American Buddhist Net

Israeli archaeologists have announced that ruins long thought to be of an ancient synagogue are actually the remains of a palace used by Muslim caliphs 1,300 years ago.

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Ponzi Schemer Was Assaulted by Another Inmate in December; Officials Deny Incident

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities are investigating three priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys after a video allegedly showing one case of abuse was broadcast on television, police and church officials said Tuesday.

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COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s hotel owners are racing to refurbish and add thousands more rooms as foreign holidaymakers pour into the country after the end of nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed.

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A multi-disciplinary project launched three years ago has yielded archaeological evidence of Kerala's ancient glory. The official establishment plans to exploit the find to boost tourism but has little interest in identifying its creators.

Kerala has boasted of a long history on the basis of references in ancient Tamil texts and the accounts of foreign travellers. However, barring a stray find of Roman coins, no tangible proof of its antiquity was available until now.

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BEIJING - Tibetan high school students protested in the streets of at least two towns in western China this week to mark the anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule, and some have been detained, residents said on Thursday.

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BEIJING — China on Thursday lashed out at a US House of Representatives resolution that urged Beijing to end its "persecution" of the outlawed Falungong spiritual group.

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The censorship craziness that has beset the Australian Government continues to know no bounds with news that a Government body has set its sites on Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED.)

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is threatening legal action against the satirical site on the grounds that ED constitutes racial hatred and is in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, reports Fairfax Media.

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Encyclopedia Dramatica Drama: Website Targeted by Australian Government

Dramatica owner refuses to remove 'racist' content

Censorship causes effects that are bad. It is a cure that is worse than the disease. ABN

A neo-Buddhist monk was shot dead by unidentified miscreants this morning, sparking protests by members of the community who blocked traffic for several hours here.

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Two former computer programmers at Bernard L. Madoff’s firm were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Manhattan.

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In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone — a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Wednesday that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on some classmates’ cellphones.

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The October deaths of three people who participated in a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona have been ruled accidental, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

Lizbeth Neuman, James Shore and Kirby Brown were among as many as 65 participants at a self-help guru's spiritual retreat near Sedona. As part of the "Spiritual Warrior" program led by best-selling author James Arthur Ray, participants sat for up to two hours inside a dome-like structure called a sweat lodge, which was covered in tarps and blankets, and had hot rocks and water inside to create steam.

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Dear Nestle's PR department,

Hey! How are you doing? I know that when we highlight the damaging effect your business is having on the Indonesian rainforests, it must be a bit annoying. I hope you understand that we're only trying to get your attention because using unsustainable palm oil in your products is such a very bad thing. You see, we just can't afford to let the Indonesian rainforests go up in smoke to provide land for palm oil plantations.

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The ad in question:

Seoul - Japan's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday that it would make no reparations to Korean individuals who suffered under its colonial rule, contradicting a 1965 document, a news report said. The 1965 document, recently declassified by the ministry and obtained at the weekend by South Korean media, said Tokyo believed that Korean forced labourers or conscripts were eligible to seek compensation as individuals.

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China has ordered an investigation after a report that unsafe vaccines led to the deaths of four children and sickened 74 others in the country's latest product-quality scare.

China has been beset by a series of product safety scandals over the past few years. At least six children died in 2008 after drinking milk contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine.

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Their numbers and influence may be declining, but American nuns demonstrated Wednesday what generations of schoolchildren already knew: They are a force to be reckoned with.

By sending a letter to Congress in support of the Senate healthcare bill, a wide coalition of nuns took sides against not only the Republican minority but against their own church hierarchy, as represented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes the bill. The nuns' letter contributed to the momentum in favor of the legislation, despite opposition that is partially rooted in a disagreement over abortion funding.

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PARIS — Siddhartha's spiritual journey from powerful prince to supreme Buddha comes alive at the Paris Opera this week when France's top contemporary choreographer Angelin Preljocaj creates a new ballet "where dance gives spirit to the body."

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Vietnam has released one of its most prominent human rights activists, Father Nguyen Van Ly, so that he can receive medical treatment.

Nguyen, 63, suffered three strokes while in jail that left the right side of his body partially paralysed. He also has a brain tumor.

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A film set to hit the theatres today will face protests by Buddhist groups, who deem its content as being slanderous to Buddhism and monks.

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The rape and murder of a teenage girl in Busan is testing Korea’s years-long suspension of practicing capital punishment.

The controversy was stoked Tuesday after Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam said the government is “carefully reviewing the possibility of carrying out executions.”

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea executed a former senior official last week as punishment for the country's botched currency reform, a news report said Thursday.

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Thai protesters have poured several jugs of their own blood on the front gate of the government headquarters in a symbolic sacrifice to press their demands for new elections.

Thousands of red-shirted demonstrators formed long lines to have their blood drawn by nurses, a day after their leaders vowed to collect 1 million cubic centimeters of blood - 264 gallons (1,000 liters) - to spill at Government House.

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Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU.

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A majority of bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church have approved the election of the church’s second openly gay bishop, the Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with fellow Anglican churches around the world that do not approve of homosexuality.

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The head of a new-age sect in Italy, said to have at least a thousand followers, has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing young girls and their mothers.

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Like many Americans, Doug Pagitt grew up outside the world of organized religion. Neither his parents nor his grandparents were churchgoers, and there was no expectation that he would be any different. Today, with his goatee, ear stud and funky clothes, he could easily pass for the sort of Gen X hipster who lives an entirely secular life.

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Latino population growth over the past two decades has boosted numbers in the Catholic Church, but a new, in-depth analysis shows Latinos' allegiance to Catholicism is waning as some move toward other Christian denominations or claim no religion at all.

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DUBLIN – It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

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By John Cooney
Saturday March 13 2010

A depressing week for Pope Benedict dramatically escalated last night into an unprecedented papal crisis when he was directly implicated in a cover-up of a German paedophile priest when he was Cardinal Archbishop of Munich 30 years ago.

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world’s largest search engine, is now “99.9 percent” certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

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This is getting interesting. Whatever else, if Google leaves there will be a strong reaction in China. Dirty politics aside, the nub of this issue is an open Internet versus a closed one. Google is favored by better educated Chinese, who will probably still be able to access it on servers outside of China. Ultimately, I don't think China has a chance in this fight if the US plays its cards right, which so far it has been doing. Clinton's strong statements about Internet freedom last week and the FCC's proposals today greatly enhance Google's position. Clearly, these statements were made with an understanding of the Google-China dispute. I have had almost nothing but problems with US foreign and domestic policy for a long time, but this all looks fine to me. The Chinese model for the Internet has essentially no argument in its favor. At the same time, the US cannot easily abandon its own basic principles of free speech, so the two are natural adversaries on this front. Add to that the power of an open Internet on China's population and you have another reason for the US to take the position it has. Progressive Chinese should want China to lose this one. Ultimately, this matter comes down to technology, and that is one genie no one - not even China - will be able to put back in the bottle. ABN