European Parliament members for peaceful solution on Tibet
Dharamsala, May 9: Members of the European Parliament have favoured genuine autonomy for the people of Tibet and restarting a dialogue between the Dalai Lama's envoys and the Chinese government, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said on Wednesday.
A three-member European parliamentary delegation consisting of Thomas Mann, Csaba Sogor and Ramon Tremosa visited the Tibetan parliament-in-exile on Tuesday.
"I don't know if we are one of the strongest supporters but we do meet regularly. Every month we have the opportunity to have visits by experts and people who had suffered and had been imprisoned in Tibet," a CTA post quoting Mann, chair of the Tibet Interest Group in the European Parliament, said.
Expressing support for the cause of Tibetans, he said the promulgation of human rights is most important for them and they always strive to include human rights of the suppressed on their agendas every time in the European Union.
"We support for the genuine autonomy -- 'middle-way approach' as adopted by the Central Tibetan Administration and emphasized on the necessity of resuming the stalled dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the government of China," he said.
The Dalai Lama's envoys and the Chinese have held nine rounds of talks since 2002 to resolve the Tibetan issue but no major breakthrough has been achieved so far.
The last talks were held in Beijing in January 2010.
Mann also stressed on the importance of the environment of Tibet, stating it to be the major source of rivers for most of the South-Asian countries.
Sogor, also a member of the Tibet Interest Group, stressed the significance of equipping the younger Tibetans with experiences in the diplomatic field by creating a conducive environment for them to work as trainees and interns at various parliamentary secretariats and offices.
Another European Parliamentarian, Tremosa, reiterating the parallels between the struggling movement of the Tibetans in exile and the Catalan people, said "it is interesting to see and learn how the Tibetan administration functions and how the struggle movement of peaceful resistance operates in exile".
The Tibetan administration in exile, led by its President Lobsang Sangay, is based in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.
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At least 11 killed, dozens injured in Israeli strikes in Beirut as diplomats push for cease-fire
Beirut (Lebanon), Nov 23: Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 11 people and injured dozens in central Beirut, officials said, as diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency responders dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, it said, adding that 63 people were wounded. The strikes were the fourth in the Lebanese capital in less than a week.
The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region this week in an attempt to broker a cease-fire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has erupted into full-on war in the past two months.
Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in fighting in Lebanon.
Israel's war with Hamas also shows no signs of abating. Gaza's health ministry said at least 80 people were killed between Thursday and Friday in multiple strikes in the enclave's north, including the Kamal Adwan and Al-Ahli hospitals. Dozens of people are still trapped under the rubble, it said.
