The world’s smallest elephants are still big. Measuring around nine feet (2.7 meters) tall, Bornean elephants are the smallest subspecies of the Asian elephant, and are two feet (60 centimeters) shorter than their African counterparts.

Found only on the island of Borneo, mostly in the Malaysian state of Sabah, there are fewer than 1,000 Bornean elephants left in the wild, and they are classified as endangered.

In the last 40 years, Sabah has lost 60% of the elephant’s natural forest habitat to logging and palm oil plantations. According to one study, between 1980 and 2000, more wood was exported from Borneo than from the entirety of Africa and the Amazon combined. This has left elephant populations fragmented and squeezed into small areas of preserved forest, such as those in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, an area in the floodplains of the Kinabatangan River where pockets of native forest exist within large agricultural estates.

But Malaysian elephant ecologist Dr. Farina Othman is determined to connect these habitats by building corridors of wild trees through palm oil plantations. She founded conservation organization Seratu Aatai, meaning “solidarity,” in 2018 to raise awareness of the elephants and address the rise in human-elephant conflict.

Due to encroaching plantations, the elephants have come into more frequent contact with humans, sometimes damaging crops and buildings. This leads to conflict, and between 2010 and 2020, 131 Bornean elephants were killed, primarily due to human-related causes, such as accidental poisoning or retribution killings. Othman said that while many people understand the importance of elephants as ecosystem engineers through spreading seeds, and know that they are under threat, there is still a “not in my backyard” attitude towards them.

On Wednesday, she was one of six conservationists given the 2025 Whitley Award, which includes a £50,000 ($66,000) prize for her project. The award, presented by the Whitley Fund for Nature, a UK charity, supports grassroots conservationists in the Global South.

Othman will put the new funding towards expanding the network of elephant corridors across Sabah. “If only one plantation wants to do this, it won’t work. We need to create a consortium of several plantations so that we can connect this corridor back to the wildlife sanctuary,” she said.

Coexistence

The first challenge was getting the farmers on side. For a long time, Othman said she was unable to get palm planters in the same room with her, but eventually, they found common ground.

“As planters, they actually know the need of preserving biodiversity and also the health of the soil, because this is all contributing back to the trees that they’re planting,” she said.

She added that some farmers have now agreed to plant native trees alongside their oil palms, as well as “food chests” of plants that elephants like to eat, to encourage them to use the wildlife corridors.

Othman and her team are now working with plantations to monitor the elephants to better understand their behavior. This will include training planters on how to assess herd dynamics and recognize individual elephants. Larger plantations will also be offered sessions on sustainable farming and pest control, hopefully helping to reduce the number of accidental poisonings.

She has also set up a team of elephant rangers, with members of the local community, who will monitor populations and help to ensure palm planters know how to interact with elephants safely.

Edward Whitley, founder of the Whitley Fund for Nature, said of Othman: “Her innovative project recognizes the key role that oil palm companies can play in (elephant) conservation, and her connection to and love of these beautiful giants has helped empower community members to become guardians of their environment.”

Othman worries that with the rise of human-elephant interaction, the nature of the elephants might change, from docile to more aggressive. But she hopes that through their work to build forest corridors and community outreach, this can be avoided. When an encounter does happen, she says people should act calmly and kindly, and that the elephants will respond in the same way.

She recalls times when elephants could have hurt her in the past, but didn’t. “I believe that they can really read your heart and what is in your mind,” she said.

The man vying to become Australia’s next prime minister has spent weeks trying to distance himself from comparisons to US President Donald Trump.

“I’m my own person,” opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton insisted, when asked for his thoughts on “Temu Trump,” the label given to him by critics referring to the Chinese website with a reputation for cheap copies.

Political analysts say comparisons to Trump have eaten away at any lead Dutton had over incumbent center-left Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is topping opinion polls before Saturday’s vote.

Ex-police officer Dutton became opposition leader after the center-right Liberal Party was swept from power three years ago, bringing with him a reputation as the uncompromising strongman of the party’s right wing – a former minister for defense, home affairs and immigration.

He’s been accused of stoking culture wars, claims Australia takes in too many migrants, and days ago branded the nation’s public broadcaster “hate media.”

“His instincts are those of a right-wing populist. I have no doubt about that, so they do bear resemblance to the kind of politics and rhetoric we’ve associated with Trump,” said Frank Bongiorno, professor of history at the Australian National University.

The Trumpian strategy appears to have been encouraged by senior party members and Australia’s richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who attended the US president’s inauguration and backs his “drill baby drill” mantra, according to reports from 2024.

But what sounded like a vote winner backfired when the US president announced global tariffs, turning a prospective Trump bump into a Trump slump – something Canada’s conservatives also experienced this week when they failed to win the national election.

Dutton also faces the potential ignominy of losing his own seat in parliament, as happened to Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Dutton holds Dickson, a constituency in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, by just 1.7% – and rivals are circling.

Australia is seeing “a diluted version” of the Canada trend, according to Marija Taflaga, director of the Center for the Study of Australian Politics at the Australian National University.

“Trump has essentially created a rally around the flag effect,” she said. “In liberal democracies like Australia and Canada, (he’s) flipped the incumbent from being in a disadvantaged position… into an advantageous position,” she added.

“Better the devil you know.”

‘The election pivoted’

The most blatant grab for Trump supporters comes from mining billionaire Clive Palmer, of Titanic II fame, who launched Trump-inspired party the Trumpet of Patriots, vowing to “end the two-party duopoly and make Australia great.”

For the most part, Australian elections are a competition between Dutton’s Liberal Party and Albanese’s Labor Party. Compulsory voting and a preference system that redistributes votes cast for candidates that fall out of the race mean both parties focus on securing the maximum middle ground.

The main issue this election has been the cost-of-living crisis, and both major parties have promised to help lower household bills with an array of tax cuts and handouts.

In a program redolent of Trump’s early moves since returning to the White House, Dutton promised 41,000 federal job cuts, an end to work-from-home privileges and an overhaul of “woke” school agendas – some of which he’s had to roll back.

He also appointed a shadow minister for government efficiency, who told a recent rally the Liberal Party would “make Australia great again” – a comment that she later said she didn’t realize she’d made.

As recently as January, the Liberal leader was on a path to victory, according to Simon Jackman, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney and former chief executive officer of its US Studies Centre.

“Then along comes Donald Trump… and the election just pivoted,” Jackman said.

Australians take an avid interest in US politics, so they were watching when the big US pharmaceutical companies complained that the Australian government’s subsidy program was undervaluing US medicines; as US trade advisor Peter Navarro warned that Australian aluminum exports were “killing” America’s aluminum market; and when Democrat Sen. Mark Warner demanded to know why Australia, “an incredibly important national security partner,” had been “whacked” with 10% tariffs.

But it was the post-tariff selling on international markets that really caught their attention, and older voters watched in horror as their retirement savings tracked south, Jackman said.

“The narrative flipped from being sort of looking backwards at Labor’s economic performance to looking forward and (saying), ‘Oh my goodness, the world is very different and dangerous and insecure, and our closest ally and strategic partner is saying all these horrible things about us. I thought the Americans liked us. What’s going on?’” said Jackman.

The Trump backlash presented an issue for Dutton. So, in mid-April, when asked by the moderator during a leaders’ debate if he trusted the US president, he seemed keen to put some distance between them. “I don’t know Donald Trump; I’ve never met him,” he said.

Easing off the China threat

During the last election in 2022, China was seen as the bigger issue.

Relations had suffered under the previous Liberal Party leader Scott Morrison, who led a Coalition government with the National Party and suggested China be investigated for its role in the spread of the Covid pandemic. In response, China slapped tariffs on key Australian exports. While Labor touted its desire to improve relations, the Liberal Party talked up China’s military threat and subsequently lost the votes of Chinese-Australians.

So, this election, despite the unprecedented circumnavigation by Chinese warships of Australia in February and March – complete with unannounced live-fire drills – discussion of China’s threat to Australia’s national security has been relatively subdued.

“Funnily enough, Trump is probably seen as a bigger threat to the global order than China,” said Jackman.

The US president’s unpredictability, transactional approach to foreign affairs, and readiness to rip up past agreements has focused attention on whether Australia can trust the US under Trump.

Critics of AUKUS, Australia’s key security deal with the US and United Kingdom, have cited the president’s recent behavior as proof that it’s too dangerous to outsource the country’s national security.

“Donald Trump is a dangerous demagogue and is a threat to peace, a threat to democracy, and is also a threat to Australia,” said Adam Bandt, leader of the Greens, Australia’s third-largest party, which is pushing for more housing, support for renters and stronger climate action.

Both Albanese and Dutton signed up to AUKUS and have defended the defense agreement.

A possible minority government

While polling suggests Albanese will win the election, it’s unclear if he’ll gain enough votes for a majority government, and analysts say it’s possible he’ll have to form a minority government with smaller parties or independents.

This year, for the first time, Millennial and Gen Z voters will outnumber older demographics, and they’re expected to cast a more progressive, anti-establishment vote that could cost Labor seats.

“Young renters who earn more than their parents but cannot afford to buy the house they grew up in have little reason to preserve the existing political order and appear happy to roll the dice on a minority government,” Shaun Ratcliff, a political scientist from research firm Accent Research, told the National Press Club last week.

Bongiorno from the Australian National University says that, if Dutton loses, he can’t blame the loss entirely on Trump. The Liberal campaign was ill-prepared and relied on voters being angry enough with Labor to want change, he said.

“It hasn’t been a disastrous government, and I think it was probably a mistake for the Coalition to imagine that it could simply wait around and watch it fall over,” Bongiorno said.

As for Dutton’s challenge in Dickson, the seat he’s held for more than 20 years, Bongiorno said the demographics of the area seem to be changing, and that may steer votes towards Labor’s Ali France or progressive independent Ellie Smith. “I suspect he’ll hold on,” Bongiorno said.

The last of 18 million registered voters are expected to go to the polls on Saturday after a record turnout at early-voting centers.

Jackman said he didn’t get the feeling that people were voting with “gusto” to remove the government, as they did three years ago to oust Morrison.

“Sometimes it signals, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to get rid of this government,’” Jackman said. “I don’t get that same vibe this time,” he added. “I suspect it’s more just people want to get it over with.”

“We knew Trump mark two was going to be different,” he said. “I don’t think anybody counted on just how different.”

The body of a young Ukrainian woman who died in Russian captivity after being held incommunicado for months was returned to Ukraine showing signs of torture, Ukrainian prosecutors have said.

Kyiv said the remains of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing during a reporting trip, were returned as part of a body exchange between Ukraine and Russia in February.

Yuriy Belousov, who heads the war crimes department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, said that forensic examination found “numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment… including abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib and possible traces of electric shock.”

He said the experts have determined the injuries were sustained while Roshchyna was still alive.

Belousov said that repeated DNA analyses confirmed the body belonged to Roshchyna, even though it reportedly arrived from Russia labeled as “an unidentified male.” He said the state of the body made it impossible to determine the cause of Roshchyna’s death, but added that Ukraine was working with international forensic experts to get more answers.

Roshchyna’s colleagues at Ukrainska Pravda said her body was returned from Russia with missing organs. Citing members of the investigating team who handled her remains, they said the brain, eyeballs and part of the trachea, or windpipe, were missing, in what they said could have been an attempt by Russia to disguise the cause of death.

Held in brutal detention center

Roshchyna went missing in August 2023. Her colleagues said the reporter went to a Russian-held part of Ukraine – a dangerous ordeal for any Ukrainian – to report on the lives of people living under occupation.

Journalist Evgeniya Motorevskaya, who worked with Roshchyna as the former editor of Hromadske, a Ukrainian media outlet, said the young reporter was determined to do her job as best as she could.

“For her, there was nothing more important than journalism. Vika was always where the most important events for the country took place. And she would have continued to do this for many years, but the Russians killed her,” she said in a statement published on Hromadske’s website when Roshchyna’s death was first announced, referring to her by her diminutive.

Roshchyna’s father first raised the alarm when she stopped responding to messages while on the assignment, but her family had no idea about her whereabouts until nine months later, when Moscow finally admitted it was holding her in detention.

Like thousands of other Ukrainian civilians, Roshchyna was snatched by Russian authorities in occupied Ukraine and deported into Russia where she was held without charge or trial.

By September 2024, Roshchyna, a healthy 27-year old, was dead – although her family didn’t find out until about a month later, when they received a notification from Russia.

Petro Yatsenko, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said in October that Roshchyna died while being transferred from a detention facility in the southern Russian city of Taganrog to Moscow.

He said the transfer was in preparation for her release as part of a prisoner exchange.

Reporters with Ukrainska Pravda have partnered up with journalists from more than a dozen international media after her death was announced, to try to piece together what happened to her during the last few months of her life.

They interviewed dozens of prisoners, as well as prison guards and human rights defenders. They were able to trace her movements and describe the brutality of her detention.

Syria strongly condemned foreign intervention in the country following a rare Israeli strike near Damascus on Wednesday amid deadly sectarian violence.

Syria said the Israeli strike killed at least one security officer and injured several other people.

Earlier on Wednesday Israel’s military said it had carried out a strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital saying it was targeting an “extremist group” that had attacked the Druze community, a religious minority in the country.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation in the town of Sahnaya, southwest of Damascus, was a “warning action” against an unidentified armed group “preparing to continue attacking the Druze population.”

Syria’s foreign ministry reacted saying it had an “unwavering commitment” to protecting all Syrian people, including the “honorable Druze community.”

According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, Syrian government forces launched a wide-scale operation in the area surrounding Sahnaya to arrest “outlawed gangs” after an unidentified armed group attacked a Syrian government checkpoint late Tuesday, wounding three officers.

Other groups simultaneously opened fire on civilian and security vehicles in nearby areas. Recent violence left at least 11 people dead and dozens injured.

Syria’s top Muslim cleric Osama al-Rifai has called on all Syrians to keep calm and not escalate the situation.

“Everyone must… stay away from calls for revenge and retaliation, and allow justice to take its course,” Rifai said regarding the “recent events,” in Sahnaya,in a statement on Wednesday as cited by SANA.

Since the fall of the Bashar Al Assad regime, Israel has positioned itself as the protector of Syria’s Druze, an Arab community that follows an offshoot of Islam and is predominantly present across Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Wary of a new regime led by former jihadists, a small minority of Druze have welcomed Israel’s overtures, but many others have publicly denounced them.

A sizeable number of Druze live within Israel’s internationally recognized borders, have Israeli citizenship and serve in its military. A large Syrian-Druze population is also present in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and most have rejected Israeli citizenship and do not traditionally serve in the Israeli military. Within Syria, many Druze live in the south of the country, parts of which Israel declared a buffer zone after Assad’s fall.

“On this Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers, as we honor the Druze community’s contribution to Israel’s security, we stress our commitment to protect their brethren in Syria,” the joint statement added.

Israeli officials also urged the Syrian government to prevent harm to the Druze community.

On Wednesday evening, the Israeli military said that three Syrian Druze citizens were evacuated into Israel for medical treatment after they were injured in Syria.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen has expressed his deep concern “at unacceptable violence in Syria especially in suburbs of Damascus,” and ” alarmed at reports of Israeli attacks,” in a statement on Wednesday

” These attacks must stop,” Pedersen said and called for “full respect of Syria’s sovereignty.”

Venezuela is demanding that a 2-year-old girl be returned to her family after the United States deported her parents and kept the toddler in government custody.

The Venezuelan foreign ministry on Monday accused the US of “kidnapping” Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, saying she was separated from her mother as she was boarding a deportation flight back to Venezuela.

It also said the girl’s father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, had been deported earlier by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

“(The US) once again committed the extremely serious offense of separating families and removing a minor from her emotional environment and, in particular, from her biological mother,” read a statement from the Venezuelan government on Monday.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied it kidnapped the girl, arguing it was trying to protect her from her parents, whom it accused without evidence of being part of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a Venezuelan gang the US has designated a terror organization.

In a Saturday statement, DHS said the toddler was removed from a deportation flight list “for her safety and welfare.” She remains in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and has been placed with a foster family, it added.

The toddler is one of several children to have been affected by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Last week, three US citizen children — including a 4-year-old with metastatic cancer — were taken to Honduras with their undocumented mothers as the women were deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. White House border czar Tom Homan said the US removed the children because their mothers “requested” they stay with them rather than remain in the country.

It’s unclear if Maikelys’ mother was given the choice to be deported with her daughter.

A family separated

The toddler and her parents entered the US in May 2024 to seek asylum, according to a court document filed by legal advocacy groups.

On March 29, Maiker was sent to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where DHS has transferred migrants, according to court documents filed by his lawyers.

They said he was flown the following day to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot mega-prison, which the US is using to detain hundreds of Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being violent gang members, though it hasn’t provided strong evidence to back that claim.

The toddler’s mother was deported soon after Maiker was sent to El Salvador. She was forced to return to her country on a flight without her 2-year-old child, Venezuela said.

The girl was kept in ORR custody, with DHS saying, “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to be exposed to criminal activity that endangers her safety.”

Without providing evidence, it alleged in Saturday’s statement that the father was a TDA lieutenant who oversaw various crimes including homicides and trafficking, and that the mother oversaw the recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution.

Rising anger in Venezuela

Venezuela accused the US of violating international law and said it would take all legal and diplomatic measures to secure the girl’s return.

Its government demanded the “immediate release” of the child and “that the rule of law and the basic rights of our little girl be restored.”

It cited the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states in part that children should not be separated from their parents against their will unless such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. The US has signed the convention but has not ratified it.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insists the US is unjustly holding the child. He announced that a march intended for International Workers’ Day on May 1 would become a rally to demand her release.

“I ask for the full support of the Venezuelan people in the effort we are going to make to rescue this kidnapped girl and to bring back safe and sound — sooner rather than later — the 252 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador,” he said in Caracas Monday, referring to the Venezuelan migrants the US has deported to the Salvadoran prison.

Britain’s King Charles opened up about his cancer diagnosis on Wednesday, saying it can be a “daunting” and “at times frightening” experience for those living with the illness.

In a message shared at a reception in Buckingham Palace for cancer support charities, Charles said despite the fears that cancer can bring, it can illuminate the best of humanity.

“As one among those statistics myself, I can vouch for the fact that it can also be an experience that brings into sharp focus the very best of humanity,” Charles said.

Having the disease “has certainly given me an even deeper appreciation of the extraordinary work undertaken by the remarkable organizations and individuals gathered here this evening, many of whom I have known, visited and supported over the years,” he added.

In addition to this, “it has reinforced what I have long observed during these visits – that the darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion,” the monarch added.

The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer earlier last year, which caused him to briefly step back from public-facing duties before returning to them a few months later in April 2024.

When he was diagnosed, Charles said that he was “reduced to tears” after thousands of people sent him messages of support. “Such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement,” he said at the time.

The Royal Family have longstanding relationships with cancer support charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, of which Charles is the patron. His first public appearance after receiving his diagnosis was to London’s University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre, where he met with patients and clinicians.

Charles’ daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, also announced last year that she had been diagnosed with cancer, undergoing chemotherapy before revealing that she was “doing what (she) can to stay cancer free” last September.

