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Protesters throw rocks at police on a street in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region July 5, 2009. More than 140 have been killed and more than 800 injured in distrubances in the most westerly of China's provinces. Now again rioting is starting back.
Map show location of Xinjiang and city Urumqi, has seen one of the worst racial rioting in China. Usually between the HAN chinese and the mostly Muslim Uighurs ethnic group.
Hundreds of police fanned out across Urumqi on Friday
Police facing the riot with heavy guns.
Riots pushing and confronting the police demands for more security against the syringe attacks in the city. Officials are blaming the Muslim Separatists of doing it.
A Chinese official says that five people have been killed and 14 wounded during protests over security in the restive western city of Urumqi.
Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong reported the casualties at a news conference in the city, capital of the western region of Xinjiang. He said they died Thursday.
Thousands of Han Chinese flooded the streets in angry protests for a second day Friday to demand increased security in the city after a string of bizarre attacks of needle stabbings that appear to be ethnically motivated.
Police used tear gas and public appeals to break up crowds marching on government offices and called on authorities to punish those responsible for ethnic rioting in early July that left 197 people dead.
China's police chief accused ethnic Muslim separatists of staging a bizarre series of hypodermic needle stabbings that sent thousands of Chinese into the streets in angry protests for a second day Friday to demand increased security in this western city.
Police used tear gas and public appeals to break up crowds of Chinese marching on government offices and calling on authorities to punish people awaiting trial for communal violence that left 197 people dead in early July in Urumqi. The police response was more forceful than on Thursday, the first day of protests by members of the Han Chinese majority unnerved by the recent spate of syringe stabbings on dozens of people.
But the Xinjiang region, where Urumqi is located, has for decades faced a simmering separatist movement by Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.
Meng's comments were the first time authorities suggested Uighur militants were involved in the stabbings that had fed rumors and fear in the city for days but that were first publicly reported Wednesday.
Meng's dispatch to Urumqi was a measure of Chinese leaders' anxieties that order was slipping in the often tense city of 2.5 million and that violence between Hans and Uighurs could flare anew.
Heavily Uighur neighborhoods were sealed off by security forces forming barriers at street entrances.
Local police authorities said Friday that hospitals in Urumqi are now treating 531 people who believed they were attacked by hypodermic needle, 55 more than previously reported, Xinhua said. About 106 of them showed obvious signs of needle attacks, it said. Most of the victims were Han Chinese.
So far, none of those stabbed showed any signs of infection or poisonings, state media has said. Infection by AIDS is a concern, given Xinjiang's high rate of HIV cases, spread by needle-sharing among drug users.
None of 160 or so people treated at the Urumqi Medical College Hospital showed symptoms of AIDS or hepatitis, said Lin Fangmu, director of the preventative medicine department.
The unrest shows how unsettled Urumqi remains despite continued high security since the July rioting, the worst communal violence to hit Xinjiang in more than a decade. That rioting began when a protest by Muslim Uighurs spiraled out of control, and Uighurs attacked Han. Days later, Han vigilantes tore through Uighur neighborhoods to retaliate.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi console wife Vijaya Lakshmi and other family members of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in Hyderabad. Reddy died in a chopper crash on Wednesday along with four others.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pays tribute to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, in Hyderabad on Friday. CM Reddy died in a chopper crash on Thursday along with four others.
In this photo provided by the Indian Press Information Bureau, PM Manmohan Singh is seen laying a wreath at the body of Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister Y S R Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday. Thousands of Indians gathered on Friday in a sports stadium to pay their last respects to a top Indian politician killed in a helicopter crash.
Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister YSR Reddy's son Y S Jagan Mohan greets people during his father's funeral procession in Hyderabad on Friday. Thousands of Indians gathered on Friday in a sports stadium to pay their last respects to a top Indian politician killed in a helicopter crash.
