Nevada (US), Jan 23 : A school district in Pennsylvania (USA) is offering Hindi, the official language of India, to its pupils from the next semester.

Students in this course offered by Bensalem Township School District (BTSD) will reportedly learn speaking and writing Hindi and expressing themselves in Hindi. They will be taught “conversational Hindi using authentic written and visual materials” and will be “consistently engaged in interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication”.

Nevada (US), Jan 23 : NBC Chicago (USA) television station removed from its website within few hours the content which Hindus considered “inappropriate” as it labelled their deities “weird”.

A commentary on its website titled “Why a 3-1 Blackhawks Loss Isn''t So Bad” dated January 25, detailing ice hockey team Nashville Predators beating Chicago Blackhawks 3-1in Chicago on Tuesday night, said that Predators were “swallowing up space like some weird Hindu god”, which Hindus strongly objected to.

Nevada (US), Jan 25 : A school in New Zealand has a ‘Sanskrit Language Studies’ program and claims that learning Sanskrit accelerates a child’s reading ability.

Ficino School in Mt Eden area of Auckland (New Zealand), calls itself a ‘values-based academic institution’ and offers education for girls and boys from year one to eight. It says about Sanskrit: “It has a wonderful system of sound and grammar, which gives the child an excellent base for the study of any language. Children love its order and beauty.”

Nevada (US), Jan 23 : Hindus are dismayed at American Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's reported comments few days back that equality does not come from "Eastern religions".

"It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that's where it comes from", Santorum reportedly added while speaking at Boiling Springs in South Carolina. (Eastern religions, besides others, also include Hinduism).

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Hinduism was the oldest religion of the world and in Hinduism and equality was the fundamental truth.

Nevada (US), Jan 23 : A 10,000 square feet strip-mall is reportedly being converted to a Hindu temple in Tracy, California.

According to reports, construction is under way and the Hindu temple will take over the entire Tracy Plaza Retail Center, which has a parking lot about 30,500 square feet. It was developed in 2009 but has been reportedly vacant since then.

Meanwhile, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, applauded efforts of temple management and area community for realizing this temple complex.

Nevada (US), Jan 23 : Hindus have asked various religious groups in Switzerland to come out openly in support of Verdingkinder (contract children), whom the authorities reportedly coerced into horrible lives in the past.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that as religion tells us to speak out against the injustice and help the helpless, religious groups in Switzerland, especially the majority Catholic Church and Swiss Reformed Church, should openly ask Switzerland for an official apology and compensation for the Verdingkinder.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Hindus want Switzerland to issue an official apology and compensate the Verdingkinder (contract children), whom the authorities reportedly coerced into horrible lives in the past.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was a dark chapter in Switzerland’s history when children from poor urban families were reportedly forcibly taken away from their parents and sent to perform hard labour on farms and it happened till mid-1950s.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Hindus have commended His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for connecting environmental protection with poverty eradication for human development.

"Environmental protection and the connection between fighting poverty and fighting climate change are important areas for the promotion of integral human development", Pope Benedict said in his recent annual "State of the World" address.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : The 26th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Interfaith Community Memorial Service in Nevada (USA) concluded with mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on January 15.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, besides Gayatri Mantra, the most sacred mantra of Hinduism, also read from Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), Upanishads and Rig-Veda (oldest existing scripture of mankind) during his “benediction” on the occasion.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Prestigious Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam recently conducted an X-ray of its thousand-year-old monumental Shiva-Nataraja statue as a part of research and was surprised to know that it was cast in solid bronze.

Hollow sculptures have reportedly been a common practice in Europe since the Greek Antiquity. The museum discovered that even the aureole and the demon under Shiva’s feet were also solid.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has applauded Rijksmuseum for its interest in Hindu artifacts.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Queensland government in Australia has come up with a “Health Care Providers'' Handbook on Hindu Patients” as a “quick-reference tool for health workers to use when caring for Hindu patients”.

It covers a range of topics including “prayer and meditation, astrological beliefs, karma, fasting, end of life issues, maternity care, and food requirements.”

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has sent early greetings to Tamilians world over on upcoming Pongal festival; praying for their happiness, peace, and prosperity.

In a release in Nevada (USA) today, Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, expressed warmest wishes to Tamilians on four-day ancient harvest festival of Pongal, whose origins are sometimes traced back to around 200 BCE.

Nevada (US), Jan 9 : Hindus have asked through probe into the racial profiling allegations against Livonia Public Schools in Michigan (USA) leveled by a former school Principal as reported in media.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that reported stereotyping by school teachers who “believed that children of Indian descent were dirty and should be checked as a group for lice” (as reportedly alleged by this former Principal), if true, was quite shocking.

Nevada (US), Jan 4 : Hindus have applauded Bernards Township School District (BTSD) in New Jersey (USA) for considering Diwali as a school holiday, calling it "a step in the right direction".

Official summary of its Board of Education December 19 meeting says: "A request by a group of Indian American parents and students to make Diwali (the Indian New Year) a school holiday was referred to the Board's Policy Committee for further consideration".

Nevada (US), Jan 4 : Distinguished Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed has sent early greetings to Punjabi communities world over for upcoming Lohri.

Zed, who is Chairperson of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, in a release in Nevada (USA) today, expressed warmest greetings on Lohri, wishing that it brought joy, happiness, blessings and cheer to all.

World should learn from the spirit of Lohri festival, during which everybody, irrespective of his/her background, takes part in the festivities and shares the joy, Rajan Zed adds.