Inside world of Nepalese child deities who are forbidden from WALKING until puberty. The 'living goddesses' are chosen as infants and adored by thousands of Hindus and Buddhists until menstruationThe Kumaris are an incarnation of the goddess Kali and are seen as protectors from evil and a bestower of good luck The young girls are sheltered away - and cannot go to school - until they are required at festivals and processions By Steph Cockroft Published: 16:29 GMT, 10 June 2014 | Updated: 18:16 GMT, 10 June 2014 In most communities around the world, goddesses are symbolic of a spiritual world.
But in Nepal, these sacred females live and breathe. Handpicked from birth, these pre-pubescent girls are known as Kumaris and are believed to be incarnations of the Hindu Goddess of Power, Kali. From the moment they are chosen for their role, and pass a rigorous 32-stage test, these living goddesses are propelled to immortal-like status, deemed to be protectors from evil by thousands of adoring Hindus and Buddhists. But once they reach puberty, everything changes for these Kumaris. The wedding for 2,000 grooms who can bring knives but not wives: Thousands of men wield swords at huge Yemeni ceremony which women are banned from under Muslim rules.
Only men attend the mass wedding ceremony in Yemen's capital Sana'a - women have their own ceremonyMass weddings are held by charities to help poorer couples avoid the ruinous cost of private weddingsRepresentatives from the Guinness Book Of World Records attended the event to see if it's a record breaker By Sam Webb Published: 06:11 GMT, 1 November 2013 | Updated: 07:43 GMT, 1 November 2013 These fascinating images show Yemeni grooms wearing traditional dresses and carrying swords during a mass wedding ceremony in Yemen - but their brides are nowhere to be seen.
Upon strict Muslim traditions practiced in Yemen, women have their own seperate celebration. The couples met later that night, many for the first time as many marriages in Yemen are arranged. The Orphan Foundation charity organised the mass wedding ceremony for 4,000 couples in the capital Sana'a. Chinese boy, 6, has eyes GOUGED OUT after being 'kidnapped by organ trafficker' Mortified: Relatives of the youngster talk to a nurse.
His parents realised he was missing when they tried to call hm inside the house but received no response 'Extraordinarily vicious': The child's eyes were found nearby but the corneas were missing, reports said, implying that an organ trafficker was behind the harrowing attack After a frantic search with relatives, they found him screaming in a field near their home in Fenxi, north China. The kidnapper had reportedly told Binbin: ‘Don’t cry and I won’t gouge out your eyes.’ The organ trafficker may have been motivated by money. But they could also have been driven to such a horrific crime by the hope of saving someone's sight - or even their own. Problems with the cornea - the clear front part of the eye - can cause the eye to mist up and, if left untreated, lead to blindness. But the most serious conditions such as Fuchs' dystrophy, a degenerative condition that affects older people, can be cured with a transplant, above (file picture).
Chopped up and fed to the vultures, a glimpse into the closely-guarded tradition of the Tibetan sky funeral. Sky burials are a funerary practice in the Chinese provinces of Tibet, Qinghai, and Inner Mongolia and in MongoliaThe majority of Tibetans adhere to Vajrayana Buddhism, which teaches the transmigration of spiritsThey do not see a need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel, so they dispose of it through a sky burialThe body is chopped up and left out for the vultures to feed on Published: 13:38 GMT, 24 July 2013 | Updated: 08:05 GMT, 25 July 2013 These remarkable photos give a glimpse into the closely-guarded tradition of Tibetan sky burials, where bodies are chopped up and fed to the vultures.
Female teacher beheaded and three others tortured by Papua New Guinea villagers who believed them to be witches. Helen Rumbali was dragged from her home tortured and beheaded in publicVillagers said fire flies led them to her house - a sign she was a witchThey accused her of killing another villager - who died from sickness - with her sorceryExperts say disparity in wealth and jealousy are main reasons for increases in such attacks By Helen Collis.
Cambodian fathers build sex huts for their nine to 13-year-old daughters. Members of the Kreung tribe believe that women can be empowered by spending the night with different members of the opposite sex By Tom Goodenough Published: 16:03 GMT, 16 July 2012 | Updated: 20:35 GMT, 16 July 2012 Courting rituals between lovestruck youngsters differ greatly from country to country. In some places around the world, sex before marriage is considered a great taboo and the prospect of a teenage girl spending the night with her boyfriend remains highly unlikely. But in one village in Cambodia, fathers go out of their way to encourage their daughters to have sex: by building them love huts. Love shack?