A huge crowd gathers to pay tribute to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on his funeral procession in Hyderabad.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi pays tribute to Andhra Pradesh CM Rajasekhar Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday. CM Reddy died in a chopper crash on Thursday along with four others.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi consoles Jaganmohan Reddy, Member of Parliament and son of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, in Hyderabad on Friday. YSR died in a chopper crash on Wednesday along with four others.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi signs on the book of condolence of Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, in Hyderabad on Friday. Also seen in the picture are PM Manmohan Singh (L), Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi (2nd from R) and Jaganmohan Reddy (R), son of AP CM.
An Indian Police officer tries to stop supporters attempting to get a closer glimpse of deceased Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Reddy during a service at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Hyderabad, the state capital, to pay their respects to their popular chief minister who was killed in a helicopter crash this week. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, 60, died along with four other men when his helicopter crashed in bad weather on Wednesday as he flew to visit drought-hit villages.
A huge crowd gathers to pay tribute to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on his funeral procession in Hyderabad.
Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of UPA and Rahul Gandhi consoling Y S Rajsheker Reddy wife Smt Vijaya Lakshmi in Hyderabad on Friday.
Indian policemen help women cross a boundary fence to pay their final tributes to deceased Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Hyderabad to pay their respects to their popular chief minister who was killed in a helicopter crash this week. YS Rajasekhara Reddy, 60, died along with four other men when his helicopter crashed in bad weather on Wednesday as he flew to visit drought-hit villages.
Jagan Mohan Reddy . The struggle for succeeding Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy as Chief Minister has begun in the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, with a large section of Ministers, MLAs and other leaders going all out to project his son and Kadapa MP, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, as his rightful political heir.
A huge crowd gathers to pay tribute to Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on his funeral procession in Hyderabad on Friday.
Suppoters of Congress Party mourn at the party headquaters after hearing the death news of the chief minister of India's Andhra Pradesh state Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in southern Indian city Hyderabad on September 3, 2009. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash on September 2, and five bodies were found at the spot.(
Suppoters present candels to a photo of the chief minister of India's Andhra Pradesh state Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in southern Indian city Hyderabad on September 3, 2009. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash on September 2, and five bodies were found at the spot.
Suppoters of Congress Party mourn at the party headquaters after hearing the death news of the chief minister of India's Andhra Pradesh state Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in southern Indian city Hyderabad on September 3, 2009. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash on September 2, and five bodies were found at the spot.
The burial was both emotional and chaotic. Even before YSR's body and his family and other leaders landed at the venue at 4 pm, a crushing crowd of thousands gathered and poor bandobast and the lack of barricades led to utter chaos with people surging for a glimpse of the coffin.
The Indian national flag was lowered to half mast at all state government offices, schools and colleges declaring holidays in Andhra Pradesh, while the Indian central government had announced a state funeral for Reddy and ordered the lowering of the Tricolour to half-mast in all state capitals for two days.
Earlier in Hyderabad, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson & AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Union home minister P Chidambaram and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi placed wreaths on the body and spent nearly 25 minutes with the family members at the camp office on Friday.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who described Reddy as the mascot of governance, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress Ministers, and several other leaders cutting across party lines were in Hyderabad Friday to pay tribute to him.
Sonia Gandhi said in the national capital that Reddy's death "is a huge loss for the party, it is a loss for all of us, his colleagues, for the state of Andhra Pradesh and the country". "Throughout his chief minister ship both last time and now, he worked hard for the upliftment of every section of the society, for farmers and the poorest sections of the society. Not only us, everyone, all the people of Andhra, will remember his contribution to the state," she said.
Several people also thronged the stadium at Hyderabad and Pulivendula where Reddy's body was kept in the morning for several hours to pay homage.
State's Chief Secretary P. Ramakanth Reddy also said in an official message to the people: "The state government declares, with deep sense of sorrow, the sudden demise of Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy. As a mark of respect to the departed leader, a state mourning is declared for seven days with effect from Thursday. The national flag will be flown at half mast during the period. There will be no official entertainment."
Political scientist Professor S.K. Gupta said: "This is a honor which is not seen often in a country like India. It looks like the whole state came to a standstill just for one leader. Even opposition politicians paid their last respect to Reddy. What a scene, something which all the major national news channels broadcast live. It's like America mourning the death of President JFK. India indeed lost a great leader."
