Culture & Society

The Cheirosyphon, the portable Greek firearm   Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire that was first developed c. 672. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect,...

Japanese 'baby factory' man wins custody of 13 kids born to Thai surrogates   Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, became the centre of a "baby factory" scandal in 2014 after Thai police said DNA samples linked him to...

In Pictures: Millions celebrate Lunar New Year   People around the world usher in the Year of the Dog with dancing, feasting, prayers and ceremony. Incense sticks of various sizes were placed into an urn at a...

Three babies abandoned across Berlin in recent years are sisters   Police in the German capital are now hunting for the girls' mother amid fears that she might become pregnant again. Image: The first baby was found...

Lady and the Unicorn: Mona Lisa of the middle ages weaves a new spell Brigid Delaney   The tapestries on display at the Art Gallery of NSW have appeared in everything from the writings of George Sand...

Three Identical Strangers: the bizarre tale of triplets separated at birth   The director of one of the year’s most shocking documentaries talks about his extraordinary subjects, the film-making process, and the age-old question: nature or...

A glimpse of Homs' lost cultural heritage in an Istanbul gallery Melis Alemdar   Since 2011, Homs has become famous around the globe as a symbol of the Syrian uprising. The "Echoes of Homs" exhibition offers a...

How important is Catalonia to Spain? Jon Henley   The region has a greater role in Spain’s economy than its size would suggest. Catalonia occupies just over 6.3% (32,114 sq km) of Spain’s territory, but its importance is...

The schoolgirl thrash metal band smashing stereotypes in Indonesia By: kate Lamb   Taking Rage Against the Machine and Slipknot as inspiration, three Muslim teenagers are blasting their way into the Asian music scene as Voice of...

Heartbreaker, Tom Petty, dies at 66   Veteran rocker Tom Petty, who fronted The Heartbreakers, suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California and was pronounced dead in the hospital. Tom Petty, an old-fashioned rock...