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The Dalai Lama on Saturday encouraged people gathered at the University of Michigan to preserve their own religious traditions while respecting others with differing beliefs.

“As you know, I always believed since all different traditions have the same potential to bring inner peace, inner value … and therefore it is important to keep one’s own tradition,” he told about 8,000 people at Crisler Arena.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said he learned about Islam, Christianity and Judaism through personal contact and that he has a “genuine admiration and respect and appreciation for those traditions.”

A hush had fallen over those at the basketball arena as the Dalai Lama walked on the main floor stage. The audience, as well as monks and others sitting cross-legged on the stage floor, rose as he emerged.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959 in Tibet, arrived in the U.S. last week, a day after demonstrators disrupted the Olympic torch run in San Francisco in a protest of China’s treatment of his people.
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A severe tropical storm lashed southern China on Saturday bringing gale-force winds, as authorities reported the rescue of 38 fishermen who sheltered in reefs as the typhoon approached, state media said.

Typhoon Neoguri brought more than 260 millimetres (10 inches) of rain per hour as it hit Guangdong province after crossing Hainan island the night before, Xinhua news agency reported.

The storm caused transport chaos in neighbouring Hong Kong and Macau as ferry services and flights were cancelled or delayed.

Ferries between Macau and Hong Kong were halted after the former Portuguese colony raised the number eight gale signal in the afternoon, Hong Kong radio RTHK reported. Gusts of up to 162 kilometres (100 miles) an hour were recorded in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

Dozens of flights to and from Hong Kong were cancelled or delayed, according to the airport website. Most of the affected flights were to and from mainland China.

No casualties have been reported and the typhoon weakened to a severe tropical storm after it hit Hainan, Xinhua said.

A separate report from the news agency said the storm had affected 1.3 million people in Hainan, or one in six of the island’s population.

In addition, 550 houses had been damaged, and the direct financial losses came to 337 million yuan (48 million US dollars).
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PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI is coming to Sydney for World Youth Day. He has been dead since 1925 but that will not stop him playing an important role in the Catholic festival.

He was only 24 when he died, after being ill with polio for a week, but he has become a role model for young Catholics because of his fervent faith, not to mention his good looks, robust physique and sunny nature. His favourite sports were skiing and mountain climbing in the Alps, which rise like an amphitheatre behind Turin.

Despite the 83 years since his death, his body is reported to be in surprisingly good condition. Interviewed by phone, the cathedral parish priest, Father Gardiglio, said the body was intact.

A relative saw Pier Giorgio’s body when it was exhumed during the procedure that led to his recognition as Blessed, the phase before recognition of sainthood. The relative said: “It was like meeting him. His body was intact, his skin was fresh.”

The idea of bringing his body to Sydney seems to come from personal contacts between the Frassati family and the archdiocese of Sydney. Anthony Fisher, an auxiliary bishop of Sydney, is a member of the Dominican order, which inspired Pier Giorgio.

After Bishop Fisher visited Turin this year Pier Giorgio’s tomb was opened. World Youth Day said that his body would be flown to

Sydney in June in a new, sealed coffin to be displayed in St Mary’s Cathedral during the festival. It would be accompanied by a photographic exhibition and might be displayed elsewhere in Sydney, too. For pilgrims, being in his presence will be a matter of faith.

One website devoted to him describes him as the saint for the youth of the third millennium.

He believed that Catholics should practise their faith out of enthusiasm rather than duty. He was active in the Catholic University Students Federation as well as the St Vincent de Paul Society.

His father, Alfredo, a lawyer and journalist, was a founder and editor of the Turin newspaper La Stampa. He was also an Italian ambassador in Berlin before World War II and, later, a senator.
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