The Dalai Lama celebrated his 88th birthday on Thursday, as hundreds of his supporters and exiled Tibetans thronged his hillside Indian headquarters in Dharamsala.
Artists played traditional welcome tunes as the Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in his open mobile van to preside over the celebrations in the courtyard of the Tsuglakhang Temple, which was festooned with Tibetan and Buddhist flags and portraits.
Full StoryA Quran burning and a string of requests to approve protests involving the destruction of more holy books have left Sweden torn between its commitment to free speech and its respect for religious minorities.
The clash of fundamental principles has complicated Sweden's desire to join NATO, an expansion that gained urgency after Russia's invasion of Ukraine but needs the approval of all current members. Turkey has blocked Swedish accession since last year, citing reasons including anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic protests in Stockholm.
Full StoryAfghanistan's Taliban authorities have ordered beauty parlors across the country to shut within a month, the vice ministry confirmed Tuesday, the latest curb to squeeze women out of public life.
The order will force the closure of thousands of businesses run by women -- often the only source of income for households -- and outlaw one of the few remaining opportunities for them to socialize away from home.
Full StoryThe Fourth of July is Americana at its core: parades and cookouts and cold beer and, of course, fireworks.
Those pyrotechnics also make it an especially dangerous holiday, typically resulting in more than 10,000 trips to the emergency room. Yet fireworks remain at the center of Independence Day, a holiday 247 years in the making.
Full StoryIn Japan, a nation reputed for loyalty to companies and lifetime employment, people who job-hop are often viewed as quitters. And that's considered shameful.
Enter "taishoku daiko," or "job-leaving agents." Dozens of such services have sprung up in the last several years to help people who simply want out.
Full StoryThe Foreign Ministry condemned Thursday as "violent" and "provocative" the burning of a copy of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden during a protest authorized by the police.
Under a heavy police presence, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, on Wednesday stomped on the Koran before setting several pages alight in front of Stockholm's largest mosque.
Full StoryUNESCO's 193 members states are gathering Thursday for a two-day meeting in Paris aimed at voting on the United States' plans to rejoin the U.N. cultural and scientific agency after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organization's move to include Palestine as a member.
The U.S. announced earlier this month, that it wanted to return, five years after it withdrew from the agency during the presidency of Donald Trump.
Full StoryPope Francis' peace envoy is heading to Moscow on Wednesday in hopes of helping find "a solution to the tragic current situation" of the war in Ukraine, the Vatican said Tuesday.
The two-day mission by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church's peace initiatives, comes as the Kremlin is reeling from the weekend armed rebellion led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Russia has since dropped charges against Prigozhin and others who took part in the brief rebellion.
Full StoryFor Zainab Abdu, the holiest sites in Islam were the backdrop for her weekends growing up.
Raised in Mecca, Abdu remembers roller-skating with friends near the Grand Mosque where the Kaaba is located. The desert plains and valleys that throng with pilgrims every year are where, in the off season, she and family and friends had picnics, rode horses and played soccer.
Full StoryAuthor Haruki Murakami says he's strongly opposed to the redevelopment of a historic and beloved Tokyo park district that would remove his favorite jogging path and tear down the nearly century-old baseball stadium where he was inspired to become a novelist.
The plan approved earlier this year by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike to put skyscrapers and new stadiums in the heart of the Jingu Gaien green district has become increasingly controversial. Followers of baseball and rugby history are opposed to it, as well as conservationists and civil groups who say the project has advanced without transparency, adequate environmental assessment or explanation to the residents.
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