Dalai Lama's brother dies in US

The Dalai Lama's brother, a Buddhist monk-turned-CIA translator who helped train Tibetan resistance fighters in a guerrilla war against Chinese rule, has died at his US home. He was 86.

The death of Taktser Rinpoche marked more than the passing of a major figure from the heyday of the Tibetan independence movement because it comes amid growing concern about the Dalai Lama's health, and the diminishing possibility of any negotiated settlement of the Tibet issue.

"His death is likely to add a much-needed sense of urgency and seriousness to the dialogue process between China and the exiles," said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University in New York.

Taktser Rinpoche, who had been ill for several years, died in his home in Indiana on Friday, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said in an e-mailed statement. A family member confirmed the death.

China and envoys of the Dalai Lama last held talks in Beijing in July, after being delayed by three weeks in the wake of China's deadliest earthquake in three decades.

Seven rounds of talks since 2002 have "produced only a tightening of controls within Tibet even before the traumatic events of this year", Barnett said, referring to the March rioting.

"It is possible that his death will remind the two parties that little time remains if they wish to resolve the issue by having the Dalai Lama put his name to an agreement," he said.

The Dalai Lama, revered by Tibetan Buddhists as their spiritual leader but loathed by China as a troublemaking separatist, smiled and waved to supporters as he left a hospital in India on Monday after being treated for four days for a stomach ailment.