GO TO SOURCE ORISSA, INDIA, April 17, 2002: A government minister has helped save the lives of 1,000 animals that were to be sacrificed at a temple here. The goats and sheep are slaughtered on Maha Bishuva Sankranti day as an offering to Goddess Kali. Federal minister Maneka Gandhi intervened and convinced priests to abandon the ritual at the Bayani…
GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, April 16, 2002: Suspected militants set off a blast on Monday night at a place on the way to the famous Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir injuring two persons, police said. The blast took place near an autorickshaw at Darshini Darwaza near Banganga about 1.5 km from Katra as thousands of pilgrims made…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, USA, April 14, 2002: When Mickey Sankar immigrated to the United States six years ago, he brought along happy memories of Holi, the Hindu New Year. “For the whole week, we played,” Sankar, 24, of Ozone Park, recalls of the celebrations in his hometown on Guyana’s Caribbean coast. “We went to every house. We had…
GO TO SOURCE GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, April 16, 2002: Lakes in the Himalayas are filling so rapidly because of rising temperatures melting more snow that they could burst their banks within a decade, sending walls of water crashing down into valleys, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said a scientific study in Bhutan and Nepal had…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 16, 2002: A group of medical professionals have urged the government to immediately stop mining and milling of asbestos in India, as it can cause lung cancer in those exposed to it. At an international symposium on health effects of hazardous material in New Delhi, participants urged the government to provide medical follow-up…
GO TO SOURCE NEPAL, April 15, 2002: Nepal’s King Gyanendra has called for national unity to fight the long-running Maoist rebellion. In a message to mark the Nepalese New Year, King Gyanendra said the continuing violence and destruction of the infrastructure had ruined the economy. His statement followed one of Nepal’s worst outbreaks of violence on Friday, in which more…
GO TO SOURCE GUJARAT, INDIA, April 15, 2002: Morari Bapu is among the country’s foremost preachers on the Ramayana, traveling around the globe preaching in Gujarati or Hindi interspersed with joyous song. He was also one of the few prominent religious figures to join peace efforts (in Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Mehsana) during last month’s sectarian disturbances in Gujarat. In an…
GO TO SOURCE JAKARTA, INDONESIA, April 14, 2002: Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali was eerily quiet yesterday, with the international airport closed and tourists confined to their hotels as residents observed the Hindu New Year or Day of Silence. Flights, including those passing over the island, were banned for 24 hours starting at 6:00 a.m. for Nyepi, a day of…
GO TO SOURCE JAKARTA, INDONESIA, April 14, 2002: Bali’s normally solemn Day of Silence, a Hindu religious day of introspection, turned rowdy at the weekend when devotees went on a rampage in two villages. Brawls broke out during processions of the giant Ogoh-Ogoh puppets late on Friday, the eve of the Nyepi festival, leaving at least four people injured, including…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, April 14, 2002: “For a species that has transformed mating into an obsession, human beings over the centuries have shown an abiding interest in the opposite of sex — celibacy,” begins this interesting article. “The practice is in the spotlight these days because of the molestation scandal which has rekindled debate over whether…