Performance artist Marina Abramovic is known for putting her body on the line -- from cutting herself, to walking thousands of kilometres along China's Great Wall, to having a loaded gun pointed at her head.

The charismatic Belgrade-born art pioneer counts celebrities such as pop star Lady Gaga among her fans, while her performances attract people in the thousands.

The U.N. cultural organization Monday condemned the "barbaric assaults" the Islamic State group has launched on World Heritage sites in Iraq and Syria, saying they may amount to war crimes.

Meeting in Bonn, Germany, UNESCO delegates said the IS attacks on sites such as Iraq's ancient city of Hatra recalled the "mindless destruction" by other Islamist extremists in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in Mali's Timbuktu and elsewhere.

Around 30 percent of China's Ming-era Great Wall has disappeared over time as adverse natural conditions and reckless human activities -- including stealing the bricks to build houses -- erode the UNESCO World Heritage site, state media reported.

The Great Wall is not a single unbroken structure but stretches for thousands of kilometres in sections, from Shanhaiguan on the east coast to Jiayuguan in the windswept sands on the edge of the Gobi desert.

A statue of a Bosnian Serb nationalist whose assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 101 years ago sparked World War I, and who is seen here as an icon of Serb patriotism, was inaugurated here Sunday.

The two-meter (6.6-foot) high bronze statue of Gavrilo Princip was unveiled in a park in downtown Belgrade and the event was attended by several hundred people, according to an Agence France Presse photographer.

The Dalai Lama made his first appearance at Glastonbury on Sunday, spending an hour in the rain addressing festival-goers on how the world could be a happier place.

The Tibetan spiritual leader called for a more "holistic education" from kindergarten to university, which "should bring a sense of care" and help "promote human love".

Hundreds of thousands of jubilant gay rights supporters were expected on New York's streets Sunday for the annual Gay Pride March, just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling to legalize gay marriage.

Described by organizers as New York's most historic Pride march since the event began in 1970, record numbers of people could pour into the city to celebrate, with the weather forecast to be mostly warm and sunny.

A cultural row in Iran over concerts being canceled was reignited Sunday when the country's judiciary chief appeared to criticize President Hassan Rouhani's liberal remarks on the subject.

Music and other public performances are a sensitive matter in the Islamic republic given concerns among religious conservatives about creeping "Westernization". But there is a desire from other groups, particularly younger citizens, for greater artistic freedom.

He was appointed in the 1980s under the conservative presidency of Ronald Reagan, but Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has gone on to become perhaps the most important gay rights supporter in the American legal system.

The gray-haired 78-year-old cemented that position Friday when he wrote the majority opinion for the five judges -- or justices as they are known -- who ruled to allow gay marriage across the United States.

The legendary Alamo battleground and the vineyards that produce France's beloved champagne are among the sites likely to get World Heritage status at a UNESCO meeting starting Sunday.

At least 36 natural and cultural sites, including a disputed bid from Japan, are vying to get the United Nations cultural body's prestigious distinction and add their names to the more than 1,000-strong list.

When French superchef Alain Ducasse stunned the world of haute cuisine last year by dropping meat, boosting veggies and lightening up his menus, he was less bucking convention than joining a trend of accommodating vegetarians and people with food allergies.

Fine dining at top-class restaurants run by uncompromising chefs might once have been unthinkable for such clients. But no more.