Category: 2. World

Leaders from India, the United States and Taiwan offered their support to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on his 90th birthday on Sunday, a landmark anniversary raising geopolitical questions for the future.

Tibetans fear China will eventually name a rival successor to the Dalai Lama, bolstering Beijing’s control over Tibet, the territory it poured troops into in 1950 and has ruled ever since.

The man who calls himself a “simple Buddhist monk” celebrated in India, where he has lived since he and thousands of other Tibetans fled Chinese troops who crushed an uprising in their capital, Lhasa, in 1959.

The Dalai Lama says only his India-based office has the right to identify his eventual successor.

“I join 1.4 billion Indians in extending our warmest wishes to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday,” the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said in a statement, read at celebrations in the Himalayan hill town where the Dalai Lama lives.

“He has been an enduring symbol of love, compassion, patience and moral discipline,” he added.

China insisted on Wednesday that it would have the final say on who succeeds the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Modi’s effusive support is significant.

India and China are intense rivals competing for influence across south Asia, but have sought to repair ties after a 2020 border clash.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, also said in a statement, read at the celebrations in India, that Washington was “committed to promoting respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Tibetans”.

“We support efforts to preserve Tibetans’ distinct linguistic, cultural and religious heritage, including their ability to freely choose and venerate religious leaders without interference,” the statement added.

Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te – who leads an island that China says is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize – said in a statement read at the ceremony that the example set by the Dalai Lama “resonates with all who cherish freedom, democracy and respect for human rights”.

Messages from three former US presidents were also broadcast.

“At a time when we see the forces of division tearing at the fabric of our common humanity … I’m grateful for your enduring efforts to build a better, kinder, more compassionate world,” Bill Clinton said.

“The world is a troubled place, and we need your spirit of kindness and compassion and love more than ever,” George W Bush added.

Barack Obama wished a “very happy birthday to the youngest 90-year-old I know”.

“It is humbling to realise that you’ve been a leader on the world stage for longer than I’ve been alive,” Obama said, in his message to his “dear friend”.

“You’ve shown generations what it means to practise compassion, and speak up for freedom and dignity,” Obama added. “Not bad for someone who describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.”

DHARAMSHALA, India — DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — The Dalai Lama turned 90 on Sunday surrounded by thousands of followers, who thronged the Himalayan town of Dharamshala, where the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has been living in exile since fleeing Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959.

He sat before a packed audience that included hundreds of red-robed monks and nuns who braved incessant rain to see him.

Dressed in a traditional robe and a flowing yellow wrap, the Dalai Lama was escorted to the temple courtyard by a group of monks, as Tibetan artists beat drums and played bagpipes while senior lamas struck cymbals in his honor. The head of the democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, raised the Tibetan flag as the musicians played the Tibetan anthem.

Recognized worldwide in his red robes and wide smile, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, describes himself as a “simple Buddhist monk.” But millions of Tibetan Buddhists worship him as living manifestations of Chenrezig, the Buddhist god of compassion.

The birthday party capped a week of celebrations, during which the Nobel Peace Prize winner said he plans to reincarnate after his death, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role. He also said that the next Dalai Lama should be and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions.

On Saturday, the Dalai Lama said he hoped to live until the age of 130.

In the past, the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in the “free world” — outside China. Many exiled Tibetans, however, fear China will name its own successor to the Dalai Lama to bolster control over Tibet, a territory it poured troops into in 1950 and has ruled ever since.

China, which views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, has repeatedly said that it alone has the authority to approve the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. It also says it will reject anyone chosen without Beijing’s consent.

Dignitaries including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sent their wishes to the Tibetan leader.

Modi said the Dalai Lama has “been an enduring symbol of love, compassion, patience and moral discipline,” while Rubio said the Buddhist spiritual leader “continues to inspire people by embodying a message of unity, peace and compassion.”

The celebration was also attended by hundreds of followers from around the world including Hollywood movie star Richard Gere.

“He is the most extraordinary man to ever walk on this planet,” said Gere, as the crowd broke into a rapturous applause.

In a birthday message on his website on Saturday, the Dalai Lama reiterated that he was “just a simple Buddhist monk” and that he will “continue to focus on my commitments of promoting human values religious harmony.”

The Dalai Lama was thrust onto the Tibetan throne in 1937. Soon after, Chinese troops swept into his homeland in the 1950s and crushed a failed uprising, forcing him to escape with thousands of his followers to India where he established a government in exile.

Since then, he has spent more than seven decades in exile and sustained a nation in exile by managing to build a community that’s kept the Tibetan culture and identity alive. The Dalai Lama has also become one of the world’s most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China’s control of Tibet.

A screeshot of the Reuters X handle.

Elon Musk, an ex-ally of US President Donald Trump, said on Saturday he had launched a new political party in the United States to challenge what the tech billionaire described as the country’s “one-party system.”

The world’s richest person — and Trump’s biggest political donor in the 2024 election — had a bitter falling out with the president after leading the Republican’s effort to slash spending and cut federal jobs as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk has clashed with Trump over the president’s massive domestic spending plan, saying it would explode the US debt, and vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it.

Now he has created the so-called America Party, his own political framework, through which to try and achieve that.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” the SpaceX and Tesla boss posted on X, the social media platform that he owns.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Musk cited a poll — uploaded on Friday, US Independence Day — in which he asked whether respondents “want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system” that has dominated US politics for some two centuries.

The yes-or-no survey earned more than 1.2 million responses.

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he posted on Saturday.

