• China invites Taiwan party head to visit
• US: Bureau of Land Management keeps Alaska wetlands off limits to drilling
• Indonesia defence force is ready to help, not threaten, says defence minister

• Part I: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi establishes the World Capital of Raam Raj - Seat of administration through silence
• Part II: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi establishes the World Capital of Raam Raj - Functioning capital in the Brahmasthan (geographic centre) of India
• Transcendental Meditation and recidivism

• UK condemns Myanmar's cyclone response as 'inhuman'
• UK: Report says one in ten people will need social housing
• US: Some detainees drugged for deportation: report

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

China invites Taiwan party head to visit
17 May 2008 - In a sign of warming relations, China has invited the head of Taiwan's incoming ruling party to visit the mainland, where he is to meet with President Hu Jintao. Taiwan Nationalist Party Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung will start a six-day visit 26 May, a party official said Saturday. The Nationalist Party will become Taiwan's ruling party on Tuesday when Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as President. Relations between China and Taiwan seemed to improve as soon as Ma's election victory became clear in March. (more)

US: Bureau of Land Management keeps Alaska wetlands off limits to drilling
17 May 2008 - The Bush administration on Friday proposed keeping potentially oil-rich wetlands in Arctic Alaska off-limits to drilling because of their ecological sensitivity, a reversal of its earlier plan. The Bureau of Land Management proposed a 10-year leasing moratorium for 430,000 acres of wetlands north and east of vast Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Environmentalists and local groups hailed the decision. (more)

Indonesia defence force is ready to help, not threaten, says defence minister
16 May 2008 - Indonesia does not need to build up a large and threatening military, and is more concerned with equipping itself better to respond to natural and man-made disasters, the defence minister said on Thursday. (more)

Taiwan's new President means business - from China
16 May 2008 - A thaw in relations between Taiwan and China over the past decades has led to heavy investment in China from Taiwan. Lured by a common language, lower labour costs, and a potentially huge consumer market, investors have poured an estimated $100 billion into the mainland. President-elect Ma Ying-jeou, who won by a landslide election victory in March on an economic revitalization platform, is pledging to put in place direct weekend Taiwan-China flights by July and allow up to 3,000 Chinese tourists in per day. The tourism deal would open Taiwan to 1.1 million Chinese tourists per year and launch regular cross-strait flights, helping to jump-start the service sector. (more)

Japan eyes doubling development assistance to Africa over next five years
15 May 2008 - Japan plans to double its official development assistance to African nations over the next five years, public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday, as it gears up to host a conference for African leaders at the end of May. (more)

Politics aside, Taiwan gives generously in China quake aid
15 May 2008 - Taiwan, normally hostile to China, has offered its earthquake-hit neighbour one of its biggest outpourings of aid to demonstrate gratitude for help it received when it suffered a similar disaster in 1999. (more)

Russia, China, India join to halt Afghan anti-drug 'belt'
15 May 2008 - China, India, and Russia called on Thursday for the creation of a security belt around Afghanistan to halt the spread of heroin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a joint communique on boosting links between the three large developing countries would look at enhanced co-operation on humanitarian aid, fighting terrorism, and combating drug trafficking. (more)

Malaysia: Foreign direct investments rose in 2007
14 May 2008 - Actual foreign direct investments (FDIs) into Malaysia rose almost a third to 29.1 billion ringgit ($9.05 billion) last year, the government said on Wednesday. Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop told parliament overall investments, including by domestic investors, rose 19.1 per cent to 72.5 billion ringgit in 2007 from a year earlier. 'The government will continue to strike a balance between investments and consumption to ensure long-term economic stability,' he said. (more)

Group of Eight ministers stress environment protection
13 May 2008 - The world's top industrialized countries should develop environmentally friendly workplaces and help workers move to nonpolluting industries, their labour ministers said Tuesday. The ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations set environmental protection as a top priority after meeting with international trade union and business groups in Niigata on Japan's northwestern coast. (more)

Africa will receive help from Spain to end hunger, improve climate
12 May 2008 - Spain plans to help five poor African countries fight hunger and climate change under a 60 million euro ($90 million) scheme to help the continent whose people flood to Spain in their tens of thousands each year. Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega announced the aid package ahead of a Spanish-African women's conference opening on Monday in Niger, one of many African nations struggling to cope with high world food prices. The programme would cover Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Niger. (more)

