SourceHAMBURG, GERMANY, May 24, 2005: Christian Eckert (48) is a Journalist, TV presenter and television producer, living in Hamburg, Germany. He has been teaching journalism and media presentation at German media schools for many years. For 25 years he has been visiting Sri Lanka regularly. He was in the City of Galle when the tsunami hit the island–Eckert just managed…
SourceKERALA, INDIA, May 24, 2005: Five months after the tsunami hit the southern coast of India, relief work has stalled in the southern state of Kerala after a row between Hindu and Christian groups. Right-wing Hindu groups are angry at the local administration for allowing Christian organizations to participate in the reconstruction of homes for the mainly Hindu tsunami victims,…
SourceKOLKATA, INDIA, May 25, 2005: Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj, age 88, has been elected 14th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Math and the Governing body of the Mission today. Gahananandaji, one of the vice-presidents of the Math and Mission since April 14, 1992, succeeded Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj who…
SourceTAMPA, FLORIDA, May 23, 2005: The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expressed support over portions of the annual report released by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last week. HAF particularly appreciated the attention the USCIRF report brought to the atrocities suffered by Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. The foundation plans to release…
SourceWASHINGTON, D.C., May 24, 2005: A US bankruptcy court has ordered the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to pay $9.5 million (nearly Rs 42 crore) to about 450 victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at its boarding schools in the US and India. The abuses relate to the 1970s and the ’80s and have been the subject of…
SourceTIRUPATI, INDIA, May 21, 2005: A group of Agama Sastra (scriptural texts) experts is said to have advised the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the famous Sri Venkateswara temple, against the move to involve woman barbers for tonsuring heads of woman devotees who have it done to fulfill their religious vow. The issue came up during a meeting of…
SourceINDIA, May 22, 2005: India exports human hair worth US$300 million a year for making mannequins, wigs and hair “extensions” mainly for young women. What started as a small business of export worth $60,000 to $120,000 a year in the early 80’s has now grown to a mammoth scale, with nearly 40 exporters, including 10 big players, engaged in this…
SourceUSA, May 26, 2005: An HPI reader asked in response to the HPI item yesterday on the McDonald’s lawsuit settlement, “Do McDonald’s fries still contain beef?” The answer is, “Yes.” Here’s their list of ingredients for fries: “Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor (beef source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils…
SourceCALIFORNIA, May 22, 2005: Fast food giant McDonald’s will pay US$10 million to 24 groups as part of a settlement of lawsuits charging that it had misled Hindu and vegetarian consumers by “wrongly describing” its French fries, containing beef additive for flavouring, as vegetarian. The 24 groups were approved by a US court, after a Seattle Lawyer Harish Bharti, filed…
SourceMARUAPULA, SOUTH AFRICA, May 24, 2005; Hundreds of Asians of Tamil origin, gathered at Maruapula School on Saturday to celebrate the Tamil culture. The festival organized by Botswana Tamil Association, comes a month after the Tamil New Year, also known as Chithirai Vizha in Tamil. The Tamil New Year started on April 15. One of the organizers of the event,…