DHARMSALA, India

Dalai Lama stepping down as political leader of Tibet

The Dalai Lama said Thursday that he plans to relinquish his political role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile to a new prime minister who will be chosen in elections March 20.

The move, announced on the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, reflects the Tibetan leader’s long-stated desire to move the Tibetan refugee community away from theocratic rule and toward democracy, and to prepare the exile movement, based in this northern Indian hill town, for his eventual death.

But the 76-year-old will remain spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and still will wield huge influence both inside and outside Tibet, particularly on relations with China and his desire for “genuine autonomy.” He will also remain the movement’s figurehead and by far its most prominent advocate.

KABUL, Afghanistan

Karzai’s cousin fatally shot by U.S. forces in night raid

The accidental killing of a cousin of President Hamid Karzai by a U.S. special operations team became on Thursday the latest in a string of high-profile civilian casualties that have further soured the relationship between the president and his American benefactors.

The fatal shooting late Wednesday of Yaar Mohammad Khan, 65, a second cousin of the president, in a night raid in southern Afghanistan stoked fresh anger from Karzai, who has become increasingly critical of the way NATO is prosecuting the war.

“The president sees this as another lamentable case of loss of life,” said presidential spokesman Waheed Omer. “This was the result of an irresponsible and unnecessary night raid.”

Civilian deaths caused by NATO have declined in the past year, even as the tempo of the war has increased and thousands of new U.S. troops have poured into Afghanistan, according to military and U.N. statistics.

BEIJING

Earthquake levels homes, kills 25 in southwest China

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake toppled more than 1,000 houses and apartment buildings in southwest China near the border with Myanmar, killing at least 25 people and injuring 250, the government said today.

Photos from the scene after the quake struck Thursday showed buildings that buckled, crushing their lower floors. Police, firefighters and soldiers rushed to pull out people trapped in the rubble, including a man and girl stuck in the stairwell of a four-story building, according to China Central Television.

Parts of a supermarket and a hotel caved in, while sidewalks were lined with injured on blankets.