Beleaguered Aussie PM to work on 1st anniversary (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia – A year after becoming Australia's first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard finds herself weighed down in opinion polls by an unpopular greenhouse gas tax policy and lingering anger over how she overthrew her predecessor.

The beleaguered leader is expected to keep Friday's one-year anniversary low-key since it revives bitter memories for many about how she overthrew Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a sudden internal government coup last July 24.

Asked about celebration plans, Gillard told reporters on Thursday that she planned to work.

The anniversary comes as the ruling Labor Party under Gillard fares worse in opinion polls than it had in the weeks before party powerbrokers decided to dump Rudd in favor of Gillard, then his deputy.

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HK vigil marks Tiananmen anniversary

Thousands of people take part in a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Saturday.Protesters converge on Hong Kong's Victoria Park for a candlelight vigilIt is the 22nd anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protestersThe vigil is held after recent efforts to quash anti-government demonstrations

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Thousands of people filled Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Saturday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

The candlelight vigil comes after recent efforts by the Chinese government to quash would-be demonstrators from holding anti-government protests. About 26 people were arrested between February and March, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group, when an anonymous group began an internet campaign calling for anti-government protests in China similar to ones that have taken hold in the Middle East.

In response to the campaign, authorities deployed heavy security along major thoroughfares, especially in Wangfujing, a busy shopping street in downtown Beijing that had been designated by the online group for protests. The government also tightened rules on foreign reporters, explicitly warning them that they risk detention, suspension of press cards and expulsion if they show up at planned demonstrations.

20 years on: Tiananmen remembered

Saturday's protest is an annual event organized by the Hong Kong Alliance, a pro-democracy group. Hong Kong police called it a "peaceful gathering."

Images of the demonstration showed a sea of flickering candles covering the length of the park.

A little more than 22 years ago, students gathered in Tiananmen Square to memorialize the recently deceased Hu Yaobang. He was fired as Communist Party chief in 1987 by Deng Xiaoping for pushing policies deemed too soft toward "bourgeois-liberal ideas" and tolerating student protests.

The April 15 memorial quickly turned into a pro-democracy movement, and students held talks with the government and later a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square to press their cause. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops in armored personnel carriers and tanks rumbled toward Tiananmen Square. The soldiers, on strict orders to clear the square of demonstrators, had forced their way through the city's main thoroughfare.

Along the way, they met fierce resistance from students and city residents who barricaded the streets, so they fired at them.

When the firing stopped, hundreds if not thousands of people lay maimed or dead.

Relatives of victims renew their hopes every year that Beijing's leaders will reverse the verdict that the protests were a counter-revolutionary rebellion that had to be put down.

CNN's Aliza Kassim contributed to this report.

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China dismisses U.S. call on Tiananmen anniversary (Reuters)

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China dismissed a U.S. call for it to free dissidents and fully account for the victims of the bloody Tiananmen crackdown, on the anniversary of the crushing of the pro-democracy uprising 22 years ago.

The date on which troops shot their way into central Beijing in 1989, killing hundreds, was not publicly marked in mainland China. The democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere remain taboo for the ruling Communist Party, especially this year after calls for an Arab-style "jasmine revolution."

In Hong Kong, tens of thousands lit candles, held jasmine flowers and chanted for a fully democratic China in a night vigil to mark the anniversary and condemn Beijing's human rights abuses and curbs on freedoms.

The State Department said China must release all those still jailed for their participation in the 1989 protests.

"We ask the Chinese government to provide the fullest possible public accounting of those killed, detained or missing," deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.

At least five people remain in jail for taking part in the protests.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency, said the U.S. comments "groundlessly accused the Chinese government."

"We urge the U.S. side to abandon its political bias and rectify wrong practices to avoid disturbing China-U.S. relations."

The president of democratic Taiwan, the island China claims as its own and has never renounced the use of force to recover, said Beijing should follow Taipei's example and reform politically.

