Madrid, Spain | Commuters on Madrid's buses have long been banned from putting their feet on seats or smoking, but from this week a new prohibition is in place, targeting male passengers: no "".

The practice of men sitting in public transport with their legs wide apart, taking up more than one seat, has long been an irritant and the term "manspreading" appeared in 2014 in New York following a cammanspreadingpaign against it there.

In Madrid, buses have since been kitted out with stickers banning the habit, which appears next to signs telling passengers to use their phones in moderation and keep things tidy.

The anti-manspreading pictogramme shows a man sitting with his legs and arms out wide on blue seats, a red bar sign cutting across.

"Respect other people's space," it reads.

The stickers are due to be rolled out in 2,000 buses belonging to Madrid's Municipal Transport Company.

Melisa Garcia, a 30-year-old from Madrid, thinks it's a good idea.

"It's a total lack of respect and education," she says, adding the last time her neighbour manspread on the seat next to her, she "kicked him".

"I told him: 'the seat you have is big enough for you'."

The sticker comes as the campaign #MadridSinManspreading ("Madrid Without Manspreading") rages on Twitter, launched by the "Women Fighting" feminist collective.

"It's not a question of bad education but that we women have been taught to sit with our legs closed -- as if we had to hold something between our knees," the collective writes in an online petition on Change.org that has garnered close to 700 signatures.

It adds that men, on the other hand, "have been given a sense of hierarchy and territoriality, as if the space belonged to them."

Robert Durou, a 75-year-old retiree, backed the campaign.

"Before... people were more respectful of others," he lamented.

David Correa Clares, meanwhile, admitted he has been guilty of manspreading in the past.

"People have at times told me it bothered them and I sat respectfully and that was it... But I don't think you need a rule or a pictogramme to say 'you must sit in this way'," the 19-year-old said.

That's what the conservatives who lead the Madrid region -- and manage the subway -- think, estimating that the rules of "one seat per person" are clear enough.

Bangkok, Thailand | It is a royal tradition that has proved bountiful through the ages and one that Thailand's fruit carvers are determined to keep alive -- even as young people peel away from the unique art form.

From beetroots carved into roses to fruity floats made from papayas and melons, the most important fruit carving competition in Thailand took place in Bangkok

But for competitor Piyanat Thiwato, carving is about more than just winning. 

"Carving can improve our mind because it requires concentration and enhances our imagination, it's a way to relax," he said.

The tradition has been traced back to Thailand's royal Sukhothai dynasty, in the 14th century.

"The art of food carving started hundreds years ago. Thailand is rich with arts and crafts. It's like a very beautiful treasure that we have," said Araya Arunanondchai, the event's organiser.

"In the old days, it was done in the royal palaces for the royal family," she added.

Dozens of Thai artists competed in the famous fruit and vegetable carving competition, which was organized in honor of Queen Sirikit, who turns 85 on August 12.

More than 20 teams carved anything from owls to elephants or intricate Thai designs onto fruits including taros, melons, and papaya.

Fruit carving is still popular as an offering in temples or as a decoration for weddings. Fine arts students can still choose to learn it at university, as they would take painting lessons. But the tradition is fading away.

"Not so many young people are interested in it or the ones who studied it in art schools cannot make a living out of it", Manirat Svastiwat na Ayutthaya, food carving expert said.

Chonburi, Thailand | Languidly ploughing flooded paddy-fields, Thailand's buffaloes don't usually strike people as the quickest of beasts. But farmers in eastern Thailand showed off their fastest bovines in a unique, muddy speed test.

The race is the highlight of an annual rice planting festival in Chonburi, two hours east of the capital Bangkok, where a small group of local farmers try to keep the tradition alive even if most of their fields are now ploughed by tractor.

Throughout the day pairs of buffaloes attached to a wooden plough thundered down a flooded field as human drivers attached by a rope desperately tried to keep up behind their charging beasts.

"To win, the buffalo and the racer need to pass the finishing line together," explained Jai Indramaporn, a wizened 73-year-old buffalo owner. "If the racer falls, then he's disqualified."

