By SHEIKH SAALIQ

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — The Dalai Lama has announced that he intends to reincarnate, paving the way for a successor to take on a mantle stretching back 500 years after his death.

But as he approaches his 90th birthday, that news hasn’t eased the worries of Tibetan Buddhists who wonder: What will happen when this Dalai Lama is gone?

For decades, the 14th Dalai Lama has been more than a spiritual leader. He has sustained a nation in exile and managed to build a community that’s kept the Tibetan culture and identity alive. He is the China -reviled spokesperson for a Tibetan homeland that many, like him, can see only from afar. He has received a Nobel Peace Prize and been courted by royalty, politicians and Hollywood stars, helping him draw global attention and support for Tibet.

When his death comes, it will pitch the global Tibetan community into uncertainty, perhaps for years. His successor will have to be found through the traditional process of reincarnation. China, whose troops took control of Tibet in 1950, says it will reject anyone chosen without Beijing’s consent.

Tibetans in India’s Himalayan town of Dharamshala, the Dalai Lama’s home in exile, and scattered around the world fear a new onslaught on their cultural and religious identity.

“The absence of His Holiness would be a huge setback for the Tibetans,” said Penpa Tsering, the head of the democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile. “The responsibility lies on us as to how we carry forward the legacy of His Holiness.”

A long gap

The Dalai Lama has become one of the world’s most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China’s control of Tibet. He has not named a successor, but he says they will be born in the “free world” — outside China.

Previous Dalai Lamas have been identified by senior monastic disciples, under strict religious rituals meant to identify their predecessor’s reincarnation. Monks interpret signs, consult oracles and send search committees to Tibetan households looking for a child who exhibits the qualities of the Dalai Lama.

All of this takes years of effort, leaving a leadership vacuum. Years of religious education and training are needed before the identified successor grows up and takes up full responsibilities as spiritual leader.

China has already sought to elevate other spiritual figures, particularly Tibetan Buddhism’s No. 2 figure, the Panchen Lama, whose legitimacy is highly contested by many Tibetans at home and in exile.

Gyaltsen Norbu was installed by Beijing as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995 after followers of the Dalai Lama recognized a different boy as the Panchen’s incarnation. That boy disappeared soon after.

Joy and stubbornness

And there’s no guarantee the successor will have the current Dalai Lama’s charisma, or his ability to balance a sense of joy with the stubbornness needed to counter China.

“He is a fulcrum, he’s the epitome of the Tibetan movement,” said writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue, who was born in India.

Tsundue for years has advocated for Tibet’s autonomy. To him, the current Dalai Lama’s absence will be hugely felt.

Like many other Tibetans, however, his hopes are pinned on the government in exile. “How is home not anything but a genuine human demand?” he added.

Such concerns are most prevalent in Dharamshala, where a Tibetan community of over 20,000 administers its own schools, hospitals and monasteries and elects its own lawmakers and president. The Dalai Lama handed over his political powers to a democratically elected government in 2011.

Beijing is likely to appoint its own candidate

China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and brands the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist. It has shunned direct contact with his representatives for more than a decade.

It has insisted that the Dalai Lama’s successor will be from inside China and must be approved by its government.

Tibetans in exile have long been wary of the officially atheist Chinese government’s attempts to meddle with the Tibetan Buddhism reincarnation system. They see it as part of Beijing’s plan to tighten its control over Tibet.

“If they do it, they are actually making a mockery of themselves among the free countries,” said Geshe Lhakdor, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, calling Beijing’s stance “hypocrisy.”

Tibetans say they were effectively independent for centuries and accuse China of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist culture and language. Many of the more than 7 million Tibetans living under Chinese rule accuse Beijing of stifling religious freedoms, changing its ethnic makeup by moving millions of Han Chinese into the region and torturing political prisoners.

The Chinese government denies these allegations.

Waning global attention

For years, governments across the world have feted the Dalai Lama for advocating for Tibetan rights and spreading a message of nonviolence. They have also helped him raise tens of millions of dollars to build Tibetan cultural and religious institutions.

But Tsundue said that global powers have become more unreliable in their support of the Tibetan cause as China’s influence grows.

“Everybody has benefited at our cost because they have been trading with China,” Tsundue said. “We are, in a way, a victim of geopolitics.”

Some countries, including the United States, view Beijing’s attempts to control the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama as a violation of religious freedom and Tibetan cultural tradition. Others, like the European Union and India, have maintained a cautious stance to avoid friction with China.

