A grandson of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army captain wrongly accused of treason over a century ago, on Monday urged a private collector not to allow a letter penned by his ancestor to go under the hammer in Paris this week.

Written to the interior ministry in 1895, a month after Dreyfus was sentenced for treason, the letter is expected to fetch between 100,000 and 150,000 euros ($130,000 and $190,000) when it goes on auction at Sotheby's on Wednesday.

The 86th annual National Spelling Bee kicks off Tuesday with 281 youngsters from eight nations putting their ability to spell some of the most obscure words in the English language to the test.

Sponsored by the Scripps media group, the three-day competition at the Gaylord National Resort outside Washington is an American institution that's been won for the past five years by teenagers of South Asian heritage.

The first gay marriage in France was to take place Wednesday in the southern city of Montpellier, amid fears of protest after months of opposition that saw tens of thousands take to the streets

Officially a secular republic, France is overwhelmingly Catholic, and the issue of gay adoption and marriage -- a key campaign pledge of Socialist President Francois Hollande -- has caused deep divisions.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi Monday criticized a ban on Rohingya having more than two children in strife-torn Rakhine state as counter to human rights, in rare comments on the plight of the Muslim group.

The opposition leader, who has been accused by activists of failing to speak up for the marginalized Rohingya, said she opposed the controversial rule, imposed by the previous junta and reaffirmed recently by local authorities in the wake of deadly unrest.

The commemoration of this year's milestone anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg will include amenities that soldiers would have relished 150 years ago — expanded cellphone coverage and dozens of portable toilets.

The National Park Service and a cadre of community organizers are busily putting the finishing touches on preparations for the commemoration of the pivotal battle of the American Civil War that cemented this small Pennsylvania town's place in U.S history. Tens of thousands of visitors are expected for a 10-day schedule of events that begin June 29.

Pope Francis on Saturday said the Catholic Church should not be closed off to sinners like a "pastoral customs house,” giving as an example baptisms for the children of unmarried mothers.

"We are often controllers of the faith instead of facilitators," the pope said at a mass in the Vatican residence where he has stayed since being elected instead of moving into the papal home.

Dan Brown's description of Manila as "the gates of hell" in the American novelist's latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital.

The book "Inferno," which is being sold in the Philippines, describes a visitor to the city who is taken aback by poverty, crime and prostitution.

Having taken five Volkswagen Beetles and compressed them into spheres, artist Ichwan Noor was always going to grab attention at the inaugural Hong Kong Art Basel.

Noor is known in his native Indonesia but is hoping the glittering, champagne-soaked art fair will give him further recognition beyond his home borders.

A French anti-racism association is launching a mobile application it hopes will help eradicate racist graffiti by enabling users to take photos of offensive tags, geo-locate them and get them removed.

Licra -- the International League against Racism and Antisemitism -- said the app was a "digital response" to "a big increase in racist and antisemitic acts" in France, and would be available for download from June 11.

Inching their cameras along a rail inside the chamber, specialists use powerful flashes to light up paintings of female Buddhist spirits drawn more than 1,400 years ago.

One click after another illuminates colorful scenes of hunters, Buddhas, flying deities, Bodhisattvas and caravanserais painted on the walls of the Mogao caves in northwest China, considered the epitome of Buddhist art -- and now in existential danger.