Dalai Lama to lead US Senate prayers

The Dalai Lama will lead the US Senate in prayer tomorrow as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader meets leaders of Congress, his office said.
It will mark the first time that the Dalai Lama -- whose activities overseas are strongly opposed by China -- will deliver the prayer that customarily opens each Senate session.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner will later meet leaders of both the Senate and House of Representatives, said Kaydor Aukatsang, a spokesman for the Office of Tibet. A Senate aide confirmed the Dalai Lama's meetings.
Last month, the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 for India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, met President Barack Obama, the fourth consecutive sitting US leader whom the Tibetan leader has seen.

China called the meeting "gross interference" in its internal affairs and summoned a US diplomat, although it has not taken stronger retaliatory measures. The Dalai Lama's meeting was his third at the White House with Obama, who barred reporters and met the monk inside the executive mansion's residence rather than the Oval Office where he receives dignitaries.
The Dalai Lama, who has officially ceded his political role to a prime minister elected by exiled Tibetans, says he accepts China's rule and is peacefully seeking greater autonomy for the Himalayan region. More than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in recent years to protest what they say is religious, political and cultural oppression.