For much of the past century, the Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedoms under Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause from exile even as an increasingly powerful Beijing has become ever more assertive in suppressing it.

As his 90th birthday approaches this Sunday, the spiritual leader for millions of followers of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide is bracing for a final showdown with Beijing: the battle over who will control his reincarnation.

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama announced that he will have a successor after his death, and that his office will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation.

“I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the Nobel Peace laureate said in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where he has found refuge since Chinese communist troops put down an armed uprising in his mountainous homeland in 1959.

The cycle of rebirth lies at the core of Tibetan Buddhist belief. Unlike ordinary beings who are reborn involuntarily under the influence of karma, a revered spiritual master like the Dalai Lama is believed to choose the place and time of his rebirth – guided by compassion and prayer – for the benefit of all sentient beings.

But the reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama is not only pivotal to Tibetan Buddhism. It has become a historic battleground for the future of Tibet, with potentially far-reaching geopolitical implications for the broader Himalayan region.

“He has been such a magnet, uniting all of us, drawing all of us,” said Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama’s longtime translator, who assisted the leader on his latest memoir, “Voice for the Voiceless.”

“I often say to the younger-generation Tibetans: We sometimes get spoiled because we are leaning on this very solid rock. One day, when the rock goes away, what are we going to do?”

In that memoir, published this year, the Dalai Lama states that his successor will be born in the “free world” outside China, urging Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists globally to reject any candidate selected by Beijing.

But China’s ruling Communist Party insists it alone holds the authority to approve the next Dalai Lama – as well as all reincarnations of “Living Buddhas,” or high-ranking lamas in Tibetan Buddhism.

At the heart of this clash is the ambition of an officially atheist, authoritarian state to dominate a centuries-old spiritual tradition – and to control the hearts and minds of a people determined to preserve their unique identity.

Beijing brands the current Dalai Lama a dangerous “separatist” and blames him for instigating Tibetan protests, unrest, and self-immolations against Communist Party rule.

The Dalai Lama has rejected those accusations, insisting that he seeks genuine autonomy for Tibet, not full independence – a nonviolent “middle way” approach that has earned him international support and a Nobel Peace Prize.

To his Tibetan followers, the self-described “simple Buddhist monk” is more than a spiritual leader or former temporal ruler of their homeland. He stands as a larger-than-life symbol of their very existence as a people, defined by a distinct language, culture, religion and way of life that critics say Beijing is trying to erase.

But the Dalai Lama’s death could also pose a new dilemma for the Communist Party. Some younger Tibetans in exile view his “middle way” approach as overtly conciliatory toward Beijing. In the absence of a unifying figure to guide the exile movement and temper its more radical factions, demands for full Tibetan independence could gather momentum.

Battle over loyalty

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was only 15 when communist troops – having won the Chinese civil war – marched into Tibet in 1950 to bring the remote Himalayan plateau under the control of the newly founded People’s Republic.

The Communist Party claims it “liberated” Tibet from “feudal serfdom” and reclaimed a region it says has been part of China for centuries. But many Tibetans resented what they saw as the brutal invasion and occupation by a foreign army.

The resistance culminated in an armed uprising with calls for Tibetan independence in March 1959, sparked by fears that Chinese authorities were planning to abduct the Dalai Lama. As tensions mounted and the People’s Liberation Army fired munitions near the Dalai Lama’s palace, the young leader escaped the capital Lhasa under cover of night. The Chinese army ultimately crushed the rebellion, killing tens of thousands of Tibetans, according to exile groups, though the exact number remains disputed.

After fleeing to India, the Dalai Lama established a government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Since then, he has come to represent Tibet, said Ruth Gamble, an expert in Tibetan history at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

“Before the 1950s, the idea of Tibet was much more diffuse – there was a place, there was a state, and there were all of these different communities. But over the years, he’s almost become an abstract ideal of a whole nation,” she said.

The Chinese Communist Party has waged a decades-long campaign to discredit the current Dalai Lama and erase his presence from Tibetan life, while tightening restrictions on religious and cultural practices. The crackdown often intensifies around sensitive dates – especially his birthday – but devotion to the spiritual leader has quietly endured.

“Despite all these years of banning his photos, in every Tibetan heart there is an image of the Dalai Lama there. He is the unifying figure, and he is the anchor,” Jinpa, the translator, said.

It’s a profound emotional and spiritual loyalty that defies the risk of persecution and imprisonment — and one that the Communist Party deems a threat to its authority, yet is eager to co-opt.