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

Part I: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi establishes the World Capital of Raam Raj - Seat of administration through silence
12 January 2008 - On the evening of the day of Maharishi's inauguration of the Year of Invincibility - Global Raam Raj, on 12 January 2008, to the sound of Scottish bagpipers and fireworks in the magnificent gardens of MERU, Holland, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Global Country of World Peace, founded the World Capital of Raam Raj located in the Brahmasthan - geographic centre - of India. (more)

Part II: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi establishes the World Capital of Raam Raj - Functioning capital in the Brahmasthan (geographic centre) of India
12 January 2008 - In his talk about the crowning achievement of the beautiful day of Maharishi's inauguration of the Year of Invincibility - Global Raam Raj, on 12 January 2008, Dr John Hagelin, Raja [Administrator] of Invincible America for the Global Country of World Peace, said that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has established the World Capital of Raam Raj, and it is beginning to function today in two vitally important ways. (more)

Transcendental Meditation and recidivism
2 January 2008 - Currently, about 1.4 million Americans are behind bars, and experts agree that conventional approaches to rehabilitating prisoners have failed. In fact, nearly two-thirds of all inmates who are paroled return to prison within three years. (more)

Report on the 28th Day of the World Congress of Rajas
22 December 2007 - On its 28th day, the World Congress of Rajas (Administrators) of the Global Country of World Peace heard a report on keeping the world's foods safe, discussed a chart on the structure of the rule from silence, and saw a presentation on advances in sustainable building. (more)

Bali, Indonesia: Coherence-creating group for United Nations Climate Change Conference - Part I
17 December 2007 - A group of 350 peace-creating experts gathered--through the generosity and incentive of Mr Declan Murphy, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and environmental activist--to practise Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Programme and its advanced techniques including Yogic Flying in order to create an influence of coherence and positivity during the United Nations Climate Change Conference held 3-14 December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. (more)

1st Resolution of the World Congress of Rajas of the Global Country of World Peace, proposed by Dr John Hagelin, Raja of Invincible America
23 November 2007 - On this 23rd day of November, 2007 in the Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, Holland, in the auspicious presence of His Majesty Maharaja Nader Raam, First Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace, in the sublime and royal atmosphere of the World Congress of Rajas, filled with the divine blessings of Guru Dev, having performed Puja to Guru Dev, all the assembled Rajas of Maharaja's Royal Court do hereby unanimously resolve to each individually assume responsibility, initially, to bring enlightenment and invincibility to one country of the world; and in the near future, to assume responsibility for additional countries, until the complete family of 192 nations is raised to enlightenment and invincibility. (more)

1st Session of the Global Congress of Rajas
23 November 2007 - Following Puja [a Vedic ceremony of thanksgiving] to the Vedic Tradition of Total Knowledge, Maharishi addressed the Congress of Rajas, on 23 November 2007, at the International Capital of the Global Country of World Peace, MERU, Holland (more)

Continuation of live broadcast of the Coronation ceremony for Dr John Hagelin - Tuesday, 20 November 2007
19 November 2007 - The Maharishi Channel - Channel 3 - is pleased to announce that the continuation of the Vedic Coronation ceremony for Dr John Hagelin, the Raja of America for the Global Country of World Peace, will be broadcast live on Tuesday, 20 November 2007 starting at 4:00 AM US Central Time (USCT), 11:00 AM Central European Time (CET). (more)

Announcement of the Coronation Ceremony of Dr John Hagelin, as Raja (Administrator) of America
18 November 2007 - During Sunday's session of the Parliament of Invincible Nations, being held in MERU, The Netherlands, under the guidance of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it has been announced that Dr John Hagelin, in recognition of his insight into the Unified Field of all the Laws of Nature, will be crowned as Raja (Administrator) of the United States of America for the Global Country of World Peace. The coronation ceremony will take place on Monday, 19 November 2007, at 11 a.m. Central European Time, 4 a.m. US Central Time, broadcast via the Maharishi Channel (http://www.maharishichannel.org). (more)

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Dr David Lynch discuss peace
11 November 2007 - Renowned film director David Lynch, in Estonia to talk about peace for the country, also met with Croation President Stjepan Mesic. The unplanned meeting resulted in peace discussions with Croatia's leader. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

