TURKEY IS NEXT TO BAN SMOKING

TURKEY'S NEW NON-SMOKING LAW

EXTENDS BAN TO BARS, RESTAURANTS

ANKARA, Turkey (Associated Press) – At midnight Saturday Turkey extended a ban on indoor public smoking to include bars, restaurants, village coffeehouses and hookah bars. Some smokers have left the bar for its courtyard to light up, but most are carrying on smoking inside. The ban came into effect despite protests from bar and coffeehouse owners who fear it will ruin businesses that have already been hit hard by the effects of an economic crisis. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-oriented government barred smoking in offices and public transport and other public places in May 2008 in an effort to reduce the country's high smoking rates and the effects of secondhand smoke on people's health. Bars, restaurants and cafes were given a grace period that ended at midnight Saturday.

"To smoke like a Turk" is an expression used in many European countries to describe heavy smokers and the government says more than 100,000 people die annually in Turkey from smoking-related illnesses. Health Minister Recep Akdag says smoking rates have dropped seven percent since May 2008, when the ban on indoor smoking was introduced. He says more people will give up smoking once bars, restaurants and cafes are also made smoke-free. The government has dismissed the bar and coffeehouse owners' protests and requests that special smoking rooms be set up to make sure that smokers keep coming.

"There is no reason for (cafe and bar owners) to be worried. The public supports a smoke-free environment and the only ones to suffer will be the cigarette producers and sellers," Akdag told reporters. "We are working to protect our future, to save our youth," Akdag said. The government insists the ban has the public's support. However, bar and restaurant owners were planning to stage a protest on Sunday. Yesilay, an organization which devoted to reducing alcohol and tobacco consumption, says around 40 percent of Turks over the age of 15 are smokers, consuming around 17 million packs a day.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

By the influence of the age of Kali, even a pauper is proud of his penny, the women are always dressed in an overly attractive fashion to victimize the minds of men, and the man is addicted to drinking wine, smoking, drinking tea and chewing tobacco, etc. All these habits, or so-called advancement of civilization, are the root causes of all irreligiosities, and therefore it is not possible to check corruption, bribery and nepotism. Man cannot check all these evils simply by statutory acts and police vigilance, but he can cure the disease of the mind by the proper medicine, namely advocating the principles of brahminical culture or the principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 7 - Chapter 5 - Verse 12"

The basic principles of irreligiosity, such as pride, prostitution, intoxication and falsehood, counteract the four principles of religion, namely austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. ... Intoxication of all description — even smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco or the drinking of tea — must be prohibited.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 7 - Chapter 5 - Verse 12"

INDIA: CLINTON PAID TRIBUTE TO THE TERRORISM

HILLARY CLINTON HONOURS
MUMBAI VICTIMS, URGES TERROR FIGHT

MUMBAI, India (AFP) — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday paid tribute to victims of last year's Mumbai attacks, calling for a global fight to combat the scourge of terror as she began a visit to India. Clinton, on her first trip to India as Washington's top diplomat, linked the attacks which left 166 people dead to those in the United States on September 11, 2001 and Friday's deadly hotel bombings in Jakarta. "These events are seared in our collective memory," she told a news conference at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, where she is staying and where 31 guests and staff lost their lives during the Islamist militant siege. "Yesterday's bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia provide a painful reminder that the threat of such violent extremism is still very real. It's global, ruthless, it's nihilistic and it must be stopped. "

The United States will work with the Indian government, the Indonesian government and other nations and peoples to seek peace and security and confront and defeat these violent extremists." In a private meeting, Clinton earlier met 13 members of staff from the Taj and the nearby Trident-Oberoi hotels, including Taj general manager Karambir Kang, whose wife and two sons died in the tragedy. Despite losing his family, he continued to work and direct rescue operations. Clinton said she was "deeply touched" to meet the employees and to pay her respects at the memorial to the victims at the landmark waterfront hotel.

Counter-terrorism is one of a number of issues on Clinton's agenda, alongside tackling nuclear proliferation and climate change plus opening up trade and new markets. Clinton met key business leaders in Mumbai and is also meeting members of a non-governmental organisation that promotes women in work and educational professionals as part of her desire to deepen ties "beyond government". Clinton speaks to the media next to a member of "Sewa", a women's self employment voluntary organisation, during her visit to their office in Mumbai. "Both our people have experienced the senseless and searing effects of violent extremism," she wrote in a condolence book. "Now it is up to all nations and people who seek peace and progress to work together. Let us rid the world of hatred and extremism that produces such nihilistic violence. Our future deserves no less."

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Vaisnavas say that since everyone is a servant of the Lord, everyone is on the same platform. Therefore a Vaisnava treats other living entities neither as friends nor as enemies, but instead tries to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, teaching everyone that we are all one as servants of the Supreme Lord but are uselessly wasting our valuable lives by creating nations, communities and other groups of friends and enemies. Everyone should come to the platform of Krishna consciousness and thus feel oneness as a servant of the Lord. Although there are 8,400,000 species of life, a Vaisnava feels this oneness.

