GO TO SOURCE UNITED KINGDOM, June 28, 2001: If you are shopping for life insurance, be sure to check out a company called Animal Friends Insurance. A not-for-profit insurance agency, AFI donates its net profits to animal welfare and rescue groups. In honor of vegetarians, the company has recently commenced selling a special discount term assurance life policy. Recognizing that…
GO TO SOURCE ERODE, INDIA, July 19, 2001: To Western companies operating in India, the cow is a sacred. But nothing is so straightforward in India. India is actually a major producer and consumer of leather, and only some of it comes from goat, sheep and buffalo. With a population that is an estimated 80% Hindu, India slaughters 14 million…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, July 21, 2001: The banana will be the next major food crop to have its entire collection of genes decoded, an international consortium of scientists has announced. The banana genome should allow researchers to develop strains that are more resistant to disease and which require fewer agrochemicals to be applied during their cultivation. Researchers also…
GO TO SOURCE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, July 24, 2001: In the aftermath of a controversial radio broadcast on Hinduism — reported first by J.V. Lakshmana Rao in India Tribune — TV and radio talk show host Tony Brown apologized to Hindus, and said he plans to broaden sympathies between Indian Americans and others in the US. “The truth is I made…
GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, July 21, 2001: For the past 300 years, a succession of small girls have been chosen to become Kumari, or Nepal’s living goddess — a job that entails living in an ornate cloister, appearing at religious festivals on a chariot and retiring at the age of 11 with a small pension. But human rights activists…
GO TO SOURCE SRINAGAR, INDIA, July 22, 2001: The Amarnath pilgrimage, suspended for a day after 13 persons were killed near Sheshnag on Saturday, resumed today both from Jammu and Srinagar, according to an official spokesman. Over one thousand devotees worshipped at the shrine today. A central government team, led by the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr. I.D.…
GO TO SOURCE KEIGHLEY, ENGLAND, JULY 13, 2001: Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley, near Bradford, has defended her controversial call for immigrants to be compelled to learn English before they are allowed into the UK. Cryer has said inter-continental marriages in the Asian community were resulting in immigrants who could not speak English. “This limits participation in mainstream…
GO TO SOURCE AGRA, INDIA, July 21, 2001: The India-Pakistan summit in Agra has raised new hopes among the Pakistani Sindhi Hindu migrants living in that city that the event may enable them to carry out trade with and travel to their former homeland. The city of Agra has nearly 60,000 Sindhi Hindus who fled to India from Pakistan after…
GO TO SOURCE BRADFORD, UNITED KINGDOM, July 13, 2001: A report issued by Lord Ouseley and eleven other panelists reflects the stark reality of the Bradford community in the U.K. In a community where multicultural diversity should be creating a sense of mutual respect and tolerance, exactly the opposite is happening. Differences have resulted in intolerance, fear of gang culture…