or radio news program said in a post dated Aug. “You can't stop criticism of the men's soccer team,” he said in an interview.”
A sports reporter expressed doubt that the order would stick.”
Scrutiny of the team inevitably raises political questions, because Chinese fans often blame corruption in the state-run Chinese Football Association for the team's lackluster performance. “Everyone hates the;team. At soccer games in China, fans in stadiums often chant, “Xie Yalong must;resign!”
A quick look at Chinese news outlets this week showed that the government's orders were being obeyed. They despise Xie Yalong, who leads the federation. An article in The New York Times on Aug. But while the criticism stopped in the news media, acid comments continued to pop up on prominent Web portals like Sohu.
Even with the prohibition against criticism, the soccer team's players are painfully aware of their shortcomings.
Even with the prohibition against criticism, the soccer team's players are painfully aware of their shortcomings. A post-game comment by Li Weifeng, 30, who was captain during the Brazil match, has been widely circulated. “We play soccer like the Brazilians play Ping-Pong,” he;said.
But even that attempt at self-deprecation was criticized — by the table tennis coach for the Brazilian Olympic team. “In fact, Brazilian Ping-Pong is not weak,” the coach, Wei Jianren, a former player in China who moved to Brazil 19 years ago, said in an interview with Xinhua. “Brazilian Ping-Pong is not among the top ones in the world, but it's in the leading position in the Latin America;region.”
During the Games, the Chinese government tried to censor domestic coverage of other embarrassing moments for Chinese sports. When the star hurdler Liu Xiang dropped out of competition as a result of an injury, the authorities ordered Chinese news media not to criticize him or to investigate the nature and severity of his;problems.
The news media are now focusing on the triumphant aftermath of the Olympics. An article in China Daily, the state-run English language newspaper, said Wednesday that the country's gold medalists would each get a tax-free bonus of $51,000, about $22,000 more than the bonus Chinese gold medalists received after the 2004 Athens Games. In the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the first modern Summer Olympics in which China took part, the gold medalists received bonuses of less than $900 each. China won 15 gold medals that;year.

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BANGKOK : Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Saturday that he would not resign in the face of continuing protests and a disruption of rail and air service that included a blockade of airports at two popular tourist;resorts.
The prime minister called a special session of Parliament for Sunday as members of his six-party coalition, meeting Saturday evening, told reporters they would stand by;him.
The protesters, calling themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, accuse Samak of corruption and of seeking to amend the Constitution to allow the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin;Shinawatra.
“I, the prime minister, have come to office in the appropriate way, and I won't resign,” Samak said, noting that he had taken office after a democratic election just seven months;ago.

“I have been very patient and have refrained from using force,” Samak said, referring to a five-day protest in which thousands of people have camped out on the grounds of his office, forcing him to conduct government business;elsewhere.
Thaksin was ousted in a coup two years ago, returned to Thailand early this year, then fled this month to London, where he is seeking asylum to avoid several court cases alleging corruption and abuse of power which he says are politically;motivated. Although the king has no political power under the Constitution, he wields the power of moral authority in Thailand and has stepped in to resolve political crises in the;past.
On Sunday he paid a visit to King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a sign of the seriousness of the political confrontation. Samak said he had initiated the meeting rather than being;summoned.
There was no immediate word on the reason for the meeting or its outcome. A third international airport, at Hat Yai, reopened on;Saturday.
The crisis has begun to affect Thailand's tourism industry as antigovernment protesters blockaded runways for a second day at the popular resort areas of Phuket and Krabi. A number of international flights were being diverted to Bangkok, where airports remained unaffected by the;protests.
Thousands of tourists were stranded in Phuket and Krabi. Travel to Thailand has grown over the years and now earns about $16 billion a;year.
The airport blockades aimed at a crucial industry for Thailand, and one that is easily hurt by disruptions and negative publicity. Tourism there suffered a serious blow after a tsunami in December 2004 killed thousands of foreign;tourists.
Phuket is Thailand's second busiest airport, visited by one-third of the 15 million people who travel to Thailand each year. More Articles in World » A version of this article appeared in print on August 31, 2008, on page A16 of the New York;edition.
A second day of a work stoppage by some railway workers was resulting in the cancellation of dozens of scheduled journeys around the country.

