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POPSPhotoGallery / Wall Paintings in the Afghan Region of Bamiyan The world was in shock when in 2001 the Taliban destroyed two ancient colossal Buddha statues in the Afghan region of Bamiyan. Behind those statues, there are caves decorated with precious paintings from 5th to 9th century A.D. The caves also suffered from Taliban destruction, as well as from a severe natural environment, but today they have become the source of a major discovery. Scientists have proved, thanks to experiments performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), that the paintings were made of oil, hundreds of years before the technique was “invented” in Europe.
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POPSReligious courts already in use in England Jewish litigation is more varied, but a typical dispute might relate to a partnership, a Jewish school, a Jewish charity or a transaction between two businessmen. The court can hear cases concerning quite large companies, but they must always be privately owned, in that both parties must be Jewish in order to accept the authority of the Beth Din. The service provided by the Beth Din is best described as binding civil arbitration, and they do not seek to replace the state's civil courts. "If one side does not accept the authority of the Beth Din, concerning divorce or any dispute, we cannot act", David Frei clarifies. "And in the case of divorce, the parties must still obtain a civil divorce alongside the religious one."
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POPSResearchers find a 1791 time capsule atop Mexico City Cathedral tower Researchers spent the next three months opening the airtight box and preserving its contents. Among them was a small case of wax blessed by the Pope that served to protect against mishaps, said Rev. Ruben Avila, rector of the cathedral. Also inside was an engraving of Saint Barbara, a Roman Catholic martyr associated with lightning whose image served as "a religious lightening rod, to protect against damage," said archaeologist Xavier Cortes, director of historic buildings for the National Council of the Arts and Culture.
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POPSDNA uniting factor in Lebanon
Geneticist Pierre Zalloua has charted the spread of the Phoenicians out of the eastern Mediterranean by identifying an ancient type of DNA which some Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians share with Maltese, Spaniards and Tunisians A seafaring civilization which reached its zenith between 1200 and 800 BC, the Phoenicians' earliest cities included Byblos, Tyre and Sidon on Lebanon's coast. Their link to Lebanon, has long been a subject of controversy in a country split between an array of religious communities. "Negotiating these waters is a very delicate job," Zalloua said. Seeking to set themselves apart from their Muslim compatriots, some Lebanese Christians have drawn on the Phoenician past to try to forge an identity separate from the prevailing Arab culture. "Whenever I use the word 'Phoenician', people say 'this guy is trying to say we are not Arabs'," said Zalloua, himself a Christian. After five years of research, his work has shown what Lebanese have in common.
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POPSMohammad Ali Jinnah's daughter moves court over Mumbai estate The historic house was the venue for watershed talks on the subcontinent's partition between Jinnah and Indian leaders. Pakistan has repeatedly requested New Delhi either to sell or lease the house for use as a consular office. India has neither refused nor accepted that request
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POPS Breaking repression, Saudi style About 150 gang members emerged from Jeddah's shadows. The graffiti died down after the scheme was introduced but some rogue graffiti artists remain Jeddah gangs benefit from being from powerful families. Ordinary Saudis who dare to paint graffiti can pay a heavy price. A teenager in the northern desert town of Hafr Al Baten was sentenced in February to 60 lashes of the whip and fined 2,000 riyals for defacing walls in his school
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POPS'Baby hatch' highlights Japan fears over adoption Confucianism, which spread to Japan from China and Korea more than a thousand years ago, emphasises the importance of a child's relationship with its birth parents and reverence for ancestry When women give birth they must enter the child's name on their family register, a powerful incentive for single women to end a pregnancy or even abandon a newborn rather than risk its being discovered by a potential employer or future husband For much of Japan's history, adoption has therefore remained within the extended family, with childless couples often taking in a nephew or other relative to carry on their family name or business, rather than because the child was in need of care. "Special adoption," of needy non-relatives was not introduced until 1989 and only a few hundred cases are approved each year, compared with three to four thousand in the United Kingdom, which has around half Japan's population.
