Catholic zealots in the Philippines re-enacted the last hours of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, whipping their backs and nailing themselves to crosses in a grisly Easter ritual that persists despite Church disapproval.

Foreign and local tourists flocked to the outskirts of the city of San Fernando, a 90-minute drive from Manila, to see the annual spectacle where a Christian "passion play" is taken to its blood-soaked extreme.

Wine waiters of the world gathered in Tokyo on Wednesday for a competition to find the planet's best sommelier.

Entrants from 54 countries began three days of events designed to test their skills as they marry wines to foods and serve demanding consumers, with all of them having to work in a foreign language.

A document signed by Britain's King Richard III will be auctioned in Los Angeles next week, two months after scientists found the ancient royal's remains under a modern-day car park.

The document, signed by the British royal before he took the throne, is believed to be one of only three Richard III documents to go under the hammer in the last three decades, said Nate D Sanders auction house.

Wrists bent and fingers curled, the immaculately dressed dancers perform a series of gestures that, according to ancient custom, carry the wishes of the Khmer kings to the heavens.

Sporting golden head-dresses, the dancers slowly stretch back their wrists and -- standing on one leg -- perform a set of moves with their hands representing offerings of leaves, flowers and fruit to the gods.

A street in the Argentine city of La Plata became the first to be renamed in honor of Pope Francis, local television reported here Tuesday.

A section of Avenue 53 leading to La Plata's cathedral has now been renamed "Pope Francis" to mark the election to Argentine-born Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio the head of the Catholic Church on March 13.

Super Mario video games, the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Pink Floyd's music and Belgian artist Rene Magritte: who would have thought these had anything in common?

But Vienna's Leopold Museum demonstrates there is a link in its new exhibit "Clouds. Fleeting Worlds," which draws from the most unexpected sources -- not just 18th-century paintings but Nintendo games, album covers and floating silver pillows -- to pay tribute to this airy phenomenon.

Her eyes see nothing, but when Barbara Appel runs her fingers over the face of a Picasso sculpture in New York's Museum of Modern Art, she sighs with pleasure.

Most people go to museums to look at exhibits, but for some at MoMA, love of art is literally blind.

Australian travelers have become so demanding of their foreign ministry when they encounter trouble overseas, officials are struggling to deal with their requests, a new report has found.

Research by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute has found that the expectations of what Australian diplomats can and should do for distressed travelers are not only climbing, but becoming "more unrealistic".

Latvians gathered across the Baltic nation Monday to remember the tens of thousands of their countrymen deported to Siberia during half a century of Soviet occupation.

With 42,000 Latvians hauled off in cattle trucks on March 25, 1949 alone, the date is now Communist Genocide Memorial Day in Latvia, an EU member of two million people.

Bollywood stars have joined calls for Mumbai to temper celebrations and reduce water wastage during a riotous Hindu festival this week, as millions face their worst drought in decades.

India's Holi festival takes place on Wednesday at a time when central parts of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, are reeling under a severe water shortage with no rain due until the monsoon in June.