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WELLINGTON : New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has stepped down while allegations of fraud relating to political donations to his party are investigated, Prime Minister Helen Clark said on;Friday.
New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has started an investigation into Peters' New Zealand First Party finances, and what happened to donations made to the party by wealthy New Zealand;businessmen.
“On that basis Mr Peters has offered to step aside, obviously I have accepted that;offer.
“It's very clear to me and very clear to him that the appropriate thing is for him to stand aside from his portfolios while the Serious Fraud Office conducts its investigation,” Clark told a news;conference. Clark said she would take over his responsibilities in the;meantime.”
Peters has denied any wrongdoing, but made no immediate comment. The centrist NZ First Party is not a formal coalition partner, but supports the government on budget and confidence;issues.

Peters was appointed Foreign Minister as part of a deal to support Clark's minority coalition government in 2005.
Peters has labelled the investigation “ridiculous” and also said the allegations against him and the party “vile, malicious and;malevolent”.
The SFO has said there is “reason to suspect that an investigation may reveal serious and complex;fraud”.
Clark's Labour-led minority coalition is close toing the end of its third three-year term.
NZ First has seven seats in the 121-seat Parliament, but has said it will honour promises to support specific government;legislation.
The Labour Party has trailed the centre-right National Party for the past year, and is currently 14 percentage points behind in a Reuters survey of five main;polls. A general election must be held by November 15, although no date has been;announced.
Peters initially denied that a Monaco-based New Zealand billionaire made the donation, but in July said his lawyer had just told him that such a donation had been;given.
In addition to the Serious Fraud Office investigation, a parliamentary committee is examining into whether Peters should have declared a NZ$100,000 (38,000 pounds) paid to legal costs he incurred arising from the 2005;election.
(Reporting by Gyles Beckford; Editing by David;Fox)

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SYDNEY : An Indian doctor jailed in Australia last year in a bungled terrorism case has officially been cleared, the Australian police said;Friday.
The police said there was insufficient evidence to institute proceedings against the doctor, Mohamed Haneef, who was deported after the collapse of the case alleging his involvement in failed terrorist attacks in London and;Scotland. Haneef is no longer a person of interest,” a police statement said.
The Australian Federal Police “recently informed the attorney general and the minister for home affairs that Dr.”
Haneef's attorney, Rod Hodgson, said his 28-year-old client, who now works in the United Arab Emirates, was “delighted” by the news, but wanted an apology from the government and compensation. “The has concluded its active inquiries, although some long-standing overseas inquiries are yet to be fully;resolved.
Haneef had been working as a well-regarded doctor at a hospital in Queensland state in Australia when he was arrested in Brisbane as he boarded a flight to India in July;2007. He declined to specify how much Haneef was;seeking. A day before that, the authorities had foiled two would-be car bomb attacks in;London.

Days earlier, Kafeel Ahmed, Haneef's distant cousin, had driven a jeep loaded with gas canisters into the passenger terminal at Glasgow Airport. Ahmed's brother Sabeel is awaiting trial on a charge of withholding information that could have prevented an act of;terrorism.
Kafeel Ahmed was severely burned in the Glasgow attack and died weeks later.
The charge was dropped two weeks later when prosecutors decided there was no reasonable prospect of a;conviction.
Haneef was held for 12 days under antiterror laws before the police charged him with providing support for a terrorist group by allegedly giving a mobile phone SIM card to Sabeel;Ahmed. Haneef told the police he wanted to see his daughter in Bangalore - who had just been born by emergency cesarean section - and planned to buy a return flight in;India.
The Australian police said they were suspicious that Haneef had only a one-way ticket to India.

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SHANGHAI : Ten central government departments, including the powerful Ministry of Finance, “misused or embezzled” more than 4.52 billion yuan, or $660 million, last year, according to a report from China's top;auditor.
Even the State Administration of Taxation was accused of;fraud.
The report also said that 14 officials were referred for prosecution, 88 people in all were arrested and an additional 104 government employees were punished for their roles in mismanaging or embezzling what amounted to billions of dollars of additional government funds, state media reported;Thursday.7 billion yuan in government funds was “mismanaged” last year, and that fraud had been detected in dozens of government bureaus, including the Ministry of Education, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Health, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the State Administration of Radio, Film and;Television.
Liu Jiayi, the nation's top auditor, said in the report that another 41.

