news.bbc.co.uk

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, March 9, 2008: After more than 15 years of waiting, the first Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have started to leave for a new life in other countries. More than 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese people have been in refugee camps in Nepal since the early 1990s. The mainly Hindu people were forced out of Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom which has a code of national conformity. Bhutan, which maintains that most left voluntarily, has never allowed any to return to the country.

A line of men, women and children is pictured in Sunday’s newspapers waiting to board a plane from eastern Nepal to Kathmandu. These 17 families will then fly on to their new homes, reportedly in the United States and New Zealand.

Some months ago the US and some other countries agreed to accept tens of thousands of the refugees. Many, desperate to escape the camps, applied to go. But their departure is increasing tension in the camps, with some refugees and self-appointed refugee leaders saying that the only acceptable path is complete repatriation to Bhutan.

www.hinduismtoday.com

TRINIDAD, March 22, 2008: (By Paras Ramoutar, HPI Correspondent, Trinidad
) Trinidad will host the first ever Hindu Global Conference in the Western Hemisphere on Lord Hanuman during the The Hanuman heritage Festival, April 10 to 20,2008 at the Dattatreya Yoga Centre, Carapichaima, Central Trinidad. Attorney-at-Law and President of the Dattatreya Yoga Centre, Ramesh Persad Maharaj, said, in an interview, that T&T is Ramayana Country and equally as well Lord Hanuman Country. Persad-Maharaj convenor of the Conference said that Lord Hanuman is an important personality,”in the civilization of the people of Hindu Heritage.” “His Life and Times serve as a message not only to those of the Indian Diaspora but, also to the world at large,” he said.

Persad-Maharaj said that noted speakers from across the Indian Diaspora, including India, will present dynamic and enlightening papers, which will excite and spur participants, and will be complimented with discussions and conclusions. The seminar will be held from April 17 to 19 at the same venue, and it will form an integral part of the overall heritage Festival.

news.bbc.co.uk

LONDON, ENGLAND, March 22, 2008: At the URL above is a color set of photos on the Holi festival as celebrated across India.

www.crosswalk.com

SAUDI ARABIA, March 23, 2008: An Islamic initiative to establish an international convention against the “defamation” of religions ran into an unexpected hurdle this week in Saudi Arabia, where members of a government advisory body argued that the move could force Muslims to recognize pagan beliefs. The drive to outlaw offenses against religions and religious figures is being spearheaded by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) as a response to Western depictions of Islam and Mohammed in ways that Muslims consider insulting.

Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council — an appointed body that advises the kingdom’s unelected government — this week considered a recommendation that the foreign ministry should coordinate with various groups at the U.N. “to adopt an international convention that prohibits offending religions and religious figures in any way.” The proposal sparked some dissent. Members of the council argued that a convention protecting all religions from defamation would oblige Muslims to tolerate other religious beliefs.

Council member Khaleel al-Khaleel was quoted by the Saudi Gazette as warning against a “trap,” and saying that religious concepts differ from country to country and from civilization to civilization. “Should Muslims be committed to respect and not criticize any deviant creed that some people consider a religion?” he asked. Another member, Talal Bakri, said a convention against “offending religions” could lead to calls for Muslim countries to allow temples of pagan religions.

Saudi Arabia, which is listed by the State Department as one the world’s most egregious violators of religious freedom, does not permit non-Muslim places of worship, including churches and synagogues.

The member of the council who introduced the resolution, Mohammed al-Qowaihis, agreed to replace the words “religious figures” with “prophets and God’s Messengers.” (In Islam, the term refer to a series of biblical figures from Adam to Jesus — all of whom are considered prophets of Islam — as well as Mohammed, the “final prophet.”) But the council still rejected the recommendation by a 77-33 vote.

www.hinduismtoday.com

It is far easier to conquer others than to conquer oneself, because the former can be attained by recourse to outside means, while the latter can be achieved only with one’s own mind.
   Mahatma Gandhi(1869-1948)