Source NEW DELHI, April 2, 2011 (The Washington Post): India’s population has jumped to 1.21 billion, an increase of more than 181 million during 2001-11, according to provisional data of Census 2011 released on Thursday. Though the population is almost equal to the combined population of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan, the past decade (2001-11) witnessed the…
BERKELEY, CA, USA, April 4, 2010 (The New York Times) Over the past 540 million years, life on Earth has passed through five great mass extinctions. In each of those catastrophes, an estimated 75 percent or more of all species disappeared in a few million years or less. For decades, scientists have warned that humans may be ushering in a…
March 4, 2011 (by Anuradha Dutt for the Daily Pioneer): After being carved out of the Indian sub-continent, Pakistan is just 63-years old. Its raison d’etre is to act as an Islamic counter-force to a predominantly Hindu India, which encompasses all variations of religious beliefs, including the Islamic, within a secular framework. Religious freedom is the fulcrum of our secular…
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, April 4, 2010 (The New York Times): The Supreme Court on Monday effectively upheld an Arizona program that aids religious schools, saying in a 5-to-4 decision that the plaintiffs had no standing to challenge it. Justice Elena Kagan, in her first dissent, said the majority had laid waste to the doctrine of “taxpayer standing,” which allows suits…
KARACHI, PAKISTAN, March 18, 2011 (thenews.com): As many as 29 Hindu temples had been taken over by illegal occupants, Humaira Alwani told the Sindh Assembly on Thursday. “It’s a blatant violation of the Constitution,” she said. “They include Dayal Mandir in Palangparo , Shiv Mandir in Barani Goth, “Khooni Talla” (bloody pool, because crocodiles use to live there), Chaweree and…
PANAJI, GOA, March 29 (iNews): A tax imposed by the colonial Portuguese regime on Goa’s Hindu temples and which continued to be exacted even 50 years after the state’s liberation, will soon be scrapped. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat Tuesday assured the state assembly that the ‘Derram’, a tax imposed by the Portuguese in 1880, would be revoked. ‘This tax is…
February 25, 2011: The new annual industry-sponsored report from Friends of the Earth International revealed that cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops across Europe continues to decline – with an increasing number of national bans, and decreasing numbers of hectares dedicated to GMOs. The report, ‘Who Benefits from GM Crops?’ revealed that less than 0.06 per cent of European fields…
NEW YORK, March 4, 2011: (by Erik Eckholm) A new book by one of the country’s most influential evangelical pastors, challenging traditional Christian views of heaven, hell and eternal damnation, has created an uproar among evangelical leaders, with the most ancient of questions being argued in a biblical hailstorm of Twitter messages and blog posts. In a book to be…
SRI, LANKA, February 16, 2011: (by Janaka Perera) Three centuries after Portuguese colonialism in Sri Lanka ended, Portugal lost Goa, their last stronghold in South Asia. That was in December 1961, when their garrisons surrendered to Indian Forces after less than two days of fighting which ended 450 years of alien rule. Today Portuguese people have the courage to face…
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, March 18, 2011: Police stepped up their search Thursday for four masked robbers who bound and gagged a security guard at a Hindu temple and then made off with three safes containing $10,000 to $15,000 in cash and jewelry. ‘We’re all shaken by what has happened here,’ said Dr. Nagu B. Krishnappa, chair of the temple’s board of…