• Wonderful women unite for a positive South Africa
• Cambodia and Thailand begin border talks
• Cuba to send animals to depleted Venezuelan zoos

• Visitors to Iowa's newest city find balance with spirit, universe
• US: Maharishi Vedic Pandits observe traditional Vedic celebration on American Independence Day
• Germany: Weekend of Total Knowledge celebrates religion and culture

• US: More women are having fewer children, if at all
• Britian: Lack of role models drives kids into gangs
• Police in Kashmir open fire hundreds of Hindu protestors, killing two

---

Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Wonderful women unite for a positive South Africa
20 August 2008 - Thousands of women from all walks of life will unite behind a positive South Africa on 31 August at the Absa Stadium in Durban. Known as the Wonderful Women Gathering, it will address the role of women in tackling negative perceptions and influencing positive change in the country. 'Our women are the backbone of our society and it is through them that we will begin to create the country we all want to live in,' said Di Smith, one of the organizers. (more)

Cambodia and Thailand begin border talks
19 August 2008 - Thailand expressed hope its dispute with Cambodia over border territory near an ancient temple would end with a peaceful resolution as formal talks began Tuesday. The two neighbours came close to an armed clash last month over competing claims to land surrounding the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on on Thailand's northeastern border with Cambodia. (more)

Cuba to send animals to depleted Venezuelan zoos
12 August 2008 - Venezuela sends oil to Cuba and now Cuba will ship zoo animals to Venezuela, giving a new dimension to ties between the allies. Just as Cuba sends doctors to Venezuela in a barter arrangement for 92,000 barrels a day of oil, Venezuela will give medical equipment to Cuba in exchange for the animals, Havana zoo director Tomas Escobar said in a recent interview. Cuba has a reputation for giving its animals good care, despite economic hardships on the island. The zoo was hit hard by the economic crisis that followed the collapse of Cuba's then benefactor, the Soviet Union, in 1991, but it still has managed to create one of the best collections of African animals in the world. (more)

China opens its long-sought Olympics spectacularly
9 August 2008 - China didn't just walk onto the world stage. It soared over it. At last playing its long-sought role as Olympic host, China opened the Summer Games in spectacular fashion Friday with an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry dramatizing its ascendance as a global power. The ceremony began at 8 pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 -- auspicious in a country where eight is the luckiest number. (more)

Town is piece of Africa in Colombia
9 August 2008 - Palenque, Colombia is one of a few surviving towns jealously preserving a language and culture more African than Latin. The name Palenque means 'fortified escaped slave village' and many of these villages were built throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. But only this one, with 3,000 residents, survives with its distinct tradition intact. (more)

Olympic Games bring joy, pride to China's millions
8 August 2008 - China is proud and happy to host the Olympic Games. 'Before China couldn't do this, we were too backward,' said shopkeeper Shao Ge as the spectacle of the ceremony was broadcast from the Bird's Nest, the state-of-the-art main stadium for the Games. 'I am very happy, all of China is very happy,' he said. (more)

Olympic Games: China throws open doors to world as
8 August 2008 - Resurgent China opened the Olympics on Friday with a burst of fireworks at a spectacular ceremony that celebrated ancient Chinese history. Around 80 world leaders, including US President Bush, joined 91,000 excited spectators in the majestic Bird's Nest stadium for the opening show. The Games run until 24 August with 10,500 athletes from a record 204 nations participating. (more)

Group lists top 10 'ethical destinations'
4 August 2008 - In an effort to get travelers off the beaten path and support destinations in developing countries, a group called Ethical Traveler has published a list of the '10 best ethical destinations'. The organization said in a statement that many countries 'are making noble attempts to preserve their natural assets, create a user-friendly infrastructure, and build an economy where their citizens share the benefits of tourist revenue'. Argentina, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Namibia, Nicaragua, and South Africa all made the list. (more)

China: Olympic Games give opportunity for country to show its merits
3 August 2008 - China's leaders want the 8-24 August Olympic Games to showcase Chinese modernity and economic progress to the world. The Games have given the world's most populous nation an unprecedented opportunity to vaunt its merits. Two million or so visitors are flocking into China for the Olympics. (more)

