Spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Saturday said he was counting on young people to create a “happier” century as he celebrated his 78th birthday in southern India with tens of thousands of fellow Tibetan exiles.
“The present-day generation can create better conditions and build a world where everyone can live in harmony and in a spirit of coexistence,” the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, told the crowd.
“Youngsters of today have an opportunity to build a happier century,” said the maroon-robed monk — known for his infectious guffaw, oversized spectacles and teachings about peace.
Photo: Reuters
“For those of us from the 20th century, there is nothing we can do now,” he said.
EXILES
The Dalai Lama celebrated his birthday at Bylakuppe, 220km from Bangalore, the Karnataka state capital, where the largest camp of Tibetan exiles was set up in India in the early 1960s.
The spiritual leader spoke to about 40,000 Tibetans who migrated from Tibet and settled in India.
In an hour-long speech, he urged people to “practice compassion” and not just think of themselves, adding that education only has value “when you are compassionate toward others.”
The Dalai Lama set up his headquarters in Dharamsala, the mist-shrouded northern Indian hill station after escaping Chinese rule.
However, about 18,000 Tibetans, including 9,000 monks and nuns reside in Bylakuppe, the largest Tibetan resettlement camp in India, that houses two monasteries, temples, schools, hospitals, houses and shops.
Karnataka has the largest Tibetan population in India. Out of the total 120,000 refugees in India, 40,000 live in the three main camps of Karnataka, while the rest are scattered across northern India, according to official figures.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
RSS