The leading newspaper "The Tribune" said in an editorial: "There was virtually no challenge to his authority from within the party or from outside."
What happen why helicopter bell Crash ?
Initial investigation reports into the crash suggest that the chopper that last reported flying at 5,500 feet descended to a lower flight level to possibly avoid fast-developing cumulonimbus (Cb) clouds in the area and to keep the ground in sight. It then crashed into the Rudrakunduru hillock, which was about 3,200 feet high and stood straight ahead of the chopper's flight path.
The helicopter was not equippeded with Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), which warns the pilot of any proximity grounds and contacts."If the Andhra Pradesh government had installed the EGPWS, which costs about Rs 75 lakhs, the Bell 430 pilot would have got a warning when the chopper was nearing the hill and he would have pulled up the aircraft in time to avoid the crash," says the anonymous experienced pilot.
Andhra bleeds in death wish- Suicides, heart attacks cause alarm
The tragic demise of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has set off a bizarre trail of death in Andhra Pradesh with at least 133 people perishing either by committing suicide or from cardiac arrests apparently triggered by fear that the welfare schemes on offer would all be withdrawn.
Official sources said 94 people had succumbed to cardiac arrest in the state since yesterday afternoon. The sources, quoting family members of those who have died, said the majority of them were Reddy’s admirers who collapsed from shock.At least 39 people have committed suicide either by hanging themselves or consuming poison. Reddy, who was given a state funeral today, was buried at his farm estate of Idupulapaya in Kadapa district.
The reasons for the deaths ranged from hero-worship to fear of withdrawal of YSR’s schemes such as pension for the aged and widows, free power to farmers, free healthcare to BPL card-holders(has health privileges, benefits and others) and rural housing subsidy.
In Adilabad, Gavvala Buchaiyya, 70, and Ramakka, 60, jumped from a bridge. “We felt desperate after learning of the death of our Rajanna (elder brother, though YSR was 60) who gave us pensions,” they said in a note.
In Krishna district, J. Maddiramayya, 55, died of shock as he had just got his kneecap operated under the Arogyasri scheme. In Prakasham district, adjoining the Rudrakonda hillock where YSR’s helicopter crashed, 30-year-old K. Chinavelugonda Rao hanged himself fearing he would not get the last instalment of funds under the Indiramma rural housing subsidy scheme.
Yadigiri, 42, who had recently received an Arogyasri card entitling him to free healthcare, collapsed of heart attack after watching news of YSR’s death.
The death spiral prompted YSR’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to issue an appeal to the people, the third since yesterday. “My father died working for the betterment of all of you. Don’t let his efforts go waste by committing suicide,” Jagan said in a TV appeal.
Psychiatrists have labelled the deaths fatalistic suicides, which appear to have sprung from a unique socio-cultural milieu that seems to be shared by Tamil Nadu. They said such suicides occur in certain social environments when individuals believe there is no way their lives can improve.
“It’s an impulsive action, an escape from perceived trauma, the result of an inability to rationalise a loss,” said M. Phani Prasant, a consultant psychiatrist in Hyderabad.
Fuel truck were surrounded by people to siphon the previous fuel which were hijacked . German authority that time believe it was surrounded by insurgents and ordered an air strike. The explosion cause causalities. Many to believed to around 90 people. Could be combination of villagers civilians and insurgents.
Afghani policemen look at one of two burnt fuel tankers, near Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Local Afghan people prepare to burry their villagers killed in a NATO air strike, in a mass grave near Kunduz, Afghanistan,
A victim of the NATO airstrike on an oil tanker hijacked by Taliban insurgents is carried into the main hospital in Kunduz.
The two fuel tankers would have looked out of place, stuck by a river bank outside a small Afghan village. Local people came out to take a look and help carry makeshift containers with siphoned fuel inside from the stricken vehicles.
That is when the Nato missiles struck, wiping out much of the village of Omar Kheil, and doing critical damage to US and Nato hopes of making a fresh start in Afghanistan.