"We urgently hope the mainland Chinese authorities will have the courage to undertake political reforms and promote the development of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law," President Ma Ying-jeou said in a statement.

On Saturday, Tiananmen Square was packed with tourists as normal, with no obvious signs of extra security.

"I didn't agree with the method of the protest, making a disturbance on the square," said a 60-year-old Beijing resident who gave her family name as Chen. "But I think there should be a way for people to express what's on their mind."

"VOICE FOR CHINA"

In a Hong Kong park however, some 150,000 people made a plea for Beijing to atone for the June 4 crackdown, an event given added poignancy this year by a heavy clampdown on dissent.

"We want to express that we've never given up," said Andy Wong, who was at the vigil with his wife and two kids. "When there's a big turnout it shows that we (Hong Kong) still care."

Hong Kong, a former British colony handed back to China in 1997 with a promise of a high degree of autonomy, has remained a beacon for the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement.

"Hong Kong is now playing a more important role when the whole of China is silenced," said Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy lawmaker and one of the organizers. "We are the voice for China and we'll spread the message for democracy,"

Dissidents in China, meanwhile, said controls over them had been strengthened.

"I can't come out today. I've been kept at home. But I'll be fasting for the day, like I do every June 4 anniversary," said Zhou Duo.

Zhou was one of four activists who negotiated with troops to evacuate Tiananmen Square of student-protesters in 1989, avoiding much bloodshed on the square itself on June 4. He was later jailed for his role in the protests.

"Of course, sooner or later June 4 will be reassessed and rehabilitated. That's inevitable. History can never be completely erased."

Zhang Xianling, who lost her son in the Tiananmen protests, said she had been allowed out to visit her son's grave, but was being followed and was not allowed to go as part of a group with other bereaved parents, as she has done in the past.

"It shows that even after all these years, China is still limiting human rights," Zhang said.

After the crackdown, the government called the movement a "counter-revolutionary plot," but has more recently referred to it as a "political disturbance."

Recent unrest in Inner Mongolia and explosions in two provinces sparked by social grievances have also ruffled authorities as the leadership prepares to hand over power to a new generation at a Party Congress next year.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley, Ken Wills and K.J. Kwon in Beijing, Paul Eckert in Washington, James Pomfret, Xavier Ng and Justina Lee in Hong Kong, and Jonathan Standing in Taipei; editing by Robert Birsel and Andrew Roche)

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Gaza flotilla organizers mark raid anniversary (AP)

ISTANBUL – Pro-Palestinian activists on Monday marked the first anniversary of a deadly raid by Israel on a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip by gathering on the deck of the same boat, refitted and preparing to sail for Gaza again next month.

An international coalition of activists said Egypt's removal of a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip last weekend will not affect their plans for a new flotilla, which will depart from various European ports in an attempt to breach Israel's sea blockade. Israel says the blockade stops weapons reaching Hamas militants, but activists describe restrictions on Gaza's 1.5 million residents as a human rights violation.

"The Gaza shore has to be free. That's why we are sailing there," said Vangelis Pisias, a Greek organizer, said at a news conference on the Mavi Marmara, a ferry that was boarded by Israeli commandos before dawn on May 31, 2010. Nine activists died in the botched commando operation, with each side accusing the other of starting the violence.

Pisias said the aid convoy would sail in "20 days," though IHH, the Islamic aid group that operates the Mavi Marmara, has said only that the third week of June was the target date for departure. That would allow Turkey to proceed with parliamentary elections on June 12 without fear of a possible confrontation at sea that would likely disrupt the electoral debate and distract the country's leadership.

Late Monday night, crowds marched to Istanbul's Taksim Square, a central plaza, to commemorate the nine slain activists with songs, speeches and prayers.

Israeli military officials have said troops have been training for months to intercept any flotilla, and plan to use different tactics this time. The officials refused to elaborate. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the planning.

