China urged to carry over quake openness to Tiananmen

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, June 4 (Reuters) – The most senior official jailed for sympathising with the 1989 Tiananmen protests urged China, praised for its openness in handling last month’s earthquake, to come clean on why the pro-democracy movement was crushed.

The demonstrations that lured more than a million people onto Beijing’s streets ended in a military crackdown on June 4 of that year. Now a fading memory — or no memory at all for young people — the massacre is still taboo in the Chinese media.

But Bao Tong, once the top aide to purged Party chief Zhao Ziyang, argued that China, host of this year’s Summer Olympics, has been praised for its transparency in handling the devastating May 12 earthquake and should also reveal the rifts in the leadership that led to the massacre.

Voices: Internet privacy

We asked you whether you think social networking websites, such as Facebook, should share the personal information of their members. Here’s what you had to say.

Social networking websites should not share personal information. It is up to the members whether or not they wish to share what information with what people. There are a lot of creeps out there and these networks should not help those type of people out.
Kalina Cathcart, Guelph, Ont.

Absolutely not. The only people that the information should ever be shared with are law enforcement agencies. However, if they put in a disclaimer at the time of signing up for an account that you personal information will be shared with 3rd parties, then anyone who does sign up really has no right to complain for not knowing what they’re getting into.
Dave So, Scarborough

No. I find it appalling that to use any of the little apps with Facebook you have to agree to let people have access to and pass on any and all info you post. Some people feel that Facebook is a cover for the CIA to gather data on people, and I can’t blame them.
Tammy MacKenzie, Perth, Ont.

It would be an unacceptable breach of privacy. If they do it, I hope they’ll be sued out of existence.
Gabor Takacs, Oshawa

Stolen Canadian gold art likely being sold: police

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Whoever stole C$2 million ($2 million) in art from a Vancouver museum is likely trying to sell the collection, not melt it down for the gold, as had first been feared, police said on Tuesday.

Investigators also believe last month’s theft of jewelry and art, including pieces by renowned Canadian Haida artist Bill Reid, was locally planned, although they have not entirely ruled out an international art theft ring.

Art experts had had initially feared the thieves targeted the 15 items at the Museum of Anthropology because they were made of gold, and intended to melt them down to sell the metal, which would be worth about C$15,000.

Obama cushions nomination with primary delegates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Barack Obama moved well beyond the goal line Tuesday night by picking up delegates in the last two Democratic primaries, hours after he clinched the party’s nomination for president.

Obama won at least 13 delegates in South Dakota and Montana, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won at least eight. There were still two delegates still to be allocated in South Dakota and eight in Montana.

Overall, Obama has 2,144 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,919.5, according to the Associated Press Count.

It will take 2,118 delegates to win the nomination at the party’s national convention this summer in Denver. Obama surpassed the milestone Tuesday afternoon with endorsements from superdelegates as well as delegates who had been won by former Sen. John Edwards.

Edwards dropped out of the race in January and endorsed Obama in May.