China pressure causes woman to leave pageant

China pressure causes
woman to leave pageant

NEW DELHI — A Tibetan woman said Wednesday that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers, reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event that she could only participate if she added “China” to her “Miss Tibet” title. Tsering Chungtak, 22, was allowed to participate in the preliminary rounds of the Miss Tourism contest for one week, but was later told by the organizers to either wear a sash labeled “Miss Tibet-China” or quit, she told reporters after her return to the Indian capital, New Delhi. Participants from 30 countries are vying for the title of Miss Tourism, to be selected on Saturday in Malaysia.

Chungtak said the founder of the pageant told her Dec. 1 about the Chinese pressure over the issue that a Tibetan could only participate as a Tibetan Chinese. Chungtak, a student of sociology in a New Delhi college, was crowned Miss Tibet in 2006 at a contest in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, home to a majority of Tibetan exiles and the seat of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Scramble over Iran

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The Bush administration scrambled Wednesday to hold together a global alliance of suspicion against Iran, saying the clerical regime still has much to answer for despite a U.S. reversal of its claim that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons now. President Bush opened a trip to Nebraska with a warning about Iran — his second in the two days since U.S. intelligence agencies jointly concluded that Iran had long ago dropped active military nuclear ambitions.

Bush’s top diplomat, who must explain and sell the shifted U.S. position among European allies later this week, pushed anew Wednesday for international solidarity on Iran. No allies have told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice they want to back out of a U.S.-led drive for new sanctions on Iran, but the administration is worried that the new assessment weakens its leverage over Iran and drains the urgency from international efforts to roll back Iran’s nuclear program. The re-evaluation of the Iranian threat has overshadowed diplomatic meetings Rice attended in Africa.

New charges added

PHILADELPHIA — A young couple accused of a large-scale identity theft scheme have turned themselves in at Philadelphia police headquarters to face new charges. They are 22-year-old Drexel University student Jocelyn Kirsch and her 25-year-old boyfriend Edward Anderton. He’s a University of Pennsylvania graduate who was recently fired from a job as a financial analyst.

The two have been popularly known as “Bonnie and Clyde” once the accusations against them became public this week. They surrendered Wednesday on new burglary and theft charges that were filed as the investigation grew. The two face a preliminary hearing today on the earlier charges, for which they had posted bail.

Tour bus crashes

LOS ANGELES — A tour bus crashed into a tree at a Hollywood church Wednesday, authorities said. Seventeen people suffered mostly minor injuries. The chartered bus had 41 people on board on their way to see the “Dr. Phil” television show. The bus was getting off a freeway around 10:15 a.m. when its brakes malfunctioned, said Lt. Roger Mora. The bus hit a parked car, crashed through a fence and hit a tree in the yard of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. The driver was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, and passengers were treated for minor to moderate injuries.

VA nominee questioned

WASHINGTON — Pledging to “do the right thing,” Veterans Affairs nominee James Peake said Wednesday he will be an independent advocate for thousands of injured veterans and will fight for the needed funding for their care. In a 2 1/2-hour confirmation hearing, the retired Army lieutenant general also vowed to work on making significant headway in fixing gaps in care and reducing delays in disability pay. He indicated his greatest mark on the agency in the waning months of the Bush administration might be improved communications with the Defense Department. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson stepped down in October amid charges of shoddy outpatient treatment at the Pentagon-run Walter Reed Army Medical Center and VA facilities.

Associated Press