Designer Vera Wang and husband separate

Vera Wang arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in West Hollywood, Calif. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)Vera Wang’s publicist says the New York fashion designer has separated from Arthur Becker, her husband of 23 years.“They remain devoted parents to their two daughters,” Wang’s company president, Mario Grauso, said in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily.No reason was given for

July 12, 2012

Korea’s first adoption center opens for rescued animals

The country’s first adoption center for rescued animals opened Saturday on Toegye-ro, Seoul, ironically, on a street lined with pet shops and puppy mills. Director of Coexistence of Animal Right on Earth (CARE) Park So-yeon explained that she specifically chose Toegye-ro as the location for CARE’s Adoption Center because the area is famous for puppy mills. “Hundreds of animals are locked up in small cages for reproducing pets. When the breeding dogs become useless, they are handed over to dog me

July 11, 2012

Why Mali’s Islamists are destroying Timbuktu Muslim shrines

PARIS (AFP) ― The mausolea of Timbuktu, known as the “city of 333 saints,” are shrines in the Sufi brand of Islam dominant in Mali but a heresy to the fighters who follow the radical Wahhabi tradition, experts say.Fighters from the Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) group which controls large swathes of northern Mali on Tuesday started hacking away at two tombs that are part of the ancient Djingareyber mud mosque, the city’s largest.Equipped with pickaxes and shovels, the fundamentalist group start

July 11, 2012

Language-exchange cafes and groups promote cross-cultural understanding

Ross Kang didn’t see a future as an industrial parts buyer at LG. What he really enjoyed doing was learning English with native speakers, but couldn’t find comfortable places to conduct the meetings. So Kang left his stable job to create a business based on that experience. The first Culture Complex language and culture exchange cafe opened in 2005 and the CEO hasn’t looked back.“Foreigners, especially ones who just got to Korea, know little about Korea and they need help,” says the 35-year-old.

July 10, 2012

Caravaggio claims spark Italian art world spat

ROME (AP) ― Caravaggio was notorious for his brawling, so it might be fitting that a claim by two Italian art historians that they discovered as many as 100 drawings by the painter in his boyhood has sparked an art world uproar.The researchers say they found dozens of early drawings by Caravaggio in the collection of master Milanese artist Simone Peterzano, the painter’s teacher from 1584 to 1588. Many experts have responded with skepticism to the startling claim: Over the centuries, art histori

July 9, 2012

Culture Ministry unveils drive for ‘productive’ leisure

The Culture Ministry will begin a nation-wide campaign to promote recreation in the second half of the year with the aim of improving citizens’ quality of life.“Most Koreans still spend their spare time passively by watching TV and playing computer games at home. To create a productive and creative leisure culture here, the ministry will encourage people to spend more time outdoors, engage in various sports and attend cultural programs,” Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik told reporters in Seoul o

July 9, 2012

Seo Hee becomes principal dancer of American Ballet Theater

American Ballet Theater (ABT) has promoted its Korean-born ballerina Seo Hee to the position of principal dancer, the renowned U.S. troupe announced via its website on Friday. Seo is the first Korean dancer to hold the position.Seo HeeSeo’s promotion is taking place just weeks before her “Giselle” Korean tour which is scheduled to take place from July 18-22. The 26-year-old dancer joined the ABT s

July 7, 2012

‘All Eyes on Korea’ vies for London limelight

Korean Culture Centre UK on a 100-day journey to promote Korean culture in the Olympic host cityIt all started with K-pop. Interest in Korean pop artists has led to many young Europeans wanting to know more about Korea and its other cultural offerings such as food, traditional music, film and art. To meet the growing interest, Korean Culture Centre UK kicked off a three-month-long journey titled “All Eyes on Korea” last month to offer a wide range of creative Korean culture in various parts of L

July 4, 2012

UNESCO: Rio de Janeiro is world heritage site

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― Rio de Janeiro’s iconic landscape, marked by soaring granite facades that drop into the ocean and white-sand beaches that go on for miles, is now an official world heritage site, the UNESCO announced Sunday.The UN’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization gave Rio the title in recognition of the unique way its exuberant natural setting blends with the urban landscape. Rio has great waterfront open spaces, and one of the world’s largest forested areas encompassed en

July 2, 2012

‘Gugak empowers spirit, feels more like nature’

Most Koreans talk proudly of K-pop for having made inroads overseas where traditional music, or “gugak,” has failed. For Grammy-winner Henry Kaiser, however, gugak is much more fascinating and holds far more power to touch hearts.“Western music is all straight lines, Korean music is all curved ones. And curved lines are more like nature and feel better to me,” Kaiser said in an interview with The Korea Herald.Kaiser, 60, is among the first generation of American free improvisers to have experime

July 1, 2012

Pope confers pallium on Seoul’s new archbishop

Pope Benedict XVI honored 44 new archbishops from across the world including the newly appointed archbishop of Seoul Andrew Yeom Soo-jung at the Vatican Palace, Thursday, according to news reports.Archbishop Yeom received the pallium ― the woolen liturgical vestment symbolic of the authority of a metropolitan archbishop. According to Catholic tradition, the pope confers the pallium on all new metropolitan archbishops on June 29, the day of the annual feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Yeom thanked

July 1, 2012