GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, July 15, 2002: Sporting the ubiquitous hamburger bun overflowing with vegetables, the July 15 issue of Time magazine carries a cover story on the merits of vegetarianism for everyone. For many, meat is an obscene cuisine. It’s not just the additives and ailments connected with the consumption of beef, though a dish of…
GO TO SOURCE TRINIDAD, July 8, 2002: HPI’s local contacts here sent in a note that a Japanese-language DVD had appeared entitled “RG Veda.” Our correspondent, Anil Mahabir, spoke with a distributor of the DVD who said, “The film is not about anything even remotely resembling Indian culture or Hinduism, although the name “RG Veda” might seem to suggest such.”…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, July 7, 2002: Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani has rejected a forensic report that contradicts the government’s view that a Muslim mob had set a train on fire from outside, killing 58 passengers, in February near here. The contention of Ahmedabad-based Forensic Science Laboratory that the fire, which engulfed two coaches of Sabarmati Express…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, JULY 5, 2002: Lutheran pastor, Rev. David Benke, has been suspended from his duties and ordered to apologize to all Christians for participating with New York’s Cardinal Edward M. Egan, other Christian ministers, Sikh and Hindu holy men, imams, rabbis and civic leaders in an interfaith prayer service hosted by Oprah Winfrey…
GO TO SOURCE BIHAR, INDIA, JULY 4, 2002: Last month a group of Hindu activists from Bihar launched a campaign against animal sacrifice at the famous Lord Baidyanath temple at Deogarh in Jharkhand. It is estimated that about 100 animals are slaughtered at the Deogarh temple each month and the temple management spends about US$2,000 procuring goats for the sacrifices.…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, JULY 5, 2002: Thousands of officially British, ethnically Indian and technically stateless people are finally to achieve closure on a painful part of their past as the British government announces it will set right a “historical wrong” from 30 years ago. In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Indians fleeing persecution in East Africa were…
GO TO SOURCE SPAIN, BARCELONA, July 5, 2002: The United Nations warned that at least 68 million people will die by 2020 unless there are “drastically expanded” efforts to prevent and treat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Their portrait of human misery on a gigantic scale was released in anticipation of the 14th International AIDS Conference, set to open…
GO TO SOURCE KATMANDU, NEPAL, July 5, 2002: After a year of mourning, Nepal’s King Gyanendra has moved into the palace where his elder brother was assassinated in a royal family massacre in June, 2001. Gyanendra assumed the throne after his brother and eight members of the royal family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra, who also shot himself and…
GO TO SOURCE BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, July 7, 2002: As a boy, he helped his father loot goods trains. When he grew up, he started looting gods! Prakash Patnaik, 24, who hit headlines as the brain behind the thefts in Lingaraj and Puri Jagannath temples of Orissa, has had police groping in the dark for years. Hailing from Kantapara village of…
GO TO SOURCE INDIA, June 29,2002: This report on the life of India’s devadasis, which may not be a subject everyone wants to read about, begins: “Lakshmi must have been stunning once — her high, prominent cheek bones and hazel eyes hint at beauty. But that was before she was ravaged by AIDS. Now her body is emaciated — her…