'Panchen Lama' appears at Buddhist conference

The boy chosen by China as the reincarnation of Tibetan holy figure the Panchen Lama made a rare public appearance at the start of an international Buddhist conference today.

Gyaltsen Norbu, 16, is the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism and a key player in the struggle for the religion’s future that pits China’s officially atheistic communist regime against supporters of the exiled Dalai Lama.