A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, August 11, 2008.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

BEIJING, China –Chinese Communist leaders and the family of the late purged party chief, Zhao Ziyang, have agreed to bury him on Saturday, nearly two weeks after his death. The burial has been delayed over disagreements between Mr. Zhao’s family and the government over the funeral arrangements.

For many in China and overseas, the former premier of Communist Party general secretary symbolized the drive for a reassessment of the government’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

In the two weeks since his death, police have been posted outside the Beijing home where Mr. Zhao spent his last 15 years under house arrest and where hundreds have been assembling to pay tribute. Agents have been turning many of the mourners away.

The leadership wants the ceremony on Saturday to take place out of the public eye and officials announced Thursday that foreign journalists would not be allowed to cover it. However, Mr. Zhao’s family has asked for appropriate honors in keeping with his status as a former party chief.

Instead of being given the customary state funeral to reflect his former positions, he will be given a more low-key ceremony.

Disagreement between the family and the government about what should be said at the funeral was part of the delay. Zhao’s family disagrees with the government over the correctness of Zhao’s actions regarding Tiananmen Square.

State-controlled newspapers and broadcasts have been devoid of news on Zhao’s death and on what his eulogy will say.

Cheng Li, a professor of government at Hamilton College in New York, says the Communist leaders have been trying to ensure that Mr. Zhao’s funeral and eulogy do not ignite what might be an explosive new debate.

“They don’t want to see it widely publicized,” he said. “Certainly, they don’t want to repeat what happened 16 years ago because of the emotions and other things could lead to a very sustained, prolonged event.”

Analysts say the government sees a parallel with the death of another reformer, party leader Hu Yaobang, which sparked the demonstrations in May and June of 1989.

Mr. Zhao, then the Communist party chief, went to the square two weeks before the crackdown and tearfully urged the students to abandon their protest.

Shortly after, the leadership accused him of sympathizing with the demonstrators and trying to split the party. He was ousted as party chief and placed under house arrest until his death on January 17th at the age of 85.

While many young people in China today do not remember Mr. Zhao as an advocate of reform, emotions remain high among those who do recall his role. Witnesses on Thursday said guards beat a number of people – some of them elderly – who have been trying to pay tribute to the late leader outside government offices in Beijing over the past few days.

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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Zork Hun is running for the Libertarian party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Parkdale-High Park riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

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Monday, October 29, 2012

The Bremer Freimarkt (Free Fair) — historically one of the oldest fairs in Germany — has its greatest event with the Free Fair Procession “Freimarktsumzug”; this year’s Freimarktsumzug took place Saturday.

The procession started Saturday morning on the opposite side of the river Weser in the “Neustadt” and passed the city hall about one hour later. 146 colorfully decorated groups were taking part, some of them dancing to their own music, and were watched by about 200.000 people in the streets during more than four hours of the whole performance. The event could also be viewed on television and on livestream on the web.

The Free Fair opened on the place behind the main station of the city of Bremen a week ago. The origin of this popular event can be traced back to the year 1035. Nowadays it has been called the “biggest Fairground Festival in northern Germany”.

For a few years, an historical spectacle involving actors of the theatre group Shakespeare Company has been part of the opening performance of the fair. With a replica of an old cog an ambassador enters the banks of the river Weser close to the city and walks with his companions to the market place in front of the city hall of Bremen where the Kleiner Freimarkt (Small Free Fair) is opened. Members of the Chimney Sweep Guild hang up a big heart at the statue of Roland as a sign of the opened market. The traditional opening takes place in the Bavarian tent on the Bürgerweide behind the main station of Bremen with the tapping of the first keg by the incumbent Senator of the Interior of the Free Hansetown of Bremen. This is followed by the dance with Miss Free Market on the stage. Late at night, also fireworks are lighted over the place Bürgerweide and can be admired by people. The exclamation Ischa Freimaak (It’s Free Fair) is meant to spread a relaxed and unreserved atmosphere among the guests.

The fair is a major source of revenue for showmen, carousels and food stalls, some of which arrived nearly two weeks before the opening from all over Germany. This year the Freimarkt is to last until Sunday November 4. The subsequent disassembly, especially the technically complex rides, should then take about ten days.

• Large portable Ferris wheelImage: Online Team www.ekd.de.

• Free Fair Procession in the City of Bremen 2009 on its way from the NeustadtImage: House1630.

• Fairground Festival at nightImage: Tobi85.

• The monastery’s oxen were used in a procession during the Free Fair in the nineteenth centuryImage: Lithography by Friedrich Wilhelm Kohl, 1845.

• Reconstruction of the cog “Roland von Bremen”Image: Eva K..

• Free Fair Procession Saturday on its way to the the main stationImage: House1630.

Sunday, September 18, 2005