UN comes to Charles Sobhraj's rescue

KATHMANDU: In a fresh twist to the six-year-old saga of Charles Sobhraj's arrest and murder conviction in Nepal, that electrified the world 

almost three decades after his criminal career had ebbed, the UN has taken up cudgels on behalf of the 64-year-old, giving credence to his claim that he was the victim of fraud and injustice in the Himalayan republic. 

After losing the battle for freedom in Kathmandu's district and appellate courts, which held him guilty of the murder of American tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975, Sobhraj, a cult figure in the 70s with reports of his preying on western tourists and staging audacious jail breaks, approached the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva last November for "justice". 

According to Sobhraj's lawyer in Paris, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, the only "evidence" police produced to prove that he had come to Nepal in 1975 – which he denies – werephotocopies of two guest registration cards. According to the prosecution, Sobhraj had visited Nepal in 1975 using the passport of a Dutch tourist and stayed in two upmarket hotels. The handwriting in the two hotel guest registration cards, they claim, matches Sobhraj's handwriting. 

Sobhraj's lawyers have reject the cards, saying they are crude forgeries by police. More importantly, photocopies are not admissible in court as evidence, according to Nepal's laws. Though several judges asked police and the prosecutor to produce the actual cards, Coutant-Peyre pointed out to the UN office that they had failed to produce them in six years. She had also complained to the UN that Nepal's officials were deliberately delaying the trial. 

Last week, Sobhraj's prayers were heard when Ibrahim Salama, chief of the Human Rights Treaties branch at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, informed his lawyer that the UN body is taking up his case. Salama also said that his office has asked the Maoist government of Nepal to send its reply to the complaints within six months. 

A triumphant Coutant-Peyre said she was happy that the UN has taken up Sobhraj's case. 

"Though a new republican political system has replaced absolute and arbitrary monarchy in Nepal, there is no progress in the judiciary, of whom Charles Sobhraj is a victim," she told TNN. "I hope Nepal will be severely condemned for these violations and the nightmare endured by Charles Sobhraj and his family for five and a half years will end soon." 

Sobhraj, who has been stopped from meeting visitors in prison except his lawyers and fiancée, was upbeat at the news, his Nepali lawyers said. 

The 64-year-old alleges that bribes were paid to secure a conviction against him. He also says once he is released, he will use the "incriminating tapes" and photographs in his possession in his new book on his trial and imprisonment in Nepal that will "expose" the "rampant corruption in police and judiciary".

Source: Times of India

Hub among 1,000 cities to turn out lights for climate change

By Michele Richinick, Globe Correspondent

Lights on the famous Citgo sign, Zakim Bridge, Prudential Center, John Hancock Tower, and other local landmarks will "go dark" for one hour this month as Boston joins cities across the world in a climate-change campaign.

More than 1,000 cities in 80 countries are expected to participate in Earth Hour on March 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. World Wildlife Fund, the event's sponsor, is asking individuals, businesses, governments, and organizations to turn off their lights for one hour to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

"We are asking people to vote with their light switch," said Dan Forman, a spokesman for World Wildlife Fund.

"For every light they turn off, it is in effect a vote for action on climate change."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced Boston's participation in the campaign yesterday at a news conference.

"We are very happy everyone in the mayor's office is fully on board," Forman said. "Boston has always been thought of as a progressive-thinking city. For them to come out and take action on climate change and rally the citizens behind this shows [Boston is] making a commitment to join a global deal when it comes to climate change."

Other participating US cities include Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and Dallas, Forman said. The town of Acton is also on the list, which Forman said grows "by leaps and bounds" each day. Universities, including Harvard, have signed up to campaign for the cause.

Two million people participated in the first Earth Hour in 2007, which began in Sydney.

Last year, the event went global, with more than 400 cities around the world participating. Lights on structures including the Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and Empire State Building also went dark last year, as well as the Google homepage.

Fifty million people around the world - 36 million in the United States - shut off their lights to raise awareness last year.

