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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.

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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)

The Dalai Lama on Thursday joined the plea for a peaceful end to the crisis in Iraq, saying any possible war would lead to "a trail of destruction".

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.

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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.