PARIS (AFP) ― U.N. cultural body UNESCO on Tuesday called on Libya to immediately cease the destruction of Sufi holy sites after Islamist hardliners wrecked shrines across the country.UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova expressed “grave concern” at the destruction of Sufi sites in Zliten, Misrata and Tripoli and urged perpetrators to “cease the destruction immediately.”“I am deeply concerned about these brutal attacks on places of cultural and religious significance. Such acts must be halted, i

South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect has set up new rules that would suspend duty of high-ranking monks if they broke any laws, the sect said Wednesday after illegal gambling by its monks sparked a scandal in religious circles.The Jogye Order said the new rules aim to prevent illegalities by individual monks from tainting the image of the sect. The sect formerly had no rules to bar senior monks from carrying out their roles in the leadership unless they voluntarily resigned, even after they were

LONDON (AFP) ― Revellers filled the streets of west London as the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest street festival, reached its climax on Monday with its famous Caribbean-inspired parade.A multi-ethnic throng milled between the stalls and thumping sound systems, drinking, dancing, and tasting jerk chicken as the smells of open-cooked food wafted through the air.Cloudy weather did not deter hordes of party-goers from flooding the streets to cheer on dozens of floats and flamboyantly dresse

MADRID (AFP) ― An elderly woman’s catastrophic attempt to “restore” a century-old oil painting of Christ in a Spanish church has provoked popular uproar, and amusement.The well-intentioned but ham-fisted amateur artist, in her 80s, took it upon herself to fill in the patches and paint over the original work, which depicted Christ crowned with thorns, his sorrowful gaze lifted to heaven.Her work done, the “restored” figure looks somewhat like a monkey with fur surrounding a pale face and a child-

ROME (AP) ― Part of an early 19th-century wall near a panoramic terrace overlooking an ancient square in Rome has collapsed.No one was injured when about 9 meters of the Pincio wall fell over above Piazza del Popolo before dawn on Wednesday. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno inspected the damage and promised the wall would be repaired in two weeks. City culture officials blamed a winter of heavy rains and rare snowfall, followed by this summer’s hot, dry weather for causing an outer layer of brickwork

World heritage experts and activists from non-governmental organizations in the Asia-Pacific region will gather in Seoul next week to discuss how to better preserve the region‘s world heritage, the South Korean government said Thursday.The forum, the first of its kind, will be held from Aug. 27 to 30, the Cultural Heritage Administration said.About 40 world heritage administrators, experts and executives of youth organizations for the preservation of world heritage will take part in the event, t

Adherents of a religious sect in western Mexico are physically blocking school teachers from entering their walled community, setting up one of the most high-profile confrontations between religious and civil authorities in Mexico since the 1930s.  Local officials in the western state of Michoacan said Wednesday it may be time to call in a large-scale police operation to enforce the right to schoo

A presidential panel said on Wednesday that it is promoting Buddhist temples in Korea as UNESCO world heritage sites.The Presidential Council on National Branding said it has selected seven Buddhist temples around the country to register them as provisional UNESCO world heritage sites by the end of this year. If selected, the panel plans to apply for formal registration in 2015, an official at the panel said.After a two-year consultation with the Cultural Heritage Administration, the panel chose