Sad smiles in Chengdu, the “gateway to Tibet.”
China battles criticism over its handling of the Tibet crisis. As we all know by now, they blame the Dalai Lama and think he’s trying to spoil the Olympic party. They’re basically disappointed that the Western media is so interested in Tibet. Xinhua quotes some foreigners in China saying things thePparty wants you to know, and it certainly does seem the protests were not all flowers-in-the-rifle-barrel affairs. There was violence stemming from resentment at being under China’s heel.
A monk burned himself in a Burmese temple several days back.
The Sri Lankan military says they killed 29 rebels Sunday. The military is currently engaged in a strong offensive in the north and east of the country. Overall a hundred rebels were reported killed this weekend. Sri Lanka does not allow journalists into the war zone, making it impossible to verify their figures.
The Thai government takes a harder look at at the southern provinces’ pondoks and imams. And three more people were killed in the region recently, which has seen more than 3,000 insurgency-related deaths in the past four years.