Over the years, Beijing has cultivated a group of senior Tibetan lamas loyal to its rule, including the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama himself.

Historically, dalai lamas and panchen lamas have acted as mentors to each other and played a part in identifying or endorsing each other’s reincarnations – a close relationship likened by Tibetans to the sun and the moon. But in 1995, years after the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Beijing upended tradition by installing its own Panchen Lama in defiance of the Dalai Lama, whose pick for the role – a six-year-old boy – has since vanished from public view.

Beijing’s Panchen Lama is seen as an imposter by many Tibetans at home and in exile. He is often shown in China’s state-run media toeing the Communist Party line and praising its policies in Tibet. Last month, in a rare meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Tibetan monk reaffirmed his allegiance to the rule of the Communist Party and pledged to make his religion more Chinese – a tenet of Xi’s policy on religion.

Experts and Tibetan exiles believe Beijing will seek to interfere in the Dalai Lama’s eventual succession using a similar playbook – appointing and grooming a candidate loyal to its rule, with the backing of the state-appointed Panchen Lama and other senior lamas cultivated by the government.

That could lead to the emergence of two rival dalai lamas: one chosen by his predecessor, the other by the Communist Party.

Jinpa, the Dalai Lama’s translator, is unfazed by that prospect.

“Personally, I don’t worry about that, because it’s kind of a joke. It’s not funny because the stakes are so high, but it’s tragic,” he said, referring to Beijing’s likely attempt to appoint its own dalai lama. “I just feel sorry for the family whose child is going to be seized and told that this is the dalai lama. I’m already feeling sad for whoever’s going to suffer that tragedy.”

For his part, the current Dalai Lama has made clear that any candidate appointed by Beijing will hold no legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans or followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

“It is totally inappropriate for Chinese Communists, who explicitly reject religion, including the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the dalai lama,” he writes in “Voice for the Voiceless.”

With his characteristic wit and playful sense of humor, he adds: “Before Communist China gets involved in the business of recognizing the reincarnation of lamas, including the dalai lama, it should first recognize the reincarnations of its past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping!”

The search for a dalai lama

Tibetan Buddhism reveres its spiritual leader as the human manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion – an enlightened being who, rather than entering nirvana, chooses to be reborn to help humanity. The current Dalai Lama is the latest in a long lineage of reincarnations that have spanned six centuries.

The search for a dalai lama’s rebirth is an elaborate and sacred process. Important clues are the instructions or indications left by a predecessor (it could be as subtle as the direction in which the deceased dalai lama’s head was turned). Additional methods include asking reliable spiritual masters for their divination, consulting oracles, and interpreting visions received by senior lamas during meditation at sacred lakes.

Following these clues, search parties are dispatched to look for young children born after the dalai lama’s death. Candidates are subject to a series of tests, including identifying objects that belonged to the previous incarnation.

But the dalai lama’s reincarnation hasn’t always been found in Tibet. The fourth dalai lama was identified in the late 16th century in Mongolia, while the sixth was discovered about a century later in what is currently Arunachal Pradesh, India.

The current Dalai Lama, born into a farming family in a small village in the northeastern part of the Tibetan plateau, was identified when he was two years old, according to his official biography. He assumed full political power at 15, ahead of schedule, to guide his distressed people as they faced advancing Chinese Communist forces.

If the next dalai lama is to be identified as a young child, as per tradition, it could take some two decades of training before he assumes the mantle of leadership – a window that Beijing could seek to exploit as it grooms and promotes its own rival dalai lama.

“For us, the one recognized by the Dalai Lama, born in exile, is the real one. So as far as the matter of faith is concerned, I think there is no issue. It’s just the politics and geopolitics,” said Lobsang Sangay, the former prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala.

For instance, Beijing could pressure other countries to invite its own dalai lama for ceremonies, said Sangay, now a senior visiting fellow at Harvard Law School.

Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana Buddhism – one of the major branches of the faith – which is widely practiced in Mongolia and the Himalayan regions of Bhutan, Nepal and India.

These countries – and to a lesser extent, other nations with large Buddhist populations such as Japan and Thailand – could be forced to choose which dalai lama to recognize, according to Gamble in Melbourne. “Or they may and say: ‘We’re not going to get into it.’ But even that might anger the Chinese government,” she added.

Aware of his own mortality, the Dalai Lama has been preparing the Tibetan people for an eventual future without him. He laid what he sees as the most important groundwork by strengthening the institutions of the Tibetan movement and fostering a self-reliant democracy within the exile community.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama devolved his political power to the democratically elected head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, retaining only his role as the spiritual head of the Tibetan people.

