Cuba will respect Fidel Castro's dying wish that no statues be erected in his honor and no streets be named after him, President Raul Castro said Saturday.

The national assembly will introduce legislation at its next session later this month so that "his wish is fulfilled," Raul Castro told a massive rally for his brother on the eve of his burial in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

A town in eastern France has been ordered to remove a statue of the Virgin Mary to comply with a national ban on religious symbols in public, the local mayor said Saturday.

Representatives of around 40 countries on Saturday approved plans to establish a fund to protect heritage sites in war zones and a network of safe havens for endangered artworks. 

"We are committed to pursuing (these) two ambitious, long-term goals to guarantee the further mobilisation of the international community for the safeguarding of heritage," a statement issued after a two-day meeting in the United Arab Emirates capital said.

It is one of the greatest and most visited art museums in the world, and the only one in an old railway station. Thirty years after the Musee d'Orsay opened its doors for the first time, it has become as much a Paris landmark as its big sister the Louvre just across the River Seine. 

But the very success of the museum best known for its unrivalled collection of Impressionist paintings is now causing it problems.

Representatives from dozens of countries began a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Friday to discuss the creation of a $100-million fund to protect and restore heritage sites threatened by extremism and conflict.

The two-day conference reflects growing international alarm over the destruction of ancient artefacts by Islamic State group jihadists using sledgehammers, bulldozers and explosives.

The ancient Indian philosophy behind yoga, the mind-body discipline now practiced the world over, on Thursday joined UNESCO's list of "intangible" world heritage.

Nigerian Nobel prize-winning author Wole Soyinka said Thursday he has fulfilled his pledge to throw away his U.S. residency green card and leave the country if Donald Trump won the presidential election.

The French parliament on Thursday began debating a bill to ban pro-life websites from spreading "false information" about abortion, with rightwing lawmakers arguing it would contravene freedom of expression.

One of the most wanted fugitive bosses of the notorious Calabrian mafia was arrested Thursday in what the government hailed as a "beautiful" victory for Italy's fight against organized crime.

Nestled in a labyrinth of streets in the heart of Morocco's ancient city of Fez, stands the world's oldest working library.

Its sculpted dark wooden door stands almost hidden on the edge of a square where artisans hammer away at copper in a deafening din, delighting passing tourists.