Obama firm on Dalai Lama meeting despite China warning

February 2, 2010 Politics No Comments

US President Barack Obama intends to go ahead with plans to meet the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China not to, a White House spokesman has said.

Mr Obama told China’s leaders last year in Beijing that he would meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.

China has warned that ties with the US would be undermined if the meeting takes place.

No date has been set but it is expected to take place later this month.

“The president told China’s leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters.

“The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader and the president will meet with him in that capacity,” he said.

The comments came after Communist Party official Zhu Weiqun said such a meeting would “threaten trust and co-operation” between Beijing and Washington.
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People are quicker when reacting that when initiating

February 2, 2010 Sci/Tech No Comments

Inspired by Hollywood cowboy films, researchers have delved into the science of gun fights.

Scientists discovered that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform “planned actions”.

In a gun-free experiment, described in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they studied the speed of these two types of movement.

The work aims to answer why the first to draw his gun in a shoot-out was often the one to get shot.

But, as well as unpicking some of the mythology of the American West, the scientists say their results may be useful for diagnosing and helping people with Parkinson’s disease.

Pairs of participants were put in a button-pressing competition with each other. Each was secretly given instructions of how long to wait before pushing a row of buttons.

“There was no ‘go’ signal,” said Dr Andrew Welchman from the University of Birmingham, who led the research.
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Madagascan bird declared extinct

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London, England (CNN) — The Alaotra Grebe, a small diving bird native to Madagascar has been officially classified extinct, according to a leading bird conservation organization. BirdLife International reported that the species, once found on Lake Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar, declined rapidly due to carnivorous fish being introduced to the lake and the [...]

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — At 678, California has the nation’s largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years. But it spends more than $130 million a year on its capital punishment system — housing and prosecuting inmates and coping with an appellate system that has kept some convicted killers waiting [...]

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It’s Nobel Prize announcement week, and if you had Carol W. Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn, or Jack Szostak in your office pool, you’re off to a good start (the trio will share this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine). As we await news of the rest of the winners, here are some stories about past Nobel laureates. [...]

Report: More than 1M preemies die in first month annually

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