Indonesia is deliberating criminalizing unmarried couples living together and lengthening jail terms for adulterers, a lawmaker said Friday, in plans that activists have dubbed regressive.
The proposals were drafted by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry as the House of Representatives revises the nation's dated criminal code, garnering support from several members.
Full StorySpain's top museums are raising entry prices, opening for longer hours and sending works abroad in touring exhibitions in a scramble for new revenue to offset steep government cuts to their budgets.
Spain's conservative government has slashed spending on culture by nearly 20 percent this year to 722 million euros ($940 million) as part of the steepest budget cuts since the country returned to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Full StoryIndia's remote northeast is home to an ancient tribe whose high regard for women makes it a striking anomaly in a male-dominated country.
But as the world marks International Women's Day this Friday, the region has become a staging ground for an unlikely battle in which men are trying to end a matrilineal tradition practised by more than a million people.
Full StoryDefenders of women's rights in Morocco are inching closer to a long-awaited goal as the kingdom's parliament works to amend a law that allows a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim.
Morocco was shocked in March 2012 by the suicide of Amina Filali, 16, who was forced to marry the man who had raped her. He remained a free man under Article 475 of the kingdom's penal code.
Full StoryThe nuns of "Le Creche," the only orphanage in Bethlehem, have raised generations of children in this biblical town.
But only four aging nuns remain, down from a dozen 30 years ago, and the Roman Catholic church is struggling to replace them. In the meantime, they have hired a professional staff to do jobs once solely performed by nuns.
Full StoryStacked up in Liu Yi's studio dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire.
Liu, 50, is a rare example of a member of China's Han ethnic majority taking up the Tibetan cause -- a project that has finally brought the authorities to his door.
Full StoryNautical sailor tops and Madonna's conical bra are coming to London next year in an exhibition of the work of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier.
"The Fashion World Of Jean Paul Gaultier" will open at the Barbican Centre in April 2014.
Full StoryAn oblong crystal found in the wreck of a 16th-century English warship is a sunstone, a near-mythical navigational aid said to have been used by Viking mariners, researchers said on Wednesday.
The stone is made of Iceland spar, a transparent, naturally-occurring calcite crystal that polarizes light and can get a bearing on the Sun, they said.
Full StoryA private collector has paid a world record Aus$495,000 (U.S.$508,000) for one of Australia's first coins, known as the "Holey Dollar", auctioneers said Wednesday.
Only 300 of the coins survive and Belinda Downie, managing director of Melbourne dealer Coinworks, said the one that sold this week was the finest example.
Full StoryChinese couples are flocking to divorce to evade a new tax on home sales after the government cracked down on property speculation, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported Wednesday.
China's central government last Friday issued rules to rein in house prices, including a nationwide capital gains tax of 20 percent on profits owners make from selling residential property.
Full Story