Babri Masjid Riots: 14 Years Later

www.dailytimes.com.pk LAHORE, PAKISTAN, December 16, 2006: The Hindu community on Thursday demanded the reconstruction of more than 1,000 temples across Pakistan which had been demolished by Muslims who rioted in December 1992 as protest against the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India. While Muslims in India commemorated December 6, the day Babri Masjid was demolished by Hindus, as a…

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Judges Chastise — Follow Your Guru, Don’t Litigate

epaper.timesofindia.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, December 15, 2006: (HPI note: This dispute does not involve the BAPS branch of the Lord Swaminarayan sampradaya.) Thanks to television, religious leaders have taken their discourses on spiritual life to the living rooms of people. But recently it was their turn to get a discourse from the Supreme Court. The case before the court was…

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Asia Urged to Tackle Air Pollution

english.aljazeera.net WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, UNITED NATIONS, December 16, 2006: Experts say Asia is too slow to enact regional pacts limiting harmful emissions and reducing pollution. Air quality researchers at a regional conference this week called on Asian nations to formulate a pollution control mechanism after studies showed an increasing number of cross-border environmental problems. Japan says soot from Chinese power…

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Study Says Incense Threatened by Over-Harvesting

Religion News Service LONDON, ENGLAND, December 14, 2006: The production of frankincense — used in Catholic, Orthodox and many Anglican service — is threatened by extracting too much of the precious substance from the trees that produce it, according to a study by Dutch and Eritrean scientists and published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Frankincense is a resin produced…

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DNA Gatherers Hit Snag: Tribes Don’t Trust Them

www.nytimes.com SOUTH NAKNEK, ALASKA, December 9, 2006: “The National Geographic Society, IBM, geneticist Spencer Wells, and the Waitt Family Foundation have launched the Genographic Project, a five-year effort to understand the human journey–where we came from and how we got to where we live today. This unprecedented effort will map humanity’s genetic journey through the ages. The fossil record fixes…

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Jagannath Temple Priests Plan to Purify Temple Following Dalit Worship

www.ibnlive.com KENDRAPADA, ORISSA, December 15, 2006: Following the court ruling declaring their rights to enter the Jagannath temple regardless of the upper caste ban, Dalits on Thursday, with police protection, entered the temple in Keradagarh village and worshipped. A day after the 200 Dalits worshipped, the Jagannath temple’s priests said they would perform purification rituals before the temple reopened. The…

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Dalits All Set To Enter Orissa Temple

www.ibnlive.com KENDRAPADA, INDIA, December 11, 2006: Overruling caste-bound tradition and years of discrimination, hundreds of Dalits will enter a Jagannath temple in Kendrapada on December 20 after the high court last week gave a ruling in their favor. The upper caste community had barred Dalits from entering the 18th century shrine dedicated to Lord Jagannath in Keradagarh village, 28 miles…

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Tamil Nadu Temples Damaged in Attacks

www.hindujagruti.org TAMIL NADU, INDIA, December 13, 2006: Stemming from the Periyar statue dispute, on Friday 38 people were arrested and booked for encouraging communal tension by damaging religious symbols or religious places in connection with attacks on temples in Tamil Nadu. The granite Ganesha Deity from a temple at Sankarapuram in Villupuram was found removed and broken. In addition, the…

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High IQ Link to Being Vegetarian

news.bbc.co.uk SOUTHHAMPTON, ENGLAND, December 14, 2006: Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study conducted by a Southampton University team. They found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10. Researchers said it could explain why people with higher IQ were healthier as a…

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National Workshop On Preservation Of Metal Manuscripts

www.thehindu.com CHENNAI, INDIA, December 8, 2006: The total number of manuscripts in the country was at least 10 times the initial estimate of five million, said Neeraja Gopi from the National Mission for Manuscripts at the Government Museum on Monday morning. Around one million should be available online soon. Placards with a step-by-step guide to the preservation of metal manuscripts,…

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