The hunt for the next Dalai Lama
Much has changed, however, since he was discovered by senior Buddhist monks in a village in north-west Tibet in 1937. Most pertinently, the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s and the subsequent exile of the region's Buddhist leadership to India in the decades since.
As our south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, explains, it means the identity of the next Lama – and the process of how to find them – has become a deeply disputed question, pitting the Chinese state against Buddhist monks. And raising the possibility, too, that after the death of the current Dalai Lama, the world may see not one Dalai Lama but two.
Lhadon Tethong of the Tibet Action Institute tells Lucy Hough what it has meant for Tibetans to live in exile for so long, and how they feel about Chinese attempts to interfere.
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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
India to maintain Russian oil imports despite Trump threats, government sources say
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Taiwan has a stronger claim to statehood than Palestine. Will Starmer recognise it?
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The gathering storm clouds over China's territorial ambitions towards Taiwan have already resulted in significant changes to British policy to the region, most notably the 2021 Integrated Review that proposed an Indo-Pacific 'tilt' in our military and security outlook. Apart from sending an aircraft carrier to participate in joint naval exercises, the Royal Navy is also committed to upgrading its 'persistent presence' in the region to include the rotational deployment of nuclear submarines from 2027 as part of the recent Aukus agreement signed between the UK, US and Australia. If the UK is preparing to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, it makes sense for Starmer to give serious consideration to offering the Taiwanese people the same level of recognition that he is prepared to give to the Palestinians. Otherwise the UK could one day find itself in the invidious position of fighting for a people whose sovereignty it does not even acknowledge.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Prominent Indian ex-MP gets life sentence for rape
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