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New York Graffiti Haven Braces for Gentrification

Graffiti artists are used to escaping cops, jumping from roofs, and dodging trains, but New York painters who turned an abandoned factory into a street art legend now face their real nemesis: gentrification.

5Pointz in the borough of Queens is one of the city's most arresting sights -- a huge building plastered in brilliantly colored, skillfully executed graffiti works that have won international acclaim.

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Miss World Pageant Meets Chinese Mining City

More than 100 beauty queens from around the globe have descended on the northern Chinese mining city of Ordos on the edge of the Gobi desert ahead of the Miss World final this Saturday.

Built on the arid and sparsely populated steppes of Inner Mongolia and around 700 kilometers (440 miles) from the nearest beach, Ordos makes an unlikely setting for the world's biggest beauty pageant.

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Salafists Block Tunisia Comedy Show That 'Offends Islam'

Radical Islamists obstructed a stand-up comedy performance by Tunisian actor Lotfi Abdelli, the ministry of culture said on Wednesday, accusing those responsible of attacking freedom of expression.

"The attack by people associated with the Salafist movement on the Bayrem Ettounsi cultural center in the town of Menzel Bourguiba" prevented Lotfi's show "100% Halal" from taking place, the ministry said in a statement.

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Tough Desert Life Wins Bedouin Teen Fairy Tale Award

It was the trauma of seeing Israeli troops raze homes in the Bedouin community where she lives that inspired 14-year-old Salha Hamadin to write an award-winning fairy tale.

Earlier this year, Salha, who comes from an impoverished Palestinian Bedouin community near Jerusalem, was crowned winner of the teenage category of the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale Bay competition, which saw 1,200 entries from around the world by youngsters aged 11 to 16.

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Without a Car, Ramadan Shopping a Struggle in Hebron

It is a blistering summer day in the West Bank city of Hebron and Mohammed al-Jaabari sweats profusely as he struggles to haul a heavy gas canister through an Israeli checkpoint.

It is not an enviable task on any day and particularly not during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when most Palestinians fast from dawn till dusk, making any physical effort doubly hard.

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Yasukuni Shrine: Tokyo Sanctuary for War Dead

The Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto sanctuary in Tokyo originally built in 1869 to honor those who gave their lives for Japan.

Around 2.5 million souls are enshrined there, the vast majority of them soldiers who died in Japan's armed conflicts running up to and including World War II.

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Indian Yoga Guru Ends Anti-Graft Hunger Strike

An Indian yoga guru on Tuesday ended a six-day hunger strike against corruption but vowed to use his public popularity to pile pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Baba Ramdev, a maverick "holy man" who heads a wealthy international yoga organization, sipped juice to break his fast as several thousand supporters cheered him in New Delhi.

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Indian Sikhs Push 'Turban Pride'

The evening turban-tying class in the Sikh-dominated Indian city of Amritsar is packed with pre-teen boys learning a centuries-old tradition -- that religious leaders fear is under threat.

Over the next 90 minutes, the instructors unfurl long strips of cloth in vibrant hues from indigo to burgundy, and proceed to knot, pleat and finally tie them carefully around the boys' heads.

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Thousands Claiming Ties to the Huns Descend on Hungary

A Hungarian festival for those claiming kinship with the ancient nomadic Huns wound down Sunday after drawing tens of thousands of distant cousins from across Asia and the Caucasus.

Police said some 80,000 people descended on the village of Bugac for three days of concerts, horse racing, folk dances, archery and other activities at the "Kurultaj" festival, a word of Turkish origin meaning "tribal meeting".

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Russia Marks Victory over Napoleon with 'March on Paris'

Russian Cossacks on horseback Sunday kicked off a two-month-long friendly march on Paris to mark the bicentenary of a key battle Russia fought against Napoleon that led to an eventual French defeat.

The commemorative horse trek spanning some 2,500 kilometers (1,560 miles) and estimated to cost $2.5 million (2.0 million euros) is supported by the Russian government and comes amid a drive to boost Russia's global standing.

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