Praying properly in Indonesia, and more

Praying properly in Indonesia

To their dismay, Indonesian Muslims have discovered that they’ve been praying in the wrong direction. Muslims are supposed to pray facing the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, but Indonesia’s highest Islamic council has announced that a mistake led the country’s mosques to be oriented improperly. “It has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting people shift the direction slightly to the northwest,” said cleric Cholil Ridwan. Previous prayers were still valid, he said, despite the directional error.

Vanessa Hudgens' fight against wrinkles

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Vanessa Hudgens has started using anti-wrinkle cream at the tender age of 21. The High School Musical star says that while male stars are allowed to have wrinkles and gray hair, “when women age, it’s perceived in Hollywood that they need a lift and they need a tuck and yadda yadda.” So she’s decided to begin the fight against wrinkles now, before she has any. “You might as well start sooner than later,” she said, noting that the new products “are really amazing.”

Blowing off steam in China

A shopping mall in Shen­yang, China, has opened a store in which frustrated women can destroy common household objects to blow off steam. The store looks like a typical family’s home, and is filled with secondhand TVs, cell phones, dinner plates, and furniture that female visitors to the mall can pay by the minute to destroy. “Women can come here to feel like they are in their own homes,” said mall business manager Wang Jingyu, “but without any limitations.”