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Street Artist Banksy Opens Walled Off 'Hotel' in Bethlehem

Secretive British street artist Banksy opened a hotel next to Israel’s controversial separation wall in Bethlehem on Friday, his latest artwork in the Palestinian territories.

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318 Candidates for 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

A near-record 318 people and organizations are in the running for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Institute said on Thursday, a motley crew believed to include Syria's White Helmets, Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

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Stress Under Shelling Produces Baby Boom in Ukraine

Olena Gorbatova gave birth to her third child in war-torn eastern Ukraine to the sounds of gunfire and exploding shells in the Kiev-held flashpoint town of Avdiivka.

The 40-year-old Gorbatova calmed herself by thinking the attacks were just a celebration of the baby girl she named Myroslava -- which in Russian and Ukrainian means "glory to peace".

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Girls Learn Ballet Steps in Conservative Upper Egypt

In Egypt's conservative southern province of Minya, young girls in black leotards and white tights wobble on their tip toes to classical music in a room painted with colorful motifs.

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Syria's Ancient Palmyra, Symbol of Jihadist Destruction

Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces are again battling to retake from jihadists, has become a symbol of the Islamic State group's wanton destruction of cultural heritage.

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Victim Quits Pope's Abuse Panel, Slams 'Shameful' Vatican

Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of clerical sex abuse, resigned Wednesday from Pope Francis' child protection panel, accusing senior Vatican officials of "shameful" blocking of reforms approved by the pontiff.

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Damaged Palmyra Busts Back in Syria after Italy Restoration

Two rare busts rescued