Precious Buddhist relics stolen in Cambodia
Phnom Penh: Cambodian officials said a golden urn containing what are considered to be remnants of Buddha’s body has been stolen from its shrine near the capital. Government spokesman Ek Tha said the relics have enormous religious and cultural significance for Cambodians. “This relic has been respected by Buddhist followers for thousands of years,” he said. “This theft cannot be accepted. The perpetrator and any associates who connived to commit such a crime must be prosecuted according to the law of Cambodia.” Several countries in Asia possess relics believed to come from the body of Buddha.
Plan to publish reprint of Hitler’s Mein Kampf scrapped
London: Bavaria has cancelled plans to publish a new reprint of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The move comes as the German state’s legal power to ban the book expires in 2015. Bavaria owns the copyright to Mein Kampf and has banned any republication of the Nazi leader’s book, the Daily Star reports. However the ban expires in 2015, exactly 70 years after Hitler shot himself in a bunker in Berlin. According to the report, Bavaria had planned to publish a new edition of the book with critical commentary from a Munich-based historical institute.
$16 million gold Mao statue unveiled in Communist China
Beijing: A gold and jade statue of Mao Zedong worth more than $16 million was unveiled today, in the latest example of Communist China’s indecision over how to commemorate its founding father’s 120th anniversary. The statue, 80 cm tall but weighing more than 50 kilograms, was put on display in the southern boom town of Shenzhen, China National Radio (CNR) reported.
Jewels owned by Duchess of Windsor sell at UK auction
LONDON: Dazzling jewels and precious objects that provide a rare glimpse into the love affair between the former British monarch Edward VIII and his American wife have fetched 620,125 pounds at an auction here. The top-selling lot at Sotheby’s auction, was a Cartier sapphire bracelet, designed as a series of oval links set with cushion-shaped sapphires in alternating light and dark shades of blue, that sold for 230,500 pounds. The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, was seen wearing this bracelet on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Paris in 1972, the last time the Queen was to see her uncle Edward, the Duke of Windsor, prior to his death. The Duke of Windsor abdicated after 11 months on the throne in 1936 to marry Simpson, a divorced American socialite.
