Ukraine Friday banned Russian books glorifying the Kremlin and its leaders or espousing what it views as "totalitarian views" in a move certain to further sour relations between the two foes.

Deep in the caves of Goyet in Belgium researchers have found the grisly evidence that the Neanderthals did not just feast on horses or reindeer, but also on each other.

Human bones from a newborn, a child and four adults or teenagers who lived around 40,000 years ago show clear signs of cutting and of fractures to extract the marrow within, they say.

Poland's culture ministry on Thursday bought a private art collection worth an estimated two billion euros that includes Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine".

The controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which pays homage to some of Japan's most notorious war criminals, was in the spotlight again Thursday after the visit of a senior cabinet minister.

Italy will host a meeting of culture ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised countries in Florence in March, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini announced Wednesday.

Billing the talks as a first for the G7 grouping, Franceschini said the March 30-31 meeting would focus on the protection of cultural heritage, combatting trafficking of artistic and historic items and using culture as an instrument for dialogue.

Images of homeless drug addicts living in empty graves just outside the Iranian capital have deeply shocked the public and prompted reactions even from President Hassan Rouhani.

Shahrvand newspaper on Tuesday published the images in a report on the homeless people -- about 50 men and women -- who dwell in a cemetery in the town of Shahriar, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Tehran.

German cultural officials said Tuesday they had to cancel a planned Berlin exhibition of an Iranian treasure trove of Western modern art after Tehran refused to provide an export permit.

A Saudi man has been jailed for one year for calling for an end to the Muslim kingdom's guardianship system that gives men wide controls over women, local media said Tuesday.

The man, who was also fined 30,000 riyals ($8,000) by a court in the eastern city of Dammam, was convicted of "inciting to end guardianship of women" in statements he posted on Twitter and in public posters, the Okaz daily said.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday he will aim to quickly restore the country's signature Red Army Choir, which lost most of its singers in the weekend's military plane crash.

Sixty-four members, including the conductor Valery Khalilov and most singers of the Alexandrov Ensemble, also known as the Red Army Choir internationally, died when their Syria-bound plane went down in the Black Sea near the resort city of Sochi.

French art experts on Tuesday lambasted South Korean state prosecutors for declaring a "fake" painting to be genuine despite its own scientific findings that supported the artist's disavowal of the work.