BEIJING: Two more Tibetans have died after setting themselves ablaze in China, Western rights groups said yesterday, the latest in a string of self-immolations in protest against Chinese rule. The Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and London-based Free Tibet said separately that Tsesung Kyab set himself on fire in front of a Buddhist monastery in western Gansu province and died on the final day of the Tibetan New Year. He was related to another Tibetan who died after setting himself on fire in December. ICT and US-based Radio Free Asia also reported that another Tibetan, Phagmo Dundrup, set himself ablaze on Sunday in China’s Qinghai province and died yesterday. More than 100 people have set themselves on fire in protest at China’s rule since 2009 and at least 87 have died.
Taiwan mulls nuke plant referendum
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s Premier Jiang Yi-hua said yesterday that the government may support a referendum on the island’s half-completed and controversial fourth nuclear power plant. The plant, in the coastal Kungliao district near the capital Taipei, is about 90 percent completed and due to come on line in 2015, according to its owner state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower). But opposition to the project has been mounting since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami ravaged a Japanese nuclear power plant in March 2011. “Through this process, we hope an issue that has troubled Taiwan for more than 20 years can be solved so that Taiwan can regain momentum,” he said.
Victory against noisy mosque
Jakarta: A Indonesian man yesterday said he had won a victory against a noisy mosque, despite being forced to withdraw legal action after an angry mob threatened to kill him. When Sayed Hasan, 75, filed a lawsuit in December in the city of Banda Aceh, in which he complained of being disturbed, the community protested. But he said that despite being taken to the court where he was forced to withdraw his case, he had won a rare victory. “After I dropped my case, the volume was turned down by about half.” A local leader said the imam had decided to reduce the noise. Agencies
