Rallies in India mark 60 years of Tibet uprising
DHARAMSALA (India) • Huge crowds gathered at the Dalai Lama's temple in India yesterday to commemorate 60 years since the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that drove the spiritual leader into exile.
Supporters of the 83-year-old peace icon chanted and prayed at the Buddhist shrine in mountainous Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama established a government-in-exile after fleeing a deadly Chinese crackdown in Tibet in 1959. The devotees waved Tibet's colourful "snow lion" flag, which China has outlawed as a symbol of separatism.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Protests against Russia's online 'Iron Curtain'
MOSCOW • Thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow and two other cities yesterday to rally against tighter Internet restrictions, in some of the biggest protests in the Russian capital in years.
Lawmakers last month backed tighter Internet controls contained in legislation they say is necessary to prevent foreign meddling in Russia's affairs. But some Russian media likened it to an online "Iron Curtain" and critics say it can be used to stifle dissent. Protesters gathered in a cordoned off Prospekt Sakharova Street and chanted slogans. Moscow police put the attendance at 6,500 people.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Jeans-turned-life jacket saves tourist's life
WELLINGTON • A German tourist says he owes his life to his jeans after he managed to turn them into a makeshift life jacket while he was lost at sea for over three hours in rough seas off New Zealand's coast.
Mr Arne Murke from northern Germany, who had set out with his brother to sail a yacht from Auckland to Brazil, was knocked overboard just wearing a T-shirt and jeans last Wednesday, the Herald on Sunday reported.
His brother raised the alarm after he was unable to reach him in the 3m swell and attempts to throw the 30-year-old a life jacket failed.
Mr Murke said that he transformed his jeans into a life-saving buoyancy aid, using a technique employed by Navy Seals.
He was rescued about 3.5 hours later after being spotted by a rescue helicopter.
DPA
