Features

  DPA His hair is thinning and flecked with grey. His belly is beginning to show a little beneath a brown T-shirt sporting the slogan “Life begins.” But when Jens Mueller, a German graffiti artist known as Tasso, picks up a spray can and sets to work on a canvas none of it matters. “I can live from my pictures,” …

  AFP Deep in the heart of a medieval monastery in Nepal’s remote Upper Mustang region, the battle to restore sacred murals and preserve traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture is in full swing. Tsewang Jigme is among the artists toiling to safeguard the unique cultural heritage of this former Buddhist kingdom high on the Tibetan plateau, which escaped the ravages of …

  Bloomberg The open office plan that everybody loves to hate is here to stay. The ideal seating plan still involves sitting almost on top of your co-workers, according to new research from Harvard Business School in collaboration with Cornerstone OnDemand. What changes, however, is who exactly sits next to whom. For two years, researchers followed the seating arrangements and …

  DPA The day doesn’t start too badly for fisherman Celmo Mantovani. His patch, the Copacabana, is at its best at 5.30 in the morning, the rising sun streaks the sky with red and gold, and the Sugarloaf mountain rears up black against it. Mantovani and a couple of colleagues push their 23-year-old boat, the El Shaday, into the water …

  AFP Thomas Kurz strokes the hood of his Plymouth Road Runner almost affectionately with a cloth. “It’s a 1970 model,” he says, alluding to the fact that this highly polished muscle-car with 335 horsepower under the hood is exactly as old as its owner. Kurz is a trained vehicle mechanic who specializes in US classics. Late last year, he …

  DPA Sitting in a Mexican prison’s library, murder convict David Guzman tattooed a skull on a leather patch for a designer handbag to be sold in a luxury shop. Guzman, 34, took drugs and stole at a young age, falling into a “nefarious” world that landed him in prison, but five years into his murder sentence, he appeared at …

  AFP Having to wear ski jackets in Riyadh is unheard of, but a new snow park in the Saudi capital has made them a must despite outside temperatures exceeding 45 Celsius. People are now donning thermal coats and cosy boots as they sit on sledges to scoot down the slopes of “Snow City”. Stretching over 5,000 square metres (53,800 …

  DPA In the Ugandan capital Kampala, a pot-holed dirt road weaves through a cluster of shacks along a stinking stream until a helicopter made from scrap metal emerges into view. “Welcome to Wakaliwood,” movie director Isaac Nabwana says, stepping out of a group of actors dressed as soldiers or gangsters. Nabwana’s company, Ramon Productions — known as Wakaliwood — …

  TNS If you’re planning to launch a mobile app to generate revenue, you won’t like the look of these figures. Research from Gartner estimates that fewer than 0.01% of apps will be considered a financial success through to 2018. With an average investment of $270,000 to design, build and launch an app, it’s not a small project by anyone’s …

  DPA Freestyle Fairy is not in a good mood. “When they prick their ears back like that, they’re getting ready to bite you,” says Leslie Combs. The man with the southern US accent is standing in the stall of the two-year-old thoroughbred and wants to pet the horse’s snout, but the horse flinches. Freestyle Fairy can get away with …