• Organizers prepare for 70 million Shanghai Expo visitors
• Italy: 'Secret' Giotto uncovered in Florence chapel
• Forbes lists Asia Pacific's most generous givers

• Popular women's magazine in Holland recommends Transcendental Meditation
• Music legend Donovan to headline benefit concert for David Lynch Foundation, 19 March, Los Angeles, USA
• Supporting the David Lynch Foundation, practising Transcendental Meditation: Interview with supermodel Ali Stephens

• Seven killed in south Sudan tribal clashes
• Iraq Shi'ite leaders vow Baath purge as furore grows
• Attacks on Indians in Australia straining relations

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Organizers prepare for 70 million Shanghai Expo visitors
11 March 2010 - Organizers expect 70 million visitors to Shanghai's World Expo, which opens in under two months. The six-month event, with the theme 'Better City, Better Life', is expected to draw an average of 400,000 people a day to see exhibits from 192 countries. Expo organizers said that visitors can expect to see the latest technology from around the world, including China's largest solar rooftop energy system and wind turbines to power buildings at the Expo. More than 1,000 hydrogen and electricity-powered cars will be used for transportation around the Expo site. (more)

Italy: 'Secret' Giotto uncovered in Florence chapel
8 March 2010 - Restorers using ultra-violet rays have rediscovered rich original details of Giotto's paintings in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence's Santa Croce church that have been hidden for centuries. 'We have uncovered a secret Giotto,' said the head of Florence's Opificio delle Pietre Dure, one of the world's most prestigious art restoration laboratories. Under ultra-violet light, all of a sudden all the very faint paintings that were ruined by old restorations took on a new life, the project co-ordinator said. Giotto's paintings in the chapel are believed to have had a major influence on Michelangelo. (more)

Forbes lists Asia Pacific's most generous givers
5 March 2010 - A list, compiled by magazine Forbes Asia and in its third year, features 48 of the region's most prominent altruists. Forbes Asia said the past year was a good one for philanthropy as tycoons and more modest donors continued to fund charitable projects. The causes supported ranged from disaster recovery, education, and health to culture and science, with education being the popular choice among featured philanthropists this year. (more)

France's Louvre sheds western light on Russian icons, past
3 March 2010 - Russian icons perplex many western art viewers. The Louvre Museum is seeking to lift that mystery by throwing its influential spotlight on the icons, and nearly 1,000 years of Russian history and art. In an exhibit unlike any ever mounted and tinged with diplomatic ambitions, the Louvre has pulled together artworks that have never left Russia and from around Europe. 'Such an exhibit has never happened before, in Russia or anywhere,' Irina Lebedeva, director of Moscow's Tretyakov Museum and a key contributor to the Louvre exhibit told AP. (more)

US study: Marriages last longer than living together
3 March 2010 - US marriages last longer than unions where couples live together outside matrimony, the Centers for Disease Control reported on Tuesday. About 78 per cent of marriages lasted five years or more, compared with less than 30 per cent of what the CDC called cohabiting unions, or couples living together outside marriage. The study also showed about 75 per cent of marriages between men and women 26 years old or older last at least 10 years, compared with only about half of teen marriages. (more)

Muslim leader issues anti-terror fatwa
2 March 2010 - The leader of a global Muslim movement has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that he calls an absolute condemnation of terrorism. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani lawmaker, says the 600-page fatwa bans suicide bombing 'without any excuses, any pretexts, or exceptions'. The religious scholar is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a worldwide movement that promotes a nonpolitical, tolerant Islam. The group has hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, most of them in Pakistan or Pakistanis living in other countries. (more)

Prominent Muslim to issue anti-terrorism fatwa
1 March 2010 - A prominent Islamic scholar is to issue a 600-page religious edict (fatwa) denouncing terrorism in London on Tuesday in what he says is a bid to persuade young Muslims to turn their backs on extremism. The fatwa from Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a leading figure who has promoted peace and interfaith dialogue for 30 years, echoes edicts condemning extremism issued by a number of Islamic groups since the 11 September attacks on the United States. But Qadri says his fatwa, which declares terrorists and suicide bombers to be unbelievers, goes further than any previous denunciation. (more)

Massive head of famous pharaoh unearthed in Egypt
28 February 2010 - Archaeologists have unearthed a massive red granite head of one Egypt's most famous pharaohs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday. Amenhotep III, who was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, ruled from 1387-1348 BC at the height of Egypt's New Kingdom. The pharaoh was famous for leading Egypt at the peak of its ancient civilization, when peace and luxury were prevalent throughout the kingdom. (more)

US: Detroit art museum opening Islamic gallery
26 February 2010 - In the heart of the largest concentration of Muslims in the US, the Detroit Institute of Arts this weekend is opening a new permanent gallery of Islamic art showcasing exhibits including a rare 15th-century Quran of a Mongol conqueror. The opening comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, The David Collection in Copenhagen, the Louvre in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Egyptian officials plan to reopen Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. In Detroit, the gallery of about 170 works of art from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Central Asia, and India was several years in the making. (more)