The Sri Īśopanisad advises, ekatvam anupaśyatah. A devotee should see the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be situated in everyone's heart and should also see every living entity as an eternal servant of the Lord. This vision is called ekatvam, oneness. Although there is a relationship of master and servant, both master and servant are one because of their spiritual identity. This is also ekatvam. Thus the conception of ekatvam for the Vaisnava is different from that of the Māyāvādī.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 7 - Chapter 5 - Verse 12"

BRAZIL: ‘REPATRIATE THIS GARBAGE’

BRAZIL DUMPED
WITH BRITISH GARBAGE

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilians are kicking up a stink over 1,200 tonnes of British garbage, including toilet seats, dirty diapers and used syringes, that are rotting at two southern ports after arriving in container ships. The trash, which arrived in Brazil earlier this year, was destined for Brazilian companies that said they were expecting shipments of recyclable plastic, officials say. Instead, port officials found the containers that originated at the British port of Felixstowe packed with trash ranging from the chemical toilet seats to food remnants and computer pieces.

Brazil's federal prosecution office asked the foreign ministry on to request that Britain take back the shipments. "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage," said the Brazilian environment agency IBAMA president Roberto Messias. "Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world." IBAMA has imposed fines on the import companies involved in the shipments and Mr Messias said it was "difficult to believe" they were innocent of any wrongdoing. The British Embassy said in a statement it was investigating the case and would "not hesitate to act" if it was found that a company had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste. Both countries are signatories of the treaty, which came into force in 1992.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Pollution of environment is a problem which people in a America are viewing with great concern. This problem is also due to Godlessness. People instead of producing food they are producing in huge quantities some artificial necessities of life, for which so much industry is working at top speed. Industrialization means to bring the people more and more away from God consciousness. The laborer, the worker in the factory, all of them are sudras, and the capitalist of the industry they are vaisyas, so the whole population is now composed of vaisyas and sudras, which means the quality of passion and ignorance is now prominent. A passionate person or ignorant person cannot understand the Powerful, only those who are in Goodness or mixed Goodness and passion they can understand the powerful.

So there is a necessity of changing the ignorant persons into persons with real knowledge. Therefore these people should be turned to become God conscious, that is our programme. Anyone from any group, either sudra, vaisya, or any group lower than the sudra, we are taking them and making them intelligent and giving them a chance to understand the supreme power. So all around the real problem is to understand the supreme power and all other problems are subsidiary.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada
"Letter to: Sir Alistair Hardy - Bhaktivedanta Manor, 28 July, 1973"

RUSSIAN ACTIVIST FOUND DEAD

RUSSIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
KIDNAPPED, FOUND DEAD

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A prominent human rights activist was found dead after being kidnapped in Russia's troubled republic of Chechnya on Wednesday, provoking outrage from President Dmitry Medvedev and the international community. Natalia Estemirova, a close friend of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, worked for the human rights organization Memorial in the Chechen capital Grozny and documented abuses by law enforcement agencies, colleagues said.

She was snatched as she left her house on Wednesday morning, pushed into a white vehicle and driven away, colleagues at Memorial and Tanya Lokshina, Russia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Reuters. "The body had two wounds to the head, it was clear she had been murdered in the morning," Madina Khadziyeva, a spokeswoman at the Ingush Interior Ministry, told Reuters. She did not specify the nature of the injuries.

The murder is the latest in a series of killings of journalists and human rights defenders in Russia which has drawn international condemnation and led to questions about Medvedev's pledges to uphold the rule of law and build a freer society. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the authorities of serious abuses during their war on the insurgents, including extra-judicial killings, torture and illegal punishment. HRW's Lokshina said she was killed for her work: "She was documenting some blatant human rights abuses. There is absolutely no doubt that is linked to her work, she was killed simply because of doing her job as a human rights worker."

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Kamsa has here (SB - 10.3.22) been described as asabhya, meaning "uncivilized" or "most heinous," because he killed the many children of his sister. When he heard the prophecy that he would be killed by her eighth son, this uncivilized man, Kamsa, was immediately ready to kill his innocent sister on the occasion of her marriage. An uncivilized man can do anything for the satisfaction of his senses. He can kill children, he can kill cows, he can kill brahmanas, he can kill old men; he has no mercy for anyone. According to the Vedic civilization, cows, women, children, old men and brāhmaṇas should be excused if they are at fault. But asuras, uncivilized men, do not care about that. At the present moment, the killing of cows and the killing of children is going on unrestrictedly, and therefore this civilization is not at all human, and those who are conducting this condemned civilization are uncivilized asuras.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 10 - Chapter 3 - Verse 22"

DAMAGE EYED AS SHUTTLE HEADS TOWARD SPACE STATION

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR ROCKETED
TOWARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

CAPE CANAVERAL – (Associated Press) Space shuttle Endeavour rocketed toward the international space station Thursday as engineers on Earth pored over launch pictures that showed debris breaking off the fuel tank and striking the craft.Mission Control told the astronauts late Wednesday that the damage looked less extensive at first glance than what occurred on the last shuttle flight, but it will take days to sort through available data to reach a conclusion.The astronauts planned a Thursday afternoon inspection of their ship's thermal shielding, using a 100-foot laser-tipped boom. The procedure has been standard since shuttle flights resumed after the Columbia accident.

Endeavour's liftoff early Wednesday evening was the sixth try and came more than a month late. It occurred on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the launch of man's first moon landing mission. "Persistence pays off," launch director Pete Nickolenko told the astronauts, who are carrying up a veranda for Japan's enormous space station lab. The shuttle had been grounded by hydrogen gas leaks last month and, since the weekend, thunderstorms.

