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Rice Crisis?
Related to country: Philippines

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


The price of rice is continuously rising. How come? I have my theories:


1) There is really no crisis except that some businessmen are hoarding the stocks of rice and are waiting for an opportunity to increase the price.
2) The fertilizer scam that until now, the government, the justice system and the lawmakers have not looked into.
3) Importing rice will produce kickbacks to some people.
4) Some farmers are now planting flowers instead of rice (or vegetables) because flower business is a more lucrative job.

March 30, 2008 | 11:50 PM Comments  1 comments

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Show support for Tibetans protesting inside Tibet
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE GO TO THEIR WEBSITE: http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/


Show support for Tibetans protesting inside Tibet

Contact your local government officials; call for UN intervention in Tibet and demand the International Olympic Committee withdraw Tibet from China's Torch relay.


While the international public and media have been appropriately horrified by China's clampdown, it is imperative that our national governments speak out in support for Tibet and condemn China's actions. Please call and write to your Elected Representatives and urge them to push their governments to strongly condemn China's crackdown in Tibet. For a sample letter, click here.

Click here to send a message to your U.S. Congressional Representative.
Click here for contact information for Canadian Members of Parliament.
Click here for contact information for British Members of Parliament.
Click here to urge the International Olympic Committee to remove Tibet from China's official Torch relay route now and to speak up publicly about the situation in Tibet.

For updates on the situation inside Tibet, please visit the SFT blog: http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org
To see the latest photos from Lhasa protests,click here.
For a media roundup of the global protests, click here.


March 19, 2008 | 10:37 PM Comments  0 comments

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Eyewitness: Monk 'kicked to floor'
Related to country: Tibet

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Eyewitness: Monk 'kicked to floor'
With tension rising in Tibet following a series of anti-China protests, the BBC spoke to an eyewitness who saw police on Wednesday beating monks at one of three monasteries which have been sealed. He wishes to be identified only as John.

We knew something was happening because there were more road checks as we got into Lhasa.

Cars were being stopped and police were writing the licence plates down. We tried to stop at a shrine outside Lhasa but were told to keep moving.

Then we heard around Wednesday lunchtime that Drepung monastery was closed. We didn't know why.

That afternoon we went to Sera monastery to see the debating. It's famous - the monks debate points of philosophy and people come to see it.

Just when it was about to start, around three o'clock, we started to hear rounds of applause coming out of a courtyard in the heart of the temple.


They were grabbing monks, kicking and beating them


We thought the debate was starting but then suddenly the clapping reached a crescendo - kind of a hooting.

Then the gate of the debating compound opened and this stream of maroon humanity poured out, several hundred monks. It was impossible to count but I think there were at least 300.

We thought it was part of the tradition but when you looked at the expression on their faces, it was a very serious business. They were pumping their hands in the air as they ran out of the temple.

Plain-clothes police

The minute that happened we saw the police - two or three who were inside the compound - suddenly speaking into their radios.

They started going after the monks, and plain-clothes police - I don't know this for sure but that's what I think they were - started to emerged from nowhere.

There were four or five in uniform but another 10 or 15 in regular clothing. They were grabbing monks, kicking and beating them.


If we had gone to Sera monastery an hour earlier or an hour later, no-one would have known what these monks had done


One monk was kicked in the stomach right in front of us and then beaten on the ground.

The monks were not attacking the soldiers, there was no melee. They were heading out in a stream, it was a very clear path, and the police were attacking them at the sides. It was gratuitous violence.

The Tibetan lay-people started rushing to get out of the temple. Tibetan grandmothers were grabbing young kids and getting them out.

We were left behind when the monks left the temple. About 20 minutes later we felt as if we could leave.

Riot police

Outside the monastery the road curved to the left and to the right. We were directed left - but when we looked to the right there was a line of riot police with batons and helmets blocking off the street.

The monks were sitting in neat rows on the ground, surrounded by a phalanx of police. It was a very clear show of force - there were maybe as many as 300 riot police and regular police there.

It could have been civil disobedience, but it looked like the monks had been put there. They weren't moving.

As we turned left, we saw troop carriers with camouflaged army regulars arriving - those green trucks with soldiers in the back on benches. We saw guns, large guns that looked like automatic weapons.

There were two or three of those trucks as well as others - several units of public order personnel swarming the situation.

As we left, all the roads around the monastery were blocked by police. There was no access.

At the time, all the phones were dead - we were trying to call the hotel but none of the cell phones were working. But within an hour the phone service was back on.

It seemed as if within half an hour the thing had been totally brought under control.

Back in Lhasa, it was eerily normal. There were police around but not really a muscular presence. It seemed to have been a massive localised show of force.

We realised that if we had gone to Sera monastery an hour earlier or an hour later, no-one would have known what these monks had done.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7296134.stm

Published: 2008/03/14 12:15:32 GMT



---Because we have to know what's going on around the world. Let's speak up and be not silent on issues that trouble our world and threaten our human rights and security--hekatea

March 19, 2008 | 10:33 PM Comments  0 comments

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Spratly is ours!
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

From Sabah to Turtle Islands now it's Spratly. Our country is being stripped off. No offense to my Chinese friends and the Chinese community as a whole but China has more than enough lands to occupy. We should not be encroaching foreign lands and let's respect each other's sovereignity.

March 16, 2008 | 9:28 AM Comments  0 comments

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campaign against animal rights violation
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

For all animal lovers like me, let's campaign against pain infliction on animals. This is too much for fashion. Too much for consumption. Learn from our Ameridian brothers and sisters who dignify animals even if they eat them only for their survival and nothing more.
visit: www.peta.org