The Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and Sotheby’s auction house ― these are just some of the major institutions that have been forced to repatriate artworks in recent years. Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Cambodia have all successfully used their cultural property laws to secure the return of important antiquities from collectors and museums.Treasures from King Tutankhamen’s tomb that had been in the Met’s collection for almost a century went back to Egypt. In

Crowds can’t get enough of the wiry, fresh-faced and charismatic political newbie. Young voters who’ve never cast a ballot before lurch forward to catch a glimpse of the outsider who embodies the new generation of leader they crave ― smart, incorruptible and in touch with their aspirations for change.This charged atmosphere will sound familiar to Americans who embraced Barack Obama in 2008. It’s playing out anew in Indonesia. The news media have been quick to dub presidential front-runner Joko W

Gentlemen, raise a glass to Equal Pay Day. You’ve won again. You are still making about 25 percent more than the woman next to you who is pushing the same pencil, tapping the same computer keys, devising the same software or screwing in the same widget. Each year, a date in April is selected to illustrate how long into the current year a woman must work to match the amount a man doing the same job earned the previous year. We reached that milestone today.But President Barack Obama is on the case

Singapore leader Lee Hsien Loong travelled to Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysia Airlines flight for his annual retreat with Najib Tun Razak. As bilateral ties move up another notch, Lee came to show support to Najib in the wake of the MH370 tragedy.It may be a coincidence but when Lee arrived at KLIA on Sunday, he was on flight MH606 from Singapore.It didn’t go unnoticed.One Malaysian official opined that it reflected his confidence in Malaysia during the MH370 crisis.On Monday after the retreat, Lee m

A shadow was cast over regional peace and stability last week when Japan’s chief cabinet secretary rejected Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks on Japan’s invasion of China and the Nanjing Massacre, says a Xinhua commentary.Adopting absurd rhetoric, Yoshihide Suga referred to Xi’s remark that “Japan’s war of aggression against China caused more than 35 million Chinese military and civilian casualties” as “extremely unconstructive.”Suga refused to recognise the number of the victims, saying th

Who will be elected the next leader of the world’s largest democracy and the oldest continuing civilization? Whoever it is, (he) will either be the fruit of our making good use of freedom gained since 1947, or bitter medicine for failing to do so. For such is this moment, phase and time in the life of this nation, in the making of a millennium that belongs to India.Whoever wins the election, and its consequences, would be the law of cause and effect in unerring work. As the seed is, so the fruit

Microsoft Corp. first tried to get into the television business in the 1990s. That effort failed, but the experience hasn’t stopped it from trying again with the help of heavyweights such as Steven Spielberg and former CBS Corp. film and entertainment boss Nancy Tellem. While the new plan might succeed, it illustrates why tech companies will have a hard time changing the way most Americans consume television.Microsoft’s latest foray into original content makes sense because its objectives are mo

Imagine that someone had told you a year ago what Obamacare would look like in April 2014.Let’s say he predicted that the number of people with health insurance would rise, but by much less than the Congressional Budget Office was projecting. Much of this increase would come from putting more people on Medicaid rather than from the exchanges, which were supposed to be the centerpiece of the law.He went on to predict that President Barack Obama would feel compelled to let people stay in insurance

KIGALI, Rwanda ― Twenty years ago, the state of Rwanda set about trying to hack itself out of existence. Starting on April 7, 1994, Hutu extremists, in a premeditated 100-day campaign, systematically butchered close to 1 million Tutsis ― three-quarters of all those in the country ― as well as moderate Hutus, driving countless more into exile.Yet two decades later, Rwanda is very much alive; indeed, in many respects, it’s thriving. But it remains a confounding place.Visit the country today and yo