Eight or nine pieces of foam insulation came off the external fuel tank during liftoff, and Endeavour was hit at least two or three times, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief. Some scuff marks were spotted, but that probably is coating loss and considered minor, he said. The impacts that occurred not quite two minutes into the flight were around the edge of the shuttle where the right wing joins the fuselage.Any additional damage should be evident Friday, when the space station residents use zoom lenses to photograph the entire shuttle as it performs a backflip right before docking. Columbia was destroyed during re-entry in 2003 because of a hole in its wing, left there by flyaway foam at liftoff.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Space travel by mechanical means is not the accepted process for elevation to other planets. Perhaps with a great deal of time, effort, and money a few men may be able to reach other planets by material means--spaceships, space suits, etc.--but this is a very cumbersome and impractical method. In any case, it is not possible to go beyond the material universe by mechanical means. The generally accepted method for transferral to higher planets is the practice of the meditational yoga system or jnana system.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada
"Beyond Birth and Death - Elevation at Death"

There are many such statements in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from which we can understand that there were facilities to travel from one planet to another, especially in the higher planetary system, and who can say that they are not still traveling? The speed of our airplanes and space vehicles is very limited, but, as we have already studied, Kardama Muni traveled in outer space in an airplane which was like a city, and he journeyed to see all the different heavenly planets. That was not an ordinary airplane, nor was it ordinary space travel. Because Kardama Muni was such a powerful mystic yogī, his opulence was envied by the denizens of heaven.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 1 - Chapter 10 - Verse 6"

MUSIC CONDUCTOR, WIFE TAKE OWN LIVES

FORMER BBC MUSIC CONDUCTOR DOWNES,
WIFE DIE IN SWISS SUICIDE CLINIC

LONDON (AP) — British maestro Edward Downes, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Opera but struggled in recent years as his hearing and sight failed, has died with his wife at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74. The couple's children said Tuesday that the couple died "peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing" on Friday at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas. "After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems," said a statement from the couple's son and daughter.

Born in 1924 in Birmingham, Edward Downes - who became Sir Edward when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 - studied at Birmingham University, the Royal College of Music and under German conductor Hermann Scherchen. Throughout his life he retained close ties to the Royal Opera, conducting 49 different operas there over more than 50 years. He also had a decades-long association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became principal conductor and later conductor emeritus. In the 1970s he became music director of the Australian Opera, conducting the first performance at the Sydney Opera House in 1973. He also worked with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and ensembles around the world.

The deaths are the latest in a series of high-profile cases that have spurred calls for a legal change in Britain, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are banned. Despite the law, British courts have been reluctant in recent years to convict people who help loved ones travel to clinics abroad to end their lives. London's Metropolitan Police force said it had been notified of the deaths, and was investigating. The couple is survived by their children, who said their parents "both lived life to the full and considered themselves to be extremely lucky to have lived such rewarding lives, both professionally and personally." The family said there would be no funeral.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

na hanyate hanyamane sarire
He (the soul) is not slain when the body is slain

Bhagavad-gita – Chapter 2, verse 20

Just like the philosophy voidism, or suicidism. I am feeling some pain in my body. So if I think that let me commit suicide, then the pain will go away automatically. That is void philosophy. The killing one-self: atma ha. But because they have no understanding that killing this body does not mean killing yourself. That is their ignorance. In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly said, na hanyate hanyamane sarire. So these rascal think if I suicide, if I commit suicide, and just have a knife on my throat, then all my pains and pleasures are finished. No, that is not. ... He will be put into more pains and pleasure.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Class on The Nectar or Devotion - Bombay, January 10, 1973"

IRAN: 168 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

16 MINUTES AFTER TAKING OFF PLANE CRASH
168 REPORTEDLY KILLED IN IRAN

TEHRAN, Iran (Associated Press) – An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed a quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest of the capital and shattering to pieces. State television said all on board were killed. The impact gouged a deep trench in the dirt field, which was shown littered with smoking wreckage in footage shown on state TV. It showed a large chunk of a wing, but much of the wreckage appeared to be in small pieces, and emergency workers and witnesses picked around the shredded metal for bodies. It crashed at about 11:30 am, 16 minutes after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, TV reported.

The Qazvin emergency services director Hossein Bahzadpour told that the plane was completely destroyed and shattered to pieces, and the wreckage was in flames. "It his highly likely that all the passengers on the flight were killed," Bahzadpour said. Iranian Civil Aviation Organization spokesman told that 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers were on board. State TV said all were killed. A Caspian Airlines representative told AP in Yerevan that most of the passengers were Armenians, and that some Georgian citizens were also on board. Also among the passengers were eight members of Iran's national youth judo team, along with two trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled to train with the Armenian judo team before attending competitions in Hungary on Aug. 6, state TV said.