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Tsering, the president of the government-in-exile, acknowledged this, calling Tibetans’ efforts to keep the issue of Tibet alive “a miracle.”

He also cautioned that the future depends on the Tibetan people at large.

Under the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” policy, the movement for Tibet’s autonomy has largely been nonviolent. It espouses autonomy under Chinese sovereignty.

The newly announced succession plan, however, can prompt a reckoning of that policy, and it is unclear how the Dalai Lama’s successor might approach dialogue with Beijing.

Tsering cautioned that much could change in the coming years. His biggest worry is that the Dalai Lama’s death in exile could trigger a violent response inside Tibet, where in recent years hundreds of monks and others reportedly set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule.

“I hope the Tibetans won’t get radicalized,” he said.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump was set to visit with sick patients at Children’s National hospital in Washington on Thursday as the children made Fourth of July arts and crafts ahead of the holiday.

Trump, continuing a tradition of support by first ladies for the pediatric care center, was also expected during her visit to visit a rooftop “healing” garden she dedicated during the first Trump administration to first ladies of the United States.

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The Bunny Mellon Healing Garden, set to be decked out in decorations for Independence Day on Friday, was named to honor Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, a friend of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Mellon was a philanthropist and avid gardener who designed the Rose Garden and other White House gardens during the Kennedy administration.

The garden was dedicated to America’s first ladies because of their decades-long support for the hospital and its patients, including a traditional first lady visit at Christmastime that dates back to Bess Truman.

Trump, along with chief White House groundskeeper Dale Haney, is set to inspect the planting of a new yellow rose bush donated by the White House and planted earlier in the week at the hospital garden.

After, the first lady is scheduled to visit the heart and kidney unit at the hospital.

Later Thursday, the first lady was expected to join President Donald Trump in the Oval Office where they set to meet with Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, who was released in May.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The man charged with killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is due back in federal court Thursday for a hearing that was put on hold after his lawyer said his client had been unable to sleep while on suicide watch.

The hearing is expected to address whether Vance Boelter should remain in custody without bail and affirm that there is probable cause to proceed with the case. He’s not expected to enter a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first, before his arraignment, which is when a plea is normally entered.

An unshaven Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, was wearing a green padded suicide prevention suit and orange slippers when he was brought into court last Friday. Federal defender Manny Atwal then asked Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko to continue the hearing. She said Boelter had been sleep deprived due to harsh conditions in the Sherburne County Jail, making it difficult for them to communicate.

“Your honor, I haven’t really slept in about 12 to 14 days,” Boelter told the judge then. And he denied being suicidal. “I’ve never been suicidal and I am not suicidal now.”

Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott, whose jail houses both county and federal prisoners, rejected Boelter’s claims of poor conditions as absurd. “He is not in a hotel. He’s in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing,” Brott said in a statement Friday.

Boelter faces separate cases in federal and state court on charges of murder and attempted murder for what the state’s chief federal prosecutor, Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, has called “a political assassination” and “a chilling attack on our democracy.” The feds are going first.

Authorities say Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot to death in their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park in the early hours of June 14 by a man disguised as a police officer who was driving a fake squad car.

Boelter also allegedly shot and seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, earlier that morning at their home in nearby Champlin. The Hoffmans are recovering, but Hortman’s golden retriever, Gilbert, was seriously injured and had to be euthanized.

Boelter surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest search in Minnesota history, a hunt of around 40 hours.

Atwal told the court last week that Boelter had been kept in what’s known as a “Gumby suit,” without undergarments, ever since his first court appearance June 16. She said the lights were on in his area 24 hours a day, doors slammed frequently, the inmate in the next cell would spread feces on the walls, and the smell would drift to Boelter’s cell.

The attorney said transferring him to segregation instead, and giving him a normal jail uniform, would let him get some sleep, restore some dignity, and let him communicate better. The judge granted the delay.

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Boelter’s lawyers have declined to comment on the charges themselves, which could carry the federal death penalty. Thompson has said no decision has been made whether to seek it. Minnesota abolished its death penalty in 1911. But Attorney General Pam Bondi has said from the start that the Trump administration will be more aggressive in seeking capital punishment.

Prosecutors allege Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers. They also say he listed dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states. Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive.

Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined the mourners at the Hortmans’ funeral last Saturday. Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket, eulogized Hortman as “the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.”

