Aix marks the spot where Pierre Audi is planting his next flag in a lifelong crusade for innovation and diversity in the performing arts, passions that trace back to his boyhood in Lebanon.

The celebrated opera director and arts programmer, wrapping up a 30-year tenure at the Dutch National Opera, is taking charge of the monthlong Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, one of Europe's oldest and most respected summer music festivals.

More than a third of girls in South Asia miss school during their periods, a report said Tuesday, with a lack of toilets and cultural taboos about menstruation among the factors impeding their education.

Children dressed as ancient gods, celebrities and political leaders were paraded high above crowds on the Hong Kong island of Cheung Chau Tuesday in a traditional celebration of Buddha's birthday. 

A Danish minister known for her strong anti-immigration views on Monday called for Muslims to take time off work during the fasting period of Ramadan, saying the practice can be "dangerous for all of us."

All Chinese mosques should raise the national flag to "promote a spirit of patriotism" among Muslims, the country's top Islamic regulatory body has declared, as the Communist Party seeks to tighten its grip on religion. 

On a rooftop in Syria's capital, Mohammad al-Rihawi plunges silk threads into emerald green dye, preparing it to be woven into the city's famed brocade. 

A Muslim man accused of killing a cow was beaten to death by a mob in central India, police said Sunday, the latest vigilante murder over the animal considered sacred by Hindus.

Following is a list of the prize-winners at the 71st Cannes film festival:

"Shoplifters", a heartwrenching family tale by Japanese veteran director Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes film festival Saturday, at a ceremony marked by an emotional speech from a Harvey Weinstein accuser.

Spike Lee accepted the runner-up Grand Prix for "BlacKkKlansman", a searing broadside against racism with the stranger-than-fiction true story of an African-American police officer who manages to infiltrate the highest levels of the Ku Klux Klan.

Adolf Hitler definitely died in 1945 in Berlin, from taking cyanide and a bullet, according to French researchers who were given rare access to fragments of the dictator's teeth held in Moscow.