Iran has frequent plane crashes: In February 2006, a Russian-made TU-154 operated by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran's national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran, killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of western Iran, killing all 199 on board. In December 2005, 115 people were killed when a C-130 plane, crashed into a 10-story building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport. In Nov. 2007, a military plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 36 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Our efforts are very tiny to conquer over the laws of the material nature. It is simply waste of time. You cannot become happy by conquering over the material nature. Now science have discovered so many things. Just the airplane from India. It would have taken months together to reach your country, but by airplane we can come here overnight. These advantage are there. But along with these advantages, there are so many disadvantages. When you are on the plane on the sky, you know you are in the midst of desert..., of danger. At any moment there can be crash. You may fall down on the sea, you may fall down anywhere. So it is not very safe. So similarly, any method we manufacture, we discover, to conquer over the laws of material nature, it is backed by another set of dangerous things. That is the law of nature. That is not the way to get out of this material pangs of life..

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada
"Class on on Bhagavad-gita - 7 . 1 - Los Angeles - December 2, 1968"

EGYPT: NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT SUMMIT

INDIA-PAKISTAN
TALKS TO STEAL LIMELIGHT

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – Developing world leaders head to Egypt on Wednesday for a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit that is set to be overshadowed by talks between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh of India are to meet at the summit venue in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday, amid hopes of a resumption of peace talks between the arch-foes, who have fought three wars.

Relations between the two worsened dramatically after last year's bombings in the Indian commercial capital Mumbai which killed 166 people and were blamed by New Delhi on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The Mumbai siege left in tatters a fragile peace process launched in 2004 to resolve all outstanding issues of conflict between the neighbours, including a territorial dispute over Kashmir. India, along with host Egypt, is one of the founding members of the NAM, the largest grouping of countries outside of the United Nations, aimed at giving a voice to the developing world. Founded in 1955, NAM counts some 118 member states that represent around 56 percent of the global population. NAM states consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Set up during the Cold War, the movement sought to distance itself from both the Western and Soviet blocs but today its raison d'etre is questioned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing shift in power politics. This year, Egypt will replace Cuba at the helm of the movement. The two-day summit, held under the banner "International Solidarity for Peace and Development," aims for a "new international order... in which nations (are not judged) by their size or military and economic capabilities," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said at a preparatory meeting. NAM groups 53 states from Africa, 38 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and just one from Europe -- the former Soviet republic of Belarus. The movement has 16 observer countries and nine observer organisations.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Prabhupada: Cold war and hot war, they say. When there is fire that is hot war, and there is diplomacy and politics, that is cold war. So war is going on. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is cold. There is no peace.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada
"Conversations: Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 16
New Vrindaban - June 26, 1976"

At the time of Mahārāja Yudhisthira, there were no different nations, although there were different subordinate states. The whole world was united, and the supreme head, being a trained king like Yudhisthira, kept all the inhabitants free from anxiety, diseases and excessive heat and cold. They were not only economically well-to-do, but also physically fit and undisturbed by supernatural power, by enmity from other living beings and by disturbance of bodily and mental agonies. There is a proverb in Bengali that a bad king spoils the kingdom and a bad housewife spoils the family. This truth is applicable here also.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 1 - Chapter 10 - Verse 6"

BAGHDAD: CHRISTIAN CHURCHES BOMB ATTACKS

IRAQ CURFEW IN CHRISTIAN AREAS AFTER
CHURCH BOMB ATTACKS LEAVE MANY DEAD IN BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The ethnically mixed Iraqi city of Mosul imposed a curfew on vehicles in Christian neighbourhoods on Monday, responding to a spate of bomb attacks targeting churches in Baghdad, police said. The curfew, mostly affecting suburbs on the outskirts, was to be lifted at 2pm (noon British time) on Monday and it was imposed to prevent similar bombings around the city, still Iraq's most violent and home to most of the country's Christians.

Bombs exploded outside five Christian churches in Baghdad on Sunday, in apparently coordinated attacks that killed four people and wounded more than 30, Iraqi police said. In the most serious attack, a car bomb exploded near a church in eastern Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 21. Iraq's Christians, who number about 750,000, are a small minority in a mainly Muslim country of about 28 million people. Christians have sporadically been targets, mostly in Baghdad and Mosul, leading many of them to flee abroad.

Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said that, while there was no curfew in Baghdad, Iraqi security forces had stepped up measures to protect religious sites in the capital, which are frequent targets for militants hoping to stoke sectarian tensions. "Today we took measures to redeploy the security forces to concentrate on the vital targets for us, like mosques and Hussainiyas (Shi'ite mosques)," Moussawi said. The sectarian violence that nearly tore Iraq apart in 2006 and 2007 has faded but militants still carry out attacks. Some 2,000 families, an estimated 12,000 people, fled Mosul after a campaign of threats and attacks on Christians there in October last year, but many have since returned.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Lieutenant Mozee: If some of my questions sound disrespectful, it is only because I do not completely understand your religious beliefs. I mean no disrespect whatsoever.

Srila Prabhupada: No, it is not a question of my religious beliefs. I am simply pointing out the distinction between human life and animal life. Animals cannot possibly learn anything about God, but human beings can. However, if human beings are not given the facility to learn about God, then they remain on the level of cats and dogs. You cannot have peace in a society of cats and dogs. Therefore, it is the duty of the governmental authorities to see that people are taught how to become God conscious. Otherwise, there will be trouble, because without God consciousness there is no difference between a dog and a man: the dog eats, we eat; the dog sleeps, we sleep; a dog has sex, we have sex; a dog tries to defend itself, and we also try to defend ourselves. These are the common factors. The only difference is that a dog cannot be instructed about his relationship with God, but a man can.