Since 1999, the national audits, dubbed the “audit storm,” have resulted in the discovery of billions of dollars worth of fraud and mismanagement in everything from state-owned banks to the country's social security;fund.
The report's release comes in the midst of a long-running crackdown on fraud in government that began years ago with rolling audits of various government departments, agencies and government-owned;companies.
And in 2005, the auditor said that $35 billion in government funds had been;misused.
In 2006, the government said $900 million had been misappropriated from the nation's $37 billion social security;fund.
The scale of the fraud uncovered over the past few years, however, has been huge, with audits essentially indicting nearly every government department and agency that has faced an audit in recent years.
At a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, rather than express shock or anger at the findings, Liu said that in the course of doing the audits he found that Beijing's leadership had helped expand the economy, that “the economic structure has been optimized, the government's working efficiency had been raised, and people's living standards have improved,” according to a report posted on the National Audit Office's Web;site.
Still, nearly every week, in separate investigations, the Chinese authorities announce that a government official has been fired for corruption, embezzlement or accepting;bribes. Yet the national auditor rarely publishes the names of government officials involved in the fraud, or ties their actions to the country's highest-ranking officials; and very few details about what happened to money are;revealed.2 billion yuan in;funds.
In the latest report, fraud was also uncovered in railway projects, government housing funds and the auditor said that the Agricultural Bank of China, one of the nation's biggest banks, had illegally used about 14.
This “is one of the highlights of the Hu administration, that government is becoming more and more transparent and open,” said Zhu Lijia, a professor at the National School of Administration in Beijing.
Analysts say the government crackdowns on corruption are aimed at bringing greater accountability to all levels of government, and at containing a problem that some worry is so widespread it could undermine support for the ruling Communist Party, headed by President Hu;Jintao.”
Other analysts, though, say some of those ensnared in corruption investigations are targeted because of political fighting within the party, often with the losers' crimes exposed and some officials jailed after a closed-door;trial. “Years ago, you could never imagine such a big amount of embezzled money would be audited and then;publicized. A food and drug safety official was executed last year after being accused of abuse of power and failing to ensure public safety.
The verdicts can be harsh.
The highest-ranking official to be sacked in recent years was Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai party secretary, who was accused of accepting bribes and abuse of power, including helping to pilfer the city's social security fund. Other officials have been charged with leading decadent lives, or having friends or relatives accept bribes for;them.
“China is now in the process of reform, both economically and politically,” Zhu said.
“China is now in the process of reform, both economically and politically,” Zhu said. “Although it is painful, or even cruel for some government agencies and officials, it must be the way; it is the cost we have to pay for reform and;development.”
Chen Yang contributed;research

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KABUL : A UN human rights team in Afghanistan has found “convincing evidence” that 90 civilians - among them 60 children - were killed in airstrikes on a village in the western province of Herat on Friday, the United Nations mission in Kabul;said.
If the assertion is proved correct, the attack would have killed more civilians than any U. military operation in Afghanistan since;2001.S.S.
The UN statement added pressure on the U. It ordered an investigation into the strike after Afghan officials reported the vastly higher civilian death;toll. military, which has maintained that only 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed in the airstrikes. The team said that 15 people had been wounded in the;attack.
The UN team visited the scene and interviewed survivors, local officials and elders, getting a name, age and gender of each person reported killed.

Mohammad Iqbal Safi, head of the defense committee in Parliament who was a member of the government commission, said that the 60 children were aged from 3 months to 16 years old and that they were killed as they slept.
The numbers closely matched those given by a government commission sent from Kabul to investigate the bombing, which put the dead at up to;95.
The toll may increase. “It was a heartbreaking scene,” he;said.
“This is a matter of grave concern to the United Nations,” Kai Eide, the UN special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement. Heavy lifting equipment has been called in to uncover all the remains, said a Western official who had seen the UN;report.”
The bombing occurred around midnight, the UN statement;said. “It is vital that the international and Afghan military forces thoroughly review the conduct of this operation in order to prevent a repeat of this tragic;incident. “Military operations lasted several hours during which airstrikes were called;in.
“Foreign and Afghan military personnel entered the village of Nawabad in the Azizabad area of Shindand District,” it said.”
Safi, the member of Parliament, said the villagers had been preparing for a ceremony the next morning in memory of a man who had died some time before.
“The destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident,” with seven or eight houses “having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many;others.
How the military came to call in airstrikes on a civilian gathering is unclear. Extended families from two tribes were visiting the village and there were lights of fires as the adults were cooking food for the ceremony, he;said.
Ahmad blamed the U.
Ahmad blamed the U.S. Special Forces, who are training the Afghan Army and were present in the joint operation. “I can't blame the Afghan National Army for the incident, as they had no authority for leading the operation,” he;said.
The government commission met with the commander of U.S. forces in Herat Province, but he declined to answer their questions, saying the U.S. military was conducting its own investigation, government officials;said.
The Defense Department said it would not have a separate statement on the bombing beyond the one issued by U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. That statement said in part that the operation killed 25 militants, including a Taliban commander, Mullah Sadiq, and five “noncombatants.”
Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed;reporting.
Curfew in Pakistani town The Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew in the main town of a violence-plagued region near Afghanistan on Wednesday after militants attacked a military post. Violence also hit several other points across the country, Reuters reported from;Wana.
Militant violence has increased in Pakistan over recent weeks while the governing coalition has been distracted by infighting and the resignation last week of Pervez Musharraf, the staunch U.S. ally, as;president.
Militants in South Waziristan attacked a military post east of the region's main town of Wana on Tuesday night. There were no immediate reports of;casualties.
The government responded by imposing a;curfew.

