24岁藏人自焚 抗议中国
观察组织说，一名24岁的藏人星期六在中国四川省西南部一个寺院外自焚。当地居住着大量抗议中国对西藏政策的藏人。
“自由西藏”组织星期天的一项声明说，自焚是星期六下午发生的，警方当即出动大批警察和安全人员，并将自焚者拘留。
该声明援引目击者的话说，自焚者被逮捕时据信还活着。但是声明说，活动人士无法证实他目前的状况，也不知道他是否幸存下来。
声明还说，警方仍留在该地区，以防信息传播。当地的互联网服务也被中断。
分析人士说，星期六的自焚是自去年12月以来藏人居住地区的第一起。当时一名男子自焚身亡。
“自由西藏”表示，自2009年以来，有140多名西藏抗议者自焚，其中大多数是僧侣和尼姑。他们抗议当地人所说的当局对藏人传统和宗教习俗的干涉。
这些自焚的抗议者大多数人最后死亡。
抗议者还希望引起人们关注他们要流亡的西藏精神领袖达赖喇嘛回归的诉求。
过去十年来，中国当局将自焚抗议定性为刑事犯罪。地方法院已经逮捕了数十名被控支持抗议活动的人。
24-Year-old Tibetan Self-Immolates in Anti-China Protest
Monitors say a 24-year-old Tibetan man set himself on fire Saturday outside a monastery in China's southwestern Sichuan province, a region heavily populated by ethnic Tibetans who protest China's policies in their nearby homeland.
A statement Sunday from the organization "Free Tibet" said the man self-immolated Saturday afternoon, drawing a large detachment of police and security personnel who took him into custody.
Witnesses are quoted as saying the man was thought to be alive when arrested. But the statement said activists have been unable to confirm his current condition or whether he survived the ordeal.
The statement also said police remained in the area to prevent the spread of information, and that Internet service in the region was cut.
Analysts say Saturday's self-immolation is the first in the disputed region since December, when another male set himself on fire and died.
Free Tibet says more than 140 Tibetan protesters have set themselves on fire since 2009, when anti-China protesters -- most of them monks and nuns -- began self-immolating to protest what locals describe as Chinese interference in Tibetan customs and religious practices.
The majority of those protesters have died.
Protesters also have sought to bring attention to demands for the return of their exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Chinese authorities last decade criminalized self-immolation protests, and local courts have imprisoned scores of people for their alleged roles in supporting the protests.
美参议院将为确认最高法院大法官人选听证
美国参议院星期一将为确认川普总统的最高法院大法官人选尼尔·戈萨奇举行第一次听证会。这个职位已经长期空缺。
自2016年2月安东宁・斯卡利亚去世以来，最高法院的9名大法官便空缺一名。前总统奥巴马曾提名梅里克·加兰法官填补空缺，但是共和党人领导的参议院一直没有召开确认听证会。
戈萨奇和参议院司法委员会成员定于星期一进行开场陈述。之后戈萨奇将在周二和周三面临提问，听证会将于周四结束并征求外部人士的意见。
共和党在参议院中拥有52-48的多数席位。民主党人可能会试图以被称为“阻挠议程”的策略阻止戈萨奇提名，这就需要60票来批准新任大法官的确认。然而，不清楚民主党人是否会这样做，共和党人也可以改变参议院的规则，只需要简单多数的表决确认。
如果得到确认，戈萨奇的加入会恢复在斯卡利亚去世之前最高法院5比4的保守派多数。
戈萨奇在2006年曾经经历过确认程序，当时参议院批准他为美国第十巡回上诉法院的法官。在此之前，他是布什总统的司法部高级官员。上世纪90年代初他还曾担任最高法院法官安东尼·肯尼迪的书记员。
Senate to Begin Hearings for Trump's Supreme Court Nominee
The U.S. Senate is holding its first confirmation hearing Monday for Neil Gorsuch, the judge President Donald Trump has nominated to fill a long vacancy on the Supreme Court.
The court has been one short of its nine justices since Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. Former President Barack Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy, Judge Merrick Garland, never got a confirmation hearing by the Republican-led Senate.
Gorsuch and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are scheduled to give opening statements Monday. Gorsuch will then face questions Tuesday and Wednesday, and the hearings are due to end Thursday with comments from outsiders.
Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Democrats could attempt to block the Gorsuch nomination with a tactic known as the filibuster, which would require 60 votes to approve the new justice. However, it is not clear if they would do so, and Republicans could change Senate rules to require only a simple-majority vote for confirmation.
If confirmed, Gorsuch would restore the 5-4 conservative majority on the court that was in place before Scalia's death.
Gorsuch has been through the confirmation process before. In 2006, the Senate confirmed him to a seat on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Before that, he was a high-ranking official in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush. He also spent time in the early 1990s as clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