US: American Indian reservation reaping oil benefits
24 February 2010 - An oil boom on American Indian land has brought jobs, millions of dollars, and hope to long-impoverished tribal members who have struggled for more than a century on the million-acre Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The reservation is occupied by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, who were placed in west-central North Dakota by the federal government in the 1800s -- long before anyone knew of the oil. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Popular women's magazine in Holland recommends Transcendental Meditation
27 February 2010 - An article about 'Transcendentalism', recently published in a widely read magazine in Holland, included the author's recommendation that for anyone who wants to transcend--experience the rich source of wisdom and intelligence deep within the mind--Transcendental Meditation is the technique to do so. (more)

Music legend Donovan to headline benefit concert for David Lynch Foundation, 19 March, Los Angeles, USA
24 February 2010 - Legendary folk-rock-pop troubadour Donovan will headline a benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation on Friday, 19 March at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, California, USA. (more)

Supporting the David Lynch Foundation, practising Transcendental Meditation: Interview with supermodel Ali Stephens
19 February 2010 - Ali Stephens is a supermodel based in New York, whose radiant presence has taken the fashion industry by storm in campaigns for major fashion houses in the US and Europe. She is a supporter of the David Lynch Foundation and has been practising Transcendental Meditation for 10 years. (more)

Creating world harmony through connecting every individual and culture to the 'culturing intelligence of Natural Law'
2 February 2010 - Ensuring that every culture and every person is connected to the 'culturing intelligence of Natural Law, the basis of all progress in life', is a major focus of the Ministry of Religion and Culture of the Global Country of World Peace, said Dr Chris Crowell, global Minister, recently, presenting goals for 2010. This applies 'especially for the indigenous peoples around the world, who are a very precious treasure of our world heritage', he said. (more)

Germany: David Lynch Foundation film screening draws capacity crowd
2 February 2010 - A cinema in Weimar, Germany recently showed a film featuring award-winning filmmaker Dr David Lynch and renowned quantum physicist Dr John Hagelin during their visit to Berlin in 2006. The cinema was filled to capacity, and after the screening a panel took questions from the audience. The audience's enthusiasm extended the flow of knowledge for two hours, and inspired a university professor to explore offering the Transcendental Meditation Programme at her school. (more)

India: Construction update on Maharishi Samadhi Smarak - Memorial of Total Knowledge inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
27 January 2010 - A new video reports on progress in constructing the Maharishi Samadhi Smarak - Memorial of Total Knowledge in Prayag (Allahabad), India. The beautiful structure is being built to celebrate the eternal Vedic wisdom of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for thousands of generations to come. It is inspired by Maharishi's life and 50 years work creating the foundation for permanent invincibility for every nation and peace for the world. (more)

Denmark: TV station airs demonstration of EEG brain coherence in Transcendental Meditation practititioners
24 January 2010 - A major television channel in Denmark recently featured an EEG demonstration showing the unique brain coherence resulting from practice of the Transcendental Meditation Programme. (more)

Germany: 'Donovan and Friends' give live global concert webcast - Munich benefit for Transcendental Meditation in education
24 January 2010 - Legendary singer-songwriter Donovan gave a special benefit concert, 'Donovan and Friends', at the beautiful Cuvillies Theater in Munich, Germany, 24 January 2010. The sold-out concert, on behalf of 'Schule ohne Stress'--Schools without Stress--in Germany, aimed to bring attention to the positive effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Programme in education. The concert was also webcast live online. (more)

Munich benefit concert for Transcendental Meditation reaches global audience via social networking and live streaming video
24 January 2010 - Fans worldwide enjoyed watching online--via live streaming video--Sunday's special benefit concert, 'Donovan and Friends', webcast from the Cuvillies Theater in Munich, Germany. Before the event, word of the groundbreaking 'Social Media meets Music' concert had spread around the globe via Facebook and Twitter, as well as through the David Lynch Foundation Television (DLF.TV) website. The concert was a benefit for Schule ohne Stress--Schools without Stress--to support Transcendental Meditation in education. (more)

Munich, Germany: Donovan concert to benefit Transcendental Meditation in education, 24 January
18 January 2010 - Legendary singer-songwriter Donovan Leitch will be performing in Munich on 24 January 2010, in a benefit concert on behalf of Consciousness-Based Education initiatives for Germany. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Seven killed in south Sudan tribal clashes
21 February 2010 - At least seven civilians were killed in crossfire as cattle-herding tribesmen attacked a weapons store to try to get arms to retaliate against a rival clan who had attacked them, officials said on Sunday. Sudan's south has been hit by a wave of ethnic violence that has killed at least 2,500 people since the beginning of last year, aid groups say, threatening stability in the oil-producing region ahead of Presidential and legislative elections due in April. Violent cattle rustling raids are common in the underdeveloped territory, but the scale of the recent carnage has sparked accusations of political meddling. (more)

