Dalai Lama visits Mongolia

Hundreds of Buddhists have greeted the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Mongolia for seven years.

The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, despite a denunciation of his trip by China, which warned Mongolian officials not to meet him.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said he was not simply a religious figure but also a political exile who had engaged in activities to split what it called " the motherland."

Mongolia has strong religious ties with Tibet and has been rediscovering its Buddhist heritage since the end of Communist rule in 1990.

The Dalai Lama, who is a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service