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A Tibetan monk given a suspended death sentence for a series of bomb attacks promoting independence has protested his innocence in a taped message from jail, Radio Free Asia said on Wednesday.

Taiwan-Tibet ties were strengthened yesterday when President Chen Shui-bian met with Tenzin Phuntsok Atisha, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of the Dalai Lama, to discuss a third visit by the Dalai Lama late this year.

Pro-Tibet activists have called for more Indian pressure on China to release two Tibetans facing execution for their alleged involvement in bomb blasts.

A Chinese official confirmed Wednesday that China has sentenced three more Tibetans to prison, in a case that prompted an international outcry last month when another Tibetan was sentenced to death.

President Chen Shui-bian, left, greets Tibetan representative Tashi Wangdi at the inaugural ceremony of the new Taiwan-Tibet Exchange Foundation yesterday. The new Taiwan-Tibet Exchange Foundation will serve as the Tibetan government-in-exile representative office in Taiwan. (Henry Tan)

The Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation was inaugurated yesterday, with Day Sheng-tong at its head as chairman, Joseph Jau-shieh Wu as secretary-general, and Wong Shih-jie as vice secretary-general.

The 28th Kalachakra puja came to an end this morning with a long life puja for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness conferred a long life empowerment to the devotees. Referring to Bodh Gaya as the most sacred place for the Buddhists

When Dawa Norbu is not teaching graduates at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, he is found squatting cross-legged under banyan trees on campus, sporting Bermuda shorts and worn-out flip-flops

Two Tibetan and two Mongolian monks have spent more than a week in Chassahowitzka at Spirit Springs. From left, Venerable Mendbayar, Venerable Adiyaragchaa and Venerable Tashi work on a sand mandala Friday afternoon. The mandala is a palace representing the deity of compassion. Twelve different white marble sand colors are used to make the design. (MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle)

The Venerable Tashi sat quietly in Homosassa. He was thousands of miles from home in India, and 42 years removed from gaining political asylum there from his Chinese-governed Tibet. He was searching for the right English phrase to explain his impressions of America.