Category: 2. World

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said that he hopes to live until he is over 130 years old, days after he laid out a succession plan by saying he plans to reincarnate after his death.

The Dalai Lama, who is celebrating his 90th birthday on Sunday, made these comments during a ceremony organized by his followers to offer prayers for his long life.

“I have been able to serve the Buddha dharma and the beings of Tibet so far quite well, and I hope to live over 130 years,” the Dalai Lama told thousands of followers who had gathered Saturday in India’s northern town of Dharamshala.

Dharamshala has been the Dalai Lama’s home in exile since 1959 after he fled Tibet in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Since then, he has sustained Tibet’s aspirations for greater autonomy under Chinese Communist Party rule and mobilized Tibetans inside and outside China.

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama said that he intends to reincarnate, paving the way after his death for a successor to take on a mantle stretching back 500 years. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama can choose the body into which he is reincarnated.

That announcement ended years of speculation that started when he indicated that he might be the last person to hold the role.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism also said that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions, while stressing that his office will lead the search.

China views the Dalai Lama as a separatist and has insisted that only Beijing has the authority to approve his successor.

Meanwhile, the exiled Tibetan community of more than 20,000 people in Dharamshala is gearing up to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday on Sunday. His followers have put up giant posters and billboards across town, as tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the event, including Buddhist leaders of various sects and followers from across the world.

Barbara Weibel, a U.S. citizen who has been following Buddhism for more than 30 years, said she “had to be here for this.”

“I want this long life ceremony to keep him alive as long as possible,” she said.

PA Media

PA Media

PA Media

Here are the key events on day 1,227 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, July 5 :

Fighting

• Russian air defences have downed dozens of Ukrainian drones in widely dispersed parts of the country, including two near the country’s second-largest city, Saint Petersburg, according to officials.
• All external power lines supplying electricity to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine were down for several hours before being restored, the UN nuclear watchdog said.
• Ukrainian authorities blamed Russian shelling for the power cut, adding that technicians had to take action to restore it.
• Dutch and German intelligence agencies say that Russia is increasing its use of prohibited chemical weapons in Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison gas chloropicrin. Moscow denies this.

Weapons

• United States President Donald Trump said he discussed sending Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine in calls with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• A German government spokesman said the country was exploring the possibility of purchasing more Patriot air defence systems from the US for Ukraine.

Politics and diplomacy

• Trump said that he discussed sanctions with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Thursday call, who is worried about them and understands they might be forthcoming.
• The US president repeated that he was “very unhappy” with his Russian counterpart, adding: “He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people – it is no good.”
• Zelenskyy says he agreed with Trump, to work to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences, as concerns mounted in Kyiv over US military aid deliveries. The two leaders had a “very important and fruitful conversation” by phone on Friday, Zelenskyy said.
• German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius will travel to Washington later this month for talks with his US counterpart about air defence systems, as well as production capacities, the ministry said.

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — The Dalai Lama is revered as a deity by millions of Tibetan Buddhists and known worldwide as a resolute voice for peace, spirituality and Tibet ’s autonomy. He is also seen as a threat by China, which accuses him of wanting to wrest Tibet from Beijing’s control.

As the spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists, he established a government-in-exile in the Indian town of Dharamshala after fleeing Tibet in 1959. Since then he has traveled the world to raise the issue of Tibet and Tibetans, while spreading a message of nonviolence.

He has met world leaders and celebrities, from the likes of fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu to multiple U.S. presidents, popes and Hollywood stars.

As he celebrates his 90th birthday on Sunday, The Associated Press has curated a selection of photos of the Dalai Lama, from his early days in India to appearances he has made around the world.

___

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information as at least 23 campers from an all-girls summer camp were unaccounted for Friday after floods tore through the state’s south-central region overnight.

At least 24 people were dead and many missing after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain just before dawn Friday and sent floodwaters gushing out of the Guadalupe River, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters Friday evening. The flood-prone region known as Hill Country is dotted with century-old summer camps that draw thousands of kids annually from across the Lone Star State.

State officials said 23 to 25 girls from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, still were unaccounted for. They declined to estimate how many people were missing across the region but said a massive search was underway, with 237 rescued so far.

“I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. “On-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls.”

Rescuers evacuate some campers by helicopter

Texas Game Wardens said Friday afternoon that they had arrived at Camp Mystic and were starting to evacuate campers who had sheltered on higher ground.

Elinor Lester, 13, said she was evacuated with her cabinmates by helicopter after wading through floodwaters. She recalled startling awake around 1:30 a.m. as thunder crackled and water pelted the cabin windows.

Lester was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill. Cabins housing the younger campers, who can start attending at age 8, are situated along the riverbanks and were the first to flood, she said.

Campers in lower cabins sought shelter up the hill. By morning, they had no food, power or running water, she said. When rescuers arrived, Lester said they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping up around their calves and knees.

“The camp was completely destroyed,” she said. “It was really scary. Everyone I know personally is accounted for, but there are people missing that I know of and we don’t know where they are.”

Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son was nearby at Camp La Junta and also escaped. A counselor there woke up to find water rising in the cabin, opened a window and helped the boys swim out. Camp La Junta and another camp on the river, Camp Waldemar, said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff there were safe.

Elizabeth Lester sobbed when she finally saw her daughter, who was clutching a small teddy bear and a book. She said a friend’s daughter, who was a counselor for the younger children at Camp Mystic, was among the missing.

“My kids are safe, but knowing others are still missing is just eating me alive,” she said.

Families of missing campers worry

Dozens of families shared in local Facebook groups that they received devastating phone calls from safety officials informing them that their daughters had not yet been located among the washed-away camp cabins and downed trees.

Camp Mystic said in an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers that if they have not been contacted directly, their child is accounted for.

At an elementary school in nearby Ingram that was being used as a reunification center, more than a hundred people stood around a courtyard Friday afternoon with hopes of seeing their loved ones emerge from buses dropping off those who had been evacuated. One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic T-shirt stood in a puddle in her white socks, sobbing in her mother’s arms.

Many families hoped to see loved ones who had been at campgrounds and mobile home parks in the area.

Camp Mystic sits on a strip known as “flash flood alley,” said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a charitable endowment that is collecting donations to help nonprofits responding to the disaster.

“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”

State officials began warning of potential deadly weather a day earlier. The National Weather Service had predicted 3 to 6 inches of rain in the region, but 10 inches fell.

The Guadalupe River rose to 26 feet within about 45 minutes in the early morning hours, submerging its flood gauge, Patrick said.

Decades prior, floodwaters engulfed a bus of teenage campers from another Christian camp along the Guadalupe River during devastating summer storms in 1987. A total of 10 campers from Pot O’ Gold Christian camp drowned after their bus was unable to evacuate in time from a site near Comfort, 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of Hunt.

Flood turns Camp Mystic into a horror story

Chloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counselor, said her heart broke when a fellow teacher shared an email from the camp about the missing girls.

“To be quite honest, I cried because Mystic is such a special place, and I just couldn’t imagine the terror that I would feel as a counselor to experience that for myself and for 15 little girls that I’m taking care of,” she said. “And it’s also just sadness, like the camp has been there forever and cabins literally got washed away.”

Crane said the camp, which was established in 1926, is a haven for young girls looking to gain confidence and independence. She recalled happy memories teaching her campers about journalism, making crafts and competing in a camp-wide canoe race at the end of each summer. Now for many campers and counselors, their happy place has turned into a horror story, she said.

___

Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.