Culture
Latest stories
Egypt Jails Two More Female Dancers for Debauchery

An Egyptian court Thursday sentenced two female dancers to six months in jail each for "inciting debauchery," in the second verdict of its kind since June, a judicial source said.

Arrested in July, the dancers known as Bardis and Shakira, were also convicted of "broadcasting obscenities" for appearing in two video clips wearing flimsy clothes and making "suggestive" moves, the source said.

W140 Full Story
Indonesian Politician Threatens Ban on Teen Dating after Dark

Dating just got harder for Indonesian teenagers in West Java, with a local leader on Thursday threatening to ban late-night trysts and marry off young couples caught out after dark.

If a new regulation goes ahead as planned on October 1, teenagers in Purwakarta, a local district about 100 kilometers from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, will be banned from visiting each other after 9pm.

W140 Full Story
China Celebrates 70 Years since Victory over Japan

China kicked off a huge military ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II on Thursday, as major Western leaders stayed away.

President Xi Jinping oversaw the event, riding in a black car past thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks and missiles ahead of a parade through Tiananmen Square.

W140 Full Story
Britons Reflect on Life under Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II will become Britain's longest-reigning monarch on Wednesday after over 63 years on the throne.

Here, three Britons talk about their very different views of her, and their lives during her reign:

W140 Full Story
Saudi Top Cleric Slams Iran Prophet Movie

Saudi Arabia's top cleric hit out at Iranian film "Muhammad" on Wednesday describing its portrayal of the prophet's childhood as a "hostile act" and a "distortion" of Islam.

Iran's most expensive movie, which opened nationwide in the Shiite Islamic republic last week, depicts the prophet on screen, an act that is prohibited in Sunni Islam.

W140 Full Story
Iran Police to Confiscate Cars of 'Poorly Veiled' Women

Women drivers in Iran's capital could have their cars impounded by police if they are caught driving with a poorly fixed veil or without their heads covered, a police chief said Wednesday.

"If a (female) driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law," the head of Tehran's traffic police, General Teymour Hosseini, was quoted as saying by the official ISNA news agency.

W140 Full Story
6 Emerging Female Writers Receive $30,000 Rona Jaffe Awards

Fiction writer Vanessa Hua and nonfiction writer Meehan Crist are among this year's recipients of the Rona Jaffe Awards, $30,000 prizes for emerging female authors.

Hua is working on a novel about a Chinese factory girl, and Crist is studying traumatic brain injury.

W140 Full Story
Syria's Heritage Riches Victim of Intractable War

Syria's conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, but it has also seen the country's irreplaceable heritage dug up and sold, damaged by war and wilfully destroyed.

From pre-historic settlements and ancient markets, to Greco-Roman ruins and Crusader castles, Syria is a repository of treasures from different ages and cultures.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Catholics Mostly Accepting of Non-Traditional Families

The American Catholics who will meet Pope Francis on his U.S. visit later this month are widely accepting of non-traditional families, according to a Pew survey out Wednesday.

While 90 percent of U.S. Catholics said that a household headed by a married mother and father -- traditionally supported by the Catholic Church -- is ideal for raising children, large majorities see single, unmarried and divorced parents as acceptable.

W140 Full Story
Dispute with Israel Govt. Keeps Christian Schools Shut

Christian schools in Israel stayed shut Tuesday, delaying the start of the new academic year, in a funding dispute with authorities in the Jewish state.

The strike action affects around 33,000 pupils, mostly Muslim Israeli Arabs, at 47 schools run primarily by the Roman Catholic church.

W140 Full Story