• US and Russia in final push to clinch new START treaty
• PLO gives nod for talks, US envoy meets Prime Minister Netanyahu
• US Vice President to try to boost Middle East peace prospects

• 'Great administrator, powerhouse of energy, intelligence, organizing power': Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam honours Prime Minister, Global Country of World Peace
• 'My advice? Meditate' - Russell Simmons
• The Global Mother Divine Organization celebrates bright year of achievements in Africa

• Israeli group: Police improperly arresting children
• North Korea has medium-range missile division
• North Korea to boost nuclear weapons capability

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US and Russia in final push to clinch new START treaty
9 March 2010 - US and Russian arms control officials began on Tuesday what both sides hope will be a final push to clinch a treaty cutting their strategic nuclear arsenals, officials said. Dozens of negotiators from each country were taking part in the START talks which resumed in Geneva, Switzerland after a 10-day break for consultations in their capitals. The world's two largest nuclear powers are seeking a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which expired last December. (more)

PLO gives nod for talks, US envoy meets Prime Minister Netanyahu
7 March 2010 - The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) endorsed US-mediated talks with Israel on Sunday and Washington envoy George Mitchell met the Israeli Prime Minister to discuss getting those negotiations under way. Israel, which has welcomed the decision Abbas made last week with the endorsement of the Arab League, has said the Palestinians can raise any issue in the talks, which US Middle East envoy Mitchell will mediate. (more)

US Vice President to try to boost Middle East peace prospects
7 March 2010 - US President Barack Obama is dispatching his Vice President to the Middle East on Sunday to try to build support for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite deep skepticism on both sides. Vice President Biden will meet Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian leaders starting on 8 March, but a main component of his trip will be public diplomacy. (more)

Israeli officials meet with US Middle East envoy
6 March 2010 - Israel says its defence minister is to meet with the US Middle East envoy to discuss indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that are expected to start soon.The Defence Ministry said that Ehud Barak was meeting with US envoy George Mitchell on Saturday evening. Mitchell also is expected to meet with other Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the next few days to try and lay the groundwork for negotiations before US Vice President Joe Biden arrives in the region next week. (more)

UN to start troop withdrawals from Democratic Republic Congo in 2010
6 March 2010 - The United Nations could begin withdrawing troops from the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the biggest UN peacekeeping mission in the world, as early as June, the peacekeeping chief said on 5 March. 'It was a clear request from the government of Kinshasa and from the President that the first draw-down should start around June 2010 at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Congo,' UN peacekeeping head Alain Le Roy said. Le Roy said the withdrawals would only involve peacekeepers in the relatively peaceful western part of the country. (more)

China wants to restart North Korea nuclear talks soon
4 March 2010 - China hopes to revive stalled negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme within the next few months, an official newspaper reported Friday. The comment from Beijing's envoy to the six-country talks follows a flurry of diplomatic efforts in recent weeks to prod North Korea into rejoining the negotiations. China hosts the six-nation talks, which also include the US, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. (more)

Muslim leader issues anti-terror fatwa
2 March 2010 - The leader of a global Muslim movement has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that he calls an absolute condemnation of terrorism. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani lawmaker, says the 600-page fatwa bans suicide bombing 'without any excuses, any pretexts, or exceptions'. The religious scholar is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a worldwide movement that promotes a nonpolitical, tolerant Islam. The group has hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, most of them in Pakistan or Pakistanis living in other countries. (more)

Prominent Muslim to issue anti-terrorism fatwa
1 March 2010 - A prominent Islamic scholar is to issue a 600-page religious edict (fatwa) denouncing terrorism in London on Tuesday in what he says is a bid to persuade young Muslims to turn their backs on extremism. The fatwa from Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a leading figure who has promoted peace and interfaith dialogue for 30 years, echoes edicts condemning extremism issued by a number of Islamic groups since the 11 September attacks on the United States. But Qadri says his fatwa, which declares terrorists and suicide bombers to be unbelievers, goes further than any previous denunciation. (more)

South Korea renews offer of incentives for disarmament
1 March 2010 - South Korea's President said Monday that he wants to achieve 'genuine' reconciliation with North Korea through dialogue and renewed his offer of a package of incentives for the North's nuclear disarmament. The North has recently reached out to Seoul and Washington following months of tension over its nuclear and missile programme. A US State Department spokesman said Friday that the North could rejoin international nuclear disarmament talks in coming weeks. (more)

India's Prime Minister seeks regional cooperation in Saudi visit
28 February 2010 - India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began the first visit to Saudi Arabia by an Indian leader since 1982 seeking to build economic ties and to enlist the kingdom's help in improving regional security. Saudi Arabia has close ties with Pakistan and has also been cited as a possible mediator in any political settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan. (more)

