One of Tiananmen’s ‘most wanted’ returns to China

Xiong Yan was at the forefront of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. As a student leader, he rallied other youths to attend a memorial for a reform-minded leader that snowballed into the political movement, he joined an ensuing hunger strike, participated in student negotiations with the Chinese leadership and spent 19 months in prison after being named by authorities as one of the government’s “most wanted” for his activities. Because of his student activism in 1989, Xiong has never been allowed to return to mainland China, where technically he is still a wanted man.

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Australia mourns victims of deadly wildfires

Church bells rang throughout Australia on Sunday in remembrance of the victims of last month’s devastating fires that killed 209 people. In a nationally televised memorial, a somber Prime Minister Kevin Rudd praised the resilience of Australians and offered a message of hope. “As a people, we weep for the lost,” he said.

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