Sangay, who took up the baton as the political leader of the exiled government, said that by making the transition to democracy the Dalai Lama wanted to ensure Tibetans can run the movement and the government on their own, even after he is gone.

“He has specifically said: ‘You cannot just rely on me as an individual… I’m mortal. The time will come when I won’t be there. So it is for the Tibetan people, while I’m here, to transition to full-fledged democracy – with all its ups and downs – and to learn from it and grow, mature and be stronger, moving forward,’” he said.

That goal has taken on added urgency as the Tibetan movement for safeguarding their culture, identity and genuine autonomy increasingly finds itself in a precarious moment.

Under leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has ramped up security and surveillance in its frontier regions, intensified efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities, and rolled out a nationwide campaign to “sinicize” religion – ensuring it aligns with Communist Party leadership and values.

The Chinese government says it has safeguarded cultural rights and religious freedom in Tibet and touts the region’s economic development and significant infrastructure investment, which it says has improved living standards and lifted hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty.

United Nations experts and the Dalai Lama have expressed concerns over what they call an intensifying assimilation campaign by the Chinese government, following reports that Chinese authorities have closed a large number of rural area Tibetan language schools and forced about a million Tibetan children to attend public boarding schools. Officials in Tibet have strongly pushed back on the accusations.

And as China’s political and economic clout has grown, the Dalai Lama’s global influence appears to be waning, especially as old age makes it difficult to sustain his extensive globe-trotting. The spiritual leader has not met a sitting US president since Barack Obama in 2016, after numerous visits to the White House since 1991.

But some Tibetans remain hopeful. Jinpa, the translator, said that while the Dalai Lama is still alive, Tibetans must find ways to establish a sure footing for themselves.

“My own feeling is that if we can get our act together and the dalai lama institution continues with a new dalai lama being discovered, the power of the symbol will be maintained,” he said.

Russia has become the first nation to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan since it took power in 2021, announcing on Thursday it has accepted an ambassador from the Islamist group.

“We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various fields,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We see significant prospects for cooperation in the trade and economic area with an emphasis on projects in the fields of energy, transport, agriculture, and infrastructure,” the statement continues. “We will continue to assist Kabul in strengthening regional security and combating the threats of terrorism and drug-related crime.”

The statement by the Russian ministry was accompanied by a photo of the new Afghan ambassador to Russia, Gul Hassan Hassan, handing his credentials to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.

In a post on X, alongside pictures of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi meeting with Russian Ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov, the Taliban’s foreign ministry hailed the decision as positive and important.

Thawing ties with the outside world

Russia’s recognition is historically significant. The former Soviet Union fought a 9-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989 following their defeat by the Afghan mujahideen, some of whom later founded the modern Taliban.

In the aftermath of the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia was one of a few nations to maintain a diplomatic presence in the country. Russia removed its designation of the Taliban as a terrorist group in April 2025.

While the Taliban has exchanged ambassadors with China and the United Arab Emirates, and has a long-standing political office in Qatar, those countries do not recognize it as the government of Afghanistan.

The lack of recognition has not prevented Afghanistan’s new rulers from doing business with the outside world. In 2023, a Chinese oil company signed an oil extraction deal with the Taliban.

Moreover, the Taliban has angled for the recognition of another former adversary: the United States. Efforts have reportedly ramped up since US President Donald Trump began his second term earlier this year. March 2025 saw the release of two Americans from Afghanistan, along with the US removing millions of dollars of bounties from three Taliban officials.

“You need to be forthcoming and take a risk,” US officials told the Taliban during a March meeting to secure an American prisoner’s release, according to the person familiar with the proceedings. “Do this, it will likely open up the door for a better relationship.”

It wasn’t the first time the US had diplomatically engaged with the Taliban. In the last year of his first term, Trump reached an agreement with the group for a full US withdrawal by 2021. The deal achieved a chaotic fulfillment as the Taliban swept to power during former US President Joe Biden’s first summer in the White House.

Two alleged fraudsters accused of swindling an elderly woman out of tens of thousands of dollars in cash have been arrested by Australian police investigating a spate of “Chinese blessing scams.”

Chinese blessing scams have been reported worldwide for the last 25 years or so, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

Offenders typically target elderly Asian women and convince them that a member of their family is cursed or in danger. Victims are told the only way to ward off negative spirits is to have their wealth blessed.

