Source: New Zealand Herald CHAMLIYAL, INDIA, January 23, 2002: Located 40 kilometers south of Jammu, the holy mud shrine dedicated to Chamliyal Baba, a 17th century saint having mystical powers, has been honored by Muslims and Hindus alike during the on-going conflict in the region. According to devotees, Baba was returning home from work in his fields one day when…
GO TO SOURCE KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 30, 2002: More than 1.5 million Hindu devotees and tourists visited temples nationwide to participate in Thai Pusam celebrations. More than a million converged at the Sri Subramaniaswamy temple in Batu Caves, the main venue for the celebrations. Many visitors, including about 100,000 tourists, were at the temple before dawn to participate in…
Source: South Africa Independent On Line JERUSALEM, JANUARY 31, 2002: Israeli researchers said on Thursday they had made progress towards developing what could be a test to detect the gender of a fetus only 16 days after conception. Currently the gender of a fetus can only be determined by ultrasound about 14 weeks after conception, or at 16 weeks by…
GO TO SOURCE SEYCHELLES, January 30, 2002: A flamboyant religious procession by the Hindu community was staged through the streets of Victoria in commemoration of the birthday of Lord Murugan. Popularly known as Thaipoosam Kavadi, the procession started at the Navasakthi Vinayagar temple where the devotees walked through the streets and back to the temple. The procession was made up…
Source: Press Reports NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 21, 2002: Orphanages usually give only physical sustenance to abandoned or orphaned children who have lost one or more parents. Not so with the Arya orphanages started over 30 years ago by Swami Shraddhanand and donated to Des Raj Chaudhury. Today, in addition to taking care of the physical needs of 1,100 children,…
GO TO SOURCE BANGALORE, INDIA, January 27, 2002: The IT capital of the country is the venue three-day harmony meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which began on Friday. Over 36,000 RSS cadres from 16 districts of southern Karnataka are taking part in the event, being held at Manyatha Nagar on the outskirts of the city after a gap…
GO TO SOURCE OSLO, NORWAY, January 24, 2002: A self-help group in Norway is helping immigrants and refugees who have been coerced into forced marriages. Gerd Fleischer, leader of the group said, “Arranged marriages have nothing to do with religion.” Her organization has helped young people from the Norwegian state church, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faiths. Last…
GO TO SOURCE OSAKA, JAPAN, JANUARY 24, 2002: Scientist in Japan say they have successfully implanted vegetable genes in a living animal for the first time. Researchers at Kinki University, near Osaka, inserted genetic material from spinach into a pig, which they say will produce healthier pork. The experiment has yielded 2 generations of pigs with the spinach gene known…
Source: Fiji Sun SUVA, FIJI, February 1, 2002: Christian churches here say the government breached protocol by not consulting them on the establishment of a new Christian TV station, Trinity Fiji. They object to the evangelical leanings of the new station. “If it was a TV station that preached a mature and radical message of Jesus according to the scriptures,…
GO TO SOURCE SINGAPORE, Jan 29, 2002: To mark Thai Pusam this year, 20,000 kavadi-bearers, milk-pot carriers and their supporters took part in the annual procession yesterday. This is a third more than the 15,000 who took part last year. The devotees made their way along a 4-km route from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road to the…