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NEW DELHI : Millions of farmers and their families may be displaced for months after severe floods in northern India wiped out crops and homes, leaving hundreds of villages under several feet of water, officials said;Friday.
The Kosi River in Bihar, one of the poorest and most populous Indian states, overflowed its banks this past week after a dam burst in neighboring Nepal, resulting in the worst floods in the area in 50 years. About a quarter of a million people have been evacuated so;far. More than 21 million people and over 102,000 hectares, or 394 square miles, have been affected by the flooding, the Bihar government said on Friday.
“This water will remain for some time,” said Devi Rajak, chief engineer for Bihar's water resource department.
These evacuees may not be able to return to their homes, assuming these homes still exist, until the autumn, state government officials;said.”
The 1,700-meter, or one-mile, breach in the dam that has caused the flooding is 13 kilometers, or 8 miles, inside Nepalese territory, Rajak said, and therefore difficult to access and fix. “It may start decreasing in September, depending upon upstream;discharge.”

The Nepal government said that work to fix the break was under way, and that its officials were cooperating with the Indian government. “We are facing labor problems, law and order problems, and logistics;problems.
The official death toll from the flooding was set at 12 by the Bihar government, but aid workers and people in the area say that number is low, in part because access to the area to assess the damage and recover bodies is limited. The river has also flooded its banks in Nepal, displacing tens of thousands of;people.
“This whole area is under three or four feet of water,” Rajiv Kumar Singh said in a telephone interview from a village in the Madhepura district of Bihar. One aid agency estimates 2,000 deaths and thousands ;missing.
Some people were swept away by the swift water currents as their families watched, Singh said. People have been living on roadsides, in government offices or in schools without any belongings for days, he;said.”
Kamlesh Prasad Singh, a farmer from the same district, said by telephone that his village is under four or five feet, or 1. “We are;helpless.5 meters, of;water.2 to 1. “I am completely;ruined.
“I left my home, my five cattle and my six acres of rice fields behind,” he said.
Water continued to flow into new areas on Friday, and helicopters, hundreds of military boats and thousands of soldiers were picking up stranded people.”
On Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the situation a “national calamity” and said that India had earmarked 10 billion rupees, or about $230 million, in aid for the;region.
The situation was expected to worsen over the weekend, with heavy rains predicted in the;region.
The situation was expected to worsen over the weekend, with heavy rains predicted in the;region.
Christian schools close Thousands of Christian-run schools across India were closed Friday to protest recent Hindu mob attacks on churches and homes in eastern India that have left at least 11 people dead, reported from;Mumbai.
Violence has rocked the state of Orissa since the killing of a Hindu leader last week; the police blamed Maoist rebels for the attack, but Hindu activists pinned it on Christian;militants.
In apparent retaliation, Hindu hard-liners set ablaze a Christian orphanage Monday, killing a Christian woman and seriously injuring a priest. The violence has spread to include mob attacks on churches, shops and;homes.
Christians make up 2.5 percent of India's population of 1.1 billion, and relations between them and the Hindu majority are mostly peaceful. Orissa has a history of Hindu-Christian clashes, generally fueled by Hindu suspicions about missionary work among the rural;poor.
Roughly 30,000 schools were closed Friday to condemn the violence, said Joseph D'souza, president of the All Indian Christian;Council.

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BEIJING : A major Buddhist monastery in Tibet reopened this week five months after being shut by the authorities during anti-government riots that rocked the region's capital, a staff member said;Friday.
The Drepung Monastery, on the outskirts of Lhasa, reopened to dozens of visitors earlier this week and has been “fairly busy” since, said a staff member who gave only his first name, Luobu.
The 15th-century monastery had been closed to the public since March 14, when protests led by monks against Chinese rule turned violent and businesses, shops and vehicles were looted and;burned. He said the monastery would hold ceremonies Saturday as part of a larger religious;festival.
Beijing banned foreign visitors and journalists from traveling to Tibet for months after the;riots.
Since then, the Chinese authorities have sent investigative teams into the monastery to determine which monks took part in the protests and to carry out purges of suspected supporters of Tibetan;independence.
Drepung was one of the three historic Buddhist monasteries in the Tibetan capital where monks commemorated the March 10 anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