Lieutenant Mozee: Wouldn't peace be a precursor to a return to religion? Must we not first have peace?
Srila Prabhupada: No, no, that is the difficulty. At the present moment, no one actually knows the meaning of religion. Religion means to abide by the laws of God, just as good citizenship means to abide by the laws of the government. Because no one has any understanding of God, no one knows the laws of God or the meaning of religion. This is the present status of people in today's society. They are forgetting religion, taking it to be a kind of faith. Faith may be blind faith. Faith is not the real description of religion. Religion means the laws given by God, and anyone who follows those laws is religious, whether a Christian, a Hindu, or a Muslim.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Science of Self Realization - Chapter 6 - Discussions with Lieutenant David Mozee,
a media relations officer for the Chicago Police Department - July, 1975."

INDIA: 26 WOMEN DROWN IN BOAT ACCIDENT

26 WOMEN DROWN WHEN
BOATS CAPSIZED IN WESTERN INDIA

MUMBAI, India (VOA News) — Two boats capsized in western India on Sunday when the passengers panicked after seeing a bolt of lightning, police said. Twenty-six women drowned.

Rescuers saved four passengers and two crew from the Wainganga River after the accident late Saturday night, said police Superintendent Suresh Sagar. Eight other women are still missing. After seeing a massive bolt of lightning, the women — poor farm laborers on their way home from work — panicked and the ensuing chaos upset the boats.

The boats overturned in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra state, about 575 miles (925 kilometers) northeast of the state capital of Mumbai. Apparently, the incident occurred yesterday when two boats carrying 35 women labourers, who were returning home after finishing sowing work in a field.It's not clear why all of the passengers were women. But in many parts of India, women make up most of the farm workers. Boat accidents are common in India, where many vessels are unsafe and overloaded.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

As long as we are in this material world, there must be calamities because this is the place of calamity. But even with calamities our business should be to develop our Krishna consciousness, so that after giving up this body we may go back home, back to Krishna.

On the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, Arjuna said to Krishna, "Whatever You are saying is all right. I am not this body. I am a soul, and this is also true of everyone else. So when the body is annihilated, the soul will continue to exist. But when I see that my son is dying or my grandfather is dying and that I am killing, how can I be solaced simply by knowing that they are not dying, but that only their bodies are changing? I am accustomed to thinking of them with affection in terms of the body, and so there must be grief and suffering." Krishna did not deny what Arjuna said. "Yes," He replied. "That's a fact. Because you are in the bodily concept of life, there must be suffering. So you must tolerate it, that's all. There is no other remedy."

As mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14), Lord Krishna told Arjuna: "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Teachings of Queen Kuntī – Chapter 8"

DELHI METRO BRIDGE COLLAPSE

5 KILLED IN NEW DELHI
METRO BRIDGE COLLAPSE

NEW DELHI (Associated Press) – One section of a concrete bridge being built for the Indian capital's metro rail system collapsed Sunday, crushing to death five workers and injuring 13, officials said. Two of those injured are in serious condition, said Anuj Dayal, the spokesman for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation that is expanding the city's 6-year-old metro rail system. He said three workers died at the accident site and two at the hospital.

The accident happened early Sunday as workers lifted heavy concrete slabs for the bridge, police spokesman Mohammed Iqlaq said. Television footage and photographs showed one long concrete section, which would have carried the tracks, lying at an angle with one end on the ground and the other on top of a supporting pillar. The massive section had crushed metal beams beneath it. Those killed and injured were laborers working on the bridge, Iqlaq said. He said the cause of the accident was not yet known. Rescue crews were still working to see if any others are trapped under the rubble, Iqlaq said.

The efficient metro rail system is the third mass urban transport system in the country and is the pride of New Delhi, a sprawling city of 14 million people and more than 3.2 million vehicles that navigate daily through chaotic traffic. In October last year, two people were killed and at least 11 injured in a similar accident. The metro currently has three lines covering 45 miles (75 kilometers), and authorities are rushing to complete several extensions totaling about 60 miles (100 kilometers) before the October 2010 Commonwealth Games. Sunday's accident occurred near the tony Greater Kailash neighborhood where the southern line is being built.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

This material world is described as padam padam yad vipadām, which means that at every step there is danger. A fool wrongly thinks that he is happy in this material world, but in fact he is not, for one who thinks that way is only illusioned. At every step, at every moment, there is danger. In modern civilization one thinks that if he has a nice home and a nice car his life is perfect.

Therefore if we actually think that this material world is a very happy place, this is our ignorance. Real knowledge is that this material world is full of danger. We may struggle for existence as far as our intelligence allows and may try to take care of ourselves, but unless the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, ultimately saves us from danger, our attempts will be useless.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 8 - Chapter 2 - Verse 32"

OBAMA AND POPE MEET FOR FIRST TIME

POPE PRESSES OBAMA
ON ABORTION, STEM CELLS

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI stressed the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell research in his first meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday, pressing the Vatican's case with the U.S. leader who is already under fire on those issues from some conservative Catholics and bishops back home. The 30-minute meeting Vatican audience was described by both sides as positive — constructive talks between two men who agree on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace but disagree on what the Vatican considers prime ethical issues.

