Brief news stories about Tibet, from Free Tibet and other cited sources.

For links to recent news media articles on Tibet, please click here
 

China hits out at EU/US Tibet statement
Beijing - China said on Wednesday it opposed a demand from the United States and the European Union (EU) to hold "results-oriented" talks with the Dalai Lama and accused them of double standards on human rights.
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US, Europe to hail China talks with Dalai Lama
LJUBLJANA (AFP) — The United States and the European Union will call on China Tuesday to have "results-orientated" talks on Tibet with the Dalai Lama's representatives, according to a draft joint declaration obtained Monday.
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Foreigners find Beijing is becoming a forbidden city before the Games
GEOFFREY YORK, from Thursday's Globe and Mail
Daniel Yeung is still trying to understand how it happened. After eight years of steady employment, the Canadian recruitment consultant is being kicked out of China, forced to join an exodus of foreigners streaming out of the host country ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
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Gunshot fired on peaceful protester in Kardze
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has documented numerous cases of protests particularly led by the nuns of various nunneries in Kardze County in the past few weeks. According to the latest information received by the TCHRD, three nuns of Dragkar Nunnery and a female student were arrested for staging a protest yesterday.
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IOC briefs athletes on protests
(From Reuters, by Karolos Grohmann)
The international Olympic Committee (IOC) has told National Olympic Committees their athletes should refrain from making political statements during the Beijing Games.
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Situation extremely tense in Xiahe County, defiant monks in front of media tour dissapear
The situation at Labrang Monastery in Sangchu (Ch. Xiahe) County is extremely tense today.
Thousands of People's Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) personnels have surrounded Labrang Monastery in the aftermath of protests. Hundreds of monks have been arrested, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD)
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Olympic torch begins tour through China as Dalai Lama's envoys set out for talks
Click for new and archived international news reports here

April 2008

Beijing's 'torture relay' descends into farce
Following the brutal crackdowns on protests in Tibet, thousands took to the streets to protest against China's 'Flame of Shame' as the official Olympic torch tours the world. The Chinese authorities continue to insist on politicising the relay as they promise to take it through Tibet, despite having to re-route and cancel other relays due to large numbers of protesters.
Click here for the 2008 news report archive, detailing the progress of the torch in international media articles.
Click here for video news reports and here for photos of the London protests of 6th April

China jails 17 Tibetans in a "swift and quick" court proceeding
China's state media today announced that 17 Tibetans have been sentenced between three years to life imprisonment in connection with the Lhasa revolt in March 2008
Read more here.

Chinese officials will meet representatives of the Dalai Lama, according to Xinhua news agency
Chinese officials will meet representatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom China blames for a wave of unrest, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, citing official sources.
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The Dalai Lama will appear before a committee of MPs to give evidence about human rights in Tibet.
The meeting on Thuirsday May 22 will be the first time the spiritual leader of Tibet has appeared before a parlimentary committee.
Read more here.

March 2008

Mass protests in Tibet the biggest for 20 years
March 2008 saw scenes of protest and brutal crackdowns across Tibet, plunging the issue into the eyes of the international world media, attracting the attention of politicians and tarnishing China's Olympic year as Beijing demonstrated its heavy handed approach to demonstrations by the Tibetan people.
Click here for the 2008 protests archive, with photos, newspaper articles, press releases and videos.

January 2008

Dalai Lama calls for Olympic protests ITV News 18 January 2008
The Dalai Lama has urged his supporters to demonstrate throughout the Beijing Olympics. Speaking exclusively to ITV News, Tibet's spiritual leader has called for peaceful protests during the games.

We are India's first line of defence but Han influx a grave threat: Dalai Lama Indian Express 21 January 08
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of the Tibetans, today said he was open to the idea of his successor being a female as the “very purpose of the reincarnation, male or female, is to carry out the unfinished tasks of the previous life.” The unfinished task, he later said, was seeking “meaningful autonomy” for the Tibetan people from the Chinese government.

Brown accused of ignoring human rights on visit to China The Independent 18 January 2008
Gordon Brown arrived in China last night on a visit designed to boost business links, but was accused of soft-pedalling over the world's concerns about human rights in the country.

Two Monks from Panchen Lama's Monastery Commit Suicide Radio Free Asia 16 January 2008
DHARAMSALA—Two senior monks of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery in Tibet’s second city, Shigatse, have committed suicide following a campaign of exclusion by Chinese officials there, sources in Tibet and in India have said.

Tibet under strain as visitors surpass locals Guardian 14 January 2008
The number of tourists who visited Tibet last year soared by 60%, outnumbering the people who live there and putting further pressure on Tibet's overwhelmed roads, palaces and monasteries.

Tibetans forced to oppose Dalai Lama's return - group Reuters 08 January 2008
BEIJING - Chinese authorities have been forcing Tibetans to sign a petition opposing the Dalai Lama's return, a London-based group said, in apparent retaliation for the award of a high U.S. honour to Tibet's spiritual leader.

China’s video sharing crackdown Channel 4 News 04 January 2008
Tacky. Distasteful. But would you call the kind of videos on sites like YouTube "degenerate"? That's what the Chinese government thinks. 

November 2007

Dalai Lama challenges China - with a referendum on reincarnation Guardian 28 November 2007
Exiled leader fights back at Chinese attempt to control Buddhist selection process 

Activists threaten Games protests South China Morning Post 02 November 2007
International protest groups yesterday urged the central government to clean up its human rights record over the next nine months or face mass protests at next year's Beijing Olympic Games.

U.N. adopts truce resolution for Beijing Games Guardian 01 November 2007
BEIJING - The U.N. General Assembly has adopted the Olympic truce resolution for the 2008 Beijing Games in New York in the face of opposition from activists pushing for a free Tibet.

October 2007

Chinese police clash with monks over Dalai Lama award Guardian 23 October 2007
Chinese police and soldiers have clashed with Buddhist monks in several towns in Tibet during a crackdown on celebrations to mark the award of a US congressional gold medal to the Dalai Lama last week

August 2007

Free Tibet banner on Great Wall fuels official fears of more rights protests Sydney Morning Herald 08 August 2007
Beijing’s security forces are bracing for possible protests at Tiananmen Square tonight - where the city is due to celebrate the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games - after a giant banner calling for a free Tibet was unfurled at the Great Wall.

Watch the unfurling of the banner below: