Chennai, Jan 20 : Tibetan exiles in Chennai accord a warm welcome today to their revered spiritual leader the Dalai Lama who is visiting the city to deliver discourse on peace and spirituality.

There was a riot of colours outside the airport as young men and women carrying Tibetan flags and dressed in traditional attire waited eagerly to welcome their spiritual leader.

Speaking to the media outside the airport, the Dalai Lama said, he had come to Chennai on a cultural and spiritual mission.

"The basic purpose of this visit is culture, spirituality, not politics," he added.

Manila - Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees joined an annual procession in the Philippine capital on Friday to honour a centuries-old statue of a suffering Jesus Christ.

Security was tight at Quiapo district in downtown Manila, with hundreds of police officers deployed since Thursday night when devotees of the Black Nazarene began to gather for a vigil.

Traffic had been re-routed away from the Quiapo Church, but surrounding streets were still jammed due to the huge crowd.

Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Jan. 8 : A large number of people converged from different parts of the country at the Ranganatha shrine in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, to celebrate the Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival on Wednesday.

Devotees thronged the temple premises to offer obeisance to Lord Vishnu, who is known as Lord Ranganatha in the local parlance here.

Vaishnavism (the worship of Lord Vishnu) culture holds the belief that Vaikunth Dwaram, the gate to Lord''s innner sanctum open on this day.

Legend has it that the Lord opened the gate of Vaikuntam (His abode) for two demons in spite of them being against the Him.

Kathmandu - Hundreds of protestors burnt tyres and blocked streets in Kathmandu Tuesday as protests escalated over the Maoist-led government's appointment of top clergy at the country's largest Hindu temple.

The protests followed demonstrations by junior priests at the Pashupatinath temple objecting to the appointment of new high priests by the Young Communist League.

Hundreds of protestors, including junior priests known as Bhandaris, imposed a traffic blockade and burnt tyres.

Amritsar, Jan 5: The 343rd birth anniversary of the 10th Sikh Guru Sri Guru Govind Singh is being celebrated today with great fervour.

Devotees began thronging at the ''Golden Temple'' here to pray and to listen to Shabad Kirtans.

" We celebrate this day as ''Gurupurab''. A religious procession is taken out on this occasion, devotees sing religious hymns. It is a secular day and people from all walks of life take part in the celebrations," said Surinder Singh, a devotee.

Baghdad, Dec 24: In a significant development, the Government of Iraq has decided to rebuild the 15th century Sikh Guru Guru Nanak Dev's shrine which was destroyed in the 2003 war in Baghdad.

Talking to media here at his palace, Iraqi Vice President and senior politician Adil Abd-al-Mahdi has said that the government would rebuild the destroyed Guru Nanak Dev''s shrine in Baghdad.

He also thanked the Indian Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar for taking up this issue with the Iraqi Government.