Source: The Boston Globe

Dalai Lama: Tibet 'hell on earth'

Tibetans across the world are marking 50 years since a failed uprising against Chinese rule [AFP] Tibet under Chinese rule has become a "hell on earth", the Dalai Lama has said, as he marked 50 years since a failed uprising against Chinese rule forced him to flee across the Himalayas to India. "These 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet," the region's spiritual leader told thousands of Tibetans in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, the seat of Tibet's government-in-exile. His comments came as Tibetan exiles and their supporters held rallies around the world while Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown in the Tibetan region in a bid to head off protests inside its borders. "Having occupied Tibet, the Chinese communist government carried out a series of repressive and violent campaigns," the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday. 'Meaningful autonomy' "These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth. The immediate result of these campaigns was the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans." Tibet: Key dates  1950 Chinese forces invade Tibet  1959 Dalai Lama flees to exile in India after failed uprising against Chinese rule  1960s-70s Hundreds of monasteries destroyed during Chinese Cultural Revolution  1965 China announces creation of Tibet Autonomous Region  1989 Dalai Lama awarded Nobel Peace Prize for leading non-violent struggle for Tibet  2006 Opening of first rail line linking Tibet to rest of China  2008 Crackdown in Lhasa following anti-China protests to mark 1959 uprising Lamenting that Tibetan culture and identity were "nearing extinction", he said "even today Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear ... regarded like criminals, deserving to be put to death". The 74-year-old leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile also repeated a demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet, not independence from China. Beijing brands the Dalai Lama a "splittist" bent on separating Tibet from China, but he said that Tibetans were seeking "an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People's Republic of China". The Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa on March 10, 1959 after Chinese forces crushed an uprising against its rule in the Himalayan region. Tibet's government-in-exile says that more than 80,000 people died between March and October of 1959 alone and that at least 200 more were killed last year when Chinese security forces clamped down on protests marking the anniversary. China denies that it used violence to stop anniversary commemorations last year, saying instead that rioters were responsible for nearly two dozen deaths. In his speech on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama called for the use of peaceful means of achieving the Tibetan cause. "I have no doubt that the justice of Tibetan cause will prevail if we continue to tread a path of truth and non-violence" Dalai Lama "I have no doubt that the justice of Tibetan cause will prevail if we continue to tread a path of truth and non-violence," he said. In the run-up to the anniversary, China has ramped up security inside Tibet and in Tibetan areas of neighbouring Chinese provinces. Chinese forces have set up checkpoints to seal off the region while foreign tourists as well as journalists were told to leave several weeks ago. The government has also apparently stopped internet and text-messaging services - which helped spread word of last year's protests – in parts of the region. Scuffles Four protesters were arrested in Australia but were later released [AFP] Outside of China, however, Tibetan exiles and their supporters have been holding rallies calling for an end to Chinese rule over the region. In Australia, scuffles broke out between protesters and police outside the Chinese embassy in Australia. Police said four of about 300 protesters who marched from parliament in Canberra to the nearby embassy were arrested after they broke through fencing demarcating a designated protest area. The four men were later released without charge, police said. In Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, police said some 150 Tibetan exiles staged a protest marking the uprising's anniversary. Protesters, including monks and school children, screamed "Stop the killing in Tibet" and "Long live the Dalai Lama," as they scuffled with riot police inside a monastery. Around six protesters were bundled into a waiting police truck, the AFP news agency reported, but were released minutes later. In the US, on Monday, hundreds of Tibetan exiles and their supporters rallied in front of the White House in Washington DC, with cries of "Free Tibet" and anti-China slogans before marching to the Chinese embassy. Source: Al Jazeera

The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America

By 24/7 WALL ST., TIME

Over the past few weeks, the U.S. newspaper industry has entered a new period of decline. The parent of the papers in Philadelphia declared bankruptcy, as did the Journal Register chain. The Rocky Mountain News closed, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, owned by Hearst, will almost certainly close or only publish online. Hearst has said it will also close the San Francisco Chronicle if it cannot make massive cuts. The most recent rumor is that the company will lay off half the editorial staff. Still, that action may not be enough to make the property profitable.