Taliban militants had hijacked the two tankers on the main road out of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan, and driven them to Omar Kheil, which is under their control, about 12 miles from the city. The hijacking, on Thursday night, was reported to the German Nato soldiers garrisoned nearby, who spotted the lorries this morning. At some point the German commander called in an air strike to deal with the problem. Estimates differ as to how many people were killed in the fireball, but they range from a few score to more than a hundred.
Muhammad Omar, the governor of Kunduz province, told the BBC 90 people were dead, but that number included senior Taliban militants.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, currently in the midst of an election controversy, said targeting civilians in any form was unacceptable and emphasised that innocent civilians must not be killed or wounded during military operations.
Nato's International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) initially discounted reports that civilians were among the dead. "After assessing that only insurgents were in the area, the local Isaf commander ordered an air strike, which destroyed the fuel trucks, and a large number of insurgents were reportedly killed and injured," the first Isaf statement said.
That line was amended when the badly burned survivors started turning up at the local hospital.
Brigadier General Eric Tremblay told Reuters news agency: "It would appear that many civilian casualties are being evacuated and treated in the local hospitals. There is perhaps a direct link with the incident that has occurred around the two fuel trucks."
An investigation was launched into the incident which will focus on the decision by the German commander to call in the air strike. It happened in the same week the American commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal delivered a strategic assessment on the state of the war to Rasmussen and to Washington. It is known that one of its main thrusts was a change of emphasis from killing the Taliban to protecting civilians. Nato officers have been told that if they have Taliban fighters in their sights but there is a risk of civilian casualties they are to hold fire.
McChrystal believes Nato has alienated the Afghan people by excessive reliance on air strikes that have caused high civilian casualties. But Isaf functions as a patchwork of different national troop contingents, working in different circumstances and under different rules of engagement.
German troops function under restrictions imposed by Berlin, which are aimed at limiting their own casualties and have resulted in them being more operationally cautious. The restrictions, known as caveats, have infuriated other Nato contingents operating alongside them. If the investigation suggests that an air strike was called in because the German force was reluctant to commit troops on the ground to recover the tankers, it will escalate a long-running row over caveats in Afghanistan that is endangering Nato unity.
Alongside a Taliban resurgence, there have also been reports of Uzbek groups operating in affiliation with al-Qaida. Security on the roads connecting Afghanistan to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is crucial to the Nato war effort after the route through the Khyber pass was crippled last year
Marastial, the MP from Kunduz, said the hijacking of the trucks was part of a concerted Taliban effort to disrupt trucks taking fuel down from the US built bridge at the border crossing from Tajikistan.
US and allied mounting operations in Afganisthan to contain the Taliban operations.
A victim of an ISAF airstrike on an oil tanker hijacked by Taliban insurgents is carried into the main hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan
An Afghan official say a NATO airstrike on two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan has killed 90 people, including 40 civilians.
Police Chief Gulam Mohyuddin says militants seized the two trucks around midnight near the village of Omar Khel in Kunduz province. He says the alliance launched an airstrike as the Taliban fighters had stopped the trucks at a river crossing.
One police official estimated that 90 people were killed, and that 40 were civilians. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity over the issue of civilian deaths in the conflict.
Kunduz province Governor Mohammad Omar said as many as 90 people were feared killed, burned alive in the giant blast.
Lieutenant-Commander Christine Sidenstricker, press officer for the U.S. and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said Afghan authorities had reported two fuel trucks hijacked, and NATO air craft spotted them on a river bank.
"After observing that only insurgents were in the area, the local ISAF commander ordered air strikes which destroyed the fuel trucks and killed a large number of insurgents," she said.
"The strike was against insurgents. That's who we believe was killed. But we are absolutely investigating" reports of civilian deaths, she said.
Asked how pilots could know whether a crowd gathered around the truck included civilians or fighters, she said: "Based on information available at the scene, the commanders believed they were insurgents."The blast was thought to have burned alive villagers as they gathered to collect fuel from the tankers when one became stuck in a river.
