The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is long been taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects of culture among our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.

Defining "culture"

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More on [ Culture ]

BBC News | Asia-Pacific | World Edition

Troops confront Bangkok protests
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:28:25 -0000
Thai troops are deployed in the capital after police fail for a second time to disperse anti-government protesters.
China makes Nobel prize warning
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:47:36 -0000
China says it hopes the 'right person' will win the Nobel Peace Prize, amid reports jailed Chinese dissidents are on the short list.
Australian jet plunge injures 40
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:52:20 -0000
A plane makes an emergency landing in Australia after 40 people are injured following a "sudden change in altitude".
Paedophile faces new Thai charges
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:50:54 -0000
Convicted Canadian paedophile Christopher Neil appears in a Thai court to face a new charge of abusing children.
Philippines angry at Enfield show
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:03:14 -0000
The Philippine embassy in London complains over a sketch featuring a Filipina maid in Harry Enfield's BBC show.
China cancels US military contact
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:40:39 -0000
China cancels some military and diplomatic exchanges with the US over Washington's $6.5bn deal to supply Taiwan with arms.

NYT > Asia Pacific

Hundreds Injured in Thai Protests
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:17:13 -0000
In a day of street battles that left more than 100 people injured, thousands of anti-government protesters surrounded the Thai Parliament Tuesday.
Release of Chinese Muslims Ordered
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:18:08 -0000
A federal judge ordered the Bush administration to release 17 ethnic Uighers from Guantánamo and let them to stay in the U.S.
Future of Giant Turtle Still Uncertain
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:27:02 -0000
An attempt to mate two elderly turtles during this year’s breeding season ended without producing any offspring.

L.A. Times - Asia

Protesters clash with police in Thailand, 1 dead
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:11:00 -0700
Thai protesters demanding the government resign set fire to cars and threw bottles and metal barricades at police, who used tear gas to break through their blockade around Parliament today. At least one person was killed and more 350 were injured.
North Korea spy awaits sentencing
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Won Jeong-hwa used sexual favors to seduce South Korean military officers into giving up secrets. She's called the Mata Hari of North Korea, a temptress-spy who for years used her sensual charms to seduce South Korean military officers into giving up secrets.
Alleged con artist to stand trial two decades after the crime
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Gerald McAfee took a job as comptroller of a Downey hospital in 1985 and quickly bilked the company out of $1.6 million, prosecutors allege. He was recently extradited after being found in Thailand. When Gerald McAfee was hired as comptroller of a small hospital in Downey two decades ago, he quickly convinced his new boss to let him move $1.6 million of the hospital's money from low-risk, low-yield CDs into a more aggressive bond fund, authorities said.

UN News Centre - Asia Pacific

More than 250,000 Afghans returned home this year, reports UN agency
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Over a quarter of a million Afghans have returned home so far this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which noted that many of them left neighbouring Pakistan and Iran due to security and economic worries.
Ban condemns suicide bombing in Sri Lankan town
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored the latest suicide bombing in violence-torn Sri Lanka, which has killed many people, including a retired army general, and wounded scores more.
Kyrgyzstan: UN rushes in help after deadly quake rocks region
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
United Nations humanitarian agencies are dispatching aid and staff to southern Kyrgyzstan, where dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of homes destroyed after an earthquake struck the remote, mountainous region last night.

Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

400 Thais are hurt and one dies as protesters lay siege to Parliament
By SETH MYDANS AND THOMAS FULLER Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
Anti-government protesters surrounded Parliament, trapping hundreds of lawmakers inside throughout the afternoon.
China rebuffs United States over Taiwan arms deal
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
The Beijing government cancels several military and diplomatic contacts with the U.S. after a multibillion-dollar arms plan with "renegade province" is revealed.
Death toll from attack on Pakistani politician's home rises to 17
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
The attack targeted Rashid Akbar Khan Nawani, a member of Pakistan's Shiite Muslim minority, who has spoken out in Parliament against a surge in sectarian violence several times recently.
Group of Muslim scholars gains political clout in Indonesia
By PETER GELLING Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
Advocates of religious tolerance in Indonesia worry that the growing clout of the Council of Ulemas could signal the start of a religious radicalization in a country known for its moderate brand of Islam.
HIV spreads in China
By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
A new study finds that the virus that causes AIDS has spread to all provinces and beyond the country's original high-risk groups - heroin addicts in the south and blood sellers in rural central counties.
Effort to mate two elderly China turtles ends without offspring
By JIM YARDLEY Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0000
The fate of the Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle is especially dire because only one female is known to exist - an 80-year-old turtle.

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