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

'Great administrator, powerhouse of energy, intelligence, organizing power': Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam honours Prime Minister, Global Country of World Peace
11 March 2010 - On 3 March, Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam, First Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace, honoured the great leadership and achievements of Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country. Speaking from MERU, Holland during a global assembly, Maharaja said that in Dr Morris, 'We have a great example of what a great knower of Reality, a great administrator, a powerful powerhouse of energy, intelligence, and organizing power represents.' (more)

'My advice? Meditate' - Russell Simmons
11 March 2010 - 'I support the [David] Lynch Foundation. I am now on the Foundation board of advisors, and I am part of the process of bringing meditation to people in need,' says renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist Russell Simmons. 'You don't have to believe in meditation for it to work. You just have to take the time to do it,' Mr Simmons says. 'The old truth is still true today, ''God helps those who help themselves.'' My advice? Meditate.' (more)

The Global Mother Divine Organization celebrates bright year of achievements in Africa
11 March 2010 - Throughout Africa, ladies, mothers and girls are enjoying courses and programmes of the Global Mother Divine Organization, which was inaugurated in many countries across the continent during the past year. (more)

Latin America: Invincibility programmes expand in many countries, including three-point plan for Haiti and Chile
10 March 2010 - A three-point plan is being implemented to bring a balancing influence to Haiti and Chile after their recent earthquakes. This programme is one of many initiatives of the Global Country of World Peace moving ahead on a large scale to establish invincible peace, progress, and prosperity in countries throughout Latin America. (more)

Russell Simmons: Why I meditate
10 March 2010 - 'I have been a meditator for about 12 years. It has given me energy, strength, health, wisdom, and access to my own inner stillness, inner silence, inner bliss. It is my connection to myself; it is my connection to the universe,' says renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist Russell Simmons. Russell Simmons practises the Transcendental Meditation Technique and is on the board of advisors of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. (more)

Reflecting on administration through silence established by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Prime Minister Dr Bevan Morris
8 March 2010 - In a global assembly on 3 March, Dr Bevan Morris reflected on the profound principles of administration through silence set forth by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Global Country of World Peace, in December 2007 and January 2008, for the leadership of his worldwide organizations. Dr Morris is Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace. (more)

Vastu architecture rising in New Zealand: Dr Bevan Morris praises application of Maharishi's programmes
6 March 2010 - New Zealand has seen great success in the establishment of Vastu buildings designed and constructed according to principles of Maharishi Vedic Architecture -- including the Maharishi Spiritual Capital of New Zealand. (more)

Total Knowledge, by knowing which everything can be known: Development of Maharishi's Total Knowledge Chart
5 March 2010 - Among many Rajas (Administrators) of the Global Country of World Peace recently commemorating the fifth anniversary of their coronation in February 2005, Raja Paul Potter, Raja of Invincible Canada, gave a historical overview of major developments in the last five years--including the Total Knowledge Chart created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which illustrates the application of Total Knowledge of Natural Law in twelve areas of life. (more)

Sustainable human beings create a sustainable world
3 March 2010 - To create a truly sustainable world, we need to develop sustainable human beings, enlightened individuals, who spontaneously think and act in tune with all the Laws of Nature, says Dr John Fagan, eminent molecular biologist who is Raja (Administrator) of Food Purity and Healthy Invincibility for the Global Country of World Peace. 'Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Vedic Science has the potential for restoring balance in Nature, and offers a system of operating that allows humans to continue as a sustainable part of the world.' (more)

The Administrators of the Global Country of World Peace: Individual awareness instilled with the reality of Cosmic Intelligence
2 March 2010 - During the recent fifth-anniversary celebration by the Global Country of World Peace of its first coronation of Rajas (Administrators) in Vaals, Holland in 2005, Raja Paul Potter reflected on the great significance of the seven-day coronation ceremony, described by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Global Country of World Peace. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Israeli group: Police improperly arresting children
10 March 2010 - Israeli police are improperly arresting Palestinian boys in nighttime raids in Jerusalem that involve assault rifle wielding security forces handcuffing minors and interrogating them without lawyers or parents, an Israeli rights group charged Tuesday. Most of the youths were accused of hurling rocks at Jewish settlers and damaging their property in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan. 'They are using military-style night raids to extract children as young as 12,' said Sarit Michaeli of rights group B'tselem, which says the raids are an inappropriate method to detain children. They also argue the raids defy Israeli law, which demands children be accompanied by guardians while being arrested. In affidavits to B'tselem, six boys aged between 12 and 14 years old described arrest raids involving around a dozen heavily armed military police surrounding their homes, handcuffing them, and leading them to cells where they were slapped, kicked, and told by interrogators to confess if they wanted to go home. (more)

North Korea has medium-range missile division
9 March 2010 - North Korea has recently created an army division in charge of newly developed intermediate-range missiles capable of striking US forces in Japan and Guam, a South Korean news agency said Tuesday. The report came as North Korea stepped up its war rhetoric against the US and South Korea after the allies started their annual drills aimed at improving their defense capabilities. The North Korean Ministry, said the country is ready for both dialogue and war, a position that contrasts from a military statement Sunday that the North would break off dialogue with the US. About 18,000 American soldiers and an undisclosed number of South Korean troops are taking part in 11 days of drills that began Monday across South Korea. (more)

North Korea to boost nuclear weapons capability
9 March 2010 - North Korea said on Tuesday it would boost its nuclear weapons capability because US President Barack Obama was determined to ignore its calls for peace and bring it down by military force. North Korea said this week that it had put its army on full combat alert as US and South Korean forces began joint military drills involving nearly 40,000 troops, an annual event that draws anger from the North but typically results in no major incidents. The North has come under pressure to return to six-party disarmament-for-aid nuclear talks because of UN sanctions imposed after a May 2009 nuclear test and prodding by its major ally and the host of the talks, China. Sanctions have dealt a blow to its wobbly economy, and a botched currency move late last year has sparked inflation and rare civil unrest. (more)

Israel weighing construction of nuclear power plant
8 March 2010 - Israel will this week unveil plans to produce nuclear-generated electricity, officials said on Monday, a move that could draw fresh international attention towards its assumed atomic arsenal. Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told Reuters he will announce at an energy conference in Paris on Tuesday that Israel is officially looking into the possibility of building a nuclear power plant to diversify its energy sector. Landau said Israel, which generates electricity mostly using imported coal and local and imported natural gas, is capable of building a nuclear reactor. But it would prefer to work with other countries. Israeli officials have said the Jewish state hopes to have a functioning nuclear power plant by 2020 or 2025. (more)

Security tight after hundreds die in central Nigeria
8 March 2010 - Soldiers patrolled the central Nigerian city of Jos on Monday and aid workers tried to assess the death toll after attacks on outlying communities in which several hundred people were feared to have been killed. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan called an emergency meeting with all security service chiefs on Monday to discuss strategies to prevent clashes spreading to neighbouring states, Presidential sources said. Residents of three predominantly Christian settlements near Jos said Muslim herders from surrounding hills launched what appeared to be reprisal attacks in the early hours of Sunday following sectarian clashes which killed hundreds in January. Plateau state lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south and fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between indigenous groups and settlers from the north have repeatedly triggered unrest over the past decade. (more)

Clashes kill more than 100 in central Nigeria
7 March 2010 - Clashes between Islamic pastoralists and Christian villagers killed more than 100 people near the central Nigerian city of Jos Sunday, where sectarian violence left hundreds dead in January, witnesses said. The latest unrest in volatile central Nigeria comes at a difficult time, with acting President Goodluck Jonathan trying to assert his authority and the oil producing country's ailing leader Umaru Yar'Adua too sick to govern. It was not immediately clear what triggered the latest unrest, but thousands have died in religious and ethnic violence in central Nigeria over the past 10 years. The instability underscores the fragility of Africa's most populous nation as it approaches the campaign period for 2011 elections with uncertainty over who is in charge. (more)

Iran starts production of short-range missile - media
7 March 2010 - Iran launched production on Sunday of a short-range missile capable of destroying targets of 3,000 tonnes, official media reported. Iran, embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear programme, often announces advances in its military capabilities in an apparent bid to show its readiness to counter any attack. Neither Israel nor the United States have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the dispute over atomic work the West fears is aimed at making bombs but which Tehran says is for peaceful power generation. (more)

Timeline: Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria
7 March 2010 - The following is a timeline of religious and ethnic violence in Nigeria from 2000 to 2010. (more)

UN rights chief slams condemns in Sri Lanka, Iran
4 March 2010 - Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are damaging prospects for reconciliation after 25 years of civil war and a violent crackdown on dissent in Iran is deeply worrying, the top UN human rights official said on Thursday. Repeating her call for an independent investigation into war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the UN's Human Rights Council she was singling out outstanding cases in different countries. Ms Pillay said continuing executions in Sudan were deeply troubling, and she repeated her call for an independent inquiry into killings by Egyptian forces of unarmed migrants trying to enter Israel via the Sinai Desert. In a separate statement, she condemned violence against women, especially an estimated 5,000 'honour killings' a year worldwide. The South African jurist also directed comments against rich countries, saying the treatment of Roma in some European states, such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic, was deteriorating. (more)

Spanish court says Venezuela helped ETA, FARC
1 March 2010 - Spain demanded Venezuela explain itself after a judge accused the South American government on Monday of helping Basque ETA rebels and Colombian FARC guerrillas plot possible attacks on Spanish soil. A ruling by Spain's High Court said the Venezuelan government facilitated contacts between the armed groups which led to FARC asking ETA for logistical help in case it tried to assassinate Colombian officials visiting Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe. Spain's Socialist government, which at one stage had relatively good relations with Venezuela's left-wing firebrand President Hugo Chavez, demanded an explanation from Caracas. The spat comes as tensions run high between Venezuela and its neighbour Colombia, over Caracas' alleged support for FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. (more)