"My brother was burned when the aircraft bombed the fuel tankers. I don't know whether he is dead or alive," said weeping villager Ghulam Yahya, one of dozens of relatives gathered outside Kunduz Central Hospital in the provincial capital.
The incident also demonstrates the mounting insecurity in the north of the country, an area that had been seen as safe but where Taliban attacks have become increasingly frequent.
Mohammad Sarwar, a tribal elder in the province, said Taliban fighters had hijacked the tankers and were offering fuel to a crowd of villagers when the tankers were bombed.
"We blame both the Taliban and the government," he said.
Under new orders issued in July by the ISAF commander, U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, air craft are not supposed to open fire unless they can confirm there is no chance civilians might be hurt or friendly forces are in immediate danger.
Kunduz province Governor Mohammad Omar said as many as 90 people were feared killed, burned alive in the giant blast.
Michael Jackson death ... lawyers claim much of the report is 'police theory'. But now death is ruled as 'homicide' , main suspect is Dr Conrad Murray administrated deadly cocktail of drugs.
Forest Lawn is notable for its lack of headstones and for a tight-lipped policy about celebrities' grave sites.
Friends and family said their final goodbyes tonight to Michael Jackson, who was laid to rest during a private service in the exclusive section of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Ca. Jackson was interred in the cemetery’s Great Mausoleum, a voluminous building that also houses the remains of Clark Gable, W.C. Fields and Carole Lombard. Security was tight – local police blocked off streets around the cemetery and discouraged fans from trying to gain access – but that didn’t stop the media from surrounding the cemetery’s wrought-iron front gates.
In addition to the Jackson family including Michael’s three children, attendees at the private service included Elizabeth Taylor, Macaulay Culkin, Lisa Marie Presley, Corey Feldman and Chris Tucker.Temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset, with some mourners fanning themselves with programs for the service. Other mourners included ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley, baseball star Barry Bonds, actors Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis, choreographer Kenny Ortega and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
A police escort ushered a motorcade of 31 cars from the Jacksons' Encino compound to Forest Lawn Glendale. Jackson's parents, Joe and Katherine, and the singer's children, 12-year-old Prince Michael, 10-year-old Paris Michael and 7-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket, were in the front rows for the service.
Jackson, who was 50, died on June 25 of a drug overdose. The Los Angeles County ruled that his death was a homicide. -------------
President-elect Barack Obama, flanked by Vice President-elect Joe Biden, left, and future Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, speaks to elementary school children on Dec. 16 in Chicago.
Some schools won't show President Obama's online speech to the nation's students Tuesday because of the objections of administrators and parents.
Independence, Mo., School District Superintendent Jim Hinson says he's gotten "more calls than we've ever had on an issue," some from parents who will keep their children home Tuesday.
Obama will challenge students "to work hard, stay in school and dramatically reduce the dropout rate" in the noon ET speech, says White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. "This isn't a policy speech."
Lesson plans sent to schools originally suggested that students write letters to themselves "about what they can do to help the president." That language prompted conservative radio host Glenn Beck to say the White House goal is the "indoctrination" of children.
This week, the wording was changed to suggest that students' letters focus on ways to achieve their educational goals, Vietor says. The speech will be posted online Monday, he says.
Sandra Abrevaya, U.S. Education Department spokeswoman, notes that President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation's students on live TV in 1991.
Regardless of who the president is, says Brett Curtis, a parent in Pearland, Texas, "I don't want him coming into the schools and making a political speech to my children. ... It's just wrong."
Chinese residents argue with Chinese riot police on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese paramilitary police watch as Chinese gather on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese police officers patrol near Han and Uighur children at a school in Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese protesters push against a line of Chinese paramilitary police on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people
Hundreds of Chinese protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after a series of mysterious syringe attacks further unnerved residents in the western Chinese city of Urumqi where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.July's rioting -- in which ethnic Muslims set upon Hans, who then retaliated with vigilante attacks -- was the worst communal violence in a decade in Xinjiang, an often tense Central Asian frontier region with valuable oil and gas deposits.
