Culture
Latest stories
India's 'Mini Taj' Unveiled after Five-Year Refit

One of New Delhi's most famous monuments, a mausoleum that inspired the Taj Mahal, will be officially unveiled Wednesday after a five-year refit that has seen it restored to its original form.

Humayan's Tomb, completed in 1570 by the Islamic Mughal dynasty that ruled most of northern India for more than three centuries, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the biggest draws for visitors to the Indian capital.

W140 Full Story
Nigerian wins Muslim Beauty Pageant Rival to Miss World

A Nigerian woman tearfully prayed and recited Koranic verses as she won a beauty pageant exclusively for Muslim women in the Indonesian capital Wednesday, a riposte to the Miss World contest that has sparked hardline anger.

The 20 finalists, who were all required to wear headscarves, put on a glittering show for the final of Muslimah World, strolling up and down a catwalk in elaborately embroidered dresses and stilettos.

W140 Full Story
Beluga Whales Create Art in Japan Aquarium

Beluga whales at an aquarium near Tokyo are learning how to paint pictures as part of an autumn art program for visitors, an official said Wednesday.

The sea creatures at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama will be showing off their skills with specially adapted paintbrushes that they can hold in their mouths, a spokeswoman for the aquarium said.

W140 Full Story
200 Years of Australian Art on Show in London

A major exhibition of Australian art opens in London on Saturday, charting 200 years of extraordinary change through the country's relationship with its dramatic landscape.

Twelve rooms at the Royal Academy have been taken over for the show, which includes bark paintings, early colonial watercolors, heroic pioneer scenes and modern works.

W140 Full Story
Romanian Bishops Say Office Tower that Irked Vatican Must Go

Romania's Catholic bishops on Tuesday urged the mayor of Bucharest to respect court rulings and tear down an office tower looming over a historical cathedral in the city center.

"The moment has come for the mayor of Bucharest to choose between the financial interest of the real estate promoter and the public interest, which requires that court rulings are to be enforced and the cathedral to be protected," Romania's 16 bishops and archbishops said in an open letter.

W140 Full Story
Coppola, Domingo among Nobel Arts Prize Winners

Moviemaker Francis Ford Coppola and opera singer Placido Domingo are among five winners of a lucrative award that has been dubbed the "Nobel Prize of the arts."

British sculptor Antony Gormley, Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and British architect David Chipperfield were also announced Tuesday as winners of the Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale Awards, which come with a 15 million yen ($150,000) purse.

W140 Full Story
Britain Faces up to Muslim Veil Ban Debate

Britain was dragged into a debate Tuesday on Muslim women wearing full-face veils in public, with its biggest selling newspaper adding to calls from politicians to join European countries that have banned its use.

The topic had stayed below the British political radar until the past week when a judge ruled that a Muslim woman will be allowed to go on wearing a veil but must take it off while giving evidence at her trial.

W140 Full Story
Pope Calls for 'Another Way' for Catholic Divorcees

Pope Francis on Monday called for "another way" of treating divorcees who remarry -- a thorny issue since Catholics who wed a second time are currently not allowed to receive Holy Communion at mass.

Catholic faithful should "feel at home" in parishes and those who have remarried should be treated with "justice", the pope was quoted as saying by Romasette, the local newspaper for the diocese of Rome.

W140 Full Story
Titanic Bandmaster's Violin Goes on Display

The violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the liner sank beneath the waves is to go on display at a museum marking the tragedy in Northern Ireland, officials said Monday.

The instrument belonging to Wallace Hartley was found strapped to his body after he drowned with some 1,500 others on board the supposedly unsinkable ship in 1912.

W140 Full Story
Indian PM Vows Tough Action over Deadly Religious Riots

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed Monday severely to punish those to blame for recent Hindu-Muslim clashes that left 49 people dead, as he met people displaced by the violence.

Singh said his government would work with local authorities to help victims of the unrest, which erupted earlier this month in the village of Muzaffarnagar in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh.

W140 Full Story