Last year's raid plunged ties between Israel and Turkey to a new low, and the Turkish government has said it will not block Turkish activists from setting sail in the Mavi Marmara from a dock on the Golden Horn, an inlet in Istanbul. Israel eventually released the vessel after seizing it in the raid, and on Monday workers in blue overalls checked lifeboats alongside a deck festooned with Turkish and Palestinian flags.

Turkey seeks an Israeli apology and compensation for the slain activists' families. Israel eased its land blockade of Gaza because of the international furor over the raid, but maintains that Iran-backed Hamas, which violently seized control of Gaza in 2007, seeks to smuggle in weapons for use against Israel.

_____

Associated Press writer Ian Deitch contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

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Columbine High closes on 12th anniversary of massacre

Is the horror of Columbine, which erupted 12 years ago today, slowly moving into the realm of distant history?

Most major Colorado newspapers today did not carry front-page stories today on the anniversary of the killings of 12 students and a teacher and the wounding of 23 in a brazen assault by two students. The shooters, Dylan Klebold, 18, and Eric Harris, 17, killed themselves during the siege.

Those close to the tragedy, of course, will forever remember the brutal attacks that shocked the nation. The Denver Post notes that the school is closed today in memory of the tragedy and a memorial to the victims in nearby Clement Park is open to the public.

Denver's KDVR TV reports that a new documentary about the shootings and the aftermath called "13 Families" recently opened in Colorado.

Carlsbad Patch, a local Colorado online news site, carries YouTube footage of the shooting combined with 911 calls and asks readers for their comments on the tragedy.

It notes that April 20 is the birthday of Adolf Hitler and has also become a counter culture day to celebrate cannabis. As a sign, perhaps, of the passage of years since Columbine, their question to readers: "Does 4/20 have any significance to you or do you see it as just another day?"

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Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds

National Archives

The firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., is considered by historians to be the first cannon fire of the Civil War. The city is planning commemoration events that span several days.

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The firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., is considered by historians to be the first cannon fire of the Civil War. The city is planning commemoration events that span several days.

Efforts to provide federal funding for Civil War commemorations have thus far been unsuccessful. The Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., died in committee last year. Andrew Wilson, Jackson's spokesman, says the congressman is working on updating the legislation and reintroducing the bill, which could provide grants for programs and activities.

LIST OF EVENTS: States remember Civil WarCIVIL WAR: More stories, videos, profilesDESCENDANTS: Ancestors of Civil War leaders deal with legacy of famous forebearsIn light of this economic challenge, the Civil War Trust, a non-profit dedicated to preserving battlefields, views connecting local, regional and state organizations not just as an opportunity, but as an obligation, says spokeswoman Mary Koik. The trust's website, www.civilwar.org, links sesquicentennial events going on across the country.

"You can read all you want in a book, but for a lot of people, it never quite clicks until you see it," she says.

Programs and events are ratcheting up — and in some cases have already begun — ahead of the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., on April 12, considered the first cannon fire of the war by historians.

Charleston is planning a program that spans several days and includes lectures, re-enactments, movies, music and a solemn display of lights at the fort, says Robert Rosen, president of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie Historic Trust. That's despite receiving no funds from the state, Rosen says.

One of the few to receive state money is the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, which has secured a $2 million annual appropriation since 2008, says Cheryl Jackson, the commission's executive director. Such funds have let the state provide a mobile history tour that will crisscross Virginia, as well as free educational programs for teachers, she says.

Despite being the site of one of the war's iconic battles and a well-known tourist attraction, Gettysburg wasn't as lucky. It received no state funds. But that's not stopping the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau from pulling together five years' worth of plans, which will center around the 2013 anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address, says Carl Whitehill, the bureau's spokesman.

"There's a real interest in the human toll and the fact that when both troops left, 25,000 wounded and dead soldiers were still here. … It took months and months to clean up this town," Whitehill said.

The planning committee for Pennsylvania Civil War 150, which was able to secure some national grants, is organizing a Civil War road show with a mobile museum traveling to all 67 counties in the state over the course of four years, says Barbara Franco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

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