Last month, the king “required a short period of observation in hospital” after experiencing “temporary side effects” from a scheduled cancer treatment, though he was later said to be in good form.

Kenya’s police have said the fatal shooting of a lawmaker by a gunman aboard a motorcycle in the capital Nairobi on Wednesday evening appeared to be targeted and premeditated.

Charles Were, a member of parliament representing Kasipul constituency in Kenya’s west, was shot dead at around 7:30 p.m. (11.30 a.m. ET) when his vehicle was stopped at a traffic light on Ngong Road, police said in a statement released late on Wednesday.

According to witnesses, the shooter was riding as a passenger on a motorcycle that stopped alongside the car, police said.

“The pillion passenger approached the vehicle and fired shots at the passenger side before jumping back onto the motorcycle and speeding away,” police said. “The nature of this crime appears to be both targeted and premeditated.”

Political assassinations are unusual in Kenya, a relatively stable country in a region that has experienced several civil conflicts in recent years.

Were was a member of the opposition ODM party led by veteran politician Raila Odinga, who lost to William Ruto in the last election in 2022.

“Were is no more; mercilessly and in cold blood, gunned down by an assassin in Nairobi this evening,” Odinga wrote on X.

Odinga rejected the 2022 election result, alleging irregularities, but Odinga and some of his allies have since struck agreements to work with Ruto to address Kenya’s economic and political challenges.

China restated its case that Covid-19 may have originated in the United States in a white paper on its pandemic response released on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump’s administration blamed a lab leak in China.

The White House launched a Covid-19 website on April 18 in which it said the coronavirus came from a lab leak in China while criticizing former President Joe Biden, former top US health official Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the white paper, released by the official Xinhua news agency, China accused the US of politicizing the matter of the origins of Covid-19. It cited a Missouri lawsuit which resulted in a $24 billion ruling against China for hoarding protective medical equipment and covering up the outbreak.

China shared relevant information with the WHO and the international community in a timely manner, the white paper said, emphasizing that a joint study by the WHO and China had concluded that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.”

The US should not continue to “pretend to be deaf and dumb,” but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community, the white paper said.

“Substantial evidence suggested the Covid-19 might have emerged in the United States earlier than its officially-claimed timeline, and earlier than the outbreak in China,” it said.

The CIA said in January the pandemic was more likely to have emerged from a lab in China than from nature, after the agency had for years said it could not reach a conclusion on the matter. It said it had “low confidence” in its new assessment and noted that both lab origin and natural origin remain plausible.

An official at China’s National Health Commission said the next step in origin-tracing work should focus on the US, according to Xinhua, which cited a statement about the white paper.

A “no photograph upon landing” announcement punctured the serene silence of the cabin as I gazed at the snow-capped peaks outside our airplane window, a stark reminder that we were entering a land of profound beauty and immense political sensitivity.

Our Air China flight from Beijing carried not just my cameraman and me, but also about two dozen other foreign journalists, all accompanied by a team of Chinese officials. We were headed to Tibet, a place where access is as guarded as its ancient treasures.

We usually avoid government-organized media tours, wary of the predictable agendas and restrictions. Yet, for Tibet, there is no alternative.

The Tibetan Autonomous Region remains the only place in China where all foreigners – especially foreign journalists – are barred entry without prior authorization.

Our requests to report from the ground have mostly been met with polite, but firm denials – including in January, when a powerful earthquake struck the region, killing more than 120 people.

For centuries, Tibet was mostly independent from China – with the Tibetans possessing ethnic, linguistic and religious identities starkly different from those of the Han Chinese. On a few occasions in history, Tibet fell under the rule of emperors in Beijing, most recently during the Qing dynasty starting in the 18th Century. After the 1912 collapse of Qing, China’s last imperial dynasty, Tibet enjoyed de facto independence though it was never recognized by China or much of the international community.

The Communist forces, emerging victorious from a bloody Chinese civil war, marched into Tibet in 1950 and formally annexed it into the newly founded People’s Republic of China the following year. Beijing has maintained a tight grip on the Himalayan region since the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. In the decades since, the Communist Party has swiftly cracked down on any unrest and enforced policies that critics say are intended to weaken the Tibetan identity.

