Source: www.hindustantimes.com MUMBAI, INDIA, August 14, 2010: Half the men who shape the Ganesha murtis in the city have been struck down by malaria. The clay and plaster of Paris strewn around and inevitable pools of stagnant water around the workshops, make them ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. This year, a number of murti makers are suffering its effects. Ganapati…
Source: Religion News Service UNITED STATES, July 21, 2010: A proposed bill aims to put a stop to teacher-administered spanking, making corporal punishment illegal in any school — including private religious ones — that receives even a trickle of federal funding. Religious school groups, usually quick to guard against government encroachment, have few worries about the bill because officials said…
Source: www.laht.com RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, July 30, 2010: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send a bill to Congress that would ban the corporal punishment that parents and teachers inflict on children, including slaps and spankings, a Cabinet member said Tuesday. The bill will be an amendment to the Child and Adolescent Law, an ambitious piece of…
Source: www.nytimes.com NEW YORK, July 19, 2010: John Friend is the founder of Anusara, one of the world’s fastest-growing styles of yoga. For the past several months he has given his workshops in Tokyo, Taipei, Bali and Morrisville, N.C., and is on his way to teach more workshops in Copenhagen, Munich, Paris and Park City, Utah. These are stops on…
Source: Religion News Services (RNS) THE AMHERST, NY, USA: The atheist group Center for Inquiry has changed the name of its “International Blasphemy Day” to “International Blasphemy Rights Day” in a bid to show that organizers are not interested in “mocking religion” for its own sake. Center for Inquiry representatives said the name change better describes the purpose of the…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com People who take themselves too seriously are seldom known for any good sense of humor. Sita Ram Goel in “How I Became Hindu”
Source: www.roanoke.com MISSOULA, MONTANA, August 8, 2010: The 2000 U.S. census listed Patel at 172nd among the nation’s 1,000 most common surnames, ahead of common surnames such as Gardner, Peters, Richards, Spencer and Andrews. Sanjay Patel owns and operates a Days Inn in the heart of Missoula’s small downtown. Patel moved to the United States 20 years ago and to…
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010: An organisation representing the interests of the Kashmiri Pandits in the US today asked the Indian government to protect the lives of the Hindu community in the Valley, which has witnessed violent protests. “We are deeply concerned at this loss of lives and property and urge the state Government to make sure the remaining…
Source: www.dnaindia.com PAKISTAN, August 9, 2010: The body of a woman, who died in Lahore in June 2006, had to be kept in a mortuary for five days due to the absence of a cremation ground for Hindus in Pakistan. She was laid to rest in the Miani Sahib’s graveyard for the Muslims as a last resort. The case generated…
Source: Press Release AUSTRALIA, July 27, 2010: Frank Sartor, Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, announced Deepa Gupta as the youngest ever recipient of the Green Globe Individual Sustainability Champion Award at last night’s 2010 ceremony at NSW Parliament House. “At only 26, Deepa is co-founder of the Indian Youth Climate Network,” Mr Sartor said. The Green Globe Awards…