“It’s a robbery by stealth. These offenders swarm these vulnerable victims, usually Asian, older females. They swarm like a pack of hyenas,” said New South Wales Police Detective Superintendent Guy Magee.

A 63-year-old woman was detained at Sydney International Airport Thursday after “extensive inquiries” by Strike Force Sentinel, a special task force formed in April to investigate 80 reports of the scams, involving the alleged theft of 3 million Australian dollars ($2 million). She’s been charged with a number of offenses.

Her alleged accomplice, a 63-year-old man, was detained Friday at Brisbane Airport as he attempted to leave Australia on a flight to China. He’s expected to be charged soon.

Detective Superintendent Magee said Friday the alleged perpetrators of Chinese blessing scams are targeting the entire east coast of Australia.

“They’ll fly in. They’ll prey on the vulnerable in their own community. They’ll capitalize on the vulnerabilities of that community around superstition,” he said.

Typically, the elderly victim is taken to someone purporting to be a spiritual healer, who tells them to put their money and valuables in a bag.

“They will convince them that it’s been blessed, and they’ll tell them not to open that bag for a period of time, up to months. And if they do, they will come across bad fortune,” said Magee.

“Unfortunately, the victims are opening those bags to find their money and jewelry is simply not in there. It’s disgraceful.”

The two suspects arrested this week are accused of defrauding a 77-year-old woman of cash and jewelry worth 130,000 Australian dollars ($85,000) in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta in June.

NSW Police say they believe 50 people are involved in the scam, and they’ve identified 25 suspects by name. Another 25 people have been seen on camera allegedly taking part. Eleven arrest warrants have been issued.

“It’s like a role play. There’s nothing by chance in what they do, they all have deliberate roles,” said Magee.

He said police believe the crime is “profoundly underreported” due to the victims’ embarrassment and shame about being conned. The number of cases is “probably double” police estimates, he added.

Last November, New Zealand Police arrested three Chinese nationals as they attempted to leave the country on flights to China after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars.

Police allege the trio arrived in the country that October and within days started targeting elderly members of the community.

The alleged scammers conned two victims out of about 30,000 New Zealand dollars ($18,000) in cash and jewelry, police said in a statement.

A “substantial amount” of money was retrieved, they added.

NSW Police issued advice to the community to beware of people asking directions to a Chinese herbal doctor or spiritual healer.

“Do not bring strangers home,” the advice said. Do not hand any valuables to strangers and “do not put money or jewellery in a bag for any blessing ritual,” it added.

Russia launched a record number of drones at Ukraine overnight into Friday, striking multiple buildings and residential areas, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had made “no progress” towards a ceasefire deal in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

At least 23 people were wounded in the attack, which lasted 13 hours, according to Kyiv city and military authorities. Ukraine intercepted 476 out of a record 539 Russian drones, according to the country’s air force. It said Russia also launched 11 cruise and ballistic missiles.

Thousands of residents spent the night in shelters, including in subway stations or underground parking lots, as explosions and the sound of drones echoed through the city in the early hours of Friday morning.

“Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv. One of the worst so far,” said Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “one of the most large-scale air attacks” the country had seen.

“Notably, the first air raid alerts in our cities and regions yesterday began to blare almost simultaneously with media reports discussing a phone call between President Trump and Putin,” Zelensky said. “Yet again, Russia is showing it has no intention of ending the war and terror.”

The strikes sparked fires in buildings and structures across several city districts, and partially destroying multi-story buildings, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. They also destroyed part of Kyiv’s railway, and damaged five ambulances that were responding to calls from those wounded.

In recent weeks, Russia has launched near-nightly air attacks on Ukraine involving hundreds of missiles and drones. Earlier this week Ukraine’s foreign minister said that in June alone, Russia launched over 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, 5,000 combat drones, and 5,000 gliding bombs against Ukraine.

Before Friday, the last record-setting night of attacks came just five days ago – when Russia fired 537 drones and missiles at Ukraine.

On Thursday, Trump held a nearly hour-long call with Putin and voiced frustration afterward about the stalled ceasefire negotiations.

“We had a call. It was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things, including Iran and we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine,” Trump said. “I’m not happy about that.”

Asked if he felt he made progress with Putin on a deal with Ukraine, Trump said firmly: “No.” He added, “I didn’t make any progress with him today at all.”

Trump said he would speak with Zelensky early Friday morning, saying he was “very disappointed” with his conversation with Putin, whom he believes is “not looking to stop” the war.

The strikes come as the Trump administration pauses some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles, following a review of military spending and American support to foreign countries.

