Some Africans, indignant at the way western critics denounce the tradition as barbaric and primitive, defend it in the name of cultural tradition.

ECONOMIST: Banning the practice may not be the best way of ending it

Hollande, among the most outspoken Western critics of Assad, said he would push for more punitive sanctions against Damascus in hope of forcing the Syrian leader to the negotiating table.

MSN: U.N. Syria envoy to go to Damascus to seek ceasefire

If one of Mr Milosevic's aims was to divide his western critics, he may yet succeed: there were clear differences of tone in the way western politicians responded to the Moscow talks.

ECONOMIST: Kosovo��s cauldron bubbles on

Johnson's Western crime novels have long been a favorite of critics and fans.

CNN: 'Longmire' gallops from page to screen

But Dr Mahathir, for all his zeal in fighting corruption, is also one of the staunchest critics of those who argue that a western-style opposition can keep a ruling party honest.

ECONOMIST: Malaysia

Critics point to a decline in the number of people going to Mass in many Western nations as evidence of a Church out of touch with a large section of its congregation.

BBC: St Peter's Square

"There has to be a reshaping of Western airlines, otherwise we will be outcompeted by the Asians, " he says, dismissing his critics.

BBC: Norwegian airline prepares for global expansion

It may, such critics suggested, be well suited to Japan's participative workforce, but in more individualistic western societies it became a formalised hunt for people to blame for the problems that it identified.

ECONOMIST: Idea