American Buddhist Net

The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin joined the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker this morning at 0700 Hours (Sydney time). Both Sea Shepherd ships are now on the tail of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.

The Japanese fleet was running fast to the Northeast not knowing that the Steve Irwin was on a course of Southwest coming directly for them. With the fleet doing 15 knots, and the Steve Irwin doing 15 knots, the Steve Irwin and the whaling fleet closed the gap at 30 knots cutting the rendezvous time in half.

The Steve Irwin sat motionless by an iceberg for two hours at a distance of thirty miles to allow the Nisshin Maru to continue towards it. At a distance of only three miles, the Steve Irwin got underway and intercepted the Nisshin Maru.

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LESS than 50 wild tigers remain in China, a conservation group said, voicing hope that the Year of the Tiger would not be the last for the endangered cats.

Xie Yan, director of the China program for the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, said that just 20 years ago tigers still roamed across large swathes of China.

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Nepal has discharged all of the under-aged combatants from the army of the former Maoist rebels. That is being hailed as the closing of a critical chapter for the peace process in the poor, landlocked country between China and India.

More than 200 former child soldiers boarded buses in the rugged highlands of mid-western Nepal for a ride back into civilian life.

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Exploiting the aged and frail in Washington's adult family homes

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The linked page was slightly confusing to me. There are several short videos and note that on the left there are links to three parts. ABN

Tokyo's gay scene is 300 bars and clubs packed into two blocks, where, perhaps surprisingly in an otherwise regimented society, it has been anything goes for decades. So why, asks our Tokyo correspondent David McNeill, is the wildest party in town coming to an end?

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Mongolian sumo champion Asashoryu has announced his retirement following allegations he attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightclub last month.

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Mongolian press ridicules JSA

CALLEBASSE, Haiti (AFP) - "I would like to give up my son again," says Anchello Cantave, a farmer here, who willingly handed over his five-year-old to US missionaries now facing charges of child abduction in Haiti's post-quake chaos.

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Webster G. Tarpley
February 6, 2010

For her Jan. 29 speech at the Ecole Militaire in Paris, Mrs. Clinton was evidently wearing that stylish new French perfume from the House of Sarkozy called Chantage – meaning blackmail. Mrs. Clinton gloats because she thinks she has the Chinese leadership in a bind. As she stated, she knows that China increasingly depends on oil from the Gulf. She demanded that China vote for crippling sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council this month, while Sarkozy — the craziest of all western leaders against Iran — controls the presidency of that body. For China, approving crippling sanctions against Iran means in all probability the loss of 10% to 12% of its oil imports, the aborting of some $80 billion in development projects by Beijing in Iran, the sacrifice of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of oil which the Chinese have locked in via futures contracts, and, above all, a farewell to the best chance of getting a secure overland oil pipeline far away from the US-UK fleets — the pipeline from Iran via Pakistan into China.

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The great Buddha statues of Sukhothai summon visitors from across the centuries

An uncommon devotion to their faith has taken many Thai Buddhists on pilgrimages to temples across the country and to Laos and Burma to learn more about the history of the religion and the art that celebrates it.

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RANCHI: On January 2, 2010, three masked men barged into Pinki’s home in Tapodana village, Ranchi district and killed her parents on the charges of practicing witchcraft. Pinki, 14, and her younger brother are now in hiding because she too has been named as a dayan or witch.

Sushila Devi, 45, tries to hide the injury on her head with her sari pallu as she describes how she and four other village women, mostly widows, were beaten, paraded naked and forced to eat excreta in Patharghatia village in Deoghar district, Jharkhand on October 17, 2009.

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Shame and disrepute came India’s way when the issue of corruption reared its ugly head on the concluding day of the two-day first International Buddhist Conclave at Nalanda, some 85 kms south-east of Patna, in Nalanda on Sunday.

During an interaction Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja had with foreign delegates — 113 of whom had come — Nuanchan Pientam, chairman of NC Group, a leading tour operator from Bangkok, said the immigration officials unabashedly asked for money from foreign tourists who landed at Varanasi and Gaya airports.

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The Brazosport College Art Gallery will host a reception on Monday for Montana artist Valerie Hellermann, world traveler and student of Buddhism.

Hellermann’s appearance comes in conjunction with her show, titled “Witness — Culture in Peril,” currently on display at the Brazosport College Art Gallery. The show will run through Feb. 28.

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Over two feet of snow fell on the Washington, DC area this weekend, crippling the city in one of the worst storms in the region's history. Over 200,000 homes and businesses lost power, and city officials urged residents to stay home as crews worked to clear streets and repair power lines.

