Women of different cultures react differently to a compliment

Turkish photographer Mehmet Genç takes photos of women around the world before and after they receive a compliment. What happens next is priceless.


http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161206-heres-how-women-of-different-cultures-react-to-a-compliment

The Spanish sweet perfected by nuns

Though historians may not be able to pinpoint who is responsible for the creation of turrón, legends on its origins abound. But the best turrón won't be found in a supermarket — at least according to many Spaniards. If you want an artisanal-quality turrón, you have to go to the nuns.

“For us it’s very important how we work,” sister Contxi said. “It’s important to work in silence to have the ability to hear ourselves. Everything is unity and everything is harmony, and depending on how we work, things turn out one way or another. Being together with other sisters – and being together bien (well) – is an important part of this work.”


http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161214-the-spanish-sweet-perfected-by-nuns

The surprising origins of famous Christmas carols

There’s just something so timelessly English about Away in a Manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem and We Three Kings, even though they’re all from the US. There’s something so Christmassy about Wenceslas and Ding Dong Merrily on High and Jingle Bells even though none of them mentions Christmas, and Jingle Bells (which is also American) was written about Thanksgiving.

But somehow these carols work, and so do all the others.


http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161220-the-surprising-origins-of-famous-christmas-carols

Japan celebrates Christmas with KFC

Every Christmas season, an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families treat themselves to Kentucky Fried Chicken, in what has become a nationwide tradition.

What is amazing is how this tradition is another sign of globalisation, where rituals spread to other countries and get translated in different ways.


http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161216-why-japan-celebrates-christmas-with-kfc

India’s First Transgender School

After becoming the first Indian state to adopt a transgender policy, Kerala is all set to write history yet again by starting India’s first transgender residential school. Located in Kochi, Sahaj International School will be inaugurated on December 30 this year, by transgender rights activist and artist Kalki Subramaniam.


http://www.thebetterindia.com/78557/kochi-india-first-transgender-school-lgbtq-activism/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7d3f67aaa9-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-7d3f67aaa9-74060141

Bringing strength to one of Africa’s biggest slums with ballet

Fredrik Lerneryd spent the last year and a half photographing a group of ballet dancers in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, one of the largest urban slums in Africa.


http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/photographer-beautifully-captures-the-rise-of-ballerinas-in-africas-biggest-slums_us_58501486e4b04c8e2bb1d67e

Using the power of music to turn school children into changemakers

Two Teach For India Fellows are exploring this concept to revolutionize the way their students think and perceive the world around them.


http://www.thebetterindia.com/78137/look-world-new-eyes-music-riyaaz/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ad3ffb3cd5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-ad3ffb3cd5-74060141

It wasn't random

Why is QWERTY on our keyboards...


http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161212-why-is-qwerty-on-our-keyboards

Unbelievably sweet, innocent and pure

Murtaza meets Messi------------------finally!

Murtaza Ahmadi, the Afghan boy who became an Internet sensation after pictures of him wearing an improvised Lionel Messi football shirt (below) went viral, finally got to meet his superstar idol on Tuesday.


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1161214/jsp/frontpage/story_124629.jsp#.WFCyRvl97IU

The village that just wants to share

An abandoned military village in Germany is getting a new lease of life as a hippy commune fit for the 21st Century.


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37510322

Meet Jorge Sanchez

Although he’s ranked the world’s #2 on The Best Traveled website, 62-year-old Barcelona native Jorge Sanchez insists that he is nothing like the other competitive travellers. He comes from a poor background, dropped out of school at 13, and has been on the move ever since. He’s managed to travel to all 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, and to every region of most of the world’s countries.


http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161209-the-runaway-who-travelled-the-world

Why young Londoners are moving to houseboats

Many young Londers have traded their flats for a life of cruising the canals. In the process they’ve not only saved money, but found a new way of life.


http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161205-why-young-londoners-are-moving-to-houseboats

80, and she's still flying!

For nearly six decades Bette Nash has been sharing her contagious smile with the world -- from 30,000 feet.

This makes it quite possible that she's the world's most senior flight attendant, still flying.


http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/02/aviation/bette-nash-oldest-flight-attendant/

Real-life heroes: The Vietnamese women who fought for their country

Many women enlisted into the Vietnamese People's Army and took up roles in frontline nursing and combat while those who joined the Viet Cong worked behind enemy lines in South Vietnam, on sabotage missions and underground in tunnels.

Lee Karen Stow's pictures capture both the military heroines and bereaved mothers created during the Vietnam War.

"We were not afraid." "We would never give up."


http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-37986986

‘Plastic’ bags made of potato & tapioca

EnviGreen, a company founded by Ashwath, produces 100% organic, biodegradable, and eco-friendly bags. Though the company has not started full-fledged sales in India, the bags are already available in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.


http://www.thebetterindia.com/77202/envigreen-bags-organic-biodegradable-plastic/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae399ec22f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-ae399ec22f-74060141

A shocking milestone

For the first time in more than 100 years, the Met is performing an opera written by a woman. Here is a playlist of other female composers, who are often overlooked.


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/02/arts/music/01womencomposers.html?emc=edit_th_20161204&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58824118&_r=1

Life in Castro's Cuba

"One thing that really does need to be made clear is that there isn't abject poverty in Cuba," National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey said. "You're not going to find people sleeping in the streets or kids that look malnourished. But they don't have a lot of material possessions, and there is a lot of inconvenience—standing in line is what you do in Cuba for everything."


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/castro-cuba-fidel-castro-death/

Gaining self-confidence through self-defense techniques

The first self-defense academy for women in Jordan, SheFighter gives women and girls the confidence to stand up against harassment and domestic abuse in a country where gender-based violence often goes unpunished.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jordanian-women-domestic-abuse-defense_us_5835c747e4b01ba68ac3ccef?section=us_world

This 16th century painting found its way home 78 years later

France returned a 16th century painting sold by a Jewish couple fleeing the Nazis, presenting the artwork to the family’s grandchildren in a ceremony.

Since the war, it has been considered one of 2,000 “orphaned” art pieces in France, with its original owners unknown.

“The painting doesn’t even have to have any monetary value. It’s about connecting us to our past and the story of our family that was lost."


http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/france-returns-nazi-painting-jewish_us_583cfd2fe4b0860d611647ae