Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama addresses a news conference at the Kalachakra festival in the town of Bodh Gaya, believed to be the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, in the Indian state of Bihar, Thursday Jan. 16, 2003. The Dalai Lama said that weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated but a peaceful solution should be found to avoid war in Iraq. The Kalachakra festival is the largest Buddhist's prayer ceremony of the year (AP Photo/Vikram Kumar)
Geshe Thubten Ngawang, the spiritual director of Tibetisches Zentrum V. Hamburg (Tibetan Centre Germany), passed away at 11.06 a.m. on 11th January 2003 at the age of 71. He was suddenly taken ill with cancer at the end of November.
Phakpalha Gelek Namgyal, a prominent Tibetan lama from Chamdo Jampaling Monastery, has been re-elected as chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Xinhua announced on January 15, 2003.
The main initiation of the Kalachakra puja begins tomorrow in the afternoon. His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give preparation initiation for students. This will be followed by the Kalachakra initiation for the next three days.
Three Tibetans refugees, including two teenagers, who were arrested while attempting to transit through Nepal to India, were each given three-year prison sentences by a Nepalese court on January 8, 2003.
