Ring in the New Year in Sydney

By Ruby Yusuf 
Australia’s largest city, Sydney, is one of the first major cities in the world to celebrate the New Year due to its close proximity to the International Date Line. And since the months of December and January shape the summer season in Australia, while the rest of us up north shiver and trudge through rain and snow, the idea of a New Year’s getaway to the land down under becomes quite irresistible...

As Canadians prepare to celebrate Mothers' Day with brunch and cake, an estimated 1.5 million people in the low-lying delta region of Myanmar (Burma) are without food and water in the afternoon of Cyclone Nargis.

Called the Asian equivalent of hurricane Katrina, Cyclone Nargis swept into the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta in central Myanmar (also known as Burma) with winds of 240 km/h and storms nearly 12 feet high leaving thousands of kilometers of land under water and tens of thousands dead. Yangon, the country's largest city, is littered with fallen trees and most is without power.

According to UN officials and western diplomats, the death toll may top 100,000 and about 24 million citizens are without running water or electricity. Bodies float in waterways and in the nation's largest city, mobs swarm shops.

by Ashok Bhagnari 

Centred in the middle of India's tri-colour flag is a wheel that originally symbolized the village-level pursuits by which India's founder, Mahatma Gandhi, believed his people could best enjoy spiritual health. Gandhi's spinning wheel was replaced in 1947 by one that represents motion and change. Though it took more than a half-century, in the 60th year of its independence the life Gandhi espoused has given way to the new economy shaping India.