GO TO SOURCE FIJI, March 23, 2001: Last May’s coup toppled the democratically-elected government, but Fiji’s caretaker Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase announced a two-week period for the elections starting August 25 to enable citizens in remote islands to vote. He said the country’s president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, had set the date for polls for the 71-seat parliament. Qarase took charge…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, March 25, 2001: Bill Moyers believes so strongly in “Trade Secrets,” his documentary about the chemical industry, that he sheds blood for it. The veteran journalist rolls up his sleeve and offers an arm at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine to Dr. Michael McCally, who is conducting a study on the…
GO TO SOURCE KOLKATA, INDIA, March 15, 2001: Swami Shuddhananda will begin his summer tour April 27 in London, and continue on through the USA from May 1 -19, then to Germany from May 20 – 26. For details, email “source” above. The forward-looking swami is especially popular among young people.
GO TO SOURCE SUVA, FIJI, March 20, 2001: A small Hindu community in Lautoka in western Fiji has asked for police protection after thugs broke into their temple and desecrated it. Davinesh Reddy, the caretaker of the Gangamman Kovil temple in Velovelo, Wairebatia, said that gold ornaments were stolen from the temple and the Deity statues stripped of their attire.…
GO TO SOURCE LUCKNOW, INDIA, March 20, 2001: Building temples has become one way to grab land in some parts of India. An unauthorized temple often begins with the installation of the Deity and then grows into a full-fledged temple over time. In Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar township, large green stretches of land and parks were planned for the new residential…
GO TO SOURCE COIMBATORE, INDIA, March 19, 2001: Extending its support to Tamil Nadu parties that advocate that an autonomous board be set up to oversee Hindu Temples, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad wants the state government to hand over the management of temples. Churches and mosques are already governed by autonomous bodies and the VHP wants the same treatment for…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, February 19, 2001: In a Saturday-morning class of mothers and toddlers at New York City’s Next Generation Yoga Studio, students become sleeping doggies, lions and snakes before the 45-minute session is over. Baby boomers are introducing their children to yoga, believing that balanced lives begin with balanced children. YogaKids, an organization in Michigan…
GO TO SOURCE KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, March 20, 2001: Beneath the normally tranquil surface of Malaysian society, dangerous tensions and the potential for violence still lurk. Sixteen-year-old Indran Rajasinga was on his way home when he was attacked by a gang of Malay youths. “I have no idea how I got away.” A wound to his head required stitches and…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, U.S.A, March 20, 2001: The US has dismissed as “inaccurate and self-serving” the Taliban militia’s explanation that it blew up two giant Buddha statues in Afghanistan in a fit of pique after a foreign delegation offered money to help preserve these ancient artifacts. “We definitely don’t buy this explanation,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said after…