NEWSWORTHY
Umer Farooq's grandfather and father made bagpipes. Now he is the third generation to take up the tradition in Pakistan, which is thousands of kilometers from Scotland yet sells thousands of bagpipes each year. The fresh smell of wood floats through the Mid East factory ...
India's top court orders eviction of more than 1 million forest dwellers
India's Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of more than 1 million indigenous people and others who live in forests after the federal government failed to defend a law aimed at protecting their rights. The top court's order, dated Feb. 13 and delivered in written ...
Some rural Hong Kong men with special land rights call for end to colonial system
Sitting in the spacious courtyard of an 18th-century ancestral hall belonging to his clan, William Liu defiantly rejects a lucrative birthright that his special status as one of Hong Kong's male indigenous villagers affords him. Liu hails from the rural northern part of Hong Kong ...
London woman guilty of mutilating daughter in landmark female genital mutilation trial
A London mother has been found guilty of subjecting her 3-year-old daughter to female genital mutilation in Britain's first conviction for the practice, more than 30 years after it was outlawed. The Ugandan mother of two, who cannot be named for legal reasons, could face ...
Indian police arrest founder of Love Commandos, group that helps couples who defy families
The head of Love Commandos, an organization that offers shelter to runaway lovers, has been arrested in Delhi for extortion and abuse of desperate couples, officials said Thursday. The group became well known for providing safe houses and legal advice to couples who defied family, ...
2019 and all's well: After 600 years, night watchman still keeps vigil over Swiss city of Lausanne
Every evening, the night watchman clambers to the top of the Lausanne Cathedral's bell tower and shouts out the time each hour, keeping a six-century-old tradition alive. The night watchman, one of the last in Europe, no longer alerts this Swiss city to fires, but ...
In the name of the gods: Indian girls forced into sex work despite ban on ancient ritual
Young girls in south India continue to be "dedicated" to village temples and then forced into prostitution despite laws banning the ancient ritual, researchers say. The devadasi system, which involves putting a beaded necklace around girls and often leads to a life of sex work ...
Saudi woman's bid to flee family rallies opposition to male guardianship
An 18-year-old Saudi woman's flight from what she said was an abusive family has rallied opposition to the kingdom's male guardianship system, still a major constraint on women despite the conservative Muslim country's efforts to open up. Some freedoms have been granted under Crown Prince ...
Is Saudi Arabia on the road to ending the scourge of child marriage?
Saudi Arabia is trying to ban child marriage through new regulations, but loopholes are leaving young girls in the deeply conservative kingdom unprotected, campaigners said Thursday. The Shura Council, a top advisory body to the government, approved regulations on Wednesday to prohibit marriage for girls ...
A spate of brutal witch hunts has plunged parts of Papua New Guinea's highlands into a state of terror as fearful tribes blame dark forces for their rapidly changing world. In one particularly horrifying incident that was filmed, an elderly woman writhes and pleads hysterically ...
Police in southern India said Friday that a third woman has entered a flash point temple, stoking tensions after two days of clashes involving Hindu hard-liners and police. The Sabarimala temple in Kerala state has been at the center of a prolonged showdown since India's ...
One dead, 15 injured after women defy traditionalists to enter Indian temple
One person was killed and at least 15 injured in violence that broke out in southern India's Kerala state after two women defied traditionalists to enter one of Hinduism's holiest temples, police said Thursday. Clashes were reported across the state after the two activists, escorted ...
