Sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke to be buried Saturday

COLOMBO (AFP) — British sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke will be buried at a private funeral in Sri Lanka’s capital on Saturday, a close aide to the late writer said.

Clarke, who captured the world’s imagination with his best-known book “2001: A Space Odyssey” and visions of extra-terrestrial civilisations, died at Colombo’s private Apollo hospital on Wednesday at the age of 90.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse described Clarke’s death as a loss to the island, the author’s adopted home since 1956.

Beijing evicts foreigners, sends in paramilitaries to quell dissent

BEIJING — China struggled to regain control of its Tibetan regions yesterday, evicting all foreigners and sending in paramilitary forces to crush the huge protests that have been sweeping across the mountainous area for more than a week.

Chinese leaders launched a fresh volley of verbal attacks on the Dalai Lama, with the Communist Party chief in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, telling his officials yesterday that “the Dalai is a jackal in Buddhist monk’s robes, an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast.”

“We are engaged in a fierce battle of blood and fire with the Dalai clique, a life-and-death struggle between the foe and us,” he said, according to a Chinese news agency.

Pemberton Festival is a go

Brigitte Mah
Special to The Question

The clubhouse at the Big Sky Golf and Country Club in Pemberton was abuzz with excitement Thursday night (March 13) as members of the Pemberton community and District Chamber of Commerce gathered to listen to the news they had been waiting for a while to hear: that approval had been granted for Pemberton to host the largest music festival in the Sea to Sky corridor, and one of the biggest in B.C., this summer.

Despite the fact that the news of the festival had been leaked earlier in the day on Billboard.com, Shane Bourbonnais, president of touring and business development for Live Nation, created a stir of excitement in the crowd as he listed the big names that would be performing over the course of the three-day festival. Coldplay, Tom Petty, Jay-Z, The Tragically Hip and Nine Inch Nails are among the artists scheduled to perform, with more than thirty other artists, including The Flaming Lips, Sam Roberts Band and Death Cab for Cutie set to take to the multiple stages as well. This will be Coldplay’s only concert in North America, after the release of their new album in May.

Innocent driver and passenger injured in police pursuit in Surrey, B.C.

SURREY, B.C. — The RCMP has launched a criminal investigation after a driver believed to be impaired led police on a pursuit through two cities outside Vancouver, resulting in an innocent driver being critically injured.

Wednesday’s early-morning chase began in New Westminster, B.C. and came to a crashing end a few kilometres away in Surrey.

Sgt. Roger Morrow of the Surrey RCMP detachment said a woman is severely hurt and her passenger has minor injuries in the crash that occurred at about 2 a.m.

Morrow said New Westminster police began pursuing a 2001 grey pickup truck, which made its way over the Patullo Bridge into Surrey, where the RCMP took over.