Miss World axes bikinis

Contestants at this year's Miss World beauty pageant will not wear bikinis in the parade in a bid to avoid causing offence in Muslim-majority Indonesia, organisers confirmed Wednesday.

The 137 women taking part in the September contest will swap bikinis for more conservative attire, such as traditional sarongs, for the beach fashion section.

The contest is being held on the resort island of Bali, where foreign tourists flock in their millions and the beaches are packed with women sunbathing in skimpy swimwear.

But Miss World Organisation chairwoman Julia Morley insisted that none of the...

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An international beauty context shows one way to handle cultural differences in a globalizing world.

House of Power

Atherton: House of Power is the first book in a trilogy by Patrick Carmen and takes place in the mysterious three tiered world of Atherton. There is the top layer, or the Highlands, where the water for the whole world originates and the high society and leaders of the world reside. Directly below that, there is Tabletop, where eleven year old Edgar lives with the rest of the working class. This is also where the groves are, which is where Edgar works under the evil Mr. Ratikan. If he puts one toe out of line, Mr. Ratikan will end up taking away meals and increasing work as punishment. At the bottom of the world is the Flatlands, where all the horrors of the entire world reside, waiting to eat any leftovers that fall from Tabletop. While tending to the fig trees in the Groves, Edgar daydreams about what could possibly be in the Highlands. He finally decides to climb there during the night, even though it is completely forbidden. While climbing up, he discovers a mysterious book that he believes contains secrets to his past and might contain information on the origin of his world. There’s only one problem though; he can’t read. So when he finally climbs up and manages to locate somebody who can read, he has to repeat his forbidden climbing night after night. In doing this, he discovers that certain handholds are lower than the previous night; meaning that the Highlands are sinking into Tabletop. And in all this chaos, he has to worry about Mr. Ratikan’s punishments. He must travel all over this world to find a way to save all three layers, including the dreaded Flatlands.

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Looking for a good book to read? Maybe you'll enjoy this recommendation.

Bollywood turns 100

Sunil Gandham of a company called Nirmal Seeds partnered with an American-based group to provide what he calls the new direction of agriculture.
“So this is the only way – a cheap way – with less cost, how to increase their vitamins, irons, all these micronutrients which are needed for the health of the body.”

His company is providing millet seeds that have extra iron. VOA reporter Aru Pande says that more than 60 percent of women in India do not have enough iron in their bodies. The lack of iron leads to problems in pregnancy, childbirth, and development in young children.

Parwath Pokharkar has seen the effects of low iron levels on women in her village. She says the women bleed a lot and...

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The Indian movie industry, known as Bollywood, celebrates 100 years of movie making. Bollywood movies are well-known for their mix of drama, singing, and dancing. If you haven't seen a Bollywood movie, you should!

An unusual instrument for sale at the Smithsonian Craft Show

The Smithsonian Craft Show is the most respected show of its kind in the United States. It is also one of the most difficult for artists to enter. This year, more than 120 artists displayed their work in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum in Washington. Steve Ember tells us about one of them.

Bob McNally considers himself both an artist and a musician. He invented an instrument he calls a Strumstick. He says it is designed to get everyone to make music.

“People are capable of playing musical instruments, but if you play an instrument and get frustrated with it early enough, you decide, it’s you, there’s something lacking in you. And I wanted to make an...

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There are various interesting topics in this report. I was surprised to learn that a man has invented a new instrument. It is supposed to be very easy to play even for beginners. Read on for more interesting stuff.

Fake accents, well-done, can make all the difference

When it comes to accents, they paint a picture in people's mind. And they can make or break the character. That's born out in real life and on the silver screen. Renée Zellweger was widely praised for her English accent in Bridget Jones’s Diary -- and Radovan Karadžić managed to evade authorities for years, in part through a fake accent.

Accents are strange things. By the time we become teenagers we’re all pretty much stuck with the accents with we have, unless we consciously decide to change them.

And that takes a lot of effort.

What makes a fake or unnaturally acquired accent convincing?

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The way we sound when we speak is closely connected to our self-image. Actors, however, often need to change the accent they use in order to create characters. Here we get some tips about how they retrain their mouths and shape new identities.

