www.ekklesia.co.uk September 5, 2005: As relief finally arrives in places devastated by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, Christians have been reminded that they should not use aid as a cynical tool for winning vulnerable people over to their religious convictions. Tom Palakudiyil, who has run the international agency Christian Aid’s response to several emergencies in Asia, says in Third…
www.ekklesia.co.uk USA, September 5, 2005; A group in the US which distributed leaflets to tsunami survivors telling them to prepare for death, has produced a controversial new tract aimed at survivors of hurricane Katrina. Their tracts, which often describe in detail famous disasters and tragedies from around the world, suggest that people can be ‘saved’ if they confess their sins.…
news.webindia123.com MUMBAI, INDIA, September 6, 2005: The 10-day Ganpati festival that falls on September 7 is only weeks after this city was battered by a series of disasters shows why Mumbai is called irrepressible. It marks Lord Ganesha’s birthday on the fourth day (chaturthi) of the Bhadrapada month of the Hindu calendar. The Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, a body…
www.hindustantimes.com SRINAGAR, INDIA, 6 September 2005: Jammu and Kashmir government is going ahead with plans to rehabilitate displaced Kashmiri pandits in their homeland. “The first batch of 350 families of pandits living in different camps at Jammu and Udhampur is returning to Kashmir in October,” said Revenue and Rehabilitation minister Hakim Mohammad Yaseen. About 60,000 families had fled from Kashmir…
Indo-Asian News Service NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 6, 2005: In a significant turnaround from the days when it accepted foreign aid to cope with natural disasters, India is rushing 25 tons of relief materials to parts of the US devastated by Hurricane Katrina. An Il-76 transport jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will carry the relief supplies to New…
www.hindustantimes.com JAIPUR, INDIA, 6 September 2005: Rajasthan’s age-old art of sculpting beautiful mud toys once considered the most lucrative economic activities in the state because of the extensive use of mud products like water pots, utensils, toys and other ceremonial items is fast receding into oblivion. But potters now say their future is uncertain as demand for their products has…
www.nytimes.com SHANGHAI, CHINA, September 7, 2005: Call it Zen and the art of business management. Proving that in China’s booming commercial hub of Shanghai, even Buddhism is big business, a group of 18 Buddhist monks and lay people are taking MBA classes to better manage their temple, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. The course, specially designed by Shanghai’s…
amitmisra@sbcglobal.net HOUSTON, TEXAS, September 6, 2005: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) expresses heartfelt sympathy for the victims of hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in the USA. HSS urges all Hindus in America to rise to the occasion by addressing needs of the people suffered by hurricane Katrina. HSS has appealed its hundreds of volunteers in all 90 chapters…
www.unitedsikhs.org BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, September 6, 2005: United Sikhs volunteers today begin to serve hot meals to 1,300 evacuees at the Dream Center at Donaldsonville, a temporary shelter which houses an influx of evacuees from neighboring New Orleans, and sets its hope to do the same in as many of the 13 evacuee centers, resources permitting. Meanwhile, to facilitate its…
www.hinducounciluk.org LONDON, ENGLAND, September 6, 2005: Immigration Minister, Tony McNulty MP, was among several dignitaries invited to celebrate the religious festival of Krishna Janmasthami on September 4 at the impressive Shri Venkateswara Balaji Temple in Birmingham. The temple is developing into one of Europe’s largest Hindu temples. The celebrations were organized by Dr. Narayan Rao of Hindu Council UK, and…