News

About 1,000 supporters of the Dalai Lama welcomed him outside Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel yesterday, waving Tibetan flags, ceremonial scarves, banners, burning incense, applauding and crying out in unison: "Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama."

Around forty Tibetans staged a solidarity hunger strike and rally in downtown Berkeley in California as three Tibetan youth entered their 22nd day of indefinite hunger strike before the UN building in New York.

Taiwan's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are lending a hand to improve public health conditions among the Tibetan diaspora in India, though much remains to be done, according to the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC).

By rights, Tibetan Buddhism should have faded like the dying light in a thousand butter lamps before a thousand knowing Buddhas. But something extraordinary happened after the Dalai Lama rode a mountain pony into exile in 1959, disguised as a soldier

A crowd of about 600 supporters, many dressed in traditional Tibetan dress, greeted the Dalai Lama with songs and dancing when he arrived in Toronto Saturday afternoon. He's expected to speak to 5,000 faithful at the city's Sky Dome Sunday.

Canada's peaceful experience with referendums on its future has set an example for the world on successful political dissent, says the Dalai Lama. Two votes on the future of Quebec in Canada that proceeded without violence have shown how a mature democracy can cope with change

Throughout the '90s, Canada ignored Tibet. We left its Buddhist monks and 2.6 million Tibetans alone in their struggle on "the roof of the world," fighting for cultural survival.

Pope John Paul II, The Passion of the Christ director Mel Gibson and the Dalai Lama are among the global figures listed in Time magazine's new list of the world's 100 most influential people.

The Indian chapter of environment watchdog Greenpeace has begun a solar power utilization programme amongst the Tibetans living in exile in Dharamshala. Experts from Germany and Switzerland set up a two kilowatt photo voltaic generater in a special Tibetan Children Village.

Canadians should heed the Dalai Lama's reverence for such basic human values as compassion and justice especially after recent racist attacks here, says Prime Minister Paul Martin.