HPI KAUAI, HAWAII, October 16, 2006: We want to assure everyone that other than unusual tremors for a moment yesterday morning, our island of Kauai was not affected by the earthquake that took place off the “Big Island” of Hawaii at the southern end of our island chain. For those outside here, we had the unusual experience of trees shaking…
rawstory.com SINGAPORE, October 2, 2006: On an annual basis in Singapore over 3,000 male devotees participate in a fire-walking procession near the Sri Mariamman Temple. Traditionally the ritual takes place before Deepavali which falls on October 21 this year. The ceremony requires the participants to walk barefoot down a 15-foot-long bed of hot coals to show their devotion to Sri…
www.ndtv.com MUMBAI, INDIA, October 12, 2006: The Bombay High Court has ordered that the wall around Siddhivinayak temple to prevent terrorist attacks must go. The court order came in response to a lawsuit filed by local residents who said the wall was encroaching on a public road. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by temple authorities on constructing a…
www.rediff.com THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, October 12, 2006: The annual Ponkala festival of the Attukal Bhagavathi temple in Thiruvananthapuram, one of the world’s biggest devotional congregations of women, is set to make it to the Guinness book of World Records. The festival, which draws over a million women in a single day in March, will go into the record books as an…
www.hindu.com KERALA, INDIA, October 3, 2006: Vijayadasami, a festival highlighting a child’s initiation into some kind of academic or artistic endeavor, was celebrated throughout the state of Kerala at the beginning of October. The Minister for Education participated in a special ceremony organized by the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare where five needy children who were either abandoned or…
www.ibnlive.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 13, 2006: The famed Indian appetite for gold is being manifest with renewed vigor this season as a surge in festival demand and a recent fall in prices has fueled a virtual gold rush in the market. The current upward trend has particularly been underlined by the country’s top bullion trader MMTC Ltd’s business outlook…
www.rediff.com MUMBAI, INDIA, October 13, 2006: Tired of waiting for months to get an appointment for an interview to secure a US visa? Here’s some good news for you. The prolonged wait for a visa may soon be a thing of the past with US authorities looking to streamline the process for applying for non-immigrant visas to America. Their goal:…
www.pib.nic.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 12, 2006: India has one of the richest and most diverse cultural heritages associated with the use of medicinal plants, says Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss. Ayurveda and Siddha, which are 3,000-5,000 years old, in particular have stood the test of time in providing preventive, promotive and curative health care to…
www.london.gov.uk LONDON, ENGLAND, October 12, 2006: Diwali on the Square, organized by the Mayor of London and the Divali in London Committee, is a free event at Trafalgar Square on Sunday, October 15, 2006, and everyone is welcome. The annual celebration of Diwali will start at 4:00pm with messages and prayers for peace to be followed by a variety of…
www.malaysiakini.com KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, October 12, 2006: A top finance industry official has drawn fire after reportedly forbidding Muslims from delivering Hindu festive greetings to ethnic Indians. Fauzi Mustaffar, head of the Islamic law department at insurance company Takaful Malaysia, issued the warning to the staff ahead of this month’s Deepavali festival, the Star Daily reported. He said that because…