"It's a great honor," Obama said, greeting the pope and thanking him for this first meeting.Afterward, the Vatican said the leaders discussed immigration, the Middle East peace process and aid to developing nations. But the Vatican's statement also underscored the pair's deep disagreement on abortion. Even in his gift to the U.S. leader, the pope sought to underscore his beliefs. Benedict gave Obama a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics that hardened the church's opposition to using embryos for stem cell research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization. Obama supports stem cell research. "Yes, this is what we had talked about," Obama said, telling the pope he would read it on the flight to his next stop, Ghana. Earlier, the pope's secretary, the Rev. Georg Ganswein, told reporters the document would "help the president better understand the position of the Catholic church."

Denis McDonough, a deputy White House national security aide, said of the pope and Obama, "They discussed a range of those issues, and I think the president was eager to listen to the Holy Father." He said Obama was "eager to find common ground on these issues and to work aggressively to do that." Bu he said there may be some issues on which they can't agree. In an interview with Catholic journalists before meeting the pope, Obama said he would tell Benedict of his concern that the global financial crisis not be "borne disproportionally by the most poor and vulnerable countries." Just this week, Benedict issued a major document calling for a new world financial order guided by ethics and a search for the common good, denouncing a profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for the global financial meltdown.

Obama's wife, Michelle, joined him at the end of the meeting with Benedict, and gifts were exchanged. Daughters Malia and Sasha, who accompanied their parents on the trip, also met the pope. Obama gave Benedict a letter from Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was diagnosed a year ago with brain cancer. McDonough said Obama asked the pope to pray for Kennedy, a member of one of the United States' most prominent Roman Catholic families and a politically ally of the president.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The distinction between human being and animal is that the animal has no faith, but in human society there is a kind of faith, either it is Christian faith or Hindu faith or Buddhist faith or Muhammadan faith. But when we give up this faith, then our position is just like animal. And the present society is just like animals. … They are simply after sense enjoyment. That's all. Don't you see? The Pope says that it is not good; it is not God's law, that you should use contraceptive method. But they are so mad after sense enjoyment, they say, "Oh, we don't care for your instruction." Just see how much they have lost their faith.

So at the present moment it is very difficult position, no faith at all. Simply people have faith in sense gratification. … And therefore they are denying the topmost head of Catholic Church, "We don't care for your instruction," because they have become faithless. That's all. … Everywhere, not only in the Christian world. In the Hindu, in Christian, they don't care for any rules and regulations any more. But they profess that "I am Christian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muhammadan."

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Lecture on The Srimad-Bhagavatam – Canto 7, Chapter 9, Verse 10"
(This lecture was given in Montreal – Canada, on July 10, 1968)

1 DEAD AT PAMPLONA'S SAN FERMIN FESTIVAL

1 DEAD AT PAMPLONA
FIRST GORING DEATH SINCE '95

PAMPLONA, Spain – A charging bull gored a young man to death Friday at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls. The man was gored in the neck and lung during a run in which a rogue bull separated from the pack, which is among the worst things that can happen at Spain's most popular fiesta. Three other people were gored, and six people suffered bumps, bruises and other lesser injuries, said the director of Virgen del Camino Hospital.

The last fatal goring at the running of the bulls claimed the life of 22-year-old American Matthew Tassio in 1995. In 2003, a 63-year-old Spanish man, Fermin Etxeberri, was trampled in the head by a bull and died after spending months in a coma. Friday's death raises to 15 the toll since record-keeping began in 1924. Fatalities are relatively rare and when one occurs, it serves as a reminder that amid all the street parties and revelry associated with San Fermin, running with fighting bulls weighing 1,300 pounds (600 kilos) or more on cobblestone streets packed with humanity is a life-risking exercise.

This run, the fourth of eight held at San Fermin, was by far the most perilous of this year's festival. The last three runs were comparatively placid affairs, with no serious injuries. The six bulls covering the half-mile (850-meter) course with six accompanying steers tend to mind their own business and keep running as long as they stay in a pack. A bull that gets separated is more likely to get frightened and aggressive, and that is what happened Friday. A brown, 1,130-pound (515-kilogram) bull named Cappuccino fell early in the run and ended up on its own.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The bull and the cow are the symbols of the most offenseless living beings because even the stool and urine of these animals are utilized to benefit human society.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 1 - Chapter 17 - Verse 13"

According to smṛti regulation, the cow is the mother and the bull the father of the human being. The cow is the mother because just as one sucks the breast of one's mother, human society takes cow's milk. Similarly, the bull is the father of human society because the father earns for the children just as the bull tills the ground to produce food grains. Human society will kill its spirit of life by killing the father and the mother.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 3 - Chapter 2 - Verse 29"

MORE PEOPLE DIED FROM DRINKING TOXIC LIQUOR

INDIAN POLICE SAY 86 HAVE DIED
FROM DRINKING TOXIC HOME-BREWED LIQUOR

AHMADABAD, India — At least 86 people, mostly poor workers living in slums, have died over the past few days after drinking tainted home-brewed liquor in western India, an official said Thursday. The death toll has risen precipitously since people first fell ill Monday after a night of drinking. Seventeen people died in hospitals on Thursday; others have fallen dead in the streets. Another 140 people are in serious condition and being treated in hospitals in Ahmadabad, the main city in Gujarat state, said Deputy Medical Superintendent Mukesh Patel.

