Maxim Varfolomeev of the Hare Krishna Community told Forum 18 on 18 April that the Regional Akimat has given them an ultimatum to vacate the place as soon as possible. "Otherwise the authorities pledge to pull down our temple and other buildings including living residences in our presence," Varfolomeev told Forum 18.

ISKCON devotees joined San Diego’s Earth Day parade, one of the biggest in America, this Sunday April 20 for their 12th year in a row.

Two hundred devotees participated, pulling a modest but beautifully decorated Ratha-yatra cart from one end of Balboa Park to the other, and showering onlookers with flower petals.

US Military Base, Iraq, April 17, 2008 – It’s my fifth year on active duty as a sergeant here in Iraq, and I’m back doing missions, which means long days. But I still rise early, worship my salagram sila deities of the Lord, and chant Hare Krishna as if I can die at any moment – which, here, is a reality.

Environmentalism has certainly been on people’s minds lately. Governments around the globe are teaching their constituents about the need to conserve resources. School children are taught the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle. And of course advertisers are keen to tout the environmental benefits of whatever product they are trying to peddle.

Food for Life Vrindavana, not content with simply making an effort this Earth Day (April 22) is running several full-time environmental projects to beautify Krishna’s birthplace.

First up is Project Varahadeva, launched in April 2003.

HONG KONG: By day, Kenneth Valpey dons his academic robes to elevate his students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to a higher orbit of understanding about Indian religions and cultures.

But come evening, he assumes another avatar. He slips into something a little more comfortable — like a pristine white dhoti-kurta and a wrap-around angavastram — and sermonizes on the Bhagavad Gita to the devotees of Krishna in Hong Kong.

Hundreds of students find their way to the Plaza of the Americas every weekday to eat a $4 vegetarian meal served by the Hare Krishnas.

Some are interested enough to pick up a book off the self-service rack. A few attend classes on yoga or meditation at the Hare Krishna House on Northwest 14th Street.

GENEVA (AFP) - Plants deserve respect, a group of Swiss experts said Monday, arguing that killing them arbitrarily was morally wrong -- except when it comes to saving humans or maybe picking petals off a daisy.

A couple from Chennai decided to live simply - by a stream in a one-room hut. The man, Magari, would forego his occupation of hunting while his wife Madhavi would cultivate Tulasi instead of selling baskets. Magari would also give up non-vegetarian food.

Religious devotees around the world enjoy expressing their faith with customized cell phones, which may play religious ring tones; carry scriptures; or provide guidance, content filtering and other services specific to each religion. These phones are customized and marketed directly to religious communities in various parts of the world.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dr. Ravi Gupta, a professor of Hinduism at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, and an initiated brahmana priest of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), presented a gift of an elaborate OM symbol to Pope Benedict XVI at an interfaith gathering in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Hindu American community on Thursday, April 17.

Leading policy makers for the Prince’s Trust, a British charity that helps young people aged 14-30, visited London’s Bhaktivedanta Manor on April 11.

Formed by Prince Charles of Wales in 1976, the charity provides training, business start-up support, and ongoing mentoring and advice to young people who would benefit from additional help.

This summer, as they do every year, ISKCON Youth Ministry volunteer Manu Dasa and fifty-five youth will travel across the United States and Canada, performing at and helping set up eight Rathayatras around the country.

But for the past three years, they’ve been upping their game.