The demonstration underscored public jitters and lingering grievances despite the city's still-high police presence. It also posed a challenge for the Beijing leadership and a propaganda drive portraying Urumqi and all of China as harmonious ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule Oct. 1.
Thursday's protest came after days of rumors that gangs were roaming the city and stabbing mostly Han people with hypodermic needles. City officials and state media confirmed the attacks, saying 21 people had been detained. A report on Xinjiang TV's newscast Thursday said 476 people had sought treatment for stabbing, though only 89 had obvious signs of being pricked.
Concerns about the stabbings may be high because Xinjiang has the highest rate of AIDS virus infections in China, with the problem fueled by needle-sharing among drug users.
Zhao, the Chinese demonstrator, said anger was stoked by a perceived delay in trials for those arrested over the July riot as well as by the syringe stabbings.
"This is communal violence and people are frustrated because over 200 people were killed and almost 1,700 were injured. And of course you have friends, relatives and children who were attacked. So the people are not happy," said Bo, the politics expert.
The mostly Han demonstrators seemingly took care not to rile ethnic grievances, calling out "Maintain ethnic unity" and venting their anger on local officials. They called for the ouster of Wang Lequan, who is the Xinjiang party secretary and an ally of President Hu Jintao.
Troubles in Xinjiang are magnified by ethnic resentments. The Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim group that sees the region as its homeland, complain about being displaced by the Han, who have poured into the area in recent years. The Han resent government affirmative action policies for official jobs and university spots given to Uighurs.
Trying to head off trouble, Wang and the Urumqi party secretary Li Zhi separately talked to the demonstrators, who called for better police protection and demanded they step down, an editor at a local newspaper said, requesting his name not be used because he works for the government.
"Am I that silly? Do I not know that I should protect my brothers and sisters?" Li told them, according to footage the editor said was aired on Urumqi's TV station.
Robert Gates and Mike Mullen both warned of limited time in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable
NATO supply trucks wrecked in an explosion Sunday sit in Chaman, Pakistan. The vehicles were originally bound for Afghanistan.
Only now does the US have sufficient resources on the ground to start implementing President Barack Obama's new Afghan strategy, Mr Gates said.
His comments come days after the top US general in Afghanistan called for a fresh approach to the conflict.
Gen Stanley McChrystal said success was possible, but strategy must change.
Days after receiving Gen McChrystal's detailed report into the Afghan conflict, Mr Gates spoke in defence of Mr Obama's approach to Afghanistan at a Pentagon news conference with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Later on Friday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to restate his commitment to Afghanistan in a major speech.
Speaking at the Pentagon, Mr Gates said firmly: "I don't believe that the war is slipping through the administration's fingers."
"I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan," he said, but cautioned that there remains "limited time for us to show that... this approach is working".
Alongside his civilian boss, Adm Mullen repeated the charge that for years the mission in Afghanistan was poorly funded and staffed.
"Part of why it has gotten more serious and has deteriorated has been directly tied to that," he said. But the situation could be turned around in the next 12 to 18 months, he said.
Speaking of the possibility of increasing the number of US troops even further, Mr Gates said he would only consider that option if Afghans felt reassured by a larger military presence.
He reiterated that the danger posed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban was the main reason for the continuing US presence in Afghanistan.
In a speech on the war, which has claimed 212 British lives since 2001, Prime Minister Mr Brown will say: "When the security of our country is at stake we cannot walk away."
In a strategic assessment sent to US leaders in August but yet to be published officially, Gen Stanley McChrystal, who was appointed as US commander in Afghanistan earlier this year, called for a new approach.
"The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," Gen McChrystal wrote.
