Dharamsala, May 4: Tibetans exiles around the world Tuesday observed a minute of silence and held prayer services to observe a day of mourning for the victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Kyegudo three weeks ago.

Under the direction of the religious department of the Central Tibetan administration, Tibetan exiles in Bhutan, India and Nepal - led by senior lamas and regional administrative heads - held a minute-long silence at 7:49am local time in their respective settlements. Tibetans elsewhere around the world have also been urged to observe the same in their respective localities.

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04/May/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

“Be ready to become the unsociable, and face criticism” said Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the exile Tibetan government based here. The former academician and Gandhian was speaking to a group of nonviolent social and political activists in a training programme currently underway at the House of Peace and Dialogue in upper TCV school. “We do not have to become unsociable, but we have to understand limitation of so called modern civilization which itself is very evil.”

The five day training program on nonviolence “Understanding Swaraj” workshop, which began on April 2, is organized by Swaraj Peeth Trust as a part of their Global Gandhian Movement for Swaraj (GGMS). GGMS was founded last year after a conference of more than 100 intellectuals and authorities on Gandhian philosophy and education where His Holiness the Dalai Lama was requested to be the leader of the Global Gandhian Movement.

... The participants also will hear Shantideva’s teaching on compassion from Geshe Pema Dorjee, former principal of Sarah institute of Buddhist studies.

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04/May/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

Dharamsala, May 4 - A Tibetan was arrested Sunday in Tibet's capital Lhasa for staging a protest against the Chinese government's handling of the earthquake relief funds. Samdup Gyatso, 28, shouted anti government slogans at a busy Tsuglakhang where many Tibetans had gathered for religious activities. "Invite the Dalai Lama to Tibet, “release the Panchen Lama, ” he chanted. He demanded “proper allocation and delivery of earthquake relief materials and funds received from international donors to the much needed nomadic communities in Kyegudo”. He was immediately nabbed by the Public Security Bureau officials and taken away. There is no information as to where he has been taken.

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04/May/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

Dharamsala, May 3: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Tagyal, a renowned Tibetan writer whom Chinese authorities detained last month.

Tagyal, who writes with pen name “Shogdung” (morning conch), was detained less than a week after he signed an open letter urging people wishing to help victims of the April 14 earthquake in Kyegudo in the traditional Kham province of Tibet to send food, clothing and medical supplies as well as money directly to trustworthy contacts.

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03/May/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia and China are among 13 countries a U.S. government panel named on Thursday as serious violators of religious freedom.

The panel's report also criticized the current and former administrations in Washington for doing far too little to make basic religious rights universal.

That is the goal of the congressional act that founded the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 1998. The commission investigates conditions in what it calls "hot spots," where religious freedom is endangered. Its job is to recommend U.S. government policies to improve conditions.

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29/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

... Diplomatic relations between China and France soured after Tibetan protesters disrupted the passage of Olympic torch through Paris in 2008 and Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing reviles as a ‘separatist’. The Dalai Lama, who is widely revered by Tibetans as their undisputed spiritual and political leader however rejects Chinese accusations and openly advocates for a “real and meaningful” autonomy for his people within the constitutional framework of the People’s Republic of China ...

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28/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

BEIJING – China is poised to strengthen a law to require telecommunications and Internet companies to inform on customers who discuss state secrets, potentially forcing businesses to collaborate with the country's vast security apparatus that stifles political dissent.

The move, reported Tuesday by state media, comes as China continues tightening controls on communications services. It also follows a spat over censorship that prompted search giant Google Inc. last month to move its Chinese site to Hong Kong, which provides broader protection of civil liberties than mainland China.

A draft of amendments to the Law on Guarding State Secrets submitted to China's top legislature for review will make more explicit the requirement that telecoms operators and Internet service providers help police and state security departments in investigations about leaks of state secrets, the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

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28/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

Dharamsala, April 27: His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tuesday led a mass prayer service for the victims of the recent earthquake in Tibet at the main Tibetan Buddhist temple here.

The prayer gathering, which lasted for over two hours this afternoon, was attended by hundreds and thousands of Tibetan exiles, including Buddhist monks and nuns, and non-Tibetan sympathisers.

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27/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

... The latest statement by the Chinese authorities concerning the fate of the Gendhun Choekyi Nyima came just last month from Pema Thinley, the Chinese-appointed governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Thinley told reporters on the sidelines of China's annual legislative session in Beijing earlier in March that the young boy was living with his family and having a “very good life” somewhere in Tibet. He, however, gave no further details.

Tibetans and their supporters around the world on Sunday marked his 21st birthday by organising free Panchen Lama campaigns and holding candle light vigils in the evening to pray for his well-being.

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26/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwire - April 24) - The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and Norbu Tsering, President of the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, today announced Government of Canada support for renovations and retrofits at the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre's main facility in South Etobicoke, Ontario.

