The Korea Herald

[Photo News] Warding off bad spirits

Dec 18, 2013
German museum wants UNESCO heritage listing for Father Christmas

Dec 18, 2013

BERLIN (AFP) ― A German museum has applied for UNESCO heritage status for the country’s traditional Father Christmas, saying he is under threat from the cheery version of Santa Claus popularized globally by Coca-Cola.The German Christmas Museum’s director Felicitas Hoeptner argues today’s Santa Claus is based on a German gift-giver who meted out both treats and punishment, but that knowledge of the figure’s origins is fading away.“Children only know about Santa Claus, because he’s smiling, he br
Greenwich Village gets N.Y. landmark status

Dec 18, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― The city’s newest historic landmark is part of a neighborhood where generations of American cultural greats staged their art, music, literature and politics ― from Edgar Allan Poe and Bob Dylan to Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg.About 250 buildings in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village that reach back to the 1800s gained historic district status Tuesday after a unanimous vote by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. Row houses, small theaters, cafes and clubs that welcomed the
New dawn at last for Britain’s Stonehenge

Dec 17, 2013

STONEHENGE, England (AFP) ― Stonehenge’s new visitor centre opens Wednesday in time for the winter solstice, hoping to provide an improved experience for the million tourists that flock annually to Britain’s most famous prehistoric monument.The mysterious circle of standing stones, on Salisbury Plain in southwest England, is one of the most iconic ancient sites in Europe.However, thanks to decades of rows and indecision, it has never offered much of a welcome beyond a car park ― something which
Damaged Torah scrolls from Iraq buried in N.Y.

Dec 17, 2013

WEST BABYLON, New York (AP) ― Torah scroll fragments found amid a trove of more than 2,700 books and documents in the flooded Iraqi intelligence building basement have been buried in a religious ceremony at a suburban New York cemetery.“This project is somewhat reflective of the new Iraq,” said Lukman Faily, the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. “We are saying we would like to share and preserve the history and the heritage of the Jews, of the Christians, of the Muslims.”The artifacts were found in M
Online ad market continues growth, traditional media’s share falls

Dec 16, 2013

The online advertisement market outperformed that of traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and radio last year, becoming the second strongest platform for advertising following television. The global increase of internet users paints an even brighter future for the industry, which is showing incremental growth thanks to the diversification of platforms including new media, the Korea Creative Content Agency said Monday, releasing the latest statistics on the advertising market. Accordi
Gaya Tumuli reaches UNESCO World Heritage tentative list

Dec 16, 2013

The Gaya Tumuli in South Gyeongsang Province’s Gimhae and Haman, clusters of tombs of kings and aristocrats of the Gaya Kingdom (A.D. 43-532), have been put on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Monday, the two sites were nominated as World Heritage Sites, to be evaluated by the World Heritage Committee for final listing.“Gimhae Daeseong-dong Tumuli and Haman Malisan Tumuli were recommended as candidates for the World Heritage
Works from Spain make only U.S. stop in New Mexico

Dec 16, 2013

SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) ― A collection of drawings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya is part of an international exhibition that’s making only one stop in the U.S. That stop is in New Mexico.“Renaissance to Goya: Prints and Drawings from Spain” opened Saturday at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. It will run through March 9.Museum officials say the exhibition is helping to rewrite the book on Spanish art since it was long assumed that Spanish artists didn’t draw much and produced lit
Christmas events tailored to singles around Seoul

Dec 15, 2013

Being single doesn’t have to mean spending the holiday season alone with nothing to do. For those who find themselves without family or loved ones to spend Christmas with, there are a number of events being held around Seoul for singles. Cinema franchise Megabox will host a special Christmas Eve event specifically geared toward singles searching for love. The Megabox in the Coex Mall will reserve an entire theater for 83 randomly selected single women and 83 randomly selected men to come togethe
Ancient statue to be returned to Cambodia

Dec 15, 2013

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ― Sotheby’s auction house in New York has agreed to return an ancient statue to Cambodia, ending a heated legal battle that began more than a year ago.The agreement, signed Thursday by lawyers for Sotheby’s, the consignor and the U.S. government, states that the auction house will transfer the statue to a representative of Cambodia in New York within 90 days.Sotheby’s and the consignor, a Belgian woman named Decia Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa, “have voluntarily determined, i
‘American Psycho’ musical looks like a bloody hit

Dec 15, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― Is any subject too macabre to make a musical?Not on the evidence of past works including Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” about a homicidal barber, and his presidential killer saga “Assassins.”And now there’s “American Psycho,” an energetic stage adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel about a soulless yuppie serial killer at large in 1980s Manhattan. The book was a savage satire on consumer culture, with antihero Patrick Bateman as punctilious about having the right labels ― fro
Religious leaders speak out against NIS scandal

Dec 12, 2013

Some 164 Protestant clergymen in the Daejeon and Sejong City area on Thursday held a protest urging President Park Geun-hye to resign over her sloppy measures against the state intelligence agency’s alleged interference in the 2012 presidential election.Calling it a “serious incident that threatens the basis of democracy,” the religious leaders said Park should assume responsibility, apologize and step down. “The reason we are asking for her resignation is not because we assume that she has orch
U.S. charity buys up Hopi masks to return to tribe

Dec 12, 2013

PARIS (AP) ― A U.S. charitable foundation said Wednesday that it was the anonymous bidder that paid $530,000 for 24 Native American masks in a contested Paris auction two days ago, and will return them to the Hopi and the San Carlos Apache tribes. “These are not trophies to have on one’s mantel,” said Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, director of the Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation, which revealed itself to be the secret caller that triggered a bidding war in Monday’s highly publicized auctio
Sydney Opera House tiles up for ‘virtual’ sale

Dec 9, 2013

SYDNEY (AFP) ― The Sydney Opera House has come up with a novel new way to raise funds and boost the building’s profile by selling “virtual” ownership of the tiles on its tallest sail.On Monday, 125,000 of the tiles went on sale, with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman among the first to put his money behind the initiative which hopes to raise 15 million Australian dollars ($13.7 million).Under the scheme, people can buy a tile online for between 100-400 Australian dollars in a hi-tech campaign called “
Statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s sister recovered

Dec 9, 2013

CAIRO (AFP) ― Egypt said Sunday it has recovered a statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s sister looted from the southern Mallawi museum during riots by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.The 32 centimeter limestone statue of Ankhesamon, sister of the famous boy king and daughter of pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled around B.C. 1,500, was stolen on Aug. 14.“The piece is one of the most important in the museum,” said antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim in a statement.Authorities have recovered 800