Stories in Volume 13, Issue 3 — October-December 2001
 Environment
Values and education are seen as key to action on sustainable developmentLooking ahead to the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development, the International Environment Forum sees "soft" topics of "knowledge, values and education" as the means to create the commitment necessary to implement the sustainable development agenda. HLUBOKA... Read more |
 Education
In India, the world's largest school succeeds by focusing on globalism and moralityLUCKNOW, India - Fresh out of college and newly married, Jagdish Gandhi knew some 42 years ago that his main goal in life was to serve humanity. And he felt educating children would be a good way to do that. So he borrowed 300 rupees (the equivalent of less than $10),... Read more |
 Profile
Focusing on service, one man builds a financial empire on spiritual principleLINZ, Austria - He wasn't penniless, but neither was Faramarz Ettehadieh wealthy by any stretch of the imagination when he founded Imperial Finance Group in the early 1970s - a company that grew during the 1980s and 1990s into a multifaceted enterprise that has managed more... Read more |
 Development
Two Wings Network - a development effort that combines financial acumen with service to humanityLINZ, Austria - Among the endeavors that financier Faramarz Ettehadieh is perhaps most proud of is the Two Wings Network, a non-governmental organization aimed at supporting development projects that focus on the education and empowerment of women in the Global South.... Read more |
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Education
ADCAM receives major grant to expand vocational training in the AmazonMANAUS, Brazil - As part of a government program to reduce unemployment, a Bahá'í-inspired development organization in the Amazon basin has received a major grant from the Brazilian Ministry of Education to expand its vocational education program here, with the goal of... Read more |
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United Nations
UN again expresses concern over continuing discrimination against Iran's Baha'isUNITED NATIONS - For the 16th time in 17 years, the United Nations General Assembly has expressed "concern" over human rights violations in Iran, specifically noting the "still-existing discrimination" against the Bahá'í community of Iran. By a vote of 72 to 49, with 46... Read more |
 Transitions
Gianni Ballerio, longtime Baha'i International Community representative to the United Nations, passes awayGENEVA, Switzerland - Giovanni (Gianni) Ballerio, 58, who represented the Bahá'í International Community at the United Nations here and in New York since 1981, lost his battle with cancer on 13 December 2001. An Italian, born and raised in Asmara, Eritrea, Mr. Ballerio... Read more |
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Perspective
Belief and Tolerance: Lights Amidst the DarknessThe human spirit must be free to know. Apprehending who we are, for what purpose we exist, and how we should live our lives, is a basic impulse of human consciousness. This quest for self-understanding and meaning is the essence of life itself. The innate and fundamental... Read more |
 Review
Reinterpreting religion without reference to genderA Woman's Place: Religious Women as Public Actors Edited by Azza Karam World Conference on Religion and Peace New York There is a famous Chinese saying that women hold up half of the sky. But such has not always been acknowledged by the leadership of most religions,... Read more |