Around the World
Around the World
Riot police in Athens attempt to avoid a bomb during a second day of clashes over the fatal police shooting of a teenager. The rioting is the worst Greece has seen in years.
(By Thanassis Stavrakis -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
|
CHINA
French Meeting With Dalai Lama Protested
The Chinese government summoned the French ambassador to Beijing on Sunday evening, delivering an official protest of a meeting over the weekend between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama.
"This grossly interfered in China's internal affairs," Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei told French envoy Herve Ladsous, according to the state-run New China News Agency.
Beijing is always prickly about world leaders meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, but the strength of the government's reaction this time was exceptional. It comes during a year in which France has emerged as China's favorite whipping boy. Anti-French sentiments have been running high since April, when pro-Tibetan protesters tried to wrestle away the Olympic torch during the relay through Paris.
China had warned Sarkozy for weeks against meeting with the Dalai Lama, and it withdrew from a planned summit with the European Union in anticipation. Sarkozy, who holds the rotating E.U. presidency, met with the Dalai Lama for 30 minutes Saturday at a conference of Nobel laureates in Gdansk, Poland.
After the meeting with the Dalai Lama, Sarkozy appealed to Beijing not to overreact.
"Let's not make things tense. The world doesn't need it," the French president was quoted as saying.
GREECE
Youth Riots Persist After Police Shooting
Hundreds of youths angered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager rampaged through Greece's two largest cities for a second day Sunday in some of the worst rioting the country has seen in years.
Gangs smashed stores, torched cars and erected burning barricades in the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki. Riot police clashed with groups of mostly self-styled anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles. Clouds of tear gas hung in the air, sending passers-by scurrying for cover.
Rioting in several cities, including Hania in Crete and cities in northern Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Exarchia. The downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants is seen as the anarchists' home base.
The two officers involved in Saturday's shooting have been arrested and charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the illegal use of a weapon, and the other as an accomplice. They are to appear before a court Wednesday. They and the Exarchia precinct police chief have been suspended.