Landing in late March at Gonggar Airport, one of the world’s highest at nearly 12,000 feet, just outside the Tibetan capital Lhasa, the thin air was an immediate signal to slow down as breathing grew labored and a headache began to develop. Stepping into Tibet, long known as “the roof of the world,” was an immersion into a different rhythm of life, dictated by the altitude’s power.

It had been 16 years since my last visit, a journey cut short by altitude sickness. This time, armed with ibuprofen, I was determined to document the changes that had swept through Tibet – or rather, “Xizang,” the new official English name adopted by authorities and indicated in our schedule. The moniker – transliterated from the Chinese name for the region – is a linguistic battleground reflecting deeper geopolitical tensions between Beijing and critics of its Tibet policy.

En route from the gleaming airport terminal to our hotel in Lhasa, the nearly empty freeway and unoccupied high-rise apartments spoke to China’s massive investments in developing infrastructure in Tibet. The region is still the country’s poorest with the lowest life expectancy.

Imposing portraits of China’s top leader Xi Jinping, alongside another picture featuring him and his four predecessors, dotted the highway and adorned almost every public building, an omnipresent emphasis on loyalty to the ruling Communist Party.

This overt display echoed the main themes – ethnic harmony and common prosperity – reinforced on every foreign media trip to Tibet, ours included. The weeklong itinerary was a curated mix: a high-profile press conference (on human rights achievements in Tibet), economic success stories (at, among others, the “world’s highest cookware factory”), tourist hotspots (ranging from yak farms to peach blossom fields) and cultural spectacles (culminating in a lavishly produced outdoor musical retelling the saga of the most famous Chinese-Tibetan royal marriage in the 7th Century).

On the streets of Lhasa, banners and posters celebrated the 66th anniversary of the “liberation of a million Tibetans from feudal serfdom” – the official description of pre-Communist-takeover Tibet.

Perhaps due to the controlled access to Tibet and China’s extensive high-tech surveillance network, I didn’t notice visible heavy security – even around temples and other sensitive sites.

A spiritual destination

The region hasn’t seen any major unrest in more than a decade. The last flareup in the early 2010s involved a string of self-immolation incidents that critics called a desperate cry against the Chinese government’s ever-tightening grip on Tibetan society.

Since then, Tibet has seen an unprecedented surge in tourism, predominantly from mainland China with visitors flocking to the region for spiritual exploration. A record 64 million people visited Tibet in 2024, according to government records – a more than tenfold increase from the roughly 6 million visitors in 2010.

Although March wasn’t peak season for Tibet travel, domestic visitors crowded tourist attractions. Clad in traditional local costumes and posing on Lhasa’s bustling centuries-old Barkhor Street, Chinese tourists often seemed to outnumber Tibetan pilgrims, who prostrated themselves on the stone ground and walked clockwise around temples while spinning hand-held prayer wheels – under the curious gaze of selfie stick-wielding onlookers.

If not for the picture-perfect backdrop of golden roofs of Buddhist temples – surrounded by majestic mountains and glistening in abundant sunshine – Lhasa could sometimes look like just another small city in China, especially outside its historical center.

Alongside gift shops and supermarkets, Sichuan restaurants dotted almost every street corner – a testament to the popularity of the Chinese cuisine as much as the main origin of Han migration from the neighboring province into Tibet – long said to be a source of tension between the two ethnic groups over perceived economic inequality.

A smattering of foreign tourists had also reappeared following the post-pandemic re-opening of Tibet, including a group at our hotel, an InterContinental property. Western brands – from major hotels to fast-food chains – appear to operate in Tibet without notable protests or criticisms of the past.

The undisputed top tourist attraction in Lhasa remains the Potala Palace, the former winter residence of the Dalai Lamas, spiritual leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, until the current holder of that position was forced into exile.