3-D goes from movies to real world

Movie fans know that their action hero Superman does not really fly. And, in the movie Superman Returns, another visual trick is played on viewers. The man they see flying is not real. He is what is called a virtual actor. The first step in creating this digital actor is to have a real person stand in a room called a light stage. A computer then captures the outlines and shapes of his face and records how they throw off light. Paul Debevec is with the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California.

“We can light them with very specially computer-controlled illumination and take photos of them from seven different viewpoints with high resolution digital still cameras.”

Mr. Debevec is part of a team working to create computerized images of people, objects and environments that look and act real. The light stage permits actors to be turned into digital versions of themselves much like the blue creatures in the movie Avatar. The real world could soon be using a...

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Science fiction stories and movies have filled our imaginations with what the future may look like. Computer experts are working on 3-D technology that may make it possible to have 3-D teleconferencing in the next few years. Imagine that!

Songs about spring can be happy or sad

On earlier shows, we have brought you some of our favorite songs about summer, autumn and winter. Now it is spring in the northern part of the world so it is time to celebrate that season. Many people think of this classical music piece when they think "spring." It is Allegro from Concerto Number One "Spring" from the "Four Seasons." Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote it in the seventeen hundreds.

Spring is a wonderful season to celebrate rebirth and new life. The long, cold winter is over. The weather is warmer and sunnier. The trees again have leaves and the flowers are blooming. The season represents hope, joy and beauty.

However, not all songs about spring are happy. This song by K.D. Lang is about dreaming of spring in cold dark places. She recorded "I Dream of Spring" in two thousand eight.

Unlike the other seasons, there are not many rock songs about spring. Most of the songs about this season were written in...

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Many artists find inspiration in nature and the changing seasons are a common theme in poems, painting, and songs. It is interesting the emotions seasons can stir in us.

In Austin, film offers global perspective

International films often challenge American viewers to look at life from different perspectives. That was obvious at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, where many films from other countries were being featured.

Movies such as the Turkish film "Zayiat," or Casualties, is the story of a son searching for his father.

Audience members watch "Big Easy," a film at the Paramount Theater during the South by Southwest festival, Austin, Texas, March, 17, 2012. ​​Staying with relatives in Istanbul and using friends as
actors, New York-based director Deniz Tortum made what he calls a no-budget film.

“The budget of the film was two thousand dollars, so it was pretty much no budget," he says, explaining that he shot in neighborhoods where...

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An aspiring young director from Turkey caught the attention of his audience at a film festival in the US. He shot the film in places he grew up in with the help and support of friends and family.

Rock musicians 'Carry On' in Pakistan

Rock and roll never really died in Pakistan. But it did fade away.

Pop and rock bands used to play in clubs across Pakistan in the more liberal 1980s, but have largely receded from the public eye. One band is still playing and reaching out to other musicians, though, in an effort to keep Pakistani rock and roll alive.

Drummer Allan Smith of the band "RockLite" says 20 years ago there were dozens of bands playing in clubs, discos and parties across the country. Now he says there are only five.

"A lot of people went abroad from Pakistan. And, we have this whole new group of people that have come into Pakistan and...

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Some say music is a universal language. This report about Rock bands in Pakistan certainly makes it seem true.

Angry Birds, YouTube among top apps of 2012

Angry Birds, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook continued to be among the most downloaded apps of 2012, but rising stars also earned coveted spots on smartphones and tablets.

This past year, consumers spent on average two hours a day using mobile applications, an increase of 35 percent over last year, according to analytics firm Flurry. The number is expected to continue growing in 2013.

"Twenty-twelve was a transformative tipping point in the way consumers use apps,'' said Craig Palli, a vice president at mobile marketing company Fiksu, adding that the biggest shift was in consumers' eagerness to turn to apps for a broad range of day-to-day tasks.

Categories such as social networking, media and entertainment, photo editing, and games, continued to...

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Smart phone technology is expanding rapidly and new applications are appearing just as quickly. It will be interesting to see where imagination and creativity will take us.

Veteran Bollywood director Chopra dies

Renowned Indian film director Yash Chopra has died in hospital aged 80 after suffering dengue fever, ending a decades-long career of flamboyant Bollywood blockbusters.

Dubbed "the king of romance" for his emotional and dramatic tales about the travails of love, Chopra was best known for classic hit movies including Deewar (Wall), Chandni, Silsila and Darr (Fear).