Deaths from drinking illegally brewed cheap alcohol are common in India, where few people can afford licensed liquor. Known locally as desi daru (pronounced THEY-see DAA-roo), illicit liquor is often spiked with pesticides or chemicals to increase its potency.In Gujarat, the problem is worse because the state law prohibits the sale of all liquor. Gujarat is the home state of India’s independence leader, Mohandas Gandhi, who was a strong advocate of prohibition.

Police have arrested 32 people for allegedly manufacturing and selling the tainted liquor in the city, said a police officer at a central police office. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Authorities asked a retired judge to investigate the deaths and suspended six police officers for negligence of duty, said state Home Minister Amit Shah.Most of the victims lived in the Majur Gam and Odhav localities of Ahmadabad — slums inhabited by thousands of mostly poor laborers. In 1980, 128 people died after drinking tainted liquor in Majur Gam.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Just today we have seen in the newspapers of Bombay that the government is going to repeal its prohibition laws. Ever since Gandhi's noncooperation movement, Bombay has been kept dry and has not allowed its citizens to drink. But unfortunately the citizens are so clever that they have increased illicit distillation of liquor, and although not being sold publicly in shops, liquor is being sold in public lavatories and similar abnormal places. Unable to check such illicit smuggling, the government has decided to manufacture the liquor at cheaper prices so that people can have their supply of intoxication directly from the government instead of purchasing it in public lavatories.

The government failed to change the hearts of the citizens from indulging in sinful life, so instead of losing the taxes they collect to inflate the treasury, they have decided to manufacture liquor to supply to the citizens who hanker after it.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:

"El Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 20 - Verse 21"

TAINTED LIQUOR CLAIMS 43 LIVES IN INDIA

HOMEMADE LIQUOR KILLS 43

IN WESTERN INDIA

New Delhi (South Asia News) - As many as 43 people have died after drinking illegally-distilled liquor in India's western Gujarat state, which prompted the state government to take action against local police officers, news reports said Wednesday. The death toll rose after 27 more deaths were reported from different areas in the state's Ahmedabad district since Tuesday evening, according to Gujarat police chief. Most of the victims were workers. The victims had consumed the liquor Sunday night and the first death was reported on Tuesday, police said. Twenty nine people were being treated at hospitals. They said a high percentage of ethyl alcohol in the brew seems to have caused so many casualties.

The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned across Gujarat since the state's formation in 1960. The incident prompted protests in the city on Tuesday in which women demanded that the government crack down on illegal liquor dens. There was more trouble after the state administration ordered police raids on local stills, the Times of India newspaper reported. Protests began in worker-dominated localities in Ahmedabad where the preparation and sale of liquor is common, the report said.

Residents threw stones and police used tear-gas to disperse the crowds after raids at five places in the district. The rising death toll also sparked protests from voluntary organizations as well as Gujarat's main opposition Congress party who have blamed the state administration for the tragedy. Police said the situation was 'tense but under control' and the matter was being thoroughly investigated to identify liquor dens and arrest bootleggers across the state. Illicit liquor is a thriving business in India because it is much cheaper than legal alcohol, but contaminated products cause scores of deaths each year, mostly in the eastern and southern regions.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The desire of the living entity to come into the material world is not very difficult to understand. Although one may be born in a family of Āryans, where there are restrictions against meat-eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex, still one may want to enjoy these forbidden things. There is always someone who wants to go to a prostitute for illicit sex or to a hotel to eat meat and drink wine. There is always someone who wants to gamble at nightclubs or enjoy so-called sports. All these propensities are already within the hearts of the living entities, but some living entities stop to enjoy these abominable activities and consequently fall down to a degraded platform. The more one desires a degraded life within his heart, the more he falls down to occupy different forms of abominable existence. This is the process of transmigration and evolution. A particular type of animal may have a strong tendency to enjoy one kind of sense enjoyment, but in the human form one can enjoy all the senses. The human form has the facility to utilize all the senses for gratification.

Unless one is properly trained, he becomes a victim of the modes of material nature, as confirmed by Bhagavad-gītā (3.27): "The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature." As soon as one desires to enjoy his senses, he puts himself under the control of material energy and automatically, or mechanically, is placed into the cycle of birth and death in various life-forms.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:

"El Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 29 - Verse 4"

SCIENTISTS URGE G8 TO CUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

SCIENTISTS URGE G8
TO TAKE 'STRONG' ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 7 (AFP) - International scientists on Tuesday urged the leaders of the world's biggest polluters meeting this week at the Group of Eight summit to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. The 27-strong group of Australian, European, Indian, Japanese and US scientists wrote an open letter calling on the leaders to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions reach peak levels "by no later than 2020."

Intervening on the eve of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, central Italy, the group also said leaders should commit to cutting emissions "by at least 50 percent relative to 1990 levels by 2050." The scientists warned that "warming exceeding two degrees Celsius predicted for later this century would create great risks and have irreversible consequences." The scientists said developed countries should make the deepest cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, "at least 80 percent relative to 1990 by 2050 with appropriate intermediate targets set in time for Copenhagen." They said that developing countries should commit "by Copenhagen to significant gains in energy efficiency, reductions in carbon intensity, and cuts in non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades."