President Obama is trying to take back control of the health care debate with an address to the joint session of Congress Sept. 9. Kick up controvesary when wants to talk to school children.Parents scare will indoctrinate political policy to children and develop cult followers.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry responds to a question during an interview in his Capitol office Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009, in Austin, Texas. Perry says he understands the concerns of parents who don't want their children listening to President Obama's school-time speech next Tuesday on the importance of education, aimed directly at the nation's school children.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry responds to a question during an interview in his Capitol office Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009, in Austin, Texas. Perry says he understands the concerns of parents who don't want their children listening to President Obama's school-time speech on education next week. But Perry said he's "certainly not going to advise anybody not to send their kids to school that day." Obama plans to give a speech Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 on the importance of education, aimed directly at the nation's school children.
President Barack Obama's back-to-school address next week was supposed to be a feel-good story for an administration battered over its health care agenda. Now Republican critics are calling it an effort to foist a political agenda on children, creating yet another confrontation with the White House.
Obama plans to speak directly to students Tuesday about the need to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms across the country will be able to tune in.
Schools don't have to show it. But districts across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to watch.
Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia, Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out.
Some conservatives, driven by radio pundits and bloggers, are urging schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using the opportunity to promote a political agenda and is overstepping the boundaries of federal involvement in schools.
"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."
Arizona state schools superintendent Tom Horne, a Republican, said lesson plans for teachers created by Obama's Education Department "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach."
"I think it's really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this," White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"It's simply a plea to students to really take their learning seriously. Find out what they're good at. Set goals. And take the school year seriously."
She noted that President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991. Like Obama, Bush drew criticism, with Democrats accusing the Republican president of making the event into a campaign commercial.
Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."
The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."
PTA council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is "cutting out the parent" by speaking to kids during school hours.
"Why can't a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?" Mendelsohn said. "Because that's what makes a powerful statement, when a parent is sitting there saying, 'This is what I dream for you. This is what I want you to achieve.'"
"Nobody seems to know what he's going to be talking about," Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said. "Why didn't he spend more time talking to the local districts and superintendents, at least give them a heads-up about it?"
"Is the president dictating to these kids? I don't think so," Dalgleish said. "He's trying to get out the same message we're trying to get out, which is, `You are in charge of your education.'"
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FOX's Right Wing Ice Queen Laura Ingraham: "Obama Will Be Indoctrinating School Children Next Tuesday" President Obama will be speaking directly to students in their classrooms on Tuesday. "This is crrepy," says Laura Ingraham, in for Bill O'Reilly. "It sure is a slick move to market 'brand Obama' to our young people."
Forest lawn Glendale.Resting place for the rich and famous.Security is always high and very private .
Michael Jackson will share eternity with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, entombed alongside them in a grand marble mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star's grave into a shrine.
A private family ceremony was set for Thursday night inside the massive multistory building at star-studded Forest Lawn Glendale cemetery. The service comes one month after a lavish public memorial that displayed the King of Pop's gleaming golden casket to millions on TV.After the burial, the closest the public will be able to get to Jackson's vault is a portion of the mausoleum that displays "The Last Supper Window," a life-size stained-glass re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. Several 10-minute presentations about the window are held regularly 365 days a year, but most of the building is restricted.
Jackson family chose well for his final resting place if it was privacy they were after.
The Jackson family had booked an Italian restaurant in Pasadena for a gathering Thursday night, said Alex Carr, assistant operations manager at Villa Sorriso, in the city's Old Town district. She wouldn't specify the menu or number of people, but said the entire restaurant, which can accommodate 200 guests, had been reserved for the event and that security would be present.
In court on Wednesday, it was disclosed that 12 burial spaces were being purchased by Jackson's estate at Forest Lawn Glendale, about eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but no details were offered on how they would be used.
Jackson's estate will absorb the cost of the service including the policing and other private costs incurred.
The King of Pop died a drug-induced death June 25 at age 50 as he was about to embark on a comeback attempt. The coroner's office has labeled the death a homicide, and Jackson's death certificate lists "injection by another" as the cause.
Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told detectives he gave the singer a series of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep.
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Michael Jackson Family Enters Into Private Viewing At Forest Lawn Cemetery Funeral
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The casket containing the body of the late Michael Jackson emerges from the Forest Lawn Cemetery and is headed to the Staples Center.
