71.   The prestigious regional award has previously gone to such notables as Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

72.   The Tibetan leader recently told supporters he was visiting Taiwan for religious, not political, reasons.

73.   The Tibetan leader remains a figure of worship in the Himalayan kingdom despite his more than four decades of exile.

74.   The Tibetan leader, dressed in the robes of a Buddhist monk, said he now hopes for autonomy on cultural issues rather than full independence from China.

75.   The Tibetan religious leader did not take a position on the Taiwan independence issue Saturday.

76.   The Tibetan spiritual leader says he wants Tibet to be given greater autonomy.

77.   The sovereignty issue was ignored during a visit to Taiwan this spring by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

78.   The Tibetan religious leader stressed that he does not support Tibetan independence.

79.   The Tibetan spiritual leader spent more than a week at Lilavati hospital for treatment of an infection that had prevented him from leading a major Buddhist ceremony in January.

80.   The Tibetan spiritual leader was hospitalized last Sunday after doctors who examined him in the eastern state of Bihar suspected a lump in his stomach.