Trump acknowledged said that the decision had been made to protect US stockpiles.

The US has been the biggest single donor of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, supplying Ukraine with air defense systems, drones, rocket launchers, radars, tanks and anti-armor weapons, leading to concerns over dwindling US stockpiles.

But the balance of aid to Ukraine has changed significantly since Trump returned to power, casting doubt over the future of US support for Kyiv.

Trump and Putin did not discuss the pause in shipments to Ukraine during their call, according to Russian state media TASS, citing a Kremlin aide. However, Trump brought up ending the war “as early as possible” – to which Putin responded that Russia would not “back down” from its war goals in Ukraine, according to TASS.

Two female tourists in Zambia were killed by an elephant Thursday while on a walking safari in a national park, police said.

Eastern Province Police Commissioner Robertson Mweemba said the victims – 68-year-old Easton Janet Taylor from the United Kingdom and 67-year-old Alison Jean Taylor from New Zealand – were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf.

Safari guides who were with the group attempted to stop the elephant from charging at the women by firing shots at it, police said. The elephant was hit and wounded by the gunshots. The guides were unable to prevent the elephant’s attack and both women died at the scene, police said.

It happened at the South Luangwa National Park in eastern Zambia, around 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the capital, Lusaka.

Female elephants are very protective of their calves and can respond aggressively to what they perceive as threats.

Last year, two American tourists were killed in separate encounters with elephants in different parts of Zambia. In both cases, the tourists were also elderly women and were on a safari vehicle when they were attacked.

South Korea has recently been hit by another surge of lovebugs.

But romance is certainly not in the air for residents of Seoul and neighboring Incheon city, who have been plagued by these pesky insects in recent weeks, as rising temperatures due to climate change spur their spread.

On Friday, dozens of government workers were sent to Gyeyangsan, a mountain west of the capital, to manage an “extremely severe outbreak,” the country’s environment ministry said in a statement.

Videos on social media earlier this week showed scenic hiking trails along the peak transformed into buzzing corridors of chaos.

Footage shows hikers thrashing through swarms of thumbnail-sized bugs, with one person engulfed by the black-winged creatures and another scooping thousands of tiny carcasses from the trail.

In a YouTube video, a man collected thousands of the insects and took them home to make them into hamburgers, which he then appeared to eat.

Where do lovebugs come from?

Lovebugs, known scientifically as Plecia longiforceps, get their nickname from their mating behavior when they fling into each other while flying.

They are found in the subtropics including southeastern China, Taiwan, and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands. They also occur in parts of Central America and the southern United States, including Texas and Florida.

First detected in South Korea in 2015, they are believed to have arrived there from southern China, according to the environment ministry. Since 2022, they have appeared in and around Seoul, particularly port areas, between June and July, it added.

Why are they spreading?

Experts say climate change and warming temperatures are helping drive lovebugs northward into areas such as Seoul and Incheon.

While global warming is a planet-wide issue, scientists have identified Seoul as an area where temperatures are rising at a faster pace than in other parts of the world.

This is worsened by the city’s heat-island effect, where temperatures are much higher than in nearby rural areas due to man-made structures absorbing and holding more heat.

“With climate change increasing ecological instability, we must remain vigilant throughout the summer,” Kim Tae-o, director of the environment ministry, said.

Are they harmful?

Lovebugs do not transmit diseases or sting humans. However, there have been increasing public complaints about them sticking to car windows and the walls of houses, restaurants and subway trains.

So far, officials have advised local workers and residents to combat swarms by spraying water or using sticky pads instead of chemical pesticides.

Where could they spread next?

Populations are expanding in the northwest of South Korea, however any further potential spread remains unknown.

“Compared with the past two years, the number of lovebugs sharply surged last weekend at the mountain,” Gyeyang district official Wang Hyeon-jeong said on Tuesday.

Areas with a warm, humid climate could attract them, being favorable conditions for their survival and reproduction.

What’s next for South Korea?

The city government of Seoul views the lovebugs as “ecologically beneficial,” posing no health risk to humans and helping pollinate flowers as their larvae convert plant materials into organic components.

However, local media reports that complaints to the city have more than doubled, increasing from 4,418 in 2023 to 9,296 last year, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

On Friday, environment ministers agreed to strengthen and invest more in response procedures after the latest outbreak, which it described as “extremely severe.”

“We will closely monitor the situation and work with local authorities from the early stages of any outbreak,” Kim said.

But natural population control is reportedly setting in, as birds such as sparrows and magpies learn to eat the bugs, causing their numbers to fall.