Beijing, Jun 15: China is locking now ten more neighbourhoods in Beijing to try and contain the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak linked to a food market, authorities announced Monday.
City official Li Junjie said at a press conference that fresh cases had been found in a second wholesale market in northwestern Haidian district, and as a result, the market and nearby schools would be closed, and people living in ten communities around it placed under lockdown.
Washington, Jun 13: America's first-ever Hindu lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard has said that in this chaotic time, one can find certainty, strength, and peace in Bhagavad Gita.
In her message during a virtual commencement address, the 39-year-old Congresswoman from Hawaii said that it is a chaotic time and no one can say with certainty what tomorrow looks like.
"... but we find certainty, strength, and peace in the practice of Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga taught to us by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita," Tulsi Gabbard told the 'Class of 2020 for Hindu students''.
Her address came amidst protests in the US against the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
The country has been swept by protests since George Floyd's custodial death on May 25 with thousands of people mounting pressure for changes to the law enforcement practices.
The first-ever virtual Hindu commencement was organised by the Hindu Students Council on June 7, which drew thousands of viewers on Facebook and YouTube Live, all coming together in solidarity during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the contagion has infected over 76,00,000 people and killed more than 4,25,000 across the world. The US is the worst affected country with over 2.04 million cases and more than 1,14,000 deaths.
The COVID-19, which originated in China''s Wuhan city in December last year, has also battered the world economy with the International Monetary Fund saying that the global economy is bound to suffer a "severe recession".
Scientists are racing against time to find a vaccine or medicine for its treatment.
Hundreds of graduates from the US, Canada, the UK, India and Australia attended to commemorate their graduation in a unique way - by celebrating their shared Hindu values.
Professor Subhash Kak served as the ceremony's Grand Marshall.
"As you think about this new chapter in your lives, ask yourself what is my purpose in life? It is a deep question that if you can recognise now that your purpose is to serve God and God''s children, practicing Karma Yoga, then you can lead a truly successful life," Tulsi Gabbard said.
"Success is not defined by temporary material things, trinkets, glittery objects or accomplishments - but a deeply successful and happy life centered around service," she added.
The Iraq war veteran ended her presidential campaign in March and offered her full support to former vice president Joe Biden, 77, who is all set to challenge Republican incumbent Donald Trump, 73, in November elections.
The commencement address focused heavily on themes from the Bhagavad Gita, a timeless historical text that many Hindus consider their moral framework.
Professor Kak, Regent Professor at Oklahoma State University and 2019 Padma Shri recipient, read out the names of the graduating students.
"I exhort you - the graduating students - to be the leaders of the new world where education is less of the mind of a vessel to be filled with information (usually forgotten after the semester is over), and more of a flame that is lit as envisioned by our Vedic sages," he said.
The student speakers were from many university campuses, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, and Stanford.
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The programme included offerings of Hindu prayers, recitation of a traditional graduation message from the Upanishads, and a symbolic conferral of degrees to high school and college graduate.
Founded in 1990, Hindu Students Council is North America''s largest pan-Hindu youth organisation.
Apr 11: The number of global coronavirus deaths has increased to 102,753, while the total number of cases worldwide has surpassed 1.6 million, according to the latest update by the Washington-based Johns Hopkins University.
As of Saturday morning, the overall number of infections increased to 1,698,416, while the tally of those who recovered from the deadly disease stood at 376,677, according to the varsity's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).
In terms of cases, the US had the highest in the world at 501,301, followed by Spain 158,273, Italy 147,577 and France 125,931.
Italy accounted for the highest death toll at 18,849, with the US in the second place with 18,769 fatalities.
Other countries with more than 10,000 deaths include Spain (16,081) and France (13,197).
Although the pandemic originated in China last December, it now only accounts for 3,343 deaths with 83,003 confirmed cases.
Amsterdam, Jun 18: A statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been vandalised here in the capital of Netherlands by unknown miscreants with graffiti and spray painting, amid a wave of attacks on controversial figures following the protests around the world after the custodial killing of African-American George Floyd, according to media reports.
The statue of Gandhi on the Churchilllaan in Amsterdam was covered with red paint and the pedestal has 'racist' and an abbreviation for an expletive against the police chalked on it, Metro, the Dutch newspaper, reported.
According to alderman Rutger Groot Wassink, the municipality will file a declaration for daubing.
"Obviously, we are opposed to any form of vandalism and daubing of these things is completely unacceptable," the city official was quoted as saying by the AD.nl.
"It is logical that we will file a declaration, the image will be cleaned," Wassink said.
It is not yet known who is behind the daubing. An employee of the Kunstwacht, who provides maintenance and repairs, says that the cleaning work can take hours.
A 75-year-old man saw the daubs on Wednesday and called the municipality. “I have lived here for forty years and I have never experienced this. I have been watching the statue for years," the man said.
Since the death of 46-year-old Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, US, and subsequent worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, there has been much debate about street names and statues of people with a colonial past. All over the world, statues of controversial historical figures are brought down or defaced.
Recently, images and buildings have been defaced in various places that refer to the colonial past of the Netherlands, including the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam and the statue of Piet Hein in Rotterdam. These are anti-racist expressions that follow the death of Floyd through a white police officer, Metro reported.
Gandhi was known as a champion of human rights and non-violence. But in his twenties, which he spent in South Africa, he still called black people “troublesome, very dirty and they live like beasts” and found that the white people were the “dominant race”. Later he renounced those ideas, the report added.
The statue was unveiled on the Churchillaan on October 2, 1990 in honour of Gandhi's 121st birthday.
The design was made by the sculptor Karel Gomes, who died in 2016. At the time, the plan for the statue came from the Hindu organisation Triveda.
Gandhi is depicted walking, featuring robes around the body, slippers on the feet, a book in one hand and a stick in the other.
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