Mardi 12 octobre 2010

Furious China blocks visit to Nobel winner's wife

BEIJING – China blocked European officials from meeting with the fashion boots wife of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner, cut off her phone communication and kept her under house arrest — acting on its fury over the award. As China retaliated, U.N. human rights experts called on Beijing to free democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo from prison. Liu, a slight, 54-year-old literary critic, is in the second year of an 11-year prison term after being convicted of inciting subversion. He was permitted a brief, tearful meeting in prison with his wife Sunday and said dedicated the award to the "lost souls" of the 1989 military crackdown on student demonstrators. In naming him, the Norwegian-based Nobel committee honored Liu's more than two decades of advocacy of human rights and peaceful democratic change — from demonstrations for democracy at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in UGG Knightsbridge Boots 1989 to a manifesto for political reform that he co-authored in 2008 and which led to his latest prison term. On Tuesday, U.S. officials said they were closely following the situation of Liu's wife, Liu Xia. "We remain concerned by multiple reports that Liu Xia is being confined to her home in Beijing," an U.S. Embassy spokesman, Richard Buangan, wrote in response to questions. "Her rights should be respected, and she should be allowed to move freely without harassment." The Beijing public security bureau and the foreign ministry had no immediate comment on why authorities were apparently restricting her movements since she has not been charged with anything. But "soft detention" is a common tactic used by the Chinese government to intimidate and stifle activists and critics. Beijing reacted angrily to Friday's announcement awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu, calling him a criminal and warning Norway's government that relations would suffer, even though the Nobel committee is an independent organization. On Monday, it abruptly canceled a meeting that had been scheduled for Wednesday between visiting Norwegian Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen and her UGG Mayfaire boots Chinese counterpart. European diplomats were prevented from visiting Liu's wife, Liu Xia, who has been living under house arrest since Friday. Liu Xia has been told that if she wants to leave her home, she must be escorted in a police car, the New York-based group Human Rights in China said. She has reported that her phone communications, along with her Internet, has been cut off; both her and her brother's mobile phones have been interfered with, HRIC said. Simon Sharpe, the first secretary of political affairs of the EU delegation in China, said he went to see Liu Xia at her home in Beijing to personally deliver a letter of congratulations from European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Sharpe was accompanied by diplomats UGG Lo Pro Button boots from 10 other countries, including Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and Australia. But three uniformed guards at the gate of Liu's apartment complex prevented the group from entering. "We were told that we could only go in if we called somebody from the inside and if they came out to meet us. But of course, we can't call Liu Xia, because it's impossible to get through to her phone," Sharpe told reporters at the entrance to the compound. The Nobel Committee has sent the official prize documents, including an invitation to the Dec. 10 ceremony, to the Chinese Embassy in Oslo, asking Chinese authorities to hand them over to Liu, said committee secretary Geir Lundestad. In recent days, Beijing has also stepped UGG Elsey wedge Boots up its harassment of other activists, detaining several when they tried to organize a dinner to celebrate Liu's Nobel. Zhang Jiannan, who runs an Internet forum on political matters, told The Associated Press that he and other activists had gone out Friday to celebrate Liu's victory. He was placed under house arrest Saturday and warned by police not to participate in political activities. On Monday, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was the latest to be detained by police, according to his assistant, who did not want to be identified. Pu had sent out a message via Twitter on Sunday that said security officials had showed up telling him not to accept interviews with foreign media. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama criticized China for its response to the Nobel Peace Prize award, saying the government "must change," the Kyodo News agency reported. The Tibetan spiritual leader, who won the prize himself in 1989, sale ugg boots said Beijing must recognize that fostering an open society is "the only way to save all people of China."
Par lagogogo123 - 1 commentaire(s)le 12 octobre 2010
Lundi 11 octobre 2010

Empty ferry ablaze in Baltic Sea after explosion

A 650-foot ferry was ablaze in the Baltic Sea on Saturday after an sheepskin boots explosion on the upper deck, and firefighting ships were spraying the vessel with water to keep it from breaking apart and spilling some 170 tons of fuel, officials said. There were 249 people aboard who were rescued by six ships that moved in to help after the explosion on the Lisco Gloria around midnight. Three were taken to hospitals by helicopter and another 26 were slightly injured, police said. German officials and the ferry said the blast appeared to have been a technical mishap. "The investigation is ongoing, but all indications so Nightfall Boots far suggest that the cause was a technical problem," Schleswig-Holstein state police spokesman Stefan Jung told The Associated Press. TV footage showed a fire on the top deck, while the decks below appeared to be gutted by the fire. "People were lucky because it all happened on a major shipping route, that's why the other vessels were quickly on hand to rescue people," said Ulrike Windhoevel, the spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven. Authorities allowed the blaze aboard the ship to Sundance II Boots burn because "there's a possibility it could capsize if we continue," a Danish navy duty commander told the AP. No oil had spilled, he said. "At the moment there are four ships at the scene, with more on their way. Their primary purpose is an environmental protection service. If there is an oil spill we can cordon off the scene," said the duty commander, who declined to be named in line with Danish military policy. Windhoevel said firefighters were still spraying water on the ship's exterior to cool it down. "But the firefighters cannot put out the blaze on the ship, because at some point it would sink because of all the water in it," she said. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry was traveling Knightsbridge Boots from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania, authorities said. Passengers and crew were evacuated by lifeboat and taken by another ferry to a naval base near Kiel, officials and the shipping company DFDS said. The passengers were mostly Lithuanians, DFDS spokesman Gert Jakobsen said. Most of the passengers were taken to hotels for the night, but some drove themselves home, Windhoevel said. Authorities said a four-person team was lowered to the ferry by uggs on sale helicopter and managed to anchor the vessel off the southern tip of the Danish island Langeland to keep it from drifting farther ashore.
Par lagogogo123 - 0 commentaire(s)le 11 octobre 2010

Recherche sur NoxBlog

Connexion à NoxBlog.com

Nom d'utilisateur
Mot de passe
Toujours connecté
 

Inscription sur NoxBlog


Adresse du blog
.noxblog.com

Mot de passe

Confirmation

Adresse email valide

Code de sécurité anti-spam

Code anti-bot

J'accepte les conditions d'utilisation de NoxBlog.com