World Peace News: Top Stories

	Top Stories Israeli, Palestinian Presidents talk peace China signs border demarcation pact with Russia Foreign minister of Syria arrives in Beirut for talks

	Top Stories Address of Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam - Part IV: The administration of the Global Country of World Peace Raja Harris Kaplan outlines Maharishi's supreme vision for India and the world Report from Canada: Good news

	Top Stories India blames Pakistan in embassy bombing Sri Lankan rebels say peace talks 'impossible' Afganistan: Al-Qaida draws more foreign recruits to war
Positive Trends 10 Short Summaries of Top Stories Israeli, Palestinian Presidents talk peace 22 July 2008 - Israeli President Shimon Peres hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for talks in his official residence on Tuesday, saying the unprecedented visit should help dispel doubts about Israel's desire for peace. Peres's duties are largely ceremonial, but the elder statesman has been outspoken in his support of the peace process with the Palestinians and of the need to bolster their economy through international aid and cooperation. (more) China signs border demarcation pact with Russia 21 July 2008 - China and Russia on Monday signed a pact that finally settled the demarcation of their 4,300-km (2,672-mile) border, the scene of armed clashes at the height of the Cold War. Russia, whose $1.3 trillion economy is booming for a tenth straight year, has forged close ties with China on a number of world issues. (more) Foreign minister of Syria arrives in Beirut for talks 21 July 2008 - Syria's foreign minister has arrived in Lebanon on the first such visit by a senior Syrian official in more than three years. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem plans to meet later Monday with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. He's also expected to hand Suleiman an invitation from Syrian President Bashar Assad to visit Damascus. (more) Mali government, Tuareg rebels resume talks in Algeria 21 July 2008 - Mali's government and Tuareg rebels have resumed Algerian-mediated peace talks, in a bid to end a months-old conflict in the northeast Kidal region, Algerian news agency APS said on Sunday. The talks between government envoys and members of the rebel Democratic Alliance for Change started on Friday in Algiers and are still going on, APS said, citing a diplomatic source. (more) North Korea nuclear talks to take higher profile 21 July 2008 - Talks on ending North Korea's nuclear plans will gain a higher profile this week with an unprecedented meeting of ministers. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will have her first meeting with the North's top diplomat, Pak Ui-chun, when foreign ministers from six countries involved in North Korean disarmament talks hold discussions at a forum in Singapore tentatively set for Wednesday. The meeting will add momentum to a disarmament-for-aid deal the North struck with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States, analysts said. (more) Zimbabwe: President Mugabe, opposition leader Tsvangirai sign framework deal 21 July 2008 - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday signed a deal laying down the framework for formal talks on forming a power sharing government to end a deep political crisis. It was the first meeting in 10 years between the two rivals. (more) Zimbabwe: Timeline - Hope in election crisis 21 July 2008 - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday signed a framework deal committing their political parties to talks to end the country's deep crisis. Here is a chronology of events since the widely condemned 27 June run-off Presidential election, boycotted by Tsvangirai and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change. (more) Iran says nuclear talks a step forward 20 July 2008 - Iran's President described talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear programme as a step forward on Sunday, official media said, even though the meeting in Geneva failed to produce any breakthrough in the standoff. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an upbeat assessment of the talks. 'Any negotiation that takes place is a step forward,' he told reporters, according to IRNA. (more) Sudan agrees to restore relations with Chad-Senegal 20 July 2008 - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has agreed to restore diplomatic ties with neighbouring Chad, broken off in May after a rebel attack on the Sudanese capital Khartoum, mediator Senegal said on Friday. Senegal's government announced the move following a meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Thursday between the Sudanese and Chadian foreign ministers and African Union guarantors of a March peace deal between the two feuding neighbours. (more) Iraq's Sunni Arab bloc rejoins government 19 July 2008 - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc rejoined the Shi'ite-led government on Saturday in a breakthrough for national reconciliation after parliament approved its candidates for several vacant ministerial posts. Getting the Accordance Front to return after it quit a year ago in a row over power sharing has been seen as key to healing divisions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs. (more)
