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PENSIVE: Konchog “Kusho” Osel, 16 – once Donald Pham of Laguna Niguel – pauses after a study session at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India. Cindy Yamanaka / The Register

A number of devotees attending the Kalachakra puja has reached its peak in the last two days since the main initiation began. The Kalachakra Maidan is packed to its extended capacity

Ragdi, head of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Regional People's Congress

Ragdi and Lekchog have been re-elected as heads of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Regional People's Congress and the TAR Government respectively, the Chinese government announced on January 17, 2003.

Four foreigners - a Tibetan and three Nepalese - have been taken into custody by the police in Bihar's Bodhgaya where Kalchakra puja, the most sacred of the rituals of Mahayana sect of Buddhism, is in progress amidst heightened security measures, Police said today.

Thousands of Buddhists from abroad have flocked to the birthplace of the Buddha for a festival, but many are clearly unhappy over the poor facilities and infrastructure.

testing

A record 200,000 people from across the globe are attending a Buddhist festival in eastern India, despite reports of death threats to exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, officials said today.

The ritual tenth March demonstration, which is much like scissors to the ribbon of a year's political activities, is in doubt considering the Kashag's decision to withhold all political activities till mid 2003.

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)