GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 22, 2001: If you live on less than ten dollars U.S. per month, a pre-determined arbitrary national cut-off figure, then in India you would be one among 260 million people. However, according to Abusaleh Sharif, chief economist for the National Council for Applied Economic Research, “This is a national cut-off, and this figure…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 24, 2001: A separate electoral system introduced in 1985, where non-Muslims can only vote for candidates belonging to their own communities, is being boycotted by Hindus and Christians in Pakistan. Hundreds of electoral seats were left unoccupied during a similar December election boycott.
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON D.C., February 23, 2001: When marriages break-up the individuals involved and the community at large pays the price. Emotionally and intellectually, children from broken homes suffer and comprise a large percentage of school dropouts, drug abusers, teenage pregnancies and depression victims. Hoping to intervene before the “I do” and marriage vows, states across the U.S. are…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, February 20, 2001: Attempting to expand their customer base, top class Indian restaurants in London are trying new methods to entice the populace into their establishments. Educating the British public about the Science of Ayurveda, where spices not only add flavor but are also used for medicinal purposes, the Mela restaurant in Covent Garden has…
GO TO SOURCE ZIMBABWE, AFRICA, February, 24, 2001: Whites were not the only race coming under attack in the racially-motivated parliamentary election campaign currently ravaging Zimbabwe. Asians, in particular, are being targeted, most notably through a hate-filled document sent to prominent businessmen in the community and believed to have originated from the offices of black economic empowerment organization, the Affirmative…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, February 23, 2001: Human Rights Watch has criticized the Indian Government for discouraging debate over caste-based discrimination. The New York-based rights groups says Delhi is trying to avoid discussion of the issue at a major United Nations conference on racism in South Africa in August. Smita Narula, spokeswoman for the group, says Indian…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 20, 2001: A large number of food items passed off as vegetarian actually contain some non-vegetarian ingredients. Some manufacturers add crushed deer antlers to chyawanprash, an ayurvedic medicine. Animal-based enzymes are used for baking biscuits and some beer and whisky makers also use animal-derivatives to “ripen” their products. The vitamin A and D…
GO TO SOURCE AUSTIN, TEXAS, February 23, 2001: Vegetarians have always been faced with the challenge of finding cheese made without rennet. Derived from the stomach of young calves, the enzyme rennet was at one time the only coagulant that would produce cheddar or hard cheeses. Since 1989 a bio-engineered rennet called microbial chymosin was approved by the FDA and…
GO TO SOURCE SAN FRANCISCO, U.S.A, February 24, 2001: Researchers at a California biotechnology company, StemCells Inc., have produced laboratory mice with human brain cells, marking a potential step toward developing treatments for human brain disease like Alzheimer’s but promising to fuel fresh debate over the evolving ethics of bioengineering. “We are not recreating a human brain. We’re really just…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, February 22, 2001: Kumbha Mela, the 42-day-long religious fair, came to an end Wednesday with the last spurt of bathing fervor. Two-and-a-half million made their dip into the holy waters of the confluence of the three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. “Initially, we were keen to come towards the beginning of the…