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.

A Japanese politician on Friday apologized to women forcibly drafted into military brothels during World War II after his comments about them being a military necessity sparked outrage.

Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto issued the apology hours after he was due to meet two former "comfort women", but the elderly South Korean women cancelled over fears of becoming political pawns in a long-running row that has stoked tensions between Tokyo and Seoul.

Turkey's parliament on Friday passed a controversial law restricting the consumption and advertising of alcohol in the predominantly Muslim country.

The law prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

With two cars, foreign holidays and a cook for their apartment, one Beijing family epitomises the new middle class created by China's decades of rapid economic growth -- and its resulting worries.

Li Na, 42, a caterer at the capital's zoo, and her husband Chi Shubo, 48, who works for a state-owned investment company, have seen their fortunes transformed since she arrived in Beijing 20 years ago from Shandong, a coastal province.

The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated.

It's thousands of years old — a conical, manmade behemoth weighing hundreds of tons, practically begging to be explored.