Online backlash against Sina Weibo a rare win for China's LGBT community
China's gay community scored a victory after a massively popular social media platform reversed a ban on "homosexual" content, but challenges remain in a country where LGBT culture remains taboo in the entertainment industry. Gay-themed films struggle to make it into movie theaters, same-sex relationships are banned from television screens and ...
Australia aims to be global leader, with strong anti-slavery law expected in 2018
Australia aims to be a global leader in the fight against modern slavery with a new law that builds upon ...
Conditions worsening for 700,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar ahead of monsoon rains
Conditions in crowded camps in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh have deteriorated for nearly 700,000 Rohingya as aid workers race to ...
Following outcry, China's Sina Weibo reverses course on gay content clean-up
China's Sina Weibo on Monday reversed a decision to remove gay content after outcry among gay Chinese who say the company had smeared homosexuality by lumping it with pornography as it tried to meet government censorship directives. China's Twitter-equivalent Weibo said Friday it would remove ...
In rapidly aging South Korea, elderly find escape from anxiety in visits to discos
A discotheque hidden among the back alleys of eastern Seoul is packed with hundreds of gray-haired couples on a Monday afternoon, dancing to local hits from the 1960s in a basketball court-size hall. Kim Sa-gyu, 85, calls it his "playground." "What else would I do all ...
'I am gay' protests as China bans 'homosexual' content on Weibo
China's Sina Weibo said it would remove "homosexual" content from the popular microblogging platform, prompting a storm of online protests Saturday under the hashtag "I am gay." Weibo said in a statement Friday it had begun a "clean-up campaign" to remove "illegal" content, including "manga ...
The history of the Congregational Church is the history of colonial New England. Before the birth of the nation and the separation of church and state, the plain Congregational churches that date to the time of the Pilgrims and are found in every community in ...
Wife of 'vanished' Chinese lawyer marches for answers, says she's unsure if he's still alive
The wife of a detained Chinese human rights lawyer who has embarked on a 100-km (60-mile) march to highlight his plight said Thursday she did not even know if he was still alive. Attorney Wang Quanzhang, who defended political activists and victims of land seizures, ...
Tearful reunion after quarter-century search highlights plight of China's missing children
A tearful reunion between parents and their missing daughter after an agonizing 24-year search has put a spotlight on the vexed issue of child trafficking and disappearances in China. Wang Mingqing and his wife, Liu Dengying, from southwest Sichuan province, lost their 3-year-old daughter in ...
China says it has made real efforts toward establishing Vatican relations
China has made real efforts toward establishing relations with the Vatican, a Chinese official said Tuesday, as expectations grow for a landmark accord between the Holy See and Beijing on the appointment of bishops. Chinese Catholics are split between those who attend officially sanctioned churches ...
Myanmar agrees to UNSC visit but no word on if tour of restive Rakhine will be allowed
Myanmar has agreed to a visit by the U.N. Security Council after months of resistance, but it remains unclear whether ambassadors will be allowed to go to Rakhine state, the body's president said Monday. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have been driven out of Rakhine state and ...
Five blocks from the Vatican, on the bustling, tourist-packed street leading to St. Peter's Basilica, a Taiwanese flag flutters from the window of a third-story suite of offices that house Taipei's embassy to the Holy See. These days, the staff inside are anxious. They know ...
A Chinese film festival has pulled the award-winning gay romance "Call Me By Your Name" from its program, the movie's distributor said Monday, reflecting China's inconsistent relationship with gay themes in the creative arts. The movie, which won a screenplay Oscar this month, was withdrawn ...
Feminist activists are preparing to sue China's biggest social media platforms for deleting their organization's account, the group's founder said Saturday. On March 8, International Women's Day, staffers operating the prolific Feminist Voices account on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform found it had been deleted. Weibo customer ...
Once harassed herself, South Korean lawyer fights for Me Too victims
Almost a decade ago, Lee Eun-eui was thrust into a lonely battle against her employer, Samsung, after she reported unwelcome touching by a superior. Shamed by her supervisors and sidelined by her colleagues, Lee's career as an international sales representative at the company stagnated. "No one ...
