GO TO SOURCE LAMPANG, THAILAND, April, 23, 2001: 59-year-old American Richard Lair, aka Professor Elephant, is the conductor of the world’s first and only elephant orchestra comprising 12 jumbos on a wide range of ingenious percussion, string and woodwind instruments. While Phangkhawt and her fellow musicians are unlikely to put the Vienna Philharmonic out of business, their 19-track compact disc…
GO TO SOURCE PARIS, FRANCE, April 21, 2001: With a mission to expose the people of France to Indian culture, Anne Klasen, a French author, has organized her third Indian festival. Fascinated with Indian people and culture, Klasen has made annual visits to India since 1960. It is this love of India that has given the fire necessary to organize…
GO TO SOURCE ASHKELON, ISRAEL, April 22, 2001: Over 30,000 Israelis gathered last week for four days at Nitzanim beach on the Mediterranean to celebrate “Boombamela,” a festival modeled loosely on the Kumbha Mela. As well, it appears to have a connection with dance “raves.” The organizers said they were inspired by Kumbha Mela and started the event in Israel…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, April 18, 2001: The results of a study financed by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development that began in 1990 in ten different cities across the U.S. has been tabulated. More than 1,100 children that receive child care defined as care by someone else other than the child’s mother for at least 10…
GO TO SOURCE AFFARPUR, INDIA, April 21, 2001: Though India outlawed sex-determination tests in a weakly enforced law in 1994, their use has spread to small towns served by itinerant doctors who carry an ultrasound machines from clinic to clinic. Here in the northern state of Punjab, Gurjit Kaur, 22, said she paid 500 rupees, US$10.87, for an ultrasound test…
Source: The Times BRADFORD, ENGLAND, April 20, 2001: West Yorkshire County and downtown Bradford was scene to a small riot fuelled by drunken whites who ignited the tensions between Hindus and Muslims. Apparently, a Hindu engagement party was rudely interrupted with racial slurs from a group of whites. When the trouble spilled out into the street, Muslims owning a nearby…
Source: The Hindu BANGALORE, INDIA, April 19, 2001: An on-going debate over making Vedic astrology a university subject in India has taken a new twist. The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Chairman, Mr. Hari Gautam, defended the proposal by saying that “the Nobel laureate, Sir C.V. Raman, had called astrology a science.” Prof. S. Ramaseshan, renowned physicist and Sir Raman’s nephew,…
Source: Rediff on the Net VARNASI, INDIA, April 17, 2001: More information has become available on the Catholic priest, Father Anthony Fernandes, who converted to Hinduism here on Tuesday. The Jesuit priest was converted at a public ceremony at Ram Krishna Temple in the ancient Hindu city. “Today is a day of great joy for me, as I am no…
Source: The Hindu LUCKNOW, INDIA, April 20, 2001: Yielding to popular demand, the Uttar Pradesh Government today confirmed the renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj, its ancient name.
GO TO SOURCE BRITAIN, UK, April 19, 2001: Britain announced on Thursday that the government is bringing forward legislation to outlaw human cloning within months. Currently, cloning work is restricted to scientists granted licenses. Health Secretary Alan Milburn said that the only way to ensure human cloning never takes place is to ban reproductive human cloning by law. While agreeing…