28 year old Lobsang Dhondup, has been executed by China after being accused of being involved in bomb attacks for Tibetan independence. 10 others have been rounded up by the Chinese in connection with bomb attacks in south-west China. Here are some facts on the Tibetan-Chinese conflict.

More than a million Tibetans have died under the Chinese occupation as a result of torture, starvation, and execution, according to the Tibetan Government in Exile.

More than 6,000 monasteries and their contents, irreplaceable jewels of Tibetan culture, have been destroyed.

Tibetans are routinely imprisoned and tortured for non-violently expressing their views.

Freedom of religion is severely curtailed.

Nuns are brutally raped in Chinese prisons.

China is encouraging the large-scale settlement of non-Tibetans into Tibet which is overwhelming the Tibetan population in many areas.

The proportion of ‘counterrevolutionaries’ to common criminals in Tibetan jails today is almost 21 times higher than in China proper.

Afghanistan
The UN has halted relief work after an attack on one of their convoys left two guards dead. The attack occurred west of Jalalabad, on Sunday. Three police officers and a suspected attacker are also dead.
The convoy stopped after seeing what they assumed was a body on the road.
The region is notorious for bandits and is a key area in the drug trade.
The UNHCR will keep the suspension in place for a couple of weeks.

France-Italy
Two trains collided in a tunnel between Nice on the Mediterranean coast and the Italian city of Turin, killing two and injuring about 10. Another 100 people are being treated for shock. About 90 rescue workers are on the scene in the mountainous area. The cause of the collision is not known.

Isreal
As Isrealis go to the polls I’ll be keeping an eye on blogger Tal G.

Canada
The Canadian cricket team hasn’t pulled this off since 1979, qualifying for the World Cup after beating Scotland. They will be playing six matches in the next round in pool B.

Chess
This should make bloggedy blogs day. Chess champ Garry Kasparov took on a computer named Deep Junior.

Kasparov beat a computer called Deep Junior on Sunday in a four-hour contest that onlookers said he dominated. The six-game series, which he now leads 1-0, continues Tuesday and runs through Feb. 7.

In 1997 he took on a computer named Deep Blue, and lost. This latest first round was watched by 12 thousand people over the internet.

Slammer
Internet security experts expect that the SQL server worm Slammer isn’t finished as business computers boot up for the work week. The worm has affected systems globally. Experts have found a reference to a Chinese hacker group called the Honkers in the coding, however, that could be a red herring.

It has been denounced by the Chinese government for worsening Sino-U.S. relations. Yet some intelligence experts believe that may be only a cover for Beijing-sponsored activity.

…..the Chinese military is preparing to launch new “exploratory” cyber-attacks against U.S. defense and civilian computer networks and systems as part of Beijing’s continuing efforts to level the playing field against the American military.

via World Net Daily

Redwood Dragon and ::journal came face to face with mortality this weekend.
Redwood Dragons van was destroyed. ::journal ran to the rescue after a crash right in front of her home.

in a split second of shocking violence, I was given back the rest of my life—and that of my dog, Oka—as a gift. God grant that I may make good use of it.

Thank God there was no passenger. They would not have had a chance.

Where is the driver? I spin around. People are arriving, staring. Petrol keeps drip, dripping. No-one.