Israelis came to a halt throughout the country Thursday to observe two minutes of solemn silence as a siren blared, marking the annual remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Masazo Nonaka from Japan was recognised Tuesday as the world's oldest man at the ripe old age of 112, as his family revealed his secret: sweets and hot baths.

Pulling down statues of political leaders, such as that of Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi capital 15 years ago, is a symbolic act with many precedents around the world.

When the giant effigy of Saddam was wrenched off its plinth on April 9, 2003 with the help of US Marines, it was confirmation for the jubilant onlookers thar his nearly 24-year rule had also come crashing down.

Austria's government announced Wednesday its intention to bring in a ban on the headscarf for girls in kindergartens and primary schools.

China's culture watchdog has slapped fines on websites that posted parodies of "Communist classics and heroes", as the authorities further restrict what people can say -- or even laugh at -- online.

Major video sites iQiyi and Sina were handed undisclosed fines for "distorting or mocking" classic works, the culture ministry said, less than two weeks after new rules were issued to ban online spoofs.

A Chinese religious affairs official on Tuesday denied that authorities briefly detained an underground bishop last week, after the Vatican poured water on Beijing's suggestion that a deal on the appointment of prelates was imminent.

A Singaporean couple have launched a legal challenge after authorities annulled their marriage because the husband underwent a sex change, a lawyer said Monday.

There's an art to taking the perfect selfie -- from the angle, to the focus, cropping out that pesky outstretched arm and above all, the smile.

In a celebration of self-portraits in the social media age Tommy Honton and Tair Mamedov are set to open the Museum of Selfies in Los Angeles this Sunday -- an interactive exhibition exploring the history and cultural phenomenon of snapping a photo of yourself.

Top South Korean musical acts including a K-pop girlband are set to hold a rare concert in North Korea Sunday evening in the latest reconciliatory gesture before a rare inter-Korean summit. 

The name chosen by the small European country of Macedonia at its independence 27 years ago has ever since been rejected by Greece, provoking an impassioned dispute.

For Greece the name is part of its own cultural heritage, a source of pride as that of an ancient province that was the core of Alexander the Great's empire more than 2,000 years ago.