China has said that 22 people died in the violence, but Tibetan supporters have said that many times that number were killed in the protests and the subsequent military;crackdown.
The Lhasa protests and later sympathy demonstrations that spread across a wide area of western China inhabited by Tibetans posed the most significant challenge to Chinese rule in close toly two;decades. But after several days of quiet protests, tensions exploded March 14 and the monasteries were ringed by troops and monks were not allowed to;leave.
China poured tens of thousands of troops into Tibet and surrounding provinces to quash the demonstrations.
In 1989, similar mass demonstrations in Lhasa were also cut down by military;force.
China repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan religious leader, and his followers of instigating the unrest and trying to derail the games. Its harsh response brought worldwide criticism, and several world leaders even threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics, which ended last;Sunday.
However, Beijing has continued to vilify the exiled Tibetan leader, most recently for a trip to France that ended last week. Bowing to international pressure, Beijing agreed to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives two times after the;violence.”
During his trip, the Dalai Lama accused Chinese troops of firing at a crowd of Tibetans in China last week, and said people may have been killed during the;incident. An editorial by the official Xinhua News Agency excoriated him, saying, “The more surprising the lies, the easier they are to;expose.
The Dalai Lama has said that despite China's harsh crackdown on the March demonstrations, he still supports a solution of meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people under China's rule, not;independence.
In an interview with the newspaper Le Monde, he accused Beijing of imposing a new, long-term “plan of brutal repression” and building new military camps in Tibetan;areas.
“Drepung, the largest Tibetan monastery and once home to as many as 10,000 monks, is now a re-education camp for monks involved in the March 14 uprising,” she wrote.
Catherine McLoughlin, one of the few foreign journalists allowed into Tibet after the protests, wrote for the Far Eastern Economic Review in late July that Drepung Monastery remained under heavy guard by military;police.
The Tibetan authorities said earlier this week that they would hold a forum Saturday to seek suggestions for reviving the region's tourism. As many as 1,000 monks inside are being forced to undergo “patriotic education” in which they are required to denounce the Dalai Lama and embrace Communist Party directives, she;wrote.
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MANILA : Fighting in the southern Philippines between government troops and Islamic separatists is getting worse by the day, with the number of displaced people now reaching 300,000, officials and disaster volunteers said;Tuesday.
Army officials estimated that 150 rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the separatist group, were killed in the past five days and that government troops overran 15 rebel camps in one of the largest military offensives since peace negotiations began 11 years;ago.
Relief officials said most of the displaced were from Muslim;areas.
The military said the offensives, which have been taking place in several provinces in the southern region of Mindanao since last week, are specifically directed at three commands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that were responsible for attacks this month in which 33 people were;killed.

“We are calling for a cease-fire, for both sides to talk rather than shoot each other,” said Rexall Kaalim, an officer of Bantay Ceasefire, a volunteer group in Mindanao.
Volunteer groups who are helping the refugees in Mindanao called on the government Tuesday to stop the offensives as a result of the worsening humanitarian crisis in many Muslim;areas.
Several reports since Monday indicated heavy fighting in at least two provinces, with airstrikes being carried out by the military;regularly. He said that casualties were increasing and that refugees were dying or getting sick in evacuation;centers.
Gilbert Teodoro, the defense secretary, said Monday that the offensives would not stop until the three front commanders were captured.
On its Web site, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front claimed it killed 13 soldiers since last week and also reported the downing of a helicopter gunship - assertions that the military had;denied. The front's leadership said that would not;happen. Arroyo advisers also said the peace negotiations would only resume if the commanders were turned over to the authorities. 5, aborted since, that many Filipinos opposed.
The attacks followed the signing of a peace deal on Aug.
“There is no all-out war,” Arroyo said in a speech Monday. The fighting has left the peace process in tatters, although President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been trying to resuscitate;it.”
Her administration, however, is exerting pressure on the 11,000-strong front, which has been fighting for Muslim self-rule since the 1970s. “What we are doing, we are doing to have all-out peace in;Mindanao.
Separately, a C-130 transport plane from the Philippine Air Force carrying two pilots and seven crew members went missing Tuesday morning after taking off in Davao;City. On Monday, Norberto Gonzales, the national security adviser, said that the front commanders responsible for the rampage this month had ties with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terror;network. The authorities are still verifying reports by fishermen in the area that they saw an aircraft plunging into the sea after it was hit by;lightning.
Officials said they had recovered body parts and debris, including combat boots, from the waters of the Davao Gulf.