Still, some sought to have a bit of fun in the winter wonderland. At least 2,000 people converged on Dupont Circle, in downtown Washington, on Saturday afternoon, for a snowball fight of epic proportions -- responding to messages posted on Facebook and Twitter and spread through word of mouth.

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The status of animals in Christianity is unclear. But Augustine gives pet owners hope.

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A new study claims that certain types of beer are a rich source of dietary silicon, and can help prevent osteoporosis

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Some regard it as the cutting edge in the organisation of human society. Others discard it as a sect. In a few countries it is considered a threat: its followers - mercilessly persecuted and discriminated against.

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WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.

People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.

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The help-wanted ad going live this week on Craigslist might raise some eyebrows. If not tempers.

"Need people who aren't Christians to review church service," it says.

It goes on. "Who: Age 20-35. Do not currently believe Jesus Christ is God. Not mad at Christians.

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THE TWO-DAY international Buddhist conclave which began on Saturday, February 6 2010, at Nalanda district, Bihar concluded on February 7, 2010. The conclave discussed issues confronting the religion besides trying to find ways to spread Lord Buddha’s Universal message of peace and brotherhood.

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As part of the Morality Revival Project by the abbot of the Dhammakaya temple in Thailand, a mass ordination of 100,000 monks was organized. The objective is to strengthen ethics and improve morality by allowing 100,000 men to be true monks for 49 days. The mass ordination was hosted by the Dhammakaya Temple and 330 other temples from all over Thailand. Pathum Thani, Thailand. 06/02/2010.

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An Indian U of Maryland physics prof came up with these zero rupee notes that Indians can slip to officials who demand bribes. They've been wildly successful, with a total run over over 1,000,000 notes, and the reports from the field suggest that they shock grafters into honesty. Fifth Pillar is the NGO that produces the notes, and they're available for download in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

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BEIJING — China has found another 170 tons of tainted milk powder in an emergency crackdown that has made it increasingly clear many products discovered in the country's 2008 milk scandal were repackaged for sale instead of destroyed.

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(NaturalNews) In response to an environmental lawsuit filed against the oil giant, Chevron has fortified its defenses with at least twelve different public relations firms whose purpose is to debunk the claims made against the company by indigenous people living in the Amazon forests of Ecuador. According to them, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste in the Amazon between 1964 and 1990, causing damages assessed at more than $27 billion.

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MIDDLETOWN - Witnesses and authorities said as many as 100 people may have been injured and two killed when a massive explosion, which homeowners more than 10 miles away mistook for an earthquake, blew up a power plant being built on the Connecticut River in the southern section of Middletown at about 11 a.m. Sunday.

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Less than a week after a German Jesuit leader apologized over a deepening sexual abuse scandal at a prestigious Catholic institution, new reports paint a far grimmer picture of the crisis.

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ZAAFARANA, Egypt — Egypt's chief archaeologist unveiled on Thursday an extensive renovation of the oldest monastery in the world, touting the work at the 1,600 year-old-site as a symbol of peaceful coexistence between the country's Muslims and Christians.

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MORE than half of Chinese people questioned in a poll believe China and America are heading for a new “cold war”.

The finding came after battles over Taiwan, Tibet, trade, climate change, internet freedom and human rights which have poisoned relations in the three months since President Barack Obama made a fruitless visit to Beijing.

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One of the biggest problems posed by China is decades of anti-Western education mixed with a fantasy of Chinese history and China's rightful place in the world. This does not often find expression in the international press, but it is a constant refrain within China. I think it shows that China will not be any better at being a superpower than the US has been. And we have been awful, squandering sixty years of dominance in what may well be the quickest decline of any nation/empire in history. IMHO, one of China's biggest cultural flaws is they lack a prominent concept of forgiveness, which has led to a society that is far too often roiled by anger and resentment. China at its best, or even at its above-average, would make a wonderful superpower, and maybe the rigors of being on the world stage will bring out their best. I hope so, but am wary. ABN

This article is the first of two comparing findings of studies of advanced practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist meditation in remote regions of the Himalayas, with established results on long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation programs. Many parallel levels of improvement were found, in sensory acuity, perceptual style and cognitive function, indicating stabilization of aspects of attentional awareness. Together with observed increases in EEG coherence and aspects of brain function, such changes are consistent with growth towards a state of total brain functioning, i.e. development of full mental potential. They are usually accompanied by improved health parameters. How they may be seen to be consistent with growth of enlightenment will be the subject of a second article.

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A woman has been tortured by her neighbours for two days and forced to eat human waste before she finally gave in and confessed to practising witchcraft.

Those who beat, punched and kicked Kalli Biswokarma, 47, accused her of casting evil spells on a schoolteacher who had fallen ill in the village of Pyutar, 40 kilometres south of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

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