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What is the Chinese view of the Dalai Lama? Wen Jiabao, the premier, has said that the rioting by Tibetans was "organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique", whose claims to be pursuing not independence but peaceful dialogue "are nothing but lies". Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party secretary in Tibet, has described the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast". Yet Wednesday Mr Wen told Gordon Brown by phone that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the exiled Tibetan leader if he...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 7.2 Date-Time Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 22:33:01 UTCFriday, March 21, 2008 at 06:33:01 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 35.424°N, 81.386°E Depth 37.2 km (23.1 miles) Region XINJIANG-XIZANG BORDER REGION Distances 230 km (140 miles) SE of Hotan, Xinjiang, China375 km (235 miles) ENE of Leh, Kashmir615 km (385 miles) ENE of Srinagar, Kashmir3105 km (1930 miles) W of BEIJING, Beijing, China Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.6 km (4.1 miles); depth +/- 10.2 km (6.3 miles) Parameters NST=134, Nph=134, Dmin=962.1 km, Rmss=0.89 sec, Gp= 54°,M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7 Source USGS...

Geneva - A joint report by the United Nations and the African Union concludes that the Sudanese army has deliberately committed massacres in four Darfur villages. One hundred and fifteen people were killed in the attacks, which occurred in January and February. More than 30,000 people fled the violence. The report says houses and food storage facilities were torched during joint operations by the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militias. Government soldiers and Janjaweed militiamen reportedly took part in looting and rape. The Sudanese army operation was intended to restore government control over northwest Darfur.

NOTE: Admin Mod - This witness spoke today with Peter and his counsel. He is a substantial individual. I believe his story is worth telling and hope it will not be pulled. When the time is right, he will be identified. Drudge, if you would have been covering this story, I would have been glad to give this to you first. You too, Hannity. STATUS CONFERENCE in Paul v Clinton: now scheduled for April 25. Unless some other trick is pulled by weasel Kendall, a trial date should be set. We still anticipate a Hillary deposition during summer Congressional...

Ferraro Offended By Comparison to Pastor Wright by FOXNews.com Thursday, March 20, 2008 Geraldine Ferraro complained Thursday about Barack Obama lumping her in with his controversial pastor, whom she called a “racist bigot.” Obama mentioned Ferraro on Tuesday in his speech on race and his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose heated, anti-U.S. sermons raised questions about the company the Democratic presidential candidate keeps. “To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable,” Ferraro told the Los Angeles newspaper, The Daily Breeze, on Wednesday. “He gave a very good speech...

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden lashed out Thursday at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel and called for a holy war to liberate the Palestinian lands. A day after a bin Laden audio on a militant Web site threatened Europeans, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast audio excerpts attributed to the al-Qaida leader that urge Palestinians to ignore political parties "mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy" and to rely on armed might. "Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said. It was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since...

Woman pleads guilty to false rape report By Peyton Whitely Seattle Times Eastside bureau A 22-year-old former Woodinville woman pleaded guiltyTuesday to making a false rape accusation against a local college professor last June. King County District Court Judge Peter Nault called the case one of the "saddest" he'd ever seen in court and one that is likely to have long-term impact on future investigations. "That we hurry to castigate a person who turns out to be entirely innocent ... I don't know how it could be worse," said Nault, saying the incident will make it harder for real sexual...

Abortions in England and Wales have reached "industrial levels", according to a Conservative MP who obtained figures on multiple terminations. The statistics, for 2006, showed nearly 15,000 women were having their third or more abortion, while 54 of those had terminated eight or more pregnancies. This was "shocking and disturbing", said Mark Pritchard, who sits on the all-party Pro-life group in Parliament. Health chiefs say they are working to improve access to contraception. Almost £27m would be spent on this in the next financial year, the Department of Health said in a statement, including a "targeted campaign to highlight contraceptive...

Much to my surprise Charles Krauthammer came up with the best, short description of Obama's speech regarding Reverend Jerimiah Wright. Krauthammer pointed out: (1)Obama equated the Wright hate speech with a private worry of his white grandmother or the valid observation by Geraldine Ferraro that without his race he would not be the Democrat presidential candidate he is; (2)Obama never expressed any apology of any kind to anyone; (3)And, Obama seems to have taken the attitude of "..Come to me and I will heal you..." If anyone can link to this very short Krauthammer effort, I would appreciated it.

