21.   Proposals to grant regional autonomy have been opposed by Sinhalese nationalists, who worry that such plans will lead to dismemberment of the country.

22.   A pact reached last May in Cairo granted limited autonomy to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.

23.   A year after Finland gained official ownership of the archipelago, it granted autonomy to the islanders except in foreign and security policy or in levying taxes.

24.   About the delay in granting autonomy to BTV and Betar, the State Minister said private channels of BTV would start functioning before the completion of procedures for autonomy.

25.   Although peace accords have granted Palestinians autonomy in some areas of the West Bank, Akaba is still under Israeli control.

26.   And in Yugoslavia, an arms embargo was imposed a year ago to pressure Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to grant autonomy for ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

27.   Belo says he wants the issue to be settled internally by making Indonesia grant autonomy to the region and end discrimination against East Timorese in government jobs.

28.   During the four-day visit, the Dalai Lama is hoping to persuade lawmakers to pressure China to grant greater autonomy to Tibet.

29.   Earlier this year, the government granted extra autonomy to Aceh, another Indonesian province where thousands of people have been killed in a separatist war.

30.   For more than three decades, the spiritual leader of millions of Buddhists has been pressuring the Chinese government to grant autonomy to Tibet.