"I am proud to announce that the Government of Canada is providing an investment to renovate and renew the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre," said Minister Kenney. "As part of Canada's Economic Action Plan, our Government is helping to boost the local economy, create jobs and enhance infrastructure that will benefit the community for years to come."

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25/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

GUWAHATI: North-East’s growing apprehensions about a hydropower structure coming up in higher reaches of Brahmaputra now seem to have become a nightmare come true: Beijing has admitted to the construction of a dam in Tibet where the river originates before flowing into India. Chinese officials had confirmed the construction of a hydel project in Tibet’s Zangmu area to external affairs minister S M Krishna during his recent visit to Beijing.

... notwithstanding the Chinese assurance, experts here termed it as the "beginning’’ of a slew of such projects over Yarlung Tsangpo, the name by which Brahmaputra is known in Tibet, where it originates from the glaciers of Mount Kailash.

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24/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

PARIS — US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama are the world's two most popular leaders, according to a poll conducted in six countries and released on Friday.

Obama won 77 percent backing, one percentage point higher than in November, in the poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France24 and Radio France-Internationale.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was at second place at 75 percent, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 62 percent.

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24/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

Dharamsala, April 22 - Over 1,100 Australians, including federal politicians of all major political parties of Australia, have signed a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urging him to support an appeal by survivors of last week’s devastating earthquake to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the quake affected area.

Survivors of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Yushu (Tib: Kyegudo in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham) wrote to China’s President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urging them to allow their leader the Dalai Lama to visit the predominantly Tibetan region and provide comfort to those affected.

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22/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

Dharamsala, April 22: The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee Thursday said a visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Kyegudo would prove useful in comforting people devastated by last week’s earthquake.

“It is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wish to visit the quack-hit areas to comfort the victims. And is is my hope and confidence that a visit by His Holiness or, by an emissary of His Holiness can truly help in easing the suffering of the Kyegudo people,” Karmapa said.

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22/Apr/2010 Copyright © Phayul.com. All rights reserved

A day after a devastating earthquake struck China's remote Qinghai province, accounts are emerging of the destruction it has caused.

Drolma, who comes from worst-hit Yushu and now lives in the UK, said she had managed to speak to her family by mobile phone.

She told the BBC that she had lost several relatives. "One auntie lost five of them in one family, the other lost three, another lost four and also friends, all dead. It's a disaster."

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15/Apr/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

Nearly 600 people have died and thousands been injured after a magnitude 6.9 quake hit western China's Qinghai province, officials say.

The powerful tremor struck remote Yushu county, 800km (500 miles) south-west of the provincial capital Xining, at 0749 (2349 GMT), at a shallow depth of 10km.

Most of the buildings in the worst-hit town of Jiegu were wrecked, and landslides have cut off roads.

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14/Apr/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

A visit by the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to China coincides with a growing sense in the West that efforts to draw China into a global trading and diplomatic system are faltering.

There are immediate issues - the value of the Chinese currency, the debate over further sanctions on Iran, the continuing spats between the US and China over Taiwan, trade and Tibet, the global warming debate.

And there are longer-term ones - what role China will play as a major economic and diplomatic power. Will it be content to take a back seat in world affairs indefinitely, concentrating instead on building up its manufacture and its sourcing of raw materials from around the world?

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15/Mar/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

The Chinese security forces have launched a "strike hard campaign" ahead of the second anniversary of riots and protests in Tibet against Chinese rule.

Special police detachments are stationed across the regional capital, Lhasa. Press reports say they have seized guns, ammunition and knives.

Police are also checking identity papers and searching homes.

... According to one person in Lhasa, police sweeps begin at dusk and go on into the night.

The situation across Tibetan areas has been tense since riots and protests broke out in March 2008.

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13/Mar/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

The Dalai Lama spoke yesterday in an address marking the anniversaries of two failed uprisings against China, one 51 years ago that sent him into exile in India and the other two years ago that was quashed by a government crackdown that is still continuing.

He accused Chinese authorities of conducting a campaign of "patriotic re-education" in monasteries in Tibet.

"They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practice in peace," he said, accusing Chinese of working to "deliberately annihilate Buddhism."

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11/Mar/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

Tibet's spiritual leader has said China is trying to "annihilate Buddhism", as the region marks the anniversary of a failed revolt against China in 1959.

In his annual address on the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama stated that "whether the Chinese government acknowledges it or not, there is a serious problem in Tibet".

"The Chinese authorities are conducting various political campaigns, including a campaign of patriotic re-education, in many monasteries in Tibet.

"They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practise in peace. These conditions make the monasteries function more like museums and are intended to deliberately annihilate Buddhism."

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10/Mar/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

Today marks the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan people's peaceful uprising in 1959 against Communist China's repression in Tibet, as well as the second anniversary of the peaceful protests that erupted across Tibet in March 2008. On this occasion, I pay homage to those heroic Tibetan men and women, who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Tibet, and pray for an early end to the sufferings of those still oppressed in Tibet.