Now living in Dharamsala, India, and revered globally as a Nobel peace laureate, the 14th Dalai Lama is labeled by the Chinese government as a “wolf in monk’s robes” and an “anti-China separatist” – despite his declaration that he seeks only genuine autonomy, not independence, for his homeland.

More than two million people visited the Potala last year, paying up to $27 to tour the sprawling structure. While guides offered details on the architecture and the palace’s storied history, the current Dalai Lama was conspicuously absent from the narrative, especially his recent pronouncement that his successor, or reincarnation, must be born “in the free world” – meaning outside China.

When questioned, monks and officials in Tibet parroted Beijing’s official party line: “The reincarnation of each Dalai Lama must be approved by the central government and the search must take place within China,” Gongga Zhaxi with the Potala Palace administration told me.

“That the reincarnation should be recognized by the central government has been settled for many years,” echoed La Ba, a senior monk at Jokhang Temple, the holiest in Tibetan Buddhism.

Their response – in line with Xi’s increasing emphasis on “Sinicizing religions” in the country – contrasted with a memorable and unexpected moment from my 2009 trip. At Jokhang Temple, a young monk told me that, as a faithful Tibetan Buddhist, he recognized and respected the Dalai Lama – before being whisked away by officials.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in India dismissed the stance on the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation proclaimed by the officially atheist Chinese government, stressing that “His Holiness is the only legitimate soul who can decide.”

The prospect of the process going smoothly seems to have all but vanished – after Beijing forced the disappearance in 1995 of a young boy recognized by the Dalai Lama as the new Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second-highest spiritual figure who traditionally plays a leading role in the search for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.

The boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has never been seen since, is a college graduate who leads a normal life, according to a Chinese government spokesman in 2020. Despite denunciations by the Dalai Lama and his supporters, Beijing has installed its own Panchen Lama – triggering a three-decade-old dispute that continues to loom large, a sobering reminder of the stakes at play.

High in the Himalayas

Our journey continued via Tibet’s only bullet train service, a marvel of engineering designed to withstand the harsh climate of the Tibetan Plateau. As the train sped through tunnels and over bridges at 10,000 feet above sea level, the landscape unfolded in breathtaking panoramas as we sat in carriages equipped with automated oxygen supply systems and special windows resistant to the area’s high UV levels.

Yet, this 435-kilometer rail link between Lhasa and the eastern Tibetan city of Nyingchi is more than just a mode of transportation – it is a symbol of China’s ambition to integrate this remote region with its distinct culture into the mainstream.

In Nyingchi, we visited a public boarding school – a hot topic as both the Dalai Lama and UN experts have voiced concerns over intensifying assimilation of Tibetans. About a million Tibetan children from rural areas have been reportedly sent to these government-run schools, where the language of instruction is allegedly almost exclusively Chinese, and living conditions are said to be cramped.

“All of our efforts have effectively safeguarded Tibetan children’s right to receive a high-quality education,” said Xu Zhitao, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, when I asked about the controversy surrounding the schools.

At Bayi District Junior High, most of the 1,200 students were Tibetan – some we talked to said they took an equal number of lessons in their native tongue and Mandarin. A group of giggling Tibetan eighth-graders spoke proudly of their culture and traditions – but when asked about Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, they became hesitant to answer and their voices trailed off. Young or old, people showed they knew the boundaries that could not be crossed.

With growing tensions between Beijing and Washington, China’s uneasy relations with its neighbor India – a key US partner – has made Tibet even more strategically important as the two Asian powers jostle for territory and influence in the far-flung area.

Controversial infrastructure projects and even bloody military clashes have marred their disputed border region in recent years.

But a more pressing concern for both Beijing and New Delhi is perhaps the inevitable passing of the 14th Dalai Lama, who turns 90 in July. If a scenario of “dueling Dalai Lamas” were to emerge as a result of China’s policy, it could shake the foundation of Tibetan religion and society – potentially unleashing fresh anger or even instability – in the high Himalayas.