In Brief

Priests to purify site GUATEMALA CITY – Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate ‘bad spirits’ after President Bush visits this week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

“That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offence for the Mayan people and their culture,” Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organisation with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday. Bush’s seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala.On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.Tiney said the “spirit guides of the Mayan community” decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of “bad spirits” after Bush’s visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace.He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.Bush’s trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival.In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.* Starbucks out BEIJING – A member of China’s parliament has demanded the immediate closure of a Starbucks coffee shop set up inside Beijing’s Forbidden City, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.Two months after a television host launched an online campaign to evict the American coffee chain from the former home of Chinese emperors, the seven-year-old cafe has had its logo removed but otherwise it’s business as usual, the agency said.”Starbucks must move out of the imperial palace immediately, and it can no longer be allowed to taint China’s national culture,” said Jiang Hongbin, who represents the northeastern province of Heilongjiang at the National People’s Congress (NPC), a rubber-stamp legislature that meets once a year.”As long as it stays in the imperial palace, it poses a challenge to our traditional culture,” said Jiang, a leading businessman in Heilongjiang.In response to the online boycott, the Palace Museum management had promised to seek a solution with Starbucks by the end of June, Xinhua said.The rent paid by Starbucks is used for maintenance of the palace, it added, citing museum managers.NPC delegates may suggest motions or proposals for legislation and government action, but these are rarely acted upon but can occasionally be incorporated into legislation.Nampa-AP-ReutersBush’s seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala.On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.Tiney said the “spirit guides of the Mayan community” decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of “bad spirits” after Bush’s visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace.He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.Bush’s trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival.In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives. * Starbucks out BEIJING – A member of China’s parliament has demanded the immediate closure of a Starbucks coffee shop set up inside Beijing’s Forbidden City, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.Two months after a television host launched an online campaign to evict the American coffee chain from the former home of Chinese emperors, the seven-year-old cafe has had its logo removed but otherwise it’s business as usual, the agency said.”Starbucks must move out of the imperial palace immediately, and it can no longer be allowed to taint China’s national culture,” said Jiang Hongbin, who represents the northeastern province of Heilongjiang at the National People’s Congress (NPC), a rubber-stamp legislature that meets once a year.”As long as it stays in the imperial palace, it poses a challenge to our traditional culture,” said Jiang, a leading businessman in Heilongjiang.In response to the online boycott, the Palace Museum management had promised to seek a solution with Starbucks by the end of June, Xinhua said.The rent paid by Starbucks is used for maintenance of the palace, it added, citing museum managers.NPC delegates may suggest motions or proposals for legislation and government action, but these are rarely acted upon but can occasionally be incorporated into legislation.Nampa-AP-Reuters