Iraq Shi'ite leaders vow Baath purge as furore grows
7 February 2010 - Iraq's Shi'ite parties held emotional demonstrations on Sunday and vowed to purge loyalists of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party as tensions over a list of candidates banned from a March election soared. The orchestrated protests by hundreds of people came ahead of a debate in parliament over an appeal panel's decision to suspend a ban of almost 500 candidates accused of Baathist ties until after the 7 March election. The Shi'ite-led government's heated reaction and calls for a campaign against Baathists could lead to a dangerously explosive witchhunt that might reopen sectarian wounds between once dominant Sunnis and the Shi'ite majority just as violence fades. (more)

Attacks on Indians in Australia straining relations
5 February 2010 - A spate of violent attacks on Indians in Australia is straining bilateral relations and costing Australian universities lucrative foreign student revenue. There is sharp debate, however, about whether racism is at the root of the problem. Some Indian officials and media have been quick to blame racism for the highly publicized beatings, robberies, and attacks, mostly in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city and one proud of its cultural diversity. India has demanded swift action to protect its citizens. Discerning the truth, amid the back and forth, has proven difficult. The Australian government and police have played down the racism angle, saying there is no hard evidence that Indians are being disproportionately targeted. India has denied media speculation in both countries that Ambassador Sujata Singh's scheduled return to New Delhi next Wednesday is a further sign of a diplomatic rift. (more)

Pakistan: Twin blasts in Karachi
5 February 2010 - A suspected suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 12 Shi'ites in Pakistan's commercial capital Friday, followed hours later by a blast at a hospital where the wounded were being treated which killed 13 people. The violence is bound to raise further questions about the effectiveness of security crackdowns on resilient al Qaeda-backed Taliban militants at a time when Washington is pushing Pakistan to help stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan. Pakistani Taliban have carried out waves of bombings at crowded markets and army and police facilities, killing hundreds of people since October in a bid to topple the pro-American government of unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari. Bombings in the home of Pakistan's stock exchange and main port could further discourage investors, who have watched the Taliban spread their violent campaign from strongholds in lawless areas near the Afghan border to major cities, including an attack on a mosque near the headquarters of the powerful military. (more)

Muslim-Christian clashes kill 460 in Nigerian city
20 January 2010 - The death toll after four days of clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in the Nigerian city of Jos and nearby communities has topped 460, according to a mosque official and human rights activists. Six military units and hundreds of police were stationed throughout Plateau state's capital city in central Nigeria to enforce a 24-hour curfew Wednesday. While the violence had subsided, streets were deserted and many businesses remained closed in Jos, which has been the scene of similar sectarian clashes in recent years. This week's violence erupted after an argument between Muslim and Christian neighbours over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes. Jos has been the centre of several major religious clashes in Africa's most populous nation. (more)

Timeline - Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria
20 January 2010 - Following is a timeline of religious and ethnic violence in Nigeria. (more)

Iran may cut British Museum ties in antiquity row
17 January 2010 - Iran will cut its links with the British Museum and ask bodies such as UNESCO to reconsider their own ties if the museum does not keep a promise to lend Iran an ancient Persian treasure, Iranian media reported on Sunday. Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization said in October it had set a two-month deadline for the British Museum to allow the public display in Iran of the so-called Cyrus Cylinder, linked to the Persian ruler's 6th century BC conquest of Babylon. Cyrus is regarded as one of ancient Persia's greatest historical figures, creating one of the world's first empires two centuries before Alexander conquered the region. 'If we find out for certain that the British Museum does not want to send the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran and is simply trying to kill time, we will cut all our ties with that organization,' the daily Arman quoted Hamid Baqaie, head of Iran's Cultural, Handicraft, and Tourism Organization, as saying. (more)

Church attacks in Malaysia deepen racial tension
11 January 2010 - Malaysia strongly condemned attacks on nine Christian churches and sought to assure foreign governments Monday of its commitment to religious freedom for minorities. The unprecedented attacks have strained ties between minority Christians and the majority Malay Muslims, denting Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim-majority country and raising questions about its political stability. The attacks are also a blow to racial unity espoused by Prime Minister Najib Razak under his '1Malaysia' slogan since taking power in April, and pose a new challenge for him as he seeks to strengthen his ruling coalition after its losses in 2008 general elections. (more)

Study: US youth now have more mental health issues
11 January 2010 - A new study has found that five times as many US high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era. The findings, culled from responses to a popular psychological questionnaire used as far back as 1938, confirm what counselors on campuses nationwide have long suspected as more students struggle with the stresses of school and life in general. Though the study, released Monday, does not provide a definitive correlation, researchers and mental health professionals speculate that a popular culture increasingly focused on the external -- from wealth to looks and status -- has contributed to the uptick in mental health issues. (more)

Muslims, Christians set homes ablaze in Egypt
9 January 2010 - Muslims and Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops near the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamady on Saturday, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, security sources said. 'Four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks were set on fire by Muslims, while four shops owned by Muslims in the village of al-Bahgorah were set on fire by Christians,' a security source said. The villages are near Nagaa Hamady. Six people, Christian and Muslim, were injured in the fires. Christians account for about 10 per cent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population of about 78 million. Sectarian violence is rare, but disputes over issues including land or women occasionally erupt. (more)