Opinions

The Dalai Lama visits Washington this week, and he may be bringing good news to a president sorely in need of it. For the first time in recent years, there is reason to hope that the Chinese are finally willing to consider new ways of resolving the protracted Tibetan problem.

In recent months, Western news media and human rights groups have focused attention on restrictions limiting Internet access in the People's Republic of China (PRC) to websites on sensitive topics, including most independently produced information on Tibet.

Local Tibetans who live near Mount Kailash have been warned by the authorities not to speak about plans for a road around the sacred mountain, an important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Bon practitioners, Jains and Hindus.

To his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama: Welcome again to San Francisco. More than 25 years ago at Dharamsala, we talked about Sacred Mountains and your return to Tibet.

The horrific bomb blasts in Mumbai last week and the suicide bus bombings in Jerusalem the week before are two reminders that suicide terrorism is a growing trend in the fight for political "justice".

While Beijing and New Delhi are hailing improved ties and success in dealing with border issues, Manik Mehta finds that in reality very little has changed on the ground. Take Tibet, for example.

No matter what Beijing might say and want to hear the world knows that Chinese troops are occupying Tibet, to which they have no more historical rights than Iraq had on Kuwait.

It is not easy being Nepal. The little Himalayan kingdom not only faces a brutal Maoist rebellion, it is also sandwiched between often-antagonistic giants -- China and India -- and regularly buffeted by more distant powers.

Mugecuo lake, known to local Tibetans as Yeti lake, remains one of China's few untainted ecological treasures. Situated in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, it is surrounded by other pristine glacial lakes, primeval forests, and hot springs.

Younghusband