Siberia: Couples still holding each other in loving embrace after 3,500 years
Extraordinary Bronze Age graves unearthed in Siberia: but could there be a macabre explanation?
...Compelling images show ancient burials near Staryi Tartas village, in Novosibirsk region where scientists have studied some 600 tombs. Dozens contain the bones of couples, facing each other, some with their hands clasped together seemingly for eternity. ...
These graves are said to date to between the 17th and 14th centuries BC. The discovery of the couples buried together close to the confluence of the rivers Tartus and Om have had archeologists waxing lyrical and reaching for the Dylan Thomas classic ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’. ...
Siberian Times
Switzerland: Competition for new Swiss anthem set to start
Likened to a weather forecast crossed with a church hymn, Switzerland’s national anthem could be binned in favour of a new version if campaigners get their way.
“Nobody knows the words!” said Pierre Kohler, president of the jury holding an unofficial competition to choose a new anthem. “Anyone who tells you they do is a liar. Or else we manage the first few and afterwards we go ‘la, la, la’” ...
On January 1st, organizers kick off a contest to find a new anthem, open to all and with a first prize of 10,000 francs ($11,000, 8,000 euros). ...
The Local
Swiss national anthem:
Ghana: Atongo Zimba urges re-packaging of northern music
Ghanaian international musician, Atongo Zimba, has called on young musicians from northern Ghana to focus on indigenous music from northern Ghana and re-package it for bigger appeal. ...
“The problem we have here is that we disrespect our own music. ... Music from the northern Ghana is the type Europeans want to hear ...” he said. ...
Daily Graphic
Atongo Zimba performs in Amsterdam:
Indonesia: Remove religion from ID cards: Ahok
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Purnama has expressed his objection to the inclusion of religion on identity cards, saying faith is a personal matter. ...
Jakarta Post
Sri Lanka: Drive with one hand and lose your licence
The Private Transport Minister told Parliament yesterday that steps would be taken to cancel the driving licences of those who drive with one hand on the steering.
Daily Mirror
Jamaica: Cane Selling Helping Family
His ability to charm customers, accompanied by the sharing of jokes while peeling cane, appears to be doing the trick for Albert Swaby. He sells from his handcart at Boundbrook in Port Antonio, Portland, adjacent to the old wharf.
Swaby, who is from the old school of farmers, has stuck to his belief and practice of refusing to use fertiliser on crops grown by him. The 76-year-old farmer, who also sports a cheerful smile, can be overheard from time to time offering encouraging words to the young and elderly.
“I am just a cane man,” uttered Swaby.
He added: “I never had the opportunity of attending school as my parents were poor farmers. I might have gone to school, but it wasn’t for more than a few weeks throughout my lifetime. ...
Jamaica Gleaner
Bhutan: Amochu Menchu
Three enterprising young men have come up with the bright idea of a hot stone bath (at a fee) for devotees
Wang: It was a week ago that a senior couple from Trashiyangtse had their last bath, before they left for Phuentsholing to attend the ongoing Mipham Kabum Wang. Without a relative in Phuentsholing, they put up in a temporary shed along the Amochu, beside the wangkhang, which, they said, was deprived of proper water supply or toilet.
Which was why Tshering Yangzom and Rinzin were overwhelmed, when they heard a new hot stone bath was opened recently near thewangkhang.
Soaking themselves in a wooden tub filled with hot water, they said, the facility was of huge convenience that spared them from bathing in the open along Amochu. ...
Kuensel
*Image of an African woman playing the djembe via Shutterstock
