Dalai Lama speaks on Saddam Hussein death sentence

Snip from Lobsang Wangyal's blog:

The Dalai Lama, opposing capital punishment and reiterating his appeal for its abolition, called for amnesty for the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein for the death sentence against him. "The death penalty seems to fulfill a preventive function, yet it is clearly a form of revenge," he said in his hotel in Tokyo, winding his two-week visit to the country.

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Miss Tibet crowned, headed for Miss Earth pageant

Lobsang Wangyal, founder of the Miss Tibet pageant (for Tibetan beauty queens who live in exile communities outside of Tibet) sends word that Ms. Tsering Chungtak is Miss Tibet 2006, and she is presently in Manila to participate in the Miss Earth pageant. In previous years, Miss Tibet's participation has been halted when Chinese pageant authorities threatened to withdraw support if her title was not changed to "Miss Tibet China." Tibet was taken over by the PRC in the late 1950s. More about the Miss Tibet pageant in these previous posts: (1) (2), and on misstibet.com.