News of the Weekend (April 5-7)

Communist police kill more Tibetans: At least eight Tibetans were murdered by Communist police for the crime of marching peacefully and calling for the release of two arrested monks (Times of London).

Pro-Tibet protesters wreak havoc on Olympic torch procession: Nearly three dozen Britons were arrested for trying to halt the procession (BBC, Epoch Times and Daily Telegraph). As the Olympic torch crossed the channel into France, authorities chose "to twice extinguish the flame and put the torch on a bus" (CNN).

"Many politicians have still not come to terms with China, the terror state" - these were the words of British Conservative MEP Edward MacMillan-Scott, who penned Enlightened Comment of the Weekend in the Guardian (via Boycott 2008). A close second were the editors of the Washington Post.

More Olympic news: The Washington Post reprints the letter that got co-author Hu Jia jailed (h/t Boycott 2008). The head of the Int'l Olympic Committee finally spoke out on the bloodshed in Tibet (BBC). Australian PM Kevin Rudd insists he won't boycott the Beijing Games, but he won't say for certain if he will attend (AAP via Epoch Times). Human rights activists mount an anti-Communist Olympic campaign in New Zealand (Stuff NZ via Boycott 2008). Finally, Rebecca Novick (Huffington Post via Boycott 2008) examines how the Communists' great propaganda coup has gone horribly wrong.

More Tibet and East Turkestan news: Communist police are now seizing ceremonial swords and knives held by Tibetans in order to frame them for the recent "riots" (Epoch Times); Sethu Das, founder of Friends of Tibet, and Tsepak Rigzin, from Atlanta's Drepung Loseling Monastery, speak to the Epoch Times about their journeys in support for the Tibetan cause. Meanwhile, many analysts believe the problem for the Communists has only gotten worse with the spread of protests to occupied East Turkestan (Inter-Press Service via Uyghur American Association and Time via UAA).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: The CBC is upset at being blocked by Communist China. The United States and the European Union join forces to "persuade Chinese toy-makers to improve the safety of their products" (BBC). A French utility company get fleeced by the Communist-run Chongqing Water Group (BBC). New Zealand signs a free-trade deal with Communist China (BBC), even as the Long Arm of Lawlessness wreaks havoc in Auckland (Epoch Times).

Another tale of Communist persecution, this one comes from Gong Yu, the seven-year-old daughter of a prisoner in a Communist labor camp (Epoch Times).

Zimbabwe dictator clings to power: Communist China's best friend in Africa is getting ready to pull out all the stops to stay right where he is, the will of the voters be damned (Washington Post).

News on "another Chinese province" (Stalinist North Korea): One Free Korea compares Japanese and Communist Chinese colonization of Korea (albeit without that actual term), and finds the latter to be far worse. Meanwhile, the Washington Post re-tells the strange tale of Charles Robert Jenkins.