When US President George W. Bush is inaugurated for his second term today, up to 200 central city blocks will be restricted or closed completely to vehicles -- and at least 3,000 police officers will be imported from other jurisdictions. \nThe event will be highest security inauguration in the country's 229-year history, the first installation of a president since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. \nBush himself believes the inauguration is "an attractive target for terrorists," he recently told the Washington Post. \nPeople who work near the White House and the parade route have been told which building doors they may enter, and what they may carry. Some streets will have been closed for days before today, and some metro stations will be closed today. \nHomeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has conceded that the government knows of no credible terrorist threats to the inauguration. \nA more likely issue could be protestors along the parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue from the landmark Capital building, with its rotunda, where Bush will be sworn in at noon, to the White House. At Bush's first installation, his caravan was pummelled with eggs. \nThe DC Anti-War Network hopes to spark civil disobedience and will rally in an outlying park and march downtown, where they plan to lie down in the roads. But with all the streets closed to cars, it's not clear who would notice such an obstruction. \nAnother group, Anarchist Resistance, used its Web site to announce a march and decried the inauguration as "one of the grandest ceremonies of the ruling class." \n"Let's bring anarchy to the streets of DC -- make resistance visible, and ring in the next four years with a smash!" the group urges. \nA few conservative groups plan rallies to support Bush. \nPennsylvania Avenue was closed at 6pm yesterday as city workers removed streetlights and welded shut manholes. In all, Washington will see traffic limited on a swath of the city more than seven blocks wide and 21 blocks long. \nUnprecedented numbers of army canine handlers with explosive- sniffing dogs will be on duty. Horse-mounted US Park Police and military infantry with assault rifles and night-vision goggles will guard against attack. Marines trained to respond to biological and chemical attacks and military engineers trained in collapsed-building rescues will be on standby for a worst-case scenario. \n"We all take great pride in not only being prepared for but also several steps ahead of any possible emergency or threat," said Ralph Basham, director of the Secret Service, which protects the president and other dignitaries. \nFederal workers across the capital region will get today off as a holiday, estimated to cost US$66 million in lost work time. \nSome employees were even supposed to get yesterday afternoon off, in the inner top security region. \nWashington Mayor Anthony Williams is upset that the city must foot more than US$17 million, mostly for security, which it says drains resources for crimefighting. Ironically, the city's constituents cannot even vote in national elections due to the capital city's unique status, yet their taxes pay for many of Washington's special needs. \nThe city has sought extra money from Congress, but Bush administration officials say the city gets about US$80 million a year in extra federal money since Sept. 11 to defray the capital's unique security requirements. \nGovernment agencies have spent more than a year developing security plans, regardless of election outcome. The inauguration is a national event, not just a party for the political victors. \nRidge, vowed last week that "local, state and federal government are as prepared as possible to thwart any attempts at disruption of this celebration of democracy, to thwart terrorists and to protect the hallmark of our democratic and constitutional traditions."
An April circular by the Chinese Ministry of Education on student admission criteria at Tibetan universities has been harrowing and discriminating to say the least. The circular said that prospective students must state their “political attitude and ideological morality” to be considered for admission. It also said that students should not be involved in religious movements and students who are proficient in Marxist theory should be preferred. Since Beijing started occupying Tibet, it has meticulously introduced policies to dismantle the Tibetan education system, which is closely tied to its rich monastic tradition, and has even pulled students from Afghanistan and eastern
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The Jumbo Floating Restaurant was a landmark in Hong Kong for nearly half a century. The palatial restaurant, with its pastiche Chinese architecture and neon lights perfectly encapsulated the territory’s beguiling balance of East and West, tradition and modernity. It was a feature backdrop in numerous Hong Kong films. However, forced to close amid the stringent COVID-19 lockdown policies of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) and denied financial support from her government, the floating temple to Cantonese gastronomy was towed from its mooring in Aberdeen Harbour this month by its owners with its planned destination not released. On June
When I was teaching in Lesotho in southern Africa during the 1980s, I taught a class on comparative foreign policy. The course included trips to the US embassy, the Soviet embassy, the British embassy and the newly established Chinese embassy. The students could ask the ambassadors and staff questions about foreign policy, and would then write a report as their final term paper. The Chinese ambassador felt that the US-style education I delivered was unique and invited me to go to China to teach. At the time, China was planning to open up to the world, and it needed professors versed
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