Chinese premier urges officials to obey laws

Belgian ambassador meets Suu Kyi (AFP)
Brussels (AFP) – The ambassador of Belgium, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, on Friday met Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi at her home and reiterated support for her fight for Democracy. Belgium's Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere said in a statement that the ambassador had told the democracy leader, who was released November 13, that European Union Member States would back efforts to win democracy in Myanmar. "The November 7 election not having produced an openi...

Homebound
TWO days after her release from House Arrest on November 13th, Aung San Suu Kyi said she hopes for a peaceful revolution in her country. The Burmese Activist for Democracy and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize had been detained for 15 of the last 21 years. Our table shows a selection of Political Prisoners who are either being held in their homes or whose movements are restricted. Hundreds more may be under House Arrest around the world, according to the pressure group Human Rights Watch. Internat...

China stops prominent artist leaving country
Ai had been due to board a flight from Beijing to South Korea Thursday evening, when Police presented him with a piece of paper saying he was not allowed to leave China on grounds of endangering security. "They said my leaving the country would threaten National Security. They were very polite, and said that in accordance with the law, I could not leave ... It's really silly," Ai told Reuters by telephone. "I think there's a direct connection with next week's Nobel Peace Prize award," he added....

Peace prize reveals China as an enemy of its own people
IMPRISONED Chinese writer and human-rights campaigner, Liu Xiaobo will receive the Nobel Peace Prize next Friday. For the first time in history, however, neither the laureate nor any member of his immediate family will be in Oslo to accept the award. China's government has blocked Liu's wife, the acclaimed photographer Liu Xia, from participating by keeping her under virtual House Arrest in Beijing. And it has browbeaten allied countries into boycotting the Norwegian ceremony. Not surprisingl...

China stops artist from leaving
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says he has been stopped from travelling abroad, in a move apparently linked to next week's Nobel Peace Prize awards in Norway. The authorities have reportedly been working to prevent Activists from attending the Nobel ceremony. The foundation is giving its prize to imprisoned campaigner Liu Xiaobo. Since the Nobel announcement in October, Mr Liu's wife and other prominent Dissidents have either been put under House Arrest or are under increased Surveillance, s...

Russian objection hits UN council Ivory Coast talks
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon backed opposition Candidate Alassane Ouattara on Friday as the victor in Ivory Coast's Presidential Election, but Russia blocked the Security Council from doing likewise, Envoys said. Supporters of former Prime Minister and Presidential Candidate for the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) Alassane Ouattara celebrate on a street in Gagnoa, the native village of rival Candidate for the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and current President Laurent Gbagbo, w...

Sarah Brown
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 December 2010 00.01 GMT Aung San Suu Kyi is greeted by supporters at her party headquarters in Rangoon this month. Photograph: Reuters This year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been the patient heroine who has shown us that sometimes goodness is enough. Her quiet but firm message could not have been clearer, and her call for Democracy since her election as Burma's leader has tested her country just as her personal sacrifice has agonised so many. It has been a privilege fo...

Gunfire erupts in I.Coast presidential standoff
Gunfire rattled Ivory Coast's main city on Saturday as an already bloody election standoff escalated with President Laurent Gbagbo stepping up to crown himself leader for another five years. Residents reported sustained gunfire overnight in several parts of Abidjan, home to supporters both of Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara whom world powers have hailed as the winner of the disputed presidential polls. After a nightly Curfew passed, angry young Ouattara supporters hit the streets of Abidj...

WFP Leaders Express Opposition to Special Election for Mayoral Succession
With Bob Duffy just a few weeks away from being sworn into office as New York's next Lt. Governor, there has been a lot of discussion about how his replacement as mayor will be selected. Most Grassroots Activists are supporting having an interim mayor appointed so that we can then have a "normal" election process in 2011, including a primary and a General Election. While Chairman Joe Morelle wants to have a Special Election which would likely limit participation, 7 of the Democratic Party's 11 L...

Will Carter Be Obama's Special Envoy On Korean Crisis?
As I arrived at the White House yesterday for the regular press briefing, I spotted an easily-recognized figure: Jimmy Carter. Accompanied by two aides, the 39th President was headed into the West Wing where he used to work as I went into the briefing room. The arrival of Carter to the White House (unannounced to the regular Press Corps) and subsequent confirmation to me that he was meeting with the National Security Council staff as well as President Obama sparked immediate speculation that th...

'Every reason to believe' resolution on Chinese Nobel winner coming next week
A resolution likely to anger China will come to the floor in the lame-duck session, the Republican sponsor said Thursday evening after a conversation with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution with 11 Bipartisan co-sponsors before the Thanksgiving break to honor Chinese Dissident and human-rights Activist Liu Xiaobo. October's announcement that Liu would be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Dec....

Outspoken artist caught in Nobel prize crackdown
Ai Weiwei ... prevented from boarding flight to Seoul. Photo: AFP Beijing: China's best-known artist, Ai Weiwei, has been stopped from leaving the country minutes before he was to board his flight. The outspoken artist said officials warned him he might harm National Security. He believes police were worried he would go to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony next Friday for the jailed Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo, although he had already told them he would not attend. Ai said he was waiting at the bo...

China says Norway ties remain strained over Nobel
BEIJING - China said Thursday its ties with Norway continue to be strained, following the decision by the Oslo-based Nobel Committee to award this year's peace prize to a jailed Chinese Dissident. The Chinese Government's anger has been on public display since October, when the Nobel Committee selected Activist Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion for co-authoring Charter 08, an appeal for democratic reforms in one-party China. The committee operates independently ...

Ai Weiwei blocked from leaving China
Ai Weiwei, China's most famous artist, has been blocked from leaving the country in the run-up to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony next week....

Nobel Winner Faces Theft Charge
(NewsCore) - The reputation of a Nobel peace laureate, credited with helping to defeat global Poverty through micro credit, hung in the balance Wednesday night after allegations that he had diverted £40 million (US$62.4 million) from a bank set up to help the poor. Muhammad Yunus, internationally feted as Banker to the world’s poor, now faces an investigation by the Norwegian government, which donated funds to him, according to The (London) Times. It marks a further blow to the reputa...

China stops prominent artist leaving country
Beijing | Fri Dec 3, 2010 6:05am EST Beijing (Reuters) - Chinese Police have prevented artist Ai Weiwei from traveling to South Korea, he said on Friday, linking it to a crackdown on Dissidents ahead of the formal awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a prominent rights Activist. Ai had been due to board a flight from Beijing to South Korea Thursday evening, when Police presented him with a piece of paper saying he was not allowed to leave China on grounds of endangering security. "They said m...

Mongolian activist's son: China police took mother
BEIJING - Chinese Police detained the wife of the co-founder of a Mongolian separatist movement and raided the family bookstore just days before the Activist is to be released from 15 years in Prison, his son said Saturday. Unrest among ethnic Mongolians in China is not as well known as that among ethnic Tibetans and Uighurs, but the scheduled release next Thursday of Hada, who like many ethnic Mongolians uses just one name, has brought a round of complaints about Police harassment. Hada h...

European TV group condemns China Nobel boycott (AP)
Geneva – The European Broadcasting Union has condemned the Chinese Government's decision to Boycott next week's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The Geneva-based umbrella group of public broadcasters from 56 countries says Chinese Media have been urged by their government to refrain from attending and covering the Dec. 10 event in Oslo, Norway. EBU said Friday that it "strongly condemns political attempts to control free and independent journalism." It is unclear who will pick up the prize on...

UN official: Unprecedented heat waves will seem like average summers in the future
Stumble This! From the Methane-laden tundra of the far north to the depths of the oceans, world governments need to spend more on cutting-edge research to "get a handle" on how much and how quickly the world will warm in decades to come, says the head of the U.N. Climate Science network. "There are huge gaps in the effort as far as scientific research is concerned," Rajendra Pachauri told The Associated Press, pointing to concerns that the Arctic's thawing permafrost is releasing powerful globa...

China blocks famous artist, economist from flights
BEIJING (AP) — China’s crackdown before next week’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony has widened to block a well-known artist and an Economist who’s more than 80-years old from traveling overseas. Artist Ai Weiwei said he was stopped from getting on a flight from Beijing to Seoul on Thursday night, while Economist Mao Yushi said he was prevented from flying to Singapore on Wednesday morning. Both are supporters of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who is now serving an 11-ye...

Mongolian activist's son: China police took mother
Chinese Police detained the wife of the co-founder of a Mongolian separatist movement and raided the family bookstore just days before the Activist is to be released from 15 years in Prison, his son said Saturday. Unrest among ethnic Mongolians in China is not as well known as that among ethnic Tibetans and Uighurs, but the scheduled release next Thursday of Hada, who like many ethnic Mongolians uses just one name, has brought a round of complaints about Police harassment. Hada helped found the ...

Resolution supporting Chinese dissident likely to get a vote next week
Source: The Hill https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/131797... A resolution likely to anger China will come to the floor in the lame-duck session, the Republican sponsor said Thursday evening after a conversation with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution with 11 Bipartisan co-sponsors before the Thanksgiving break to honor Chinese Dissident and human-rights Activist Liu Xiaobo. October's...

European TV group condemns China Nobel boycott
GENEVA - The European Broadcasting Union has condemned the Chinese Government's decision to Boycott next week's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The Geneva-based umbrella group of public broadcasters from 56 countries says Chinese media have been urged by their government to refrain from attending and covering the Dec. 10 event in Oslo, Norway. It is unclear who will pick up the prize on behalf of imprisoned Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year Prison sentence for subversion....

A Low Bar in Cancn? Not for U.S., Envoy Declares
Todd Stern, the chief American Climate Change negotiator, arrived on Friday in the Mexican resort town of Cancún, where the annual two-week United Nations climate extravaganza has been under way since Monday. He made clear at an afternoon press briefing that the United States was seeking an agreement that addresses all the major issues that make up the current Climate Change agenda. He said quite emphatically that he was not interested in some sort of face-saving partial deal that makes pr...

ICoast's Gbagbo pressured to concede presidency
Ivory Coast's bloody election standoff escalated Saturday with world powers urging long-term President Laurent Gbagbo to make way for his old rival Alassane Ouattara. With both Candidates claiming victory and the United Nations, United States and European Union all throwing their weight behind Ouattara, Ivorians waited anxiously for the next move by Gbagbo, clinging on after a decade in power. State television said early Saturday that a ceremony was planned to confirm Gbagbo in office at midday ...