He worked until the final months of his life and his last film Jab Tak Hai Jaan (Till I am Alive), featuring superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif, will be released on November 13.

Chopra told Khan in a televised interview to mark his...

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Have you ever seen a Bollywood movie? Mr Chopra helped make the Indian films popular internationally. If you like human dramas with singing, dancing, and interesting fashion, I recommend watching his films.

Comics for the digital crowd

Comics have entertained people for a long time and now digital technology is making it possible to enjoy them in new ways.

Tokyo Station light show

A special event was held on September 23rd to celebrate the reopening of the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. The building has been under construction for several months as crews work to restore it to the original Taisho era style.

A light show combining computer graphics and music created a a fantastic atmosphere.  The theme was "journey through space and time."  The computer graphics were projected onto the building by means of screens that completely covered building itself, 30 meters in width and 120 meters in height.

This state-of-the-art technology called "projection mapping", projects the images in full high-definition. The project was produced by NHK Enterprise, by  general director Daisuke Moriuchi . The images were created by Isao Nishi, Masatsugu Nagai, TAKCOM, Takumi Shiga. Sei Tai Iwasaki was the general director of the music.

Tokyo Station's Marunouchi Building was constructed in 1914 (Taisho 3). The dome on the north-south portion and the third floor was destroyed in an air raid in 1945. JR East will celebrate its grand reopening on October 1.

China, US to announce film making cooperation

China's leader in waiting, vice president Xi Jinping is set to announce a landmark film deal when he heads to Los Angeles on the final leg of his US visit.

Under the planned deal, DreamWorks Animation - famous for film Shrek - and Shanghai Media Group, plus China Media Capital, will build a film studio in Shanghai and, in the longer term, boost Chinese investment in Hollywood.

The deal will give DreamWorks greater access to the fast growing Chinese market and bring US expertise to China's industry.

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Hot Chelle Rae, the band named for a fan who wasn't real

It is not important the fan is not real. What is important is the thought.

Fish out of water story gets Chinese twist

The proverbial "fish-out-of-water" story gets an interesting twist in a new romantic comedy called Shanghai Calling. It is the tale of a rising Chinese-American lawyer named Sam Chao who by all appearances should be comfortable in his new surroundings but is not.

Sam gets the nod from his bosses, against his will, to pursue a major business deal in Shanghai for a revolutionary smart phone. He may look like he belongs in Shanghai, but Sam has never been outside of New York so is clueless about his new location when he arrives. It’s a classic case of culture shock.

"Shanghai Calling" is written and directed by Daniel Hsia. This is Hsia's first feature film and shot entirely on location. The 33-year-old Los Angeles-based director said the idea for the movie came from a...

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Your say: Did school bring you to tears?

Sydney artist Laura Moore has won a new digital art prize with an emotional self-portrait of herself as a teary schoolgirl.

The 25-year-old sat in front of the camera for hours and made herself cry by remembering the worst parts of her school years.

One of the iD Digital Portraiture Award judges, Chris Chapman from the National Portrait Gallery, said school brought up a range of memories for most people.

Did school bring you to tears, or was your education full of happy days?

Share the highs and lows of...

Your say: Did school bring you to tears?

Hollywood plugs in to tech start-ups

Smart phones and tablet computers have become so popular that they are now a part of everyday life for many people around the world. These devices have also prompted an explosion of mobile applications. Hollywood is plugging in to this potentially profitable world of new technology.

Matt Kozlov may be the head of a start-up technology company, but his office is located in an upscale part of town with beautiful views and it's not unusual if he sees a movie star going up the elevator of his building.

"I'm working with some of my childhood heroes right now, which is something a lot of people can't say," Kozlov brags.

 He is working with big names such as singer and actor...

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26,000 attend National Day Parade preview

Some 26,000 spectators got a sneak peak on Saturday evening of the festivities planned for Singapore's 47th National Day Parade (NDP) at the Marina Bay Floating Platform.

The NDP preview show was definitely a success, with participants pulling off their routines perfectly. It is testimony to the months of hard work and practice they have put in.

That dedication was certainly appreciated by the spectators, who were cheering throughout the two-and-a-half hour parade.

Rounding off the parade is the spectacular...

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Who wants a lift?

A trademark London double-decker bus was turned into an athlete doing push-ups to celebrate the Olympic Games.

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