G8 leaders are to discuss climate change among other subjects on Thursday at the summit with their counterparts from other major economies such as China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. While G8 countries generate 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the broader group accounts for 80 percent of the total.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In the Kali-yuga the population is just a royal edition of the animals. They have nothing to do with spiritual knowledge or godly religious life. They are so blind that they cannot see anything beyond the jurisdiction of the subtle mind, intelligence or ego, but they are very much proud of their advancement in knowledge, science and material prosperity.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 1 - Chapter 3 - Verse 43"

Even at the present time, as we travel all over the world, we see that in some countries human beings have many material facilities but no facilities for spiritual advancement. We find everywhere the defects of one-sided facilities and a lack of full facilities. A blind man can walk but not see, and a lame man cannot walk but can see. Andha-pańgu-nyāya. The blind man may take the lame man over his shoulder, and as he walks the lame man may give him directions. Thus combined they may work, but individually neither the blind man nor the lame man can walk successfully. Similarly, this human form of life is meant for the advancement of spiritual life and for keeping the material necessities in order.
Especially in the Western countries there are ample facilities for material comforts, but no one has any idea of spiritual advancement. Many are hankering after spiritual advancement, but many cheaters come, take advantage of their money, bluff them and go away. Fortunately the Krishna consciousness movement is there to give all facilities for both material and spiritual advancement. In this way people in the Western countries may take advantage of this movement.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 25 - Verse 13"

US AND RUSSIA AGREE NUCLEAR CUTS

OBAMA AND RUSSIAN LEADER
ANNOUNCE NUCLEAR DEAL

MOSCOW (The New York Times) — US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have reached an outline agreement to cut back their nations' stockpiles of nuclear weapons.The "joint understanding" signed in Moscow would see reductions of deployed nuclear warheads to below 1,700 each within seven years of a new treaty. The accord would replace the 1991 Start I treaty, which expires in December.

The United States and Russia, seeking to move forward on one of the most significant arms control treaties since the end of the cold war, announced Monday that they had reached a preliminary agreement on cutting each country’s stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons by as much as one-third.

The two sides intend to build momentum for a broader agreement to be negotiated starting next year to impose even deeper cuts in their nuclear arsenals and put the world on a path toward eliminating nuclear weapons altogether. On the immediate treaty, negotiators are to be instructed to craft an agreement that would cut strategic warheads for each side to between 1,500 and 1,675, down from the limit of 2,200 slated to take effect in 2012 under the Treaty of Moscow, which was signed in 2002 by the presidents at the time, Mr. Bush and Vladimir V. Putin. While only a first step, the agreement was reached only after arduous negotiations and both sides wanted to produce something so they could call the summit meeting a success and further the effort to improve relations.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The theory that the modern atomic bomb explosions can annihilate the world is childish imagination. First of all, the atomic energy is not powerful enough to destroy the world. And secondly, ultimately it all rests on the supreme will of the Supreme Lord because without His will or sanction nothing can be built up or destroyed. It is foolish also to think that natural laws are ultimately powerful. Material nature's law works under the direction of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord says there that natural laws work under His supervision.

The world can be destroyed only by the will of the Lord and not by the whims of tiny politicians. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa desired that the weapons released by both Drauṇi and Arjuna be withdrawn, and it was carried out by Arjuna at once. Similarly, there are many agents of the all-powerful Lord, and by His will only can one execute what He desires.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 1 - Chapter 7 - Verse 32"

CHINA: OVER 140 KILLED IN ETHNIC UNREST

ETHNIC CLASHES IN WESTERN CHINA
SAID TO KILL SCORES

BEIJING (The New York Times) — The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot. At least 1,000 rioters took to the streets, throwing stones at the police and setting vehicles on fire. Plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, while police officers used fire hoses and batons to beat back rioters and detain Uighurs who appeared to be leading the protest, witnesses said.

The casualty numbers appeared to be murky and shifting on Monday. A one-line report by Xinhua, the state news agency, giving the estimate of 129 dead and 816 injured attributed the numbers to the regional police department, but did not quote officials by name and did not have any details. Earlier, Xinhua had reported that three civilians and one police officer had been killed. The riot was the largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008, and perhaps the biggest protest in Xinjiang in years. Like the Tibetan unrest, it highlighted the deep-seated frustrations felt by some ethnic minorities in western China over the policies of the Communist Party, and how that can quickly turn into ethnic violence. Last year, in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at least 19 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, according to government statistics.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group, resent rule by the Han Chinese, and Chinese security forces have tried to keep oil-rich Xinjiang under tight control since the 1990s, when cities there were struck by waves of protests, riots and bombings. Last summer, attacks on security forces took place in several cities in Xinjiang; the Chinese government blamed separatist groups.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Krishna consciousness movement was started to convince the general populace to adopt the best process by which to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus solve all problems.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 14 - Verse 20"

A politician or so-called nationalist who is inordinately attached to the land of his birth will certainly be reborn in the same land after ending his political career. One's next life will also be affected by the acts one performs during this life. Sometimes politicians act most sinfully for their own sense gratification. It is not unusual for a politician to kill the opposing party. Even though a politician may be allowed to take birth in his so-called homeland, he still has to undergo suffering due to his sinful activities in his previous life.

This science of transmigration is completely unknown to modern scientists. So-called scientists do not like to bother with these things because if they would at all consider this subtle subject matter and the problems of life, they would see that their future is very dark. Thus they try to avoid considering the future and continue committing all kinds of sinful activities in the name of social, political and national necessity.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 28 - Verse 21"