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POPSGandhi letter not to go under hammer In the January 11, 1948 letter written for the Harijan newspaper, which he edited, Gandhi makes an emotive appeal for tolerance towards Muslims. "My view remains unalterable especially at this critical juncture in our history. It is wrong to ruffle Muslim or any other person's feeling when there is no question of ethics," Gandhi wrote, just 19 days before Nathuram Godse shot him dead
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POPS Families 'will refuse to hire a Saudi housekeeper' "Not a long time ago, Al-Riyadh, the Arabic newspaper published an advertisement stating, 'Saudi female house manager ...wanted,' at that time many people expressed their anger about it and asked: Have Saudi women reached the point where they have to work as housemaids?" whats so special about Saudi women? what do they have that women from other Asian countries dont have?
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POPS Human bones in demand at Bhutan monasteries "Mukti Biswas, an arrested villager in another district of West Bengal state, told police he had plucked bodies from the river, as well as collecting those left behind at Hindu cremation centres by poor people who lacked the wood to perform a proper cremation" how disturbing...
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POPSbillboards split Parsi community Parsis, also known as Zoroastrians, worship fire and believe that cremation is a mortal sin and that burial pollutes the earth. So they leave their dead atop the towers to be devoured by vultures, a process they believe releases the spirit of the dead
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POPSHumans are endangered while ignorant of truth and reality. There are a number of links,which are to different fields. Some information be fact, some can be philosophical, or speculative, but it will modify any opinion. Any fact doubted should be verified but these days people are learning to do that as a matter of course. If we're going to get out of this hole, we n eed a bigger ladder.
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POPSWomen Primarily Contract HIV from Their Husbands, Study Finds Studies conducted in Nigeria and New Guinea found that "looking for girls" -- even among married men -- is a socially ingrained phenomenon rooted in cultural anxieties about masculinity, and that it aggravates the existing risk of HIV transmission. "The result is that women are infected by their husbands...according to social convention...the only people with whom they are ever supposed to have sex," writes Dr. Hirsch. Similar studies underway in Uganda and Vietnam are expected to produce comparable results. The study suggests reframing HIV prevention dialogue within the context of these socially sanctioned behaviors: In cultures where men's reputations are of the highest social importance, Hirsch recommends teaching men that it is their responsibility to protect their wives from infection.
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POPS'Babylon' in reggae Corruption, politics, police, laws, and cities are often reffered to as"Babylon". Although it is possible to see these mechanisms as having qualities that are detrimental to the well-being of any society, these mechanisms were created out of neccesity, else civilization would fall apart. The materialistic nature of Ancient Babylon provides sharp contrasting element to the Rastafarian Ideology which places high value on the natural world as something that should be lived in harmony with, but not controlled and that they should live their life as Jah intends is to be lived. The emphasis is on the personal, subjective understanding of one's purpose in life. The ancient Babylon mentality prevalent today, has many contrary elements to Rastafarian ideology. For example, modern society values its members according to their wealth, and ability to work in a"professional"setting and sees daily life as serving a utility, not placing importance on the experiential and mystical elements of living.
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POPSSaudis waking up I don't in any way support violence, but I'm glad to see that young Saudis are waking up. I think the time has come for a major rebellion of sorts so that the Saudis can join the modern world. I was very happy to read about the number of women increasing in their workforce
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POPS Haryana's sex ratio changes drastically This is excellent news... 'Successive state governments have taken various measures. Besides coming down heavily on private clinics doing sex determination tests that was attributed to the rising incidents of female foeticide, the state administration announced monetary incentives to parents giving birth to girl child, free education and government help in the form of cash at the time of their marriage.'
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POPSUnderstanding turbans Sikh men commonly wear a peaked turban that serves partly to cover their long hair, which is never cut out of respect for God's creation. Devout Sikhs also do not cut their beards, so many Sikh men comb out their facial hair and then twist and tuck it up into their turbans along with the hair from their heads. Muslim religious eldersoften wear a turban wrapped around a cap known in Arabic as a kalansuwa. Afghan men wear a variety of turbans. And some men in Afghanistan do not wear turbans at all, but rather a distinctive Afghan hat. Iranian leaders:The word turban is thought to have originated among Persians living in the area now known as Iran, who called the headgear a dulband. Indian men sometimes wear turbans to signify their class, caste, profession or religious affiliation The kaffiyeh is not technically a turban. It is really a rectangular piece of cloth, folded diagonally and then draped over the head Desert peoples have long used the turban to keep sand out of their fac
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