Many racers found themselves faceplanting into the mud, sparking cheers and laughter from the crowds. But for those who stayed attached and won, glory awaited. 

For centuries Thais relied on water buffalo to plough their rice paddies, provide transportation and even defend villages during war, but with mechanised farming the animals have seen their importance diminish.

Local official Samart Suksawang said the festival was about reminding youngsters of the crucial role beloved bovines played for farmers in what is one of the world's great rice growing nations. 

"I want to preserve it so that the new generation can see that in the old days, to do rice farming we used buffalo to plough and rake the rice fields," he told AFP.

Locals say the idea to race buffaloes began generations back as a way to blow off steam after the arduous ploughing season.

Now racing buffaloes are specifically bred for the sport, taught to obey the commands and whistles of their owners. The most successful can sell for up to 300,000 baht ($8,800).

Yangon, Myanmar | Skidding and screeching across the concrete the young bikers perform a carefully choreographed dance of gravity-defying stunts, a dazzling display of Myanmar's thriving youth culture on the streets of its biggest city.

Every week dozens of them gather near Yangon's golden Shwedagon pagoda to practise tricks under the night sky, one of many sports gaining popularity as the country opens up after decades of junta rule.

Kabyar Oo, who set up the group two years ago, said there are more than 100 riders around the country, around half of them in Yangon and the rest in the central city of Mandalay. 

Some are in their 20s, but most are school students who dream of going pro. 

"There are no (formal) competitions here," Kabyar Oo told AFP on a recent steamy night as other riders took turns to jump over upside down bikes -- and each other.

"If we had the chance, we would all want to compete. That's the dream of all the riders."

Many save for months to afford a BMX bike, which can cost between $250 and $2,500 -- an astronomical sum in a country where the daily minimum wage is 3,600 kyat ($2.65).

Others spend all their cash keeping their ride in good condition or adding extra features.

"When I get my salary at the end of the month, all my money goes into it," said Htet Aung, 24, who works in a currency exchange office. "I feel like that is my savings."

The group, known as Myanmar BMX Riders, are now in talks with Yangon authorities to get their own space to practise with proper ramps and props.

But despite their dedication, many face pressure from relatives to stop. 

"They forbid me after I had an accident which left a bad wound on my face, but I went to practise without telling them," said 14-year-old student Sai Aung Zaw Myint, grinning. 

Htet Wai Yan Oo, 23, who came from Mandalay to ride with the group, added: "My parents are not supportive. I had to save my school allowance for six months to buy my first (bike)."

But others say the sport helps keep bored young people away from crime and drugs at a time when youth unemployment is triple the broader population.

Drug addiction rates have soared in recent years as more and more of the caffeine-laced meth tablets known as "yaba" churned out in Myanmar's lawless borderlands are being sold inside the country.

"I help the young people as much as I can to keep them interested in sport and to stop them from going in the wrong direction in life," said Phone Myat Tun, who sells the riders gear at cost from his shop.

"The challenge for them is social pressure."

London, United Kingdom | After making the challenging switch from boxing ring to catwalk, Japanese fashion designer and former boxer Arashi Yanagawa talked about rolling with the punches during Men's Fashion Week in London.

"Being flexible and continually learning is something that I take from both boxing and styling," Yanagawa told AFP as he put the finishing touches to his collection in a cluttered studio space in east London.

The 41-year-old heads up a fashion label he created called John Lawrence Sullivan -- named after the legendary 19th century US boxer who is considered the first heavyweight champion of the modern era.

After boxing for several years, "I felt I had achieved what I set out to. I was ready for a new challenge," said a smiling Yanagawa, dressed in a camouflage shirt, dark green leather trousers and a black cap.

"Another passion of mine since childhood had always been fashion, so it felt right that I take up a path in design. I wanted to take the lessons I had learnt from boxing -- hard work and perseverance, and channel this into a new adventure," he said.