Musk also shared a meme depicting a two-headed snake and the caption “End the Uniparty.”

‘Laser-focus’ on vulnerable lawmakers

It is not clear how much impact the new party would have on the 2026 mid-term elections, or on the presidential vote two years after that.

The Trump-Musk feud reignited in dramatic fashion late last month as Trump pushed Republicans in Congress to ram through his massive domestic agenda in the form of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Musk expressed fierce opposition to the legislation and ruthlessly attacked its Republican backers for supporting “debt slavery.”

He vowed to launch a new political party to challenge lawmakers who campaigned on reduced federal spending only to vote for the bill, which experts say will pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the US deficit.

“They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk said earlier this week.

After Musk heavily criticised the flagship spending bill — which eventually passed Congress and was signed into law — Trump threatened to deport the tech tycoon and strip federal funds from his businesses.

“We’ll have to take a look,” the president told reporters when asked if he would consider deporting Musk, who was born in South Africa and has held US citizenship since 2002.

On Friday, after posting the poll, Musk laid out a possible political battle plan to pick off vulnerable House and Senate seats and become “the deciding vote” on key legislation.

“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” Musk posted on X.

All 435 US House seats are up for grabs every two years, while about one third of the Senate’s 100 members, who serve six-year terms, are elected every two years.

Some observers were quick to point out how third-party campaigns have historically split the vote — as businessman Ross Perot’s independent presidential run in 1992 did when it helped doom George H.W. Bush’s re-election bid, resulting in Democrat Bill Clinton’s victory.

“You are pulling a Ross Perot, and I don’t like it,” one X user wrote to Musk.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is playing host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies Sunday and Monday during which pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to be handled with caution.

Analysts and diplomats have said the lack of cohesion in an enlarged BRICS, which doubled in size last year, may affect its ability to become another pole in world affairs. They also see the summit’s moderate agenda as an attempt by member countries to stay off Trump’s radar.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has some of his priorities, such as debates on artificial intelligence and climate change, front and center for the talks with key leaders not in attendance.

Lula said in his speech on Sunday that “we are witnessing the unparalled collapse of multilateralism” and that the meeting is taking place “in the most adverse global scenario” of the four times Brazil has hosted it. He called for the group to promote peace and mediate conflicts.

“If international governance does not reflect the new multipolar reality of the 21st century, it is up to the BRICS to contribute to its renovation,” Lula said at the opening of the summit.

China’s President Xi Jinping did not attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country’s leader in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make an appearance via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi are also absent from the gathering in Rio de Janeiro.

Three joint statements expected

The restraint expected in Rio de Janeiro marks a departure from last year’s summit hosted by Russia in Kazan, when the Kremlin sought to develop alternatives to U.S.-dominated payment systems which would allow it to dodge Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A source involved in the negotiations told journalists Friday that some members of the group want more aggressive language on the situation in Gaza and Israel’s attack on Iran. The source spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

“Brazil wants to keep the summit as technical as possible,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think tank and university.

Consequently, observers expect a vague final declaration regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.

As well as suiting Brazil, a watered-down and non-controversial statement may be made easier by the absences of Putin and Xi, Stuenkel said. Those two countries have pushed for a stronger anti-Western stance, as opposed to Brazil and India that prefer non-alignment.

A Brazilian government official told The Associated Press on Thursday that the group is expected to produce three joint statements and a final declaration, “all of which less bounded by current geopolitical tensions.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the summit’s preparations.

João Alfredo Nyegray, an international business and geopolitics professor at the Pontifical Catholic University in Parana, said the summit could have played a role in showing an alternative to an unstable world, but won’t do so.

“The withdrawal of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the uncertainty about the level of representation for countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are confirming the difficulty for the BRICS to establish themselves as a cohesive pole of global leadership,” Nyegray said. “This moment demands high level articulation, but we are actually seeing dispersion.”

Avoid Trump’s tariffs

Brazil, the country that chairs the bloc, has picked six strategic priorities for the summit: global cooperation in healthcare; trade, investment and finance; climate change; governance for artificial intelligence; peace-making and security; and institutional development.

It has decided to focus on less controversial issues, such as promoting trade relations between members and global health, after Trump returned to the White House, said Ana Garcia, a professor at the Rio de Janeiro Federal Rural University.

“Brazil wants the least amount of damage possible and to avoid drawing the attention of the Trump administration to prevent any type of risk to the Brazilian economy,” Garcia said.

While Brazil advocated on Sunday for the reform of Western-led global institutions, a cornerstone policy of the group, the country’s government wants to avoid becoming the target of tariffs — a predicament it has so far largely escaped.

Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs against the bloc if they take any moves to undermine the dollar.

‘Best opportunity for emerging countries’

BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but the group last year expanded to include Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

As well as new members, the bloc has 10 strategic partner countries, a category created at last year’s summit that includes Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam.

That rapid expansion led Brazil to put housekeeping issues — officially termed institutional development — on the agenda to better integrate new members and boost internal cohesion.

Despite notable absences, the summit is important for attendees, especially in the context of instability provoked by Trump’s tariff wars, said Bruce Scheidl, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo’s BRICS study group.

“The summit offers the best opportunity for emerging countries to respond, in the sense of seeking alternatives and diversifying their economic partnerships,” Scheidl said.

For Lula, the summit is a welcome pause from a difficult domestic scenario, marked by a drop in popularity and conflict with Congress.

The meeting also represents an opportunity to advance climate negotiations and commitments on protecting the environment before November’s COP 30 climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belem.