Dharamshala: He was recognised as the fourteenth Dalai Lama when he was just two-years-old, and today he is 75. As millions of his followers across the globe commemorate his special day, the Dalai Lama says his successor need not be a reincarnation, but someone appointed by him during his life time.

Human rights violations in Tibet, arrests of activists and the issue of Internet freedom figured prominently during two-days of "candid" dialogue between the US and China, officials said. The two-day US-China Human Rights Dialogue ended yesterday, but US officials were reluctant to air publicly their differences with China on human rights issues fearing that might jeopardise such meetings in the future.

Few will have heard of Tibet's Joan of Arc, the young Trinley Chodron, who believed that a bird sent by the Dalai Lama had given her magic powers and led a troop of "warrior-heroes" against the Chinese. Chodron was executed in 1969 during the cultural revolution.