In late October, there was a quite rare event in the ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Swami Goshala established by Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavana, India. A beautiful black cow named Arati gave birth to twin bull calves.

Australia is currently in the most severe drought in recorded history, with various levels of water restrictions in major cities and a deepening crisis in rural areas. Brisbane's Hare Krishna Community is doing their part for the city's ongoing water shortage, taking to the streets of the city's suburbs to chant and dance to bring rain.

Srimati Radharani is the mother of the universe. The spiritual mother of all souls. And the concept of mother is the most sacred symbol - that of purity, selflessness, caring, sharing, nurturing, and love.

I grew up in the United States in the 1960s and 70s. As with many other young Americans of my generation, my world view was significantly influenced by the music of Bob Marley. His songs about revolution, social change, world peace, and racial equality inspired me.

It was nearly a decade ago that Jose Cibelli plugged his own DNA into a cow's egg in a novel cloning attempt that was condemned as unethical by President Clinton and landed the Michigan State University researcher in a mess of controversy.

There has never been a better time for environmentalists to become vegetarians. Evidence of the environmental impacts of a meat-based diet is piling up at the same time its health effects are becoming better known. Meanwhile, full-scale industrialized factory farming-which allows diseases to spread quickly as animals are raised in close confinement-has given rise to recent, highly publicized epidemics of meat-borne illnesses. At presstime, the first discovery of mad cow disease in a Tokyo suburb caused beef prices to plummet in Japan and many people to stop eating meat.

BANGALORE: Smiling and laughing, the children cluster around the visitor with the camera. They have just discovered that he is from Sri Lanka and that he speaks their language fluently.

MANGALORE: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) held its fourth annual Jagannatha Rathayatra in Mangalore on March 23.