World

A Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques.

Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors.

The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is determined to change all that — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The head of a Christian schools group has defended the practice of having students sing an additional religious verse to the national anthem — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The financial abuse of elderly Australians is getting worse with a growing number of cases and an increase in the amounts of money involved.

But it is not criminal scams which are inflicting the abuse; research shows that family members are the most likely perpetrators — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Dozens of wildfires raging in rain-starved Texas are now reported to have engulfed more than 1,000 homes.

The biggest of the blazes — 16 miles (26km) wide — in rural Bastrop County, is burning out of control for a third day, having destroyed 600 homes.

Two people were reported to have died in the Bastrop blaze, a local sheriff said, amid hopes for calmer winds to help control the fires.

Texas has been suffering its worst drought since the 1950s — via redwolf.newsvine.com

BC Mounties say 13 high-end luxury cars were impounded and 13 people fined after an alleged street race in Metro Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon — and police are looking at permanently seizing the vehicles — via redwolf.newsvine.com

This handy chart of defunct country names can help you determine the age of your globe

A former Australia Post contractor has been sentenced for stealing almost 3,000 items of mail from the Castlemaine area in central Victoria.

Peter Jackson, 53, has been sentenced to 10 months’ jail for stealing the articles between 2005 and March this year when they were seized by police at his Chewton home.

Police estimate the items to be worth more than $60,000 and include clothing, books, jewellery, pornographic material, wedding photos, a funeral DVD, war medals and cancer medication — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Australia is facing the possibility of a ferocious bushfire season because of vast areas of grass which have grown across the country in the wake of recent rains — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Austrian police are investigating claims that a man locked up his two mentally ill daughters in a small room in their home and sexually abused them for 41 years.

Officers said the 80-year-old repeatedly raped the women between 1970 and May 2011 in St Peter am Hart, near the Bavarian border. The alleged victims are now aged 53 and 45. A police official did not name either the suspect or the alleged victims.

Police confirmed they were investigating after a report in the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten newspaper — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Channel Nine’s director of news in Brisbane has resigned and three journalists have been sacked for faking reports about the search for Daniel Morcombe’s remains — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Warring tribes on the tiny Pacific island of Tanna have agreed to swap two children to settle a long-running land dispute that descended into violence.

The clans, who have been arguing over property rights on the island for more than two decades, revived the ancient and controversial custom of child swapping in an attempt to end hostilities after the feud turned violent and several people were injured in a brawl.

Such a child swap has not taken place in more than 200 years — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Russian investigators say a high-ranking retired police officer who allegedly organized the 2006 murder of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been arrested — potentially the breakthrough her family and friends have been waiting for after many false starts and two botched trials.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman of the official investigative committee, identified former top Moscow police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov as a key suspect in the case after he was arrested yesterday.

According to the investigation, Pavlyuchenkov received the order to organise the killing of Anna Politkovskaya in exchange for a monetary reward and gave his agreement, he said in a statement today — via redwolf.newsvine.com