World Focus

Punta Arenas, Chile, is one of the southern-most cities in the world. There was a time when every ship crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan or around Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) halted there. Navigating giant waves, deadly currents, Antarctic blizzards and icebergs, the journeys took months. Arriving at [...]

A North Carolina sheriff’s department says there’s no evidence that shots fired through the sign for a planned Hindu temple is anything more than simple vandalism, but it has nevertheless sent reverberations of concern through the U.S. Hindu community. The sign, located at a building site of the Om Hindu Organization of North Carolina in the [...]

The Sri Lankan military “organised and facilitated” a Hindu temple ceremony at a temple inside a High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna on Tuesday, reports an official military website. The annual festival of the Veeramanikkathevanthurai Sri Kanngathevi temple, which is situated inside the Myliddy HSZ, took place on June 30 with the Sri Lankan military [...]

In 1968 the most famous pop band of the time, The Beatles, stayed in an ashram in the Indian town of Rishikesh to learn a form of meditation. The ashram has long since been abandoned, but it remains a must-see stop for fans of the group. Yogita Limaye went to Rishikesh to see it. [...]

Officials in the city of Nizhnevatrovsk reportedly fear that Hatha yoga is a practice with “an occult character.” Officials in the central Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk have moved to prevent municipal buildings from hosting yoga classes in a stated bid to stifle the spread of religious cults, the Kommersant business daily reported. Representatives of at least two of the city’s Hatha yoga studios — the Aura and Ingara — have [...]

Candomblé is a polytheistic religion and worships a number of gods:[4] the orishas of the Yoruba (Ketu nation), spelled Orixás in Portuguese; the voduns of the Fon and Ewe (Jeje nation); and the nkisis (minkisi) of the Kongo (Bantu nation). Religious intolerance: a girl of only 11 years is stoned in the head by Evangelicals [...]

A former Los Angeles police officer and self-styled preacher, has sparked outcry by suggesting that Nepalis should not rebuild their “pagan shrines” and instead convert to Christianity. Tony Miano, an outspoken conservative who has previously been accused of homophobia, triggered angry responses when he posted a series of messages on social media, expressing sympathy for [...]

More than 20 thousand Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh personnel with much needed medical supplies and other help were the first to reach earthquake damaged zones in Nepal . Swami Ramdev who had a narrow escape as the stage he was giving a lecture from collapsed has also chosen to remain in Nepal to direct relief efforts [...]

WASHINGTON: At about the same time the death of a farmer in New Delhi brought the capital’s attention on farm suicides, a young Indian-American was invoking with gratitude the Indian roots of his success in the United States: his agriculturist grandfather’s resilience and sacrifice that led his parents emigration and his own remarkable achievement in [...]

The Number of People Enslaved The number of people enslaved by Muslims has been a hotly debated topic, especially when the millions of Africans forced from their homelands are considered. Some historians estimate that between A.D. 650 and 1900, 10 to 20 million people were enslaved by Arab slave traders. Others believe over 20 million enslaved Africans [...]