Germany will boost funding for efforts to return Nazi-looted art to their rightful owners and may invite Jewish representatives to join a mediation body, the government said Wednesday.

Funding for provenance research of art suspected to have been stolen will be doubled, the new minister of state for culture, Monika Gruetters, was quoted as saying in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

A 300-year-old "priceless" Stradivarius violin was stolen from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster during an armed robbery after a performance at a local Lutheran college, police said Tuesday.

The rare violin was on loan to concertmaster Frank Almond. The robber used a stun gun on Almond and took the instrument from him shortly before 10:30 p.m. Monday in a parking lot in the rear of Wisconsin Lutheran College, where Almond had just preformed, Police Chief Edward Flynn said.

From tablecloths to duvet covers, iPhone cases to wallpaper and startling calf-skin wall hangings, the ancient Japanese resist-dying technique of shibori has gone mainstream. Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Eileen Fisher, Levi's and innumerable fiber artists are breathing new life into the craft.

"The stillness and beauty of it really centers me," said Oriana DiNella, who recently launched her own Web-based shibori line, including linen tableware, pillows and throws — and large leather wall hangings — all made to order and hand-dyed in organic indigo.

The Japanese government announced Tuesday it is revising official teaching manuals to emphasize Japan's territorial rights to islands that are also claimed by China and South Korea.

The Education Ministry said the decision was made to reflect the government's official view on the territorial claims. The revision is seen as part of education reform by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to instill patriotism and nationalism.

Four Old Masters stolen by the Nazis, including Hitler's deputy Hermann Goering, go under the hammer in New York this week where they are expected to fetch up to $1 million, Sotheby's announced Monday.

The paintings looted after the 1940 fall of France were returned to their owners by the Monuments Men, the allied organization responsible for protecting treasures during World War II.

The bullet-sprayed car in which Charles de Gaulle escaped assassination, as portrayed in "The Day of the Jackal", went on show in Beijing Tuesday in an exhibition marking 50 years of Chinese-French ties.

The black Citroen DS 19 sped De Gaulle and his wife to safety in 1962 despite taking around 20 shots from opponents of Algerian independence, a scene recreated in Frederick Forsyth's 1971 thriller and the subsequent film.

A saffron-robed monk takes to the stage in the Thai capital and urges cheering protesters to fight a "black-hearted" government -- testing a taboo in the devout kingdom about clerics getting involved in politics.

Since opposition protests broke out in Bangkok three months ago, Luang Pu Buddha Issara has emerged as a key figure in the anti-government movement, organizing prayers and addressing the crowds, with rally leader Suthep Thaugsuban sitting at his feet in a sign of respect.

The largest ever Knesset delegation to leave Israel toured Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday to mark the 69th anniversary of the Nazi German death camp's liberation and honor the dwindling number of survivors.

The 55 members of the Israeli parliament walked through the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" wrought-iron gate of the camp, which the Nazis set up in the southern city of Oswiecim after occupying Poland in World War II.

President Vladimir Putin said Monday the memory of Russia's heroism and sacrifice during World War II must endure as the country marked the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

The 61-year-old leader said the world should never forget "the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and residents of Leningrad" as he participated in commemorative ceremonies in his native Saint Petersburg, known as Leningrad under the Soviet Union.

They are the traditional markers in Nigeria of both ethnic and social identity -- and even royalty -- but for Raphael Akindele and young men like him, hats are sometimes quite literally a pain.

"I just don't feel smart and comfortable wearing a hat on a 'buba and sokoto'," said the 21-year-old, referring to the traditional long robe and trousers worn by many Nigerian men.