Success of Maharishi's Programmes 10 Short Summaries of Top Stories Address of Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam - Part IV: The administration of the Global Country of World Peace 22 July 2008 - Continuing his address during the global Guru Purnima celebration, Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam speaks about the different organizations of the Global Country of World Peace that are bringing Maharishi's precious knowledge to the world for the creation of Heaven on Earth. (more) Raja Harris Kaplan outlines Maharishi's supreme vision for India and the world 22 July 2008 - Raja Harris Kaplan, Raja of India, reviews Maharishi's vision of perfect administration which will secure invincibility for the whole world by perpetually supporting groups of Vedic Pandits in India. (more) Report from Canada: Good news 22 July 2008 - The British Columbia government unveils an aggressive environmental plan to reduce greenhouse gases, while Calgary (Alberta) is taking steps to restrict the use of lawn and garden chemicals including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. In the twelfth month of the 2nd year of Canada's national Invincibility Programme, there continue to be indications of national consciousness rising to invincibility as evidenced by positive trends in the economy and other areas of national life, from the expanding groups of Yogic Flyers throughout the world. (more) Address of Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam - Part III: Everyone is and can live the totality of life; this is the teaching of Maharishi and Guru Dev 21 July 2008 - Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam continues his address to the global Celebration of Guru Purnima by the Global Country of World Peace on 18 July 2008. (more) Guru Purnima celebrations in India bring a wave of expansion and great hope for the year ahead 21 July 2008 - Raja Harris Kaplan, Raja of India, begins his address on 19 July 2008 during the global Guru Purnima celebrations, with news of celebrations and media coverage in India. Raja Harris praises the leaders of India and the plans of Dr Girish Varma to teach Transcendental Meditation to 10 million people in the coming year. (more) Address of Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam - Part II: Maharishi's contribution is a revival of the understanding of Natural Law 20 July 2008 - Continuing his address on 18 Jul 2008 to the Guru Purnima Celebration of the Global Country of World Peace, Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam spoke about Maharishi's revival of the true value of Veda, Total Knowledge, and the value of silence. (more) *Address of Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam to the Celebration of Guru Purnima* by the Global Country of World Peace - Part I** 19 July 2008 - Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam very movingly addresses the global Guru Purnima celebration, offering 'our achievements and ourselves to Guru Dev' and speaking on the theme of this year's Guru Purnima, the celebration of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's supreme contributions to the world. (more) More continuing live broadcasts and special replays of the global Guru Purnima celebrations 19 July 2008 - The Maharishi Channel announces the schedule of continuing live broadcasts and special replays of the global Guru Purnima Celebrations of the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, the Netherlands. (more) Programmes of Global Country of World Peace inspire many new participants in Hamsa (Hungary) 19 July 2008 - Speaking 12 July 2008 on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Raja John Konhaus, Raja of Invincible Hamsa (Hungary) for the Global Country of World Peace, reported increasing numbers of practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme and Teachers of the Transcendental Meditation Technique in his domain. (more) Maharishi Academy: How students can create a peaceful world 6 May 2008 - Students at Maharishi Academy of Total Knowledge - High School for Leadership in New Hampshire, USA will help create a peaceful world. Fifty scientific studies have shown that the Transcendental Meditation Programme can be used to defuse acute societal stress, as measured by reduced crime, terrorism, and conflict. Through their group practise of Transcendental Meditation students will radiate a measurable influence of calm and coherence throughout society. (more)
Flops 10 Short Summaries of Top Stories India blames Pakistan in embassy bombing 21 July 2008 - A top Indian diplomat blamed Pakistan on Monday for the bombing of India's embassy in Afghanistan, saying the attack had put the rivals' peace process 'under stress'. Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon comments came weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai hinted that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was responsible for the bombing, which killed at least 58 people, including an Indian diplomat and its military attache. Apart from the Kabul bombing, relations between India and Pakistan also have been strained in recent months by repeated exchanges of gunfire across the frontier in Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region split between the two and claimed entirely by both. (more) Sri Lankan rebels say peace talks 'impossible' 21 July 2008 - Sri Lankan rebels said Monday that a new round of peace talks on ending the country's 25-year-old civil war is impossible as long as the government presses ahead with a military offensive. President Mahinda Rajapaksa said earlier this month he was prepared to restart long-dormant talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels if the group lays down its arms and ceases bombings and other attacks across the country. Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the rebels' political wing, said Rajapaksa's conditions were 'naive' and 'impractical'' and there was no way the two sides could negotiate while the fighting continued to rage. (more) Afganistan: Al-Qaida draws more foreign recruits to war 20 July 2008 - Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya, and the Middle East, one more sign that al-Qaida is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terror groups. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of US and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed at a remote base in Kunar province Sunday in the deadliest attack in years. (more) Mali: Gunmen attack outpost, seize soldiers, weapons 19 July 2008 - Suspected Tuareg-led rebels attacked a remote paramilitary outpost in Mali on Saturday, kidnapping soldiers and seizing weapons, ammunition, and vehicles, the government said. Two soldiers were wounded and about a dozen more kidnapped, an army source added, saying he believed the pre-dawn raid was carried out by a faction of the rebels who have been fighting a year-long insurgency in Mali's Saharan north. (more) Nepal assembly fails to elect first President 19 July 2008 - The new republic of Nepal failed to elect its first President on Saturday when none of the three candidates was able to muster the majority needed to open the way to the formation of a new government. Nepal has been in political limbo since April, when former Maoist rebels won an historic election which left them short of a parliamentary majority, but enabled them to form a special assembly that abolished the 239-year-old monarchy. The Maoists say they are in talks with other political parties to form a government. But other parties have so far rejected their overtures, saying the former rebels still practise violence and intimidation. (more) US looks to send more troops to Afghanistan soon 17 July 2008 - The United States is looking to send more troops to Afghanistan soon in the face of rising insurgent violence there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday. In the latest sign of insurgents in Afghanistan growing bolder and more deadly, nine US soldiers were killed on Sunday in an attack near the Pakistan border. It was the single biggest loss of American life in Afghanistan since 2005. The United States has some 36,000 troops in Afghanistan. Some 17,500 form part of a NATO-led force while the remainder operate under a separate US mission. (more) South Korea says it will recall ambassador from Japan 15 July 2008 - South Korea said Monday it will recall its ambassador from Japan over a rekindled debate about disputed islands between the countries, as the new South Korean government seeks to lift its sagging popularity at home with an appeal to nationalism. The nearly uninhabitable islets, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, are currently under South Korean control. The dispute has been a long-standing thorn in relations between the Asian neighbours. In the past, South Korean leaders have played on anti-Japanese sentiment to appeal to Korean nationalism as a way to boost their standing. Many Koreans harbour resentment against Japan for its 1910-45 colonial rule. (more) Pakistan militants focus on Afghanistan 14 July 2008 - In early June, about 300 fighters from jihadist groups came together for a secret gathering in Rawalpindi, the same city that serves as headquarters to the Pakistani army. Despite growing pressure on Pakistan to quell Islamic militancy, jihadist groups within its borders are in fact increasing their cooperation to attack US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to interviews with a wide range of militants, intelligence officials, and military officers. The US military says militant attacks in eastern Afghanistan have increased 40 per cent this year over 2007. And for two straight months, the death toll of foreign troops in Afghanistan has exceeded that of Iraq. (more) Somalia: Thousands flee Beletweyne as clash fears mount 14 July 2008 - Fears of major clashes in the town of Beletweyne in central Somalia's Hiiraan Region have sparked a mass exodus from the town, sources there told IRIN on 14 July. 'Thousands of people have already left the town and many others are still leaving,' Ga'al Hirsi Hooshow, the chairman of the Beletweyne Elders' Council, said. He said forces of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Beletweyne and Ethiopian troops now based at Janta Kundishe, 5km east of the town, 'are both gearing up for a major battle'. The fear of fighting has led to the flight of people from the town to safer areas, Hooshow said, adding that local people, who were already suffering from drought and hyperinflation, were now having to deal with displacement. (more) Chad accuses Sudan of violating its airspace 13 July 2008 - Chad has accused neighbouring Sudan of violating its airspace by flying over a Chadian town on the border with Sudan's violence-torn Darfur, and said it will not tolerate any further violation of its territory. Relations between the oil-producing neighbours have long been tense, with each accusing the other of supporting insurgent groups. Rebel attacks across the border in both directions over the last two months have brought them close to war. (more)