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10/Mar/2010 Copyright © The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. All rights reserved

The new Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet said today that only socialism can "save" the remote region and guarantee its development, and lampooned the Dalai Lama's indecision on his succession.

China has defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying not only did it free a million Tibetan serfs but it also poured billions of dollars into the Himalayan region for development.

Padma Choling, an ethnic Tibetan appointed governor in January, blamed Tibet's problems on exiled spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner the Dalai Lama, a man reviled by Beijing as a "separatist" and instigator of anti-Chinese violence.

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07/Mar/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

The Dalai Lama is the latest and most senior world religious leader to appear on Twitter, the social networking site.

The 75-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, regarded by the Chinese Government as a dangerous separatist, has so far steered clear of controversy in his tweets. One recent example referred to his appearance on the Larry King show in Los Angeles, when he tweeted: “Dalai Lama Says Loves China Despite ‘Suppression’.”

Other tweets link to webcasts on his official website where he talks about the life story of the Buddha.

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03/Mar/2010 Copyright © The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. All rights reserved

China said yesterday that President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama "seriously harms US-China relations", but the way the two countries have handled the White House visit indicates that both would rather avoid a major crisis.

The meeting was seen as another test of relations between Beijing and Washington, which have become strained in recent weeks by issues ranging from Taiwan arms sales to cyber-spying allegations. But the statement echoed Beijing's response to previous US presidential meetings with the Buddhist leader, who escaped Tibet in 1959.

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20/Feb/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

Barack Obama was right to ignore Beijing and meet the Dalai Lama

Washington appears to be hardening its stance towards China. Yesterday's White House meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama was the latest tweak of the Chinese dragon's tail by the US. It follows a recent sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan and a demand from the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, last month that China investigate allegations that it has been engaged in cyber attacks abroad.

Trade continues to be a major bone of contention between the two powers after last year's tit-for-tat tariffs and continued complaints from US manufacturers that the renminbi is being artificially held down in value by Beijing, giving Chinese exporters an unfair competitive advantage. China's naked obstructionism in the United Nations Copenhagen climate change talks in December did nothing to improve bilateral relations.

So was Mr Obama's decision to meet the Tibetan leader, ignoring China's furious objections, helpful?

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19/Feb/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

... which is why the Chinese so mistrust, and fear, the Dalai Lama's influence, for all his protestations of seeking a peaceful resolution to Tibetan demands for autonomy.

They are wrong to humiliate themselves in this way. The blunt truth is that China has no intention of giving the Tibetans any concession whatsoever. Western temporising with Beijing won't help the Tibetans one bit. It will only betray Tibetan aspirations and our own principles.

The Dalai Llama should be treated with full honour for what he is – a seeker after peace, a symbol of his people and one of the world's most significant spiritual voices.

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19/Feb/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

President seeks to cool row with China by hosting low-key meeting with Tibetan exile outside Oval Office

For his part, the Dalai Lama said afterwards that he was "very happy" with the meeting. "I feel great honour seeing [the] President of the greatest democratic country," he said, adding praise for America "as a champion of democracy, freedom, human value, human creativity, these things".

Chinese officials warned in advance that any meeting would cause "serious damage" to relations between Washington and Beijing. The government of China continues to brand the Dalai Lama a separatist intent on fomenting violence in the province of Tibet. But the figurehead has remained committed to a campaign for autonomous rule for Tibetans and greater protection for their culture, stopping short of complete secession from China.

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19/Feb/2010 Copyright © independent.co.uk. All rights reserved

The Himalayan mountains on the Nepal-Tibet border are some of the most remote and inaccessible in the world.

But deep in the valleys next to the green, flowing waters of the Kyirong River, Chinese construction workers are blasting through the jagged landscape to turn an ancient trading track into a modern road.

This small stretch of road - just 17km (10.5 miles) long - from the border to the Nepalese town of Syabrubesi is costing the Beijing government almost $20m.

But it's an important investment because this mountain pass not only connects Tibet to Nepal - it's also the most direct land route to India's capital, Delhi.

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27/Jan/2010 Copyright © BBC. All rights reserved

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

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12/Jan/2010 Copyright © Google Inc. All rights reserved

Everyone knows Tibet is high, and glacially cold, which is why many scientists call it the Third Pole. But, unlike the other Poles, Tibet is intensely sunny, and Lhasa, the capital, is actually closer to the equator than Miami, Cairo, Baghdad, New Orleans, Delhi or Shanghai ... The heating of the Tibetan Plateau is so strong that scientists have recently discovered how much Tibet drives the monsoon rains that all of Asia’s farmers, and cultures, depend on. The heating of the Plateau generates such an intense low pressure, over a land as big as western Europe, that heavy rain clouds building up over distant tropical oceans are drawn deep inland ...

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2/Jan/2010 Copyright © Central Tibetan Administration. All rights reserved