NEWSWORTHY
Japan's traditional festivals struggling with financial difficulties
Traditional festivals are having a more difficult time securing financing for their events these days. In the city of Tokushima, famed for its traditional Awa Odori folk dance festival, attendance hit a record low this year, partly due to confusion over financing. And similar stories ...
An 11-year-old child bride has returned to Thailand after widespread outcry over her marriage to a Malaysian man 30 years her senior, an official told AFP on Saturday. Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to wed with the permission of religious courts ...
The incoherent, divisive dogma of cultural appropriation outrage
Clueless online crusaders risk doing real harm to the very cultures they claim to represent
A 28-year-old woman wearing a niqab on Friday became the first person in Denmark to be fined for violating a controversial new law banning full-face Islamic veils in public places, media reported. Police were called to a shopping center in Horsholm, in the northeastern region ...
Sushi's balancing act: Tradition versus adaptation
For leading food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, sushi is part food, part theater, a dining experience unique among Japanese culinary traditions. From the closed-off tuna auctions of Tsukiji to the chefs who meticulously craft morsels of fish for loyal customers, each player has a role ...
Somalia brings first prosecution for female genital mutilation
Somalia's Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir announced on Wednesday the country's first prosecution against female genital mutilation (FGM) following the death of a 10-year-old girl, an adviser to the government said. Ifrah Ahmed, who advises Somalia on gender issues, said the attorney general was sending ...
Outrage follows marriage of Malaysian man to 11-year-old Thai girl
The marriage of a Malaysia man with a 11-year-old Thai girl in the Muslim-majority country has sparked outrage, with one activist Sunday labeling the groom a "child predator." Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to marry if they obtain the permission of ...
Inuit hunting grounds in the Arctic circle were given UNESCO World Heritage status on Saturday, the U.N. agency announced at a meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama. The Aasivissuit-Nipisat area, which lies at the heart of the largest ice-free area in Greenland, "is a cultural ...
An Indonesian was killed when his mother's coffin fell from a funeral tower and crushed him during a service on the island of Sulawesi, police said Sunday. Samen Kondorura, 40, died Friday when pallbearers lost their footing while carrying the coffin up a bamboo ladder ...
Saudi Arabia detains 17 in sweeping crackdown against activists
Saudi Arabia on Saturday said it detained 17 people for "undermining" the kingdom's security, in what campaigners have dubbed a sweeping crackdown against activists just weeks before a ban on women driving ends. Rights groups earlier reported arrests of at least 11 people last month, ...
Teen who killed 'rapist' husband appeals her death sentence in Sudan
A Sudanese teen sentenced to death after killing her husband as he tried to rape her has appealed the ruling amid growing support by celebrities and on social media. Lawyers defending 19-year-old Noura Hussein said they filed the appeal on Thursday, according to U.S. rights ...
Open doors are the key to the future
Encouraging the free flow of people both at the individual and organizational level makes perfect sense.