Syria's top Sunni Muslim religious leader invites Pope Benedict to Syria
1 August 2008 - Syria's grand mufti, the country's top Sunni Muslim religious authority, says he would like to meet Pope Benedict XVI and persuade him to visit Syria. The mufti, Sheik Ahmad Badereddine Hassoun, made the comments in Damascus. The Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said the invitation attests to the current 'serene climate' in Syria and 'good relations' with the country. Hassoun is among a group of 138 Muslim scholars that has called for greater dialogue between Christians and Muslims. The Pope met with Syria's Vice President in September. (more)

---

Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Visitors to Iowa's newest city find balance with spirit, universe
8 August 2008 - Since the early 1990s, Iowa has been growing a 'vision for the future', starting with The Raj hotel and Ayurveda spa, and continuing with the fast-growing Maharishi Vedic City, a fully-blooming community of people who practise Transcendental Meditation and healthy living. (more)

US: Maharishi Vedic Pandits observe traditional Vedic celebration on American Independence Day
10 July 2008 - Speaking 4 July 2008 on Maharishi's Global Family Chat, Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace, reported on the traditional Vedic Celebration of total Natural Law administering the universe, which was observed on American Independence Day by Vedic Pandits in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA. (more)

Germany: Weekend of Total Knowledge celebrates religion and culture
26 June 2008 - Speaking 17 June 2008 on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Dr Wolfgang Gied, National Director of Religion and Culture for the Global Country of World Peace in Germany, reported on Germany's second Weekend of Total Knowledge, which focused on the topic of religion and culture. (more)

Delegation from the Amazon visits MERU, Holland - Part III
19 June 2008 - A delegation of traditional leaders from the Amazon were recently welcomed at the International Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, Holland. Raja Jose Luis Alvarez, Raja of Invincible Latin America for the Global Country of World Peace, spoke about their visit and about traditional peoples enjoying Maharishi's programmes throughout his Domain. (more)

Delegation from the Amazon visits MERU, Holland - Part II
16 June 2008 - A delegation of traditional leaders from the Amazon in Latin America were recently welcomed at the International Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, Holland. The delegation enjoyed hearing about Maharishi's programmes to bring fulfilment to every culture in the family of nations, and about how these programmes are utilized by cultures around the world. (more)

Delegation from the Amazon visits MERU, Holland - Part I
15 June 2008 - The Ministry of Religion and Culture for the Global Country of World Peace recently hosted a delegation of traditional leaders from the Amazon at the International Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, Holland. (more)

Voice of America reports on David Lynch - Not your typical Hollywood director
22 May 2008 - Award-winning film director David Lynch credits his practice of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation Programme with profoundly enhancing his creativity. (more)

Report by 20 Minutes, France: David Lynch and Transcendental Meditation
14 May 2008 - Renowned film director David Lynch recently wrote a book and made a documentary about Transcendental Meditation, a technique that has had a profound, life-transforming effect for him. (more)

US: David Lynch discusses Transcendental Meditation
13 May 2008 - Filmmaker David Lynch, a practitioner of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation Technique for over thirty years, recently spoke at the David Lynch Weekend hosted by Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. (more)

Le Parisien: David Lynch on Transcendental Meditation
11 May 2008 - Filmmaker David Lynch was recently in Paris speaking about his new book, in which he discusses creativity, film, painting, music, and Transcendental Meditation--a technique which he has practised daily for thirty-five years. (more)

---

Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: More women are having fewer children, if at all
19 August 2008 - More US women in their early 40s are childless, and those who are having children are having fewer than ever before, the Census Bureau said. In the last 30 years, the number of women age 40 to 44 with no children has doubled, from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. And those who are mothers have an average of 1.9 children each, more than one child fewer than women of the same age in 1976. About 36 per cent of women who gave birth in the previous 12 months were separated, divorced, widowed or unmarried. A bigger share of women in the Southeast and Southwest who gave birth in the year prior to the survey did so in poverty. (more)