- 'Power and elegance' -Yanagawa's style is a mix of classical and eccentric, fluid and virile, and displays a passion for leather as well as hints from his past -- some of his bags resemble punching balls.

He now has three stores in Japan and is planning to expand abroad but the journey was not always easy, especially for someone starting out with no training.

"The biggest challenge when I started was discovering the right factories and fabric mills to work with," he said.

"As with any new designer it is very important to find people that you have good chemistry with, who you trust and are right for the brand."

After several years in an ultra-competitive business, Yanagawa began making a name for himself in Tokyo and was praised in a 2008 article in The Business of Fashion, a top industry publication.

"Despite his non-fashion background, or perhaps because of it, Arashi is at the vanguard of a group of promising, young menswear brands that are taking Tokyo by storm," the report said.

Boxing is never far away for him and he draws parallels with the world of fashion.

"On the face of it both might seem quite simple: left, right punching, or dressing someone in clothes," he said.

"However as you delve deeper it's a lot more complex. There are many different styles, techniques and variations."

Asked about his influences, Yanagawa cites David Bowie -- the late rock legend who died a year ago on Tuesday.

"I find his generation of musicians very inspiring. They represent traits which I incorporate each season, expressing power and elegance in unison," he said.

Paris, France | It came as a shock. But Virginie Routis learned very early that one of the obstacles she was going to have to overcome to become a top wine waiter was sexism.

The soft spoken sommelier was working in one of Britain's best restaurants when a man threw the wine list back at her. 

"I want to talk to a man," he barked.

"He didn't want to talk to me never mind have me look after the wine," Routis recalled. "The maitre d' had to serve him." 

To say that Routis, the first woman to ever be given the keys to legendary cellars of the Elysee Palace, has had the last laugh is something of an understatement.

She not only presides over the 14,000 bottles of finest French wine beneath the French president's official residence, but she has also been responsible for one of the biggest shake-ups of the closely guarded national treasure in decades.

The 38-year-old is also responsible for serving -- and impressing -- the monarchs and heads of state who regularly dine at the Elysee.

French President Francois Hollande gave her "carte blanche" to serve what wines she thought best to with his chef Guillaume Gomez's menus.

And she is spoiled for choice from the Elysee's staggering collection which goes from mythic names like Cheval Blanc, Latour, Batard-Montrachet de Joseph Drouhin, Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet to high quality wines from all of France's wine regions.

- 'I like to surprise' -"When we are entertaining a head of state, we generally go for safe bets like a white burgundy, or a grand Bordeaux red, but for lunches we can range out to Alsace, Cahors, Corsica" and elsewhere, she said.

"I like to play on surprise, and I know the President is very open to that," she added.

Routis was only 30 when she took over at the Elysee and had to deal with the rather challenging prospect of Nicolas Sarkozy, the chocoholic former French president who does not drink wine.

Luckily, his wife the singer Carla Bruni did and it was with her that Routis would discuss the choice of wine.

Although Routis admitted that as a woman she had to fight for her place in the very masculine world of wine waiting, now up to a fifth of sommeliers in France are women.

- 'Women better tasters' -"It is much more straightforward" than before, said Routis, who points to Estelle Touzet, sommelier at the Ritz, or Marlene Vendramelli, who was named the best young sommelier in France in 1993, for helping to break the glass ceiling.

In fact, she argues women may be better at the job.

"I think we have a more sensitive palate and we have perhaps a more simple way of explaining wines, which is less technical than men. But it is good to have a mixed team," she said, forever the diplomat.

In 2013 Routis sold off some 1,200 bottles from the temperature-controlled Elysee cellar -- which is protected by an armoured door -- in a major reorganisation of its stock. 

With a budget last year of 170,000 euros ($178,000) -- of which 50,000 euros comes from auctioning off select bottles -- she has mostly used the money to buy young wine to lay down.

