GO TO SOURCE LONDON, May 21, 2001: Schools across Britain have begun to breath-test students in an effort to weed out those who are smoking. Teachers and nurses are using a new portable device, called the Smokerlyzer, to detect even minute traces of cigarette smoke. Children blow into a mouthpiece attached to a plastic box which has lights. The device…
GO TO SOURCE SRINAGAR, INDIA, May 12, 2001: The Amarnathji Shrine Board is managing the yearly Amarnath pilgrimage for the first time. It is busy providing finishing touches to the arrangements and has made some major changes in the system of the yatra. The month-long pilgrimage is slated to start on July 4, and the first batch of “registered pilgrims”…
Source: The Hindu GUWAHATI, INDIA, May 19, 2001: Authorities revealed today that militant groups in Manipur have served huge extortion notices to educational institutions run by Christian missionaries. The announcement was made after militants killed three missionaries during a quarrel over extortion near Imphal. Father Jonas Kerketta said the militants entered the seminary premises and demanded money from the three…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 13, 2001: Breastfeeding has been encouraged by the World Health Organization for at least the first six months of an infant’s life. In poorer nations, breastfeeding up to this age is absolutely necessary to win the fight against malnutrition. Prompted by infant food companies, the World Health Assembly, meeting in Geneva on May…
GO TO SOURCE HONGKONG, May 21, 2001: A Buddhist temple yesterday carried out a ritual to compensate for what it called the “sinful cull” of 1.2 million chickens in Hongkong, ordered after an outbreak of the potentially deadly bird flu virus. Reverend Wing Sing of the Western Monastery said that the deaths of so many birds was a sin which…
Source: India Abroad Center for Political Awareness WASHINGTON, D.C., May 15, 2001: Indian-Americans now comprise a whopping 1.7 million of the total U.S. population of 281, 421, 906. This statistic is part of the U.S. Census 2000 results recently completed. Equivalent to the number of inhabitants in the state of Nebraska, Indian-Americans rank as the third largest Asian-American group next…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 19, 2001: The Bhuj quake rekindled the theory that an earthquake was responsible for the disappearance of the Indus Valley civilization. Now the discovery of artifacts in the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat dating to 4000 to 6000 bce has given a new dimension to archaeologists in understanding the Harappan civilization. Underwater images…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, May 18, 2001: A list of cultural traditions named “masterpieces of intangible heritage” by UNESCO, has included India’s Kuttiyattam Sanskrit theater. The theater shares the honors along with a diverse, internationally chosen group such as the Kunqu Opera of China and the Garifuna language, dance and music of Belize.
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, U.S.A., May 10, 2001: A US$2 million Hindu temple modeled after the famous Sri Ranganatha Temple of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu has come up in Pomona, New York, built by the Sri Ranganatha Seva Samiti. From May 23 until May 27, the temple will be formally consecrated. The complex, that stands on a five-acre plot,…
GO TO SOURCE BREA, CALIFORNIA, May 18, 2001: Students of Carbon Canyon Christian school, located in a rural area in Southern California, witnessed the slaughter of a 1,000 pound steer they had raised at the school as part of a demonstration to teach them where meat comes from. Students as young as 5-years-old watched as the butcher used a stun…