The Dalai Lama has canceled a trip next week to Botswana because of “exhaustion” after Beijing expressed anger at the African country for allowing the visit.
The 82-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, who lives in exile in India, was to speak at a three-day conference in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, set to begin on Thursday.
An official statement released late on Friday said the Dalai Lama had written to Botswanan President Ian Khama and the conference organizers, the Mind and Life Institute, expressing “profound regret” at having to cancel his visit “due to exhaustion.”
“His Holiness has reluctantly had to concede that his 82-year-old body was telling him to rest,” the statement said. “Since his physicians have also advised him to avoid undertaking long journeys for the next few weeks, His Holiness will return to Dharamsala to recuperate.”
The Buddhist leader has lived in exile in India since he fled a failed Tibetan uprising in 1959.
Botswana said last month that the visit was “purely private,” but added that the Dalai Lama would be granted the status of a foreign dignitary.
Beijing issued a warning to Botswana, asking the African nation to respect China’s “core interests.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) last month called on Botswana to “earnestly respect” China’s sovereignty, and “make the right decision” on Tibet-related issues.
“China will not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and we will not accept that other countries do things that would harm the core interests of China,” he said.
China is a key investor in Africa and the continent’s largest trade partner. In Botswana it has helped build power plants, road networks, bridges and schools.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the