Hindus, Jews disappointed with Pope for ignoring Roma apartheid

September 30th, 2009 NEVADA - Hindus and Jews have asked for thorough enquiry into the reportedly last minute withdrawal of the permission by officials to celebrate Durgapuja festival in a public park in Rome. Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B.

September 24th, 2009 NEVADA - Jews and Hindus have found some of the Pope's World Mission Sunday message posted on The Holy See website "shocking". Rabbi Jonathan B.

September 24th, 2009 KARACHI - With the beginning of the Indian festive season, Hindus in Pakistan have started preparations for the festivals of Navratri, Dushhera and Diwali, The Daily Times reports. "The nine nights are sanctified in the Hindu religion, during which Saraswati and Durga are worshipped," said Narain Maharaj, a Hindu cleric belonging to the Maheshwari Meghwar community.

September 14th, 2009 NEVADA - Hindus have urged New South Wales (NSW) government in Australia to add "Diwali" and "Holi" on the list of restricted trading days in the new law. Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), said that Hindu workers in NSW would like to be home on these days to celebrate the festivals with their families, friends, and the community.

August 27th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Authority's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, has said there was no evidence to back up claims that Jews had ever lived in Jerusalem or that the temple ever existed. Tamimi claimed that Israeli archeologists had "admitted" that Jerusalem was never inhabited by Jews, the Jerusalem Post reports.

August 17th, 2009 LONDON - The Vatican's official newspaper has accused Britain and the United States of having detailed knowledge of Hitler's plans to exterminate Jews, but failed to stop it. The L'Osservatore Romano claims in a report that authorities in Washington and London ignored, downplayed or even suppressed intelligence reports about the Nazis' extermination plans.

August 4th, 2009 NEVAD - In view of Monday's apparently racial shooting death of a Roma woman and other reported incidents of violence in the recent past, Hindus are asking for immediate intervention of European Union (EU) in Hungary to protect the Roma minorities. Indian American leader Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that already marginalized, deprived, and discriminated against Roma should not be blamed for all the misfortune of Hungary.

July 17th, 2009 ROME - Currently on a summer break, Pope Benedict XVI has broken his wrist and twisted an ankle after slipping in the bathroom. Despite the agony, the Pope, 82, was able to walk to the casualty department of the hospital after arriving with his private secretary, Mgr Georg Ganswein on Friday.

July 8th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should not be pressuring Pope Benedict XVI to make Australian nun Mary MacKillop a saint, a prominent Jesuit priest said Wednesday. Frank Brennan joined other leading Catholics in criticising Rudd for arranging a meeting Wednesday with the pope at which Rudd said he would encourage the pontiff to have MacKillop canonised.

July 7th, 2009 NEVADA - Hindus urged US President Barack Obama to put a Hindu temple also on his list, if possible, in case he decided to attend a number of different churches in rotation. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that President Obama was most welcome to visit any Hindu temple he selected in/around Washington DC.

July 7th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Notwithstanding the anti-government protests in Iran, Jewish Iranians living in Israel and abroad think that Iran under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is much better than it would be under opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. At a conference of Iranian Jews in Jerusalem on Monday, leaders of the Mashadi Jewish community said that despite Ahmadinejad's blustery rhetoric against Israel, Iran is a safe place for Jews to practice their religion.

July 5th, 2009 KARACHI - Hundreds of Hindus based in Sindh province would now be able to travel to India to immerse the ashes of their ancestors in the holy River Ganga, as they have been granted visas after decades of denial by the Pakistani authorities. Now, that the authorities have allowed Hindus to travel to India, it is expected that several people of the community would be visiting India to perform the last rights of their ancestors and immerse the ashes in the holy water of the River Ganga for eternal transformation the body in accordance with the Hindu mythology.

July 2nd, 2009 ASTANA - Tensions exist between India's Muslims and Hindus because the two communities do not know enough about each other, an Indian delegate at the global faith conference here contended Thursday. "Yes, tensions do exist but they exist because Muslims and Hindus don't know about each other," Zafar Yunus Sareshwala, the CEO of Mumbai Stock Exchange-listed financial services provider Parsoli Corporation, maintained during the plenary on "Solidarity specially in the period of crisis", on the concluding day of the third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions here.

May 12th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Pope Benedict XVI, during an open air mass in Jerusalem attended by thousands late Tuesday afternoon, expressed solidarity with the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian Christian minority. 'Standing before you today, I wish to acknowledge the difficulties, the frustration, and the pain and suffering which so many of you have endured as a result of the conflicts which have afflicted these lands,' he said in English.

May 9th, 2009 Jordan: Official thanks pope for expressing regretAMMAN, Jordan — The top religious adviser to Jordan's king thanked Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday for expressing regret after a speech three years ago that many Muslims deemed insulting to Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed spoke after giving Benedict a tour of the biggest mosque in Amman, his second visit to a Muslim place of worship since becoming pope in 2005.