Hortman served as speaker from 2019 until January. She then yielded the post to a Republican in a power-sharing deal after the House became tied in the 2024 elections, and became speaker emerita.

By ITZEL LUNA and ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press

For nearly two years, a nearly nonstop parade of allegations and revelations has ravaged and unraveled Sean “Diddy” Combs’ carefully cultivated reputation as an affable celebrity entrepreneur, A-list party host, Grammy-winning artist and music executive, brand ambassador and reality TV star.

It culminated in a verdict Wednesday that saw Combs acquitted of the most serious sex trafficking charges, though guilty of two lesser ones. The stratospheric heights of his previous life may be impossible to regain, but the question remains whether a partial conviction could mean a partial public rehabilitation, or if too much damage has been done.

“Combs managed to avoid becoming the next R. Kelly,” said Evan Nierman, CEO and president of crisis public relations firm Red Banyan, referring to the R&B superstar convicted of similar sex trafficking charges as those that Combs beat.

FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP File)

Combs, 55, has yet to be sentenced and faces the likelihood of prison time, but he no longer faces the prospect of spending most of the rest of his life behind bars. While the law allows for a prison sentence of up to 10 years, the lawyers in the case said in court filings that guidelines suggest a term that could be as short as 21 months or last more than five years.

“This is a very positive outcome overall for him. And it does give him an opportunity to try to rebuild his life,” Nierman said. “It won’t be the same, but at least he’s likely going to be out there in the world and able to move forward.”

Moving on from the jokes that ‘will haunt him forever’

The case had a broad reach across media that made Combs a punchline as much as a villain. Talk shows, “Saturday Night Live” and social media posters milked it for jokes about “freak-offs” and the voluminous amounts of baby oil he had for the sex marathons.

“There are definitely terms which have now become part of the popular lexicon that never existed pre-Diddy trial, including things like ‘freak-off,’” Nierman said. “The images that were painted in the trial and some of the evidence that was introduced is going to stick with him for a long time.”

Danny Deraney, who has worked in crisis communications for celebrities as CEO of Deraney Public Relations, agreed.

“The jokes will haunt him forever,” Deraney said.

In this courtroom sketch, Sean “Diddy” Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Managing public narratives — something Combs has previously excelled at — will be essential. He could cast himself as a tough survivor who took on the feds and came out ahead, or as a contrite Christian seeking redemption, or both.

“It’s a powerful thing for the hip-hop mogul to go public and brag that he beat the rap and that the feds tried to come after him and they failed,” Nierman said. “I could definitely see him leaning into that.”

Nierman said the fight “now will become part of the Sean Combs mythology.”

Combs fell to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The moment by all accounts was spontaneous but could also be read as the start of a revival narrative.

“No matter what you’re accused of, it’s what you do to redeem yourself on the way back,” Deraney said. “Is he redeemable? Those are still heavy charges he was guilty of. It’s tough to say; people have had these charges hanging over their heads and were able to move on.”

The long fall

Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest and will remain jailed while he awaits sentencing.

His long reputational fall began when his former longtime girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie, the criminal trial’s key witness, sued him in November 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. He settled the next day for $20 million, but the lawsuit set off a storm of similar allegations from other women and men. Most of the lawsuits are still pending.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, born Casandra Ventura, has.

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The revelation last year of a major federal sex trafficking investigation on the day of a bicoastal raid of Combs’ houses took the allegations to another level of seriousness and public knowledge. The later revelation that feds had seized 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricant entered the popular culture immediately.

Fellow celebrities were called out for past Diddy associations — though no others were implicated in the criminal allegations.

The May 2024 leak of a video of Combs beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway eight years earlier was arguably just as damaging, if not more, than the initial wave of allegations. It brought a rare public apology, in an earnestly presented Instagram video two days later.

Nierman called the video, shown at trial, “something people aren’t just going to forget.”

Shortly after Combs’ apology, New York City Mayor Eric Adams requested he return a key to the city he’d gotten at a ceremony in 2023. Howard University rescinded an honorary degree it had awarded him and ended a scholarship program in his name. He sold off his stake in Revolt, the media company he’d founded more than a decade earlier.

Combs is not about to get the key, or the degree, back. But he could pick up the pieces of his reputation to salvage something from it.

Deraney said it may require “some kind of come-to-Jesus moment where he owns up to it.”

“Really what it’s going to come down to is if he goes to prison, will it change him?” Deraney said. “Has he changed at all during this whole processes? I don’t know.”