Britian: Lack of role models drives kids into gangs
8 August 2008 - Too few role models and a lack of a sense of identity is pushing young people into joining gangs, according to a report. According to the Prince's Trust report 'The Culture of Youth Communities', 34 per cent of young people did not have a parent they considered a role model. It found 58 per cent joined a gang for a sense of identity with almost a quarter saying they joined gangs to find a role model. The survey of 14 to 25-year-olds also found young people were twice as likely to turn to friends if they had a problem than to a parent. (more)

Police in Kashmir open fire hundreds of Hindu protestors, killing two
1 August 2008 - Police opened fire Friday on hundreds of rioting Hindus, angry over a recent government decision to not transfer land to the Amarnath shrine, in Indian Kashmir. Two people were killed. Last month, the government in Jammu, India's only Muslim-majority state, decided to award about 100 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust that maintains the Amarnath shrine, a revered Hindu site. The state government was forced to revoke that order after a week of often violent protests, in which six people were killed and hundreds wounded, by Muslim Kashmiris who denounced the move as an attempt to build Hindu settlements in the area and alter the demographics in the state. But the cancellation set off protests by Hindus on Friday. The Amarnath shrine is a cave that houses a large icicle revered by Hindus as an incarnation of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus are currently visiting the cave on an annual pilgrimage. (more)

Ukraine grapples with alarming rise in hate crimes
11 July 2008 - The number of hate crimes are rising at an alarming rate in Ukraine, which is trying to hone its reputation as a bastion of democracy as it pursues a spot in the European Union and NATO. London-based Amnesty International warned in a report released Thursday of an 'alarming rise' in the attacks in recent years in this nation of 46 million. Foreigners in Ukraine have been stunned by the sudden and ferocious spike in violence. Rights groups also say the government aggravates the problem by denying that racism is growing. (more)

Study: Many US teens get alcohol from adults
26 June 2008 - Many of the US' estimated 10.8 million underage drinkers are turning to their parents or other adults for free alcohol, a recent survey said. 'In far too many instances parents directly enable their children's underage drinking, in essence encouraging them to risk their health and well-being,' said acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson. About one out of five of those aged 12 to 20, or roughly 7.2 million people, said they had taken part in binge drinking. About 3.5 million teens aged 12 to 20 each year meet the diagnostic criteria for having an alcohol use disorder, such as dependence or abuse. (more)

Women with children working more: US study
12 June 2008 - Women with children are working more than ever before despite the so-called 'opting out' revolution popularized by the media, according to a new study. Working mothers are also spending more time at their jobs, the study found. More than 15 per cent of those born after 1956 work 50 hours or more a week, compared to less than 10 per cent among women born in earlier years. Women who have children and work, sleep less, have fewer leisure activities, and have less time to spend in 'civic participation', the study's creator said. (more)

Afghanistan: Threat of ethnic clashes over grazing land
8 April 2008 - There are increasing fears of an imminent outbreak of ethnic conflict in central Afghanistan over access to grazing land between Kuchis and Hazaras. The estimated 2-3 million Kuchis (nomads) have traditionally moved all over the country with their camels, sheep, goats, and donkeys in search of greener pastures. The Hazara have warned that Kuchis will not be allowed to graze animals in 'their' areas. (more)

India hires women border guards
4 April 2008 - India is enrolling women for the first time in a combat role. They will be deployed along the country's borders with Pakistan to the west, and Bangladesh in the east, which New Delhi says are the most common entry points for militants plotting attacks against the country. (more)

World: Climate solutions seen harming indigenous peoples
2 April 2008 - Large-scale solutions to help slow global warming often threaten the very indigenous peoples who are among those hardest hit by a changing climate, the UN University said on Wednesday. Biofuel plantations, construction of hydropower dams and measures to protect forests, where trees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas as they grow, can create conflicts with the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. (more)

Chinese minority faces cultural extinction
13 March 2008 - The culture and language of China's second smallest minority, the Shamanistic Hezhen who number less than 5,000, are rapidly slipping away and they need more state aid, a community leader said on Thursday. Fewer than 20 Hezhen still speak their mother tongue fluently, according to the United Nation's cultural body UNESCO, and Chinese officials have named it one of the country's most threatened languages, along with the old imperial tongue Manchu. The only Chinese minority group with fewer members are the Lhoba of Tibet. (more)