Nigerian Times

Artists underneath movable boxes perform during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) 27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. ~ Matthew 23:27 (King James Version) Yes, it was definitely the most spectacular opening ceremony so far in the history of the Olympic games and China surpassed the expectations of the rest of the world with the grandiose panorama of Chinese Arts and Culture in an awesome opera in the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing , People's Republic of China . I saw the colourful faces of the people in the stadium beaming in ecstasy, but thousands of prisoners of conscience were languishing in Chinese jails while the rest of the world were dazed and fazed by the dazzling three-hour razzmatazz of the openi...

Reporters Without Borders BEIJING GAMES 2008 Come and demonstrate outside Chinese embassies and online on 8 August Reporters Without Borders is calling for demonstrations outside China's embassies in London, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Washington and Stockholm on 8 August, when the Olympic Games opening ceremony will be taking place in Beijing. Two demonstrations will be organised on 7 August in Rome and Ottawa. A rally is also planned outside the Olympic Museum in the Swiss city of Lausanne. In Paris, those wanting to take part should meet at 1 p.m. at the corner of Avenue George V and Rue de la Trémoille in Paris' 8th district. Reporters Without Borders will distribute "Beijing 2008" T-shirts to participants, as well other material for a peaceful demonstration. Here are the times and venues of the demonstrations in the other cities: - Berlin: in front of the Chinese embassy (Jannowitzbrücke) from 1 p.m. onwards on 8 August. - Washington: near the Chinese embassy (2300 Co...

22 Apr 2008 01:18 Africa/Lagos Correction of a Mis-Quote by The Daily Mail LONDON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In the Daily Mail on Friday 18 April 2008, Louise Blouin MacBain, Chairman of Louise Blouin Media and the Louise T. Blouin Foundation, was erroneously misquoted as stating that: "His Holiness is trying to win cultural independence for an area that is the size of the UK, Germany and Portugal lumped together and in that aim he is deluded." This statement as published by the Daily Mail, reprinted in the National Post is categorically incorrect. In her two-part piece on the Tibet Issue and the recent crisis surrounding the riots in Lhasa and the Beijing Olympics published by Forbes.com -- 11/14 April-- Ms Blouin MacBain stated that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is seeking "political" independence beyond the Tibetan Autonomous Region to include two adjoining provinces, Amdo (Qinghai) and eastern Kham (western Sichuan) -- a geography that represents approxi...

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release - April 11, 2008 Authored by CIPFG Contact: Clive Ansley Chair, Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong China Country Monitor for Lawyers' Rights Watch in Canada 250-334-3586; 250-792-3547 CIPFG IS CALLING ON THE CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO URGE ATHLETES TO WEAR YELLOW RIBBONS AT THE OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES IN BEIJING in support of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China and other oppressed groups VANCOUVER ISLAND - In light of the recent escalation of the persecution of Falun Gong, including mass arrests amounting to almost 2000 practitioners since January 1, CIPFG has serious concerns about China's on-going oppression of Tibetans and Christians as well as other oppressed groups. "We believe that those human rights abuses are in direct conflict with the Olympic charter and this urgently needs to be addressed before August 2008," said Clive Ansley, chair of CIPFG. "It is becoming clearer that Beijin...

Inhuman Torture in China: the Tip of the Iceberg Full report PDF version . With the Chinese regime's roundup of Falun Gong practitioners in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics , the massacre in Lhasa, Tibet , and the clampdown on the media, the spotlight has been shining ever brighter on China's horrendous human rights abuses. The FLGHRWG wishes to announce that it has sent out millions of emails around the world to alert government officials, NGOs, human rights groups, and many individuals of the inhuman torture going on in China. In order to win the Olympics, China made a promise to improve human rights. Far from keeping its promise, the human rights violations have gotten worse - much worse. The following torture cases of Falun Gong practitioners represent just the tip of the iceberg. They are typical of what tens of thousands have experienced, what hundreds of thousands face, and what millions fear if they dare to place their own belief above belief in the Chinese Communi...