Tibet News Update

Dalai Lama Named Honorary Citizen of Warsaw, by AFP
WARSAW (AFP) — Poland's capital Warsaw risked the ire of China Thursday as local councillors voted to make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of the city.

Spokesman Slawomir Paszkiet told AFP that the councillors had voted unanimously to grant the symbolic status to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"As municipal councillors in a city which has gone through so many trials in its history, we have the moral right and the duty to honour a man who seeks for his compatriots and his country the freedom and sovereignty that we have ourselves enjoyed for the past 20 years," the councillors said in a joint declaration, referring to Warsaw's destruction during the World War II Nazi German occupation and the 1989 fall of Poland's communist regime. Read Full Article


6 Women Protesters Hurt by Gunfire, by Tibet.net
The Tibetan government-in-exile says at least six Tibetan women suffered gunshot wounds when Chinese security forces opened fire on a group of protesters in western Sichuan province bordering Tibet.

Witnesses say the protesters gathered Sunday to demonstrate against forced relocation from their homes, prompted by the construction of a major hydroelectric dam. They say security forces converged on the protesters and opened fire. Read Full Article

Article: Launching the Endgame, by Times of India
Mention of Tibetan Buddhism conjures up images of ochre-robed monks in remote monasteries chanting 'Om mane padme Om'. The reality is different.
Just beneath the surface, Tibetan Buddhism's religious hierarchy is riven with rivalry with different sects vying for dominance. The claim to seniority of Ughen Thinley Dorje, one of the claimants to the XVIIth Gyalwa Karmapa of the Kagyu sect, assumes importance in this context. The rivalry is intensifying as they jostle to position themselves for the post-XIVth Dalai Lama phase. Read Full Article

Pelosi Talks Tibet with China's leaders, by Sify News
Beijing, May 28 (ANI): US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan CODEL met with China's President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Wu Bangguo, the chairman of the National People's Congress - and talked about North Korea and human rights abuses in Tibet.

Pelosi, a longtime critic of China's record in Tibet, was greeted by pro-democracy protesters bearing a banner reading "Welcome Pelosi... SOS." Read Full Article