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Karunamayi Sri Sri Sri Vijayeswari Devi will be visiting 20 cities across the United States as part of her 2001 World Tour. Evening programs, consisting of Sri Karunamayi's spiritual discourse, devotional singing, meditation and individual blessings, will be held in each city. In addition, fire ceremonies will be held in certain cities. Please visit "source" for more information and for specific details for each city.

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BALING, MALAYSIA, March 31, 2001: Three men were arrested yesterday in connection with the death of a Hindu priest who was found with severe head injuries at his residence at the Sri Subramaniam temple on Thursday morning. The trio -- aged 16, 17 and 21 -- were all unemployed. S. Munugesen, 41, an Indian national, was found dead, sprawled in a pool of blood, at about 9am on Thursday by a temple employee. Police recovered a video player, a telephone and money from the suspects. Baling district OCPD Supt Hassan Ismail said one of the suspects had led the police to an axe, which was used in the attack. The motive appears to be robbery.

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NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 31, 2001: None of the universities in Delhi seem to be interested in the new Jyotisha or Vedic Astrology course introduced this year. The process of formulation of the new course began in June 2000 and has been on-going. The syllabus has yet to be chalked out. Out of the proposals received, the UGC will set up an expert committee to screen the universities. They will further decide which universities have the credentials, the requisite infrastructure and the resources for such a course before it is awarded. Universities of Kurukshetra, Shimla, Meerut, Gwalior, Indore, Ranchi and Mysore among others have applied for the course. Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani and Ranchi have also applied, said Dr.Gautam of the University Grants Commission. "Here it is important to note that all these are non-traditional and non-Sanskrit universities," he added.

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NEPAL, March 27, 2001: Requiring wood for fuel and new land for farmland, the Nepal populace has created a deforestation crisis. Between 1979 and 1994 forest cover decreased by nine per cent and as a result bare hillsides have created landslides and flooding. The report, with the alarming 9% statistic, produced as a joint endeavor by the U.N. Environment Programme and the Nepali government is a direct appeal to make a serious effort to check the rapid clearing of forests.

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PRIYANKA KHANNA, New Delhi, March 30, 2001: There is little place for the girl child given Indian society's strongly ingrained preference for sons. The ratio of girls per 1,000 boys in the age group of 0 to 6-year-old has declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. The shocking studies reported in this article show that out of every 1,000 fetuses that are aborted, 995 are female, often identified through ultrasound scans. Other reasons for the ratio are cited as well. The unnatural ratio is seen in the total population, where there are 933 females to 1000 males in India altogether, but 1,054 women -- biologically the stronger sex -- to 1,000 men in America and 1,064 women to 1,000 men in Europe. China, also with a preference for sons, shows a similar shortage of women as does India.

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DARJEELING, INDIA, March 13, 2001: The West Bengal Government has withdrawn orders on furnishing details on conversion following strong exception to it from the State Minorities Commission. The matter was taken up with the authorities after the Darjeeling district intelligence branch issued a circular asking for monthly reports on the number of persons converted to Christianity. This article continues with accounts of openly available conversion schemes (www.bethany.com/profile) and statistics. Government recommendations include withdrawal of proselytizing missionaries and prohibition of "quid pro quo"-style medical services -- referred to as the "patients in one end, Christians out the other" style of missionary hospital management.

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS, March 27, 2001: While students with predominantly Christian backgrounds attended the University of Texas-Arlington in the past, there is change. Now there are 1,093 international students, the majority of them Hindus from India. The second largest group with 147, from China, others are from Iran, Japan, Taiwan, Pakistan, South Korea, Nepal and Thailand.

Source: The Hindu

BANGALORE, INDIA, MARCH 27, 2001: The Government's University Grants Commission's decision to "rejuvenate the science of Vedic Astrology in India" by starting departments of Vedic Astrology in Indian universities has infuriated the scientific community. The guidelines said that it would add to a new dimension for research in the fields of Hindu-Mathematics, Vastushastra, Meteorological Studies, Agricultural Science, Space Science. The rationalist and Marxist-leaning scientists are complaining they should have been consulted before the addition of subjects "cloaked in the garb of pseudo-science."

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HAWAII, March 29, 2001: A. S. Maniyam reports today that his website (source above) is expanding to include devotional songs and more material for children. He's also providing a translation of the complete Thiruppugazh, the famed songs in priase of Lord Murugan.

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SUSSEX, U.K., March 26, 2001: Smoking will become the biggest killer in developing world countries within the next 20 years, surpassing those deaths caused by the Aids epidemic according to the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, UK's government- based study. The report forecasts that within two decades 8.5 million people a year will be dying in developing countries because of smoking. A billion people around the world are currently smokers, and tobacco-related illness currently kills 3.5 million a year. At the moment it is mainly a rich country disease, but the report says this is changing fast. The report says the increasing process of globalization will be partly to blame as developing countries are forced to drop tariff barriers against highly successful international brands and that many governments are seduced by the inward investment this brings, but have not realized the long-term cost in human lives.

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LONDON, ENGLAND, March 28, 2001: A study center here has launched a project that will record the impressions and experiences of Hindus in Britain, especially older generations. "The project, Life of Hindus in Britain will mark the beginning of an important process of documenting that which makes pluralistic United Kingdom a multi-ethnic and multi- cultural democracy," Indian High Commissioner in Britain Nareshwar Dayal said at the launch at India House Tuesday. "The experiences of the people who came here to find a home away from their homes are an integral part of the achievements and aspirations, destiny and development of the contemporary British society," Dayal said. The project aims to capture stories of first generation Hindus in Britain and record them for posterity. It involves interviewing leaders and elders from the Hindu Britons. A major portion of the project is being funded by a grant of US$120,000 from the heritage lottery fund.

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NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 27, 2001: Maestro Ravi Shankar was bestowed with an honorary knighthood in recognition of his services to music. "My heart is full. If only I could express the deep emotion and gratitude that I feel," said the overwhelmed sitarist, sharing the moment with wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka. While conferring the award, England's High Commissioner, Rob Young, commended Shankar's versatility and desire to spread the knowledge and understanding of Indian music.

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DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, March 27, 2001: The name of Mahatma Gandhi, whose campaign of passive resistance was born in South Africa, is expected to be one of 20 to be immortalized in marble here. Special marble tiles, each engraved with the still closely guarded names, and in some cases, the palm prints of those to be honored, will be unveiled in a park outside the City Hall here Saturday as a prelude to the annual African Renaissance Festival.

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USA, March 28, 2001: Thousands of foreign workers in America's slumping high technology sector are set to lose their jobs and their right to stay in the US. In the past few years, the US government has given hundreds of thousands of foreigners with high-tech skills H1-B temporary work permits. If they are laid off, they are not allowed to remain in the US or begin another job unless they have another visa application pending. The collapse of many Internet start-ups and recent layoffs in Silicon Valley mean that tens of thousands of workers, mainly from India, China and Western Europe, could be forced to return home.

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DALLAS, USA, March 24, 2001: According to Hindu tradition, the saint Shri Dnyaneshwar -- while still a child, in response to a challenge -- made a buffalo recite the Vedas, proving that all creatures are united by the soul. Later he wrote Dnyaneshwari, a religious work still popular today. Maharashtrians here are staging a play on his life, "Om Namoji Aadhya," written by Deepak Karanjikar of Dallas. Mr. Karanjikar said he decided to focus on the saint as he noticed similarities between the value systems prevalent in the late 13th and early 21st centuries. "During that time (1200 ce), the values of life had gone down. People were just fighting for their own lives, their own family," Mr. Karanjikar said. "History is completing a cycle here."