UK condemns Myanmar's cyclone response as 'inhuman'
17 May 2008 - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned Myanmar for not allowing the international community to supply aid to its cyclone victims and said the junta must be held accountable for this 'inhuman' response. With the toll of dead and missing now more than 133,000 people, about 2.5 million people are clinging to survival in the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta. Mr. Brown said his government had considered air-drops of aid. 'We rule nothing out and the reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people'. (more)

UK: Report says one in ten people will need social housing
17 May 2008 - Almost one in 10 people in England and Wales could be on the waiting list for social housing by 2010 due to a spike in repossessions and a slump in private house building and mortgage offers, a report warned. The report said some 400,000 extra households would be competing for housing association and council homes by 2010 as the economy slowed and people lost their homes. This might be the highest total on the social housing waiting list since the 1940s, when a country ravaged by the bombing campaigns of World War II embarked on a comprehensive urban reconstruction. (more)

US: Some detainees drugged for deportation: report
17 May 2008 - The United States government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing medical records, internal documents, and interviews with people who have been drugged. The newspaper said it has identified 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003. Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees without medical justification is a violation of some international human rights codes, the Post reported. (more)

Cyclone beggars line roads of Myanmar delta
16 May 2008 - Without clothes or shoes, thousands of men, women and children made destitute by the cyclone stand in the mud and rain of the latest tropical downpour,begging for help at the occasional passing aid vehicle. The desperate entreaties expose the fragility of the claims by Myanmar's military government to be on top of the distribution of emergency relief in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, where up to 2.5 million people are now clinging to survival. With almost total distrust of the government, private aid is being left in the care of Buddhist monasteries, to be distributed by the monkhood, whose immense moral authority makes it the only institution capable of standing up to the military. (more)

Japan fears rice'n'pickle diet as food supply slows
16 May 2008 - Japan could find itself dining on rice, pickles and potatoes if global food supplies keep tightening and imports are cut off, the government warned on Friday. Just 39 per cent of food in Japan is produced at home, the lowest percentage among the major industrialised countries, raising alarm among officials over food security as supplies fall and prices soar. In a white paper on food and agriculture, the government said eating habits would change radically if the country no longer had access to food from abroad. (more)

Kenya intimidating refugees out of camp-aid group
16 May 2008 - Kenyan government officials and police have used threats and intimidation to force displaced people to leave a refugee camp in western Kenya, the medical aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Friday. More than 300,000 Kenyans were left homeless after President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election in December triggered ethnic clashes. Aid workers estimate that half of them have returned home, but many don't have the resources or are still too afraid or to do so, despite reassurances from the power-sharing government sworn in last month. (more)

South Africa: Anti-foreigner violence spreads
15 May 2008 - South African police fired rubber bullets on Thursday to quell anti-foreigner violence that has rattled authorities and raised fears of wider clashes in the country's restive townships. The violence, which came after a series of attacks on foreigners across the country, renewed fears that xenophobia was rising South Africa, known as one of the most welcoming to immigrants and asylum seekers, especially from Africa. Some South Africans, especially those living in areas of high poverty and unemployment, accuse Zimbabweans and other newcomers of fuelling the country's high-rates of violent crime. The immigrants say more often they are the victims of crime. (more)

Brazil: Amazon defender quits environment post
14 May 2008 - Brazil's environment minister, hailed as a champion of the green movement but scorned by powerful farming groups, resigned on Tuesday after losing key battles in her efforts to protect the Amazon rain forest. Marina Silva's resignation is likely to reinforce the view that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is more concerned with economic development than conservation as a commodities export boom fuels Brazil's growth. Silva also lost out to big business interests when the government authorized genetically modified grains and the construction of a third nuclear power plant. (more)

Brazil: Environment minister Silva quits - Factbox
14 May 2008 - Following are some facts about Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva, who resigned on Tuesday without making public the reason for her decision. (more)

Myanmar regime accused of hoarding cyclone aid
13 May 2008 - The United Nations said Tuesday that only a tiny portion of international aid needed for Myanmar's cyclone victims is making it into the country, amid reports that the military regime is hoarding good-quality foreign aid for itself and doling out rotten food. The country's isolated military regime has agreed to accept relief shipments from the UN and foreign countries, but has largely refused entry to aid workers who might distribute the aid. The UN said the World Food Programme is only getting in 20 percent of the food needed. (more)