Cheney with US troops at Balad air base, Iraq “Iran has got to be very high on that list,” said a senior aide ahead of the talks US Vice President Dick Cheney will hold during his 10-day tour of the Middle East and Turkey, which began Monday, March 17 in Iraq. Singling out Oman, the aide noted that the US and Oman are co-guardians of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “The Omanis, like a lot of other people,” he said “are concerned by the escalating tensions between the rest of the world community and Iran and by some of...

Riyadh, 20 March (AKI) - No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a Middle East expert. While Saudi mediators are working with the Vatican on negotiations to allow places of religious worship, some experts believe it will not occur without this recognition. Anwar Ashiqi, president of the Saudi centre for Middle East strategic studies, endorsed this view in an interview on the site of Arab satellite TV network, al-Arabiya on Thursday. "I haven taken part in several meetings related to Islamic-Christian dialogue and there have been negotiations on this...

Former "Bachelor" bachelor Andy Baldwin just got back from the island of Palau in the South Pacific -- not on vacation, on a mission with the Navy. Now let's talk about why we the taxpayers are footing the bill on such BS. Baldwin was among 20 military types who were on a search mission in the middle of the ocean. What, you ask, were they looking for? A B-24J bomber that went down during the war. Not Iraq. Not Vietnam. No, not Korea. We're talking WWII, as in more than 60 years ago. Turns out, the military spends $52 million...

Funny, it was okay when Democrats "crossvoted" for John McCain to screw Mitt Romney, but when the Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter strategy of voting for Hillary to avoid Obama worked, all hell is breaking loose... Even this year, Democrats have moved across the aisle to vote. During the Michigan GOP primary, Daily Kos leader Markos Moulitsas urged his blogger army to vote for Mitt Romney. There, Democrats constituted 7% of the Republican primary vote. In New Hampshire, John McCain won in part thanks to Democrat crossovers. McCain himself urged Democrats to crossover (different sentiment, but crossing over, still). Even back in...

As first reported by WREC's Mike Fleming, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton is stepping down on July 31. Sources suggest that he plans to campaign for superintendent of Memphis City Schools. ... Herenton was re-elected last fall and has served as mayor for 16 years. Recently a federal grand jury exploring Herenton’s ties to a city contractor has served subpoenas at the Memphis Area Transit Authority offices.

Washington, D.C. – Five years ago this week 170,000 American and coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines launched Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). When they commenced their attack they were outnumbered nearly three to one by Saddam Hussein's military, yet it took U.S. troops just three weeks to liberate Baghdad. No military force in history has ever gone further, faster or with fewer casualties.Despite a lightning-fast victory over the dictator's Army, Republican Guards and Fedayeen, the challenge of leaving Iraq better than we found it proved to be daunting and dangerous. Unfortunately, few Americans know what their countrymen in uniform...

GERING, Neb. - Instead of a wedding ring, one Scottsbluff bride found herself in handcuffs. Scotts Bluff County deputies arrested 31-year-old Dianne Carnes on Tuesday afternoon, just after her courthouse wedding was to have started. Her offense? Officials say a day earlier, Carnes threatened a woman who served on the jury of her felony driving under license suspension trial. Prosecutors say Carnes was caught driving last year while her license was suspended for a drunken driving conviction. Carnes was found guilty of driving under suspension Monday. Officials say an arrest warrant was issued Monday for Carnes after she threatened the...

(CNN) -- Al-Jazeera broadcast on Thursday an audiotape on which a voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares "Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine." The voice calls for the people of neighboring countries "to do their best in supporting their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq." "My speech to you is about the siege of Gaza and the way to liberate it," he said. "The Gaza siege is a direct result of Annapolis," he adds, apparently referring to the site of November's summit in Annapolis, Maryland, where Israeli and Palestinian leadership agreed to work toward...

Contact: Natalie Bell, Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000, ext. 126, 202-255-1959  WASHINGTON, March 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- Current U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood. Studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorically confirm that if MSM were permitted to give blood the general population would be placed at risk. According to the FDA, MSM, "have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors...