Chinese President's visit to Delhi provokes Tibetan protests

New Delhi:  China's president, Hu Jintao, has arrived in Delhi for the fourth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit. Worried about protests, the police has been detaining Tibetan activists in the capital, provoking strong criticism.

Here are five new facts on the story:
1) A man who set himself on fire in Delhi on Monday at a rally died in hospital this morning. Jamphel Yeshi was 27.
2) Around 1200 cops have been posted around the hotels where The Chinese premier and the delegation will be staying. Earlier, the protesters had attempted to storm Hotel Oberoi in Delhi where Chinese premiere Hu Jintao is staying. Police have arrested the protesters. This morning, the police detained 100 activists who were protesting against Hu's visit at the United Nations office. Over 150 Tibetans have been taken in to preventive custody during the protests today. The Tibetan Youth Congress members were submitting a memorandum to embassies of all nations participating in the BRICS summit. Protests were also held at Khan Market and Jantar Mantar. There is heavy police presence in these areas.
3) The police removed activist-poet Tenzin Tsundue from a seminar yesterday at the India habitat Centre. The police is keeping a tight vigil in areas in Delhi with high Tibetan population to ensure that young Tibetans don't come out of their homes to protest.
4) China has accused the Dalai Lama of "masterminding" self-immolation bids earlier this week. At least 29 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks and nuns, have set themselves on fire in Tibet demanding freedom for their homeland.
5) The Chinese President will attend the BRICS summit which looks at encouraging trade among member-nations. He will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan. The Chinese president is accompanied by a high-profile delegation comprising Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, State Councillor Dai Bingguo, senior ministers and business leaders.

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Tibetan protester sets himself on fire ahead of China President's visit to Delhi

New Delhi:  A Tibetan exile lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a protest in the Indian capital on Monday, just ahead of a visit by China's president and following self-immolations in the Himalayan region against Beijing's rule.

The protester apparently had doused himself with something highly flammable and was engulfed in flames when he ran past the podium where speakers were criticizing China and the visit by President Hu Jintao.

Fellow activists beat out the flames with Tibetan flags and poured water onto him. He was on fire perhaps less than two minutes, but some of his clothing disintegrated and his skin was mottled with black, burned patches by the time he was driven to a hospital.

The man, identified as Jampa Yeshi, sustained burns on 85 percent of his body and his condition was critical, a senior police officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Protesters initially prevented police from taking him to the hospital, but officers eventually forcibly took him away.

Yeshi, 27, escaped from Tibet in 2006 and had been living in New Delhi for the past two years, activists said.

Hu is expected to arrive in India on Tuesday for a five-nation economic summit.

While activists had been whispering on Monday morning that something dramatic was expected at the protest, organizers insisted they were not behind the self-immolation.

"We have no idea how this happened, but we appreciate the courage," said Tenzing Norsang, an official with the Tibetan Youth Congress. He called on the international community to talk about Tibet at the summit.

"If you care about peace you should raise the issue of Tibet," he said. "Hu Jintao is responsible for what is happening there."

The New Delhi protest comes amid a series of self-immolations inside Tibet. About 30 people - many of them monks or nuns, and often in their teens or early 20s - have lit themselves on fire over the past year, calling for the return to Tibet of the Dalai Lama and to protest Chinese rule over their homeland. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, has blamed China's "ruthless policy" for the self-immolations. China accuses the Dalai Lama of stirring up trouble.

At the site of the protest, a large poster of Hu - with a bloody palm print over his face - said: "Hu Jin Tao is unwelcome" at the summit.

More than 600 demonstrators marched across New Delhi to a central plaza near the Indian Parliament to protest Hu's visit. Some carried posters saying "Tibet is burning" or "Tibet is not part of China."

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory. Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries.

Monday's was the second self-immolation in India in recent months. Last year, a young Tibetan exile set himself on fire outside the Chinese Embassy. That man suffered minor burns.

"This is what China faces unless they give freedom to Tibet," said Tenzin Dorjee, a young onlooker.

Hu will be attending a summit this week of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who form a grouping known as BRICS.

Police in New Delhi are bracing for protests by the tens of thousands of Tibetan exiles who live in India. Security around the summit location has been tightened, and roads leading to the hotel will be closed to the public a day ahead of the meeting.

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Syrian president's wife banned from travel, shopping

Brussels:  The European Union banned the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from travelling to the EU or shopping with European companies in a move to stop her buying the Chanel dresses and Louboutin shoes she craves.

The EU's latest round of sanctions, which also targeted the president's mother and sister, is notable for including Assad's London-born wife Ms Asma, whose luxury shopping habit was laid bare this month in a cache of hacked emails.

She was once admired for her cosmopolitan glamour, but has over the past year turned into a hate figure for many Syrians, standing by her husband as he conducts a bloody crackdown against a popular uprising in which thousands have been killed.

"With this new listing we are striking at the heart of the Assad clan, sending out a loud and clear message to Mr. Assad: he should step down," Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said on the sidelines of an EU ministers' meeting in Brussels.

A former investment banker, Asma al-Assad once cultivated the image of a serious-minded woman inspired by Western values.

But she appears to have continued a life of luxury shopping and entertainment during the uprising against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, while according to the United Nations at least 8,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Emails she exchanged with her husband, obtained by Britain's Guardian newspaper, apparently showed they were buying pop music and luxury goods on the internet during the bloodshed.

MAKING SANCTIONS PERSONAL

Asma al-Assad, a 36-year-old mother of three, has been shown to have a penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses from France.

Before the Syrian insurgency started a year ago, a glowing article in Vogue magazine described her as "a rose in the desert" and her household as "wildly democratic".

But that image has crumbled as the emails showed her spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.

After Friday's decision, EU border guards will refuse her entry if she tries to travel into the bloc. But Britain will have to allow her in if she uses a British passport.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels also expanded the list of people facing asset freezes and bans on travel to the EU to several other Syrians, and barred European companies from doing business with two Syrian oil companies, EU officials said.

The decisions, which come into force on Saturday, build on 12 previous rounds of sanctions aimed at isolating Assad within Syria and cutting off his sources of finance. These included an arms embargo and a ban on importing Syrian oil into the EU.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said sanctions would send a strong signal to Assad that the international community opposed his actions and wanted him to give up power.

"I cannot say in strong enough terms how much we are concerned about what is going on in Syria," Ms Ashton told reporters in Brussels.

She said the international community's objective was "a situation where Assad recognises his responsibility, moves aside and we are able to see a genuine movement forward in Syria".

Mr Assad has been the target of sanctions since May last year, but these have so far had little impact on his policies. Violence has intensified in Syria in recent weeks as pro-government forces bombard rebel towns and villages, looking to sweep their lightly armed opponents out of their strongholds.

The international community has struggled to formulate a joint approach in the face of opposition from Russia and China to U.N. Security Council resolutions proposed by the West.

(Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012)

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