24/7 Wall St. has created a list of the 10 major daily papers that are most likely to fold or shutter their print operations and only publish online. The properties were chosen on the basis of the financial strength of their parent companies, the amount of direct competition they face in their markets and industry information on how much money they are losing. Based on this analysis, it's possible that 8 of the nation's 50 largest daily newspapers could cease publication in the next 18 months. (Read "The Race for a Better Read.")

1. The Philadelphia Daily News. The smaller of the two papers owned by Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, which recently filed for bankruptcy. The company says it will make money this year, but with newspaper advertising still falling sharply, the city cannot support two papers, and the Daily News has a daily circulation of only about 100,000. The tabloid has a small staff, most of whom could probably stay on at Philly.com, the Web operation for both of the city dailies.

2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has filed for Chapter 11. The paper may not make money this year, even without the costs of debt coverage. The company said it made $26 million last year, about half of what it made in 2007. The odds are that the Star Tribune will lose money this year if its ad revenue drops another 20%. There is no point for creditors to keep the paper open if it cannot generate cash. It could become an all-digital property, as supporting a daily circulation of more than 300,000 is too much of a burden. It could survive if its rival, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, folds. A grim race.

3. The Miami Herald, which has a daily circulation of about 220,000. It is owned by McClatchy, a publicly traded company that could be the next chain to file for Chapter 11. TheHerald has been on the market since December, but no serious bidders have emerged. Newspaper advertising has been especially hard-hit in Florida because of the tremendous loss in real estate advertising. The online version of the paper is already well read in the Miami area, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Herald has strong competition north of it, in Fort Lauderdale. There is a very small chance it could merge with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, but it is more likely that the Herald will go online-only with two editions, one for English-language readers and one for Spanish.

4. The Detroit News is one of two daily papers in the big U.S. city badly hit by the economic downturn. It is unlikely that it can merge with the larger Detroit Free Press, which is owned by Gannett. It is hard to see what would be in it for Gannett. And with the fortunes of Detroit getting worse each day, cutting back the number of days the paper is delivered would not save enough money to keep the paper open.

5. The Boston Globe is, based on several accounts, losing $1 million a week. One investment bank recently said the paper is worth only $20 million. The paper is the flagship of what theGlobe's parent, the New York Times, calls the New England Media Group. The Times has substantial financial problems of its own. Last year, ad revenue for the New England properties was down 18%. That is likely to continue or get worse this year. Supporting larger losses at the Globe will become nearly impossible. Boston.com, the online site that includes the digital aspects of the Globe, will probably be all that remains of the operation.

6. The San Francisco Chronicle. Parent company Hearst has already set a deadline for shuttering the paper if it cannot make tremendous cost cuts. The Chronicle lost as much as $70 million last year. Even if the company could lower its costs, the Northern California economy is in bad shape. The online version of the paper could be the only version by the middle of 2009.

7. The Chicago Sun-Times is the smaller of two newspapers in the city. Its parent company, Sun-Times Media Group, trades for 3 cents per share. Davidson Kempner, a large shareholder in the firm, has dumped the CEO and most of the board. The paper has no chance of competing with the Chicago Tribune.

8. The New York Daily News is one of several large papers fighting for circulation and advertising in the New York City area. Unlike the New York Times, the New York Post, Newsdayand Newark's Star-Ledger, the Daily News is not owned by a larger organization — real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman owns the paper. Based on figures from other big dailies, it could easily lose $60 million or $70 million, and has no chance of recovering from that level.

9. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is another big daily that competes with a larger paper in a neighboring market — in this case, Dallas. The parent of the Dallas Morning News, Belo, is probably a stronger company than the Star-Telegram's parent, McClatchy. The Morning News has a circulation of about 350,000, while the Star-Telegram has just over 200,000. TheStar-Telegram will have to shut down or become an edition of its rival. Putting them together would save tens of millions of dollars a year.

10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is in one of the economically weakest markets in the country. Its parent, Advance Publications, has already threatened to close its paper in Newark. Employees gave up enough in terms of concessions to keep the paper open. Advance, owned by the Newhouse family, is carrying the burden of its paper plus Condé Nast, its magazine group, which is losing advertising revenue. The Plain Dealer will be shut or go digital by the end of next year.

- Douglas A. McIntyre