Of all the state dinners and banquets she has had to deal with, Routis said the one that marked her most was the visit in 2014 of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Having begun her career in England at French chef Raymond Blanc's Manoir aux Quat'Saisons near Oxford, she knew to some degree what was expected but she admitted that it was still "one of the most stressful" dinners.

For the occasion she served a Sauternes, Chateau d'Yquem 1997 as an aperitif, Haut-Brion 1990 red Bordeaux and a Pol Roger champagne, cuvee Winston Churchill, in a nod to Britain's wartime leader's favourite tipple.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Cuba's sensual rumba dance and Belgium's thriving beer culture brought a new exuberance to UNESCO's prestigious list of "intangible" heritage.

The UN body gave the nod to the rumba, which it said evokes "grace, sensuality and joy", while it said "making and appreciating beer is part of the living heritage... throughout Belgium," which has more than 1,500 types.

The Cuban delegation to UNESCO talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa dedicated the rumba's selection to longtime leader Fidel Castro, who died on Friday aged 90.

UNESCO said the rumba sprang from poor communities where the dance is an enduring "expression of resistance and self-esteem".

Belgium meanwhile toasted the recognition, with French-speaking culture minister Alda Greoli noting that the country's beer culture "has been handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial".

Belgian beer's "communal identity resulted in... an explosion of artisanal creativity and love for the brewing craft," she said.

Her Dutch-speaking counterpart Sven Gatz said Belgium had won "the world cup of beer culture," calling the nomination a "very nice reward for everyone who works in the sector".

Whether Belgians drink beer to quench their thirst "after an exhilarating walk, during a friendly evening in the local pub, or as part of our gastronomy," he said, "we have a suitable beer for every occasion".

Belgium's minority German-speaking community, which submitted the application, also hailed the nomination, saying it would "give Belgian beer culture even more gloss... around the world."

The listing was "a reward for (Belgian enthusiasts') efforts... to keep this rich beer culture alive," it said in a statement.

Staying on the festive theme, the World Heritage Committee also enshrined the new year's celebrations of 12 countries stretching from Turkey to India that fall on the March 21 vernal equinox and known as Nowruz in Iran.

The list of "intangible" cultural treasures was created 10 years ago, mainly to increase awareness about them, while UNESCO also sometimes offers financial or technical support to countries struggling to protect them.

The UN body designated Ugandan traditional music, which is dying out partly because it requires materials from endangered species, as intangible heritage "in urgent need of safeguarding".

UNESCO began compiling a list for cultural and natural world heritage -- physical properties such as Cambodia's Angkor Wat or the Grand Canyon in the United States -- in 1972.

The list now comprises 814 cultural sites, 203 natural ones and 35 with both natural and cultural qualities such as Australia's Uluru National Park, formerly known as Ayer's Rock.

The committee winds up its review of nominations to the Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.

Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP Dusk and dawn sees Hanoi's leafy squares littered with devotees of da cau, Vietnam's ancient game of so-called "foot badminton" which endures despite the inevitable advance of football.

And it's not just the world's most popular sport that da cau enthusiasts must contend with: they also compete for space with people playing badminton, riding hoverboards or shaking their hips in a public zumba class. 

But the da cau diehards say they are going nowhere. 

"I do play football, but I find da cau more interesting," said Tuan Anh, who regularly leads a group of up to 50 people in central Hanoi at sunset.

The centuries-old game, which originated in China, involves keepy-up with a shuttlecock among any number of players for as long as possible, or knocking it over a net. 

Though the game is enjoyed in public squares, it wasn't always a street affair. 

Vietnamese emperors and feudal kings often encouraged soldiers to play da cau to improve health for battles, and to let off a little steam. 

Da cau was also played to celebrate bumper harvests or traditional festivals. 

Today it has become a national pastime, played by amateurs and professionals -- who dive and kick in spectacular style to keep the shuttlecock afloat.

Some say they are drawn to the cooperative spirit of the game, a way to unwind at the end of a long day at the office.

"Da cau is a team game. People play in clubs and teams, so it encourages teamwork and cooperation," said 24-year-old Nguyen Bich Hien, an employee at the Hanoi stock exchange.

"Going to the gym or walking, you have no companions, so it's not as much fun." 

Guangzhou, China | Setting up a camera in a public place, Ou Zhihang hastily removes his clothes, then with just one bottom-exposing press-up -- his work is done.

The artist has taken more than 700 photos capturing his nude exercises on streets in China and sometimes abroad -– a body of work unmatched in the contemporary art world.

But the locations he chooses -– sites of government abuses, protests and disaster -– show there is more to his work than just cheek.

"My aim isn't to get people to look at my press-ups, but to use a method to get society to think,” said the 46-year-old, clothed in a white polo shirt and jeans for a dim-sum lunch in his hometown of Guangzhou.

Taken as a whole, Ou's work presents an alternative history of China's last decade – highlighting “sensitive” events that Communist authorities would rather play down.

One 2008 photo shows him naked opposite the grey office of a milk powder company at the heart of a scandal which sickened some 300,000 babies that year. Pedestrians walk by opposite apparently oblivious.

Three years later, he stripped at a patch of scrubland near the village of Wukan in southern China, where villagers had risen up against local officials in protest at land grabs.

He has exposed himself at the site of China's deadliest high speed rail crash in 2011, anti-Beijing protests in Hong Kong in 2014, and chemical explosions in Tianjin last year.

All the events were covered by China's state-run media, but in a heavily censored form which shifted blame away from central authorities.

"The aim is to make the public remember these incidents," he said. "People know, if there is a place where something happens, I should make an appearance there.”

- Social strength -A TV producer, Ou started experimenting with naked photography on work trips to foreign hotels "as a way of reliving stress", before his first outdoor shot on China's Great Wall in 2005.

As a method of physical exercise, the press-ups are meant to symbolise "building social strength".

Perhaps surprisingly, despite its sensitivity Ou has been able to distribute his work on China's closely controlled internet, and its oblique nature has enabled it to be featured in China's tightly censored domestic press.

He has been chased by dogs and had run-ins with local police –- who on several occasions have detained him and told him to delete photographs.

Last year, he was nabbed by officers outside a cottage in southern China where four children drank pesticide after being abandoned by their migrant worker parents, and only released once he flashed his press credentials.

"As soon as I took the photo, a car pulled up and took me away," he said. 

He credits the survival of his work to his avoiding explicit verbal criticism of Communist authorities, letting his photos speak for themselves with simple titles stating their location and the incident in question.

But China's online population –- who remember incidents even after reports on them are deleted, get the message.

"Using nudity brings a force to his art, it shows the force of an individual in the face of powerful public architecture," said art critic Li Xianting.

Ou acknowledges the risks. “You have to be careful... at the moment I'm safe,” he said.

"You need to do things which are meaningful for society. It can open a window, and be shared by ordinary people. That's already a kind of change."

- Impertinent nudity -Straddling art and journalism –- winning a commendation at the World Press Photo Awards in 2010 -- his work was the subject of a major exhibition in Venice last year.

"His 'impertinent' nudity is a protest against the arrogance and neglect of power to the society and people," Chinese art critic Gu Zheng said in the exhibition catalogue.

The artist has not had a large-scale exhibition on the mainland, saying he prefers to distribute his work online.

He updates an account on social media service Wechat with his thoughts on China's latest scandals -- from the death of an academic in police custody to the 50th anniversary of the destructive Cultural Revolution.

Most are accompanied by a image from his collection, picked to match the topic. His posts are often deleted, but the account has remained operational.

"I care more about having an impact on society than holding exhibitions for academics," he said, contrasting himself with high-profile artist Ai Weiwei, who is rarely displayed in China.

"Many people in the West think that Ai Weiwei's work is great, but over here it's not shown," he said. "A lot of his thoughts cannot be exchanged with the masses."

Ultimately, though, Ou would prefer there was no need for him to bare his flesh.

"I hope that China will stop having the kinds of incidents which need my involvement," he added. "That way I can live quietly".