One of Tibet’s richest businessmen has been sentenced to life in prison for helping exile groups, a human rights organisation said today, the latest case in a surprising crackdown on well-known Tibetans once praised by Chinese authorities.

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 75th birthday today with hundreds of cheering followers in Dharmsala, northern India, which has been his home since he fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

PURVEYORS of Irish sporting and general history will be interested to learn that the Croke Park Stadium Tour will once again be serviced by a shuttle bus service for the summer months, and that it will include an extended service to the new Glasnevin Museum.

China today announced it is to build the world’s highest airport in Tibet.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan today, killing at least seven people when their houses collapsed and damaging buildings across the region, officials said.

China has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists, state media said, almost two months after imposing a ban before politically sensitive anniversaries.

China said a video that appears to show police fatally beating a Tibetan protester is a fake concocted by supporters of the Dalai Lama.

Nearly 100 Tibetan monks were arrested or turned themselves in today after hundreds of protesters attacked a police station in north-western China, state media reported.

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao today said Beijing is willing to hold future talks with the Dalai Lama as long as Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader gives up his “separatist stance”.

CHINA pilloried the Dalai Lama yesterday and criticised the United States for suggesting Beijing talk to the exiled Tibetan leader, as authorities further tightened security to prevent unrest during a volatile anniversary period.

Authorities in Tibet and restive parts of western China were on heightened alert today for possible unrest on the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule and the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet.

HOMEMADE bombs damaged police vehicles in a Tibetan part of western China yesterday, and authorities expanded a security cordon across the region ahead of the 50th anniversary of a failed revolt that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.

Troops patrolled winding mountain roads, internet services were cut and motorists ran a gauntlet of checkpoints as Beijing mounted a show of force in Tibetan areas to prevent a repeat of uprisings against Chinese rule.

Defiant Buddhist monks banned from marking a key Tibetan new year prayer festival marched in protest in south-west China, human rights groups said today.

China has sentenced 76 people and detained more than 950 others since last year’s deadly anti-government riots in Tibet, state media said today.

Chinese state media is reporting that 81 people in Tibet have been detained for suspected criminal activity amid a security sweep.

At least 30 people were killed when a pair of earthquakes jolted Tibet’s capital and surrounding areas today, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Remain calm, don’t fight back and try to send a text message to the police. That’s how Chinese police have advised people to respond if captured by terrorists during next month’s Olympic Games, the official Xinhua news agency said.

CHINA demanded that the Dalai Lama prove he does not support Tibetan independence and disruption of the Beijing Olympics during the latest round of talks with the spiritual leader’s representatives, state media reported yesterday.

China’s Communist Party chief in Tibet delivered a fresh attack on the Dalai Lama today as envoys of the region’s exiled leader met for a second day of secretive talks with Chinese officials.

The Olympic torch has wound through the streets of Tibet’s capital Lhasa, the site of a March crackdown on rioting that helped fuel demonstrations at some of the flame’s international stops.

The capital of Tibet is set to host the Olympic torch relay, three months after violent anti-government rioting rocked the city.

Organisers of the Olympic torch relay say the flame will reach Tibet on Saturday in a one-day stop that has been shrouded in secrecy.

Nepalese authorities detained about 185 Tibetan exiles protesting today against China’s crackdown in their homeland.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys and Chinese officials are planning a second round of talks, China’s state-run news agency said today.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys met Chinese officials today – the first talks between the two sides have since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet.

Six monks were among 30 people jailed for between three years and life today for their part in anti-government riots in Tibet last month.

Seventeen people have been given jail terms of three years to life for their roles in riots in Lhasa last month, it was reported today.

POLICE in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing the ‘Free Tibet’ flag, the BBC reported yesterday.

China agreed today to meet an envoy of the Dalai Lama following growing calls for talks in the wake of Tibetans’ anti-government protests, which threaten to tarnish this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games.

Chinese president Hu Jintao says the recent unrest in Tibet is purely an internal affair that directly concerns the sovereignty of the world’s most populous nation.

Tibet has ordered travel agencies to stop arranging trips for foreigners in order to secure safe passage for the Olympic torch relay to Mount Everest next month, tour operators said today.

The Dalai Lama insisted today he supports China’s hosting of the Olympics in August, despite international condemnation of the country’s handling of anti-government riots in his native Tibet.

About 30 Tibetan Buddhist monks at a monastery in western China staged an anti-government protest today in front of a group of visiting foreign journalists, according to South Korean media.

Tibet’s governor said today he expects activists advocating independence to cause “trouble” for the Olympic torch relay when it comes through the Himalayan region on its way to Mount Everest next month.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said in China today that there were significant human rights problems in Tibet, but argued against boycotting the Beijing Olympics over such issues.

The recent anti-government demonstrations in Tibet were “outbursts of long pent-up physical and mental anguish” that proved most Tibetans want freedom from Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama said today.

China vowed today to ramp up its controversial “patriotic education” campaign for monks even though the latest deadly protests in Tibetan areas were sparked by deep resentment over its enforcement.

Fresh violence has broken out in a troubled Tibetan region of western China, leaving at least one government official seriously injured.

China says it will put the Lhasa rioters on trial and reopen Tibet to tourism by May, underscoring the government’s drive to close the book on recent unrest well before the summer’s Beijing Olympics.

More than 1,000 people have been captured or turned themselves in for taking part in the Tibet riots last month, China announced today.

WHAT are you doing this summer? Just think: if it weren’t for Juan Antonio Samaranch, one-time crony of Spanish dictator General Franco, we might all be looking forward to a fortnight on the sofa this August taking in a blissfully uncontroversial Olympic Games from the shores of Lake Ontario.

Chinese police say “Tibet independence forces” plan to use suicide squads to launch attacks.

CHINESE President Hu Jintao presided over the re-lighting of the Olympic torch yesterday in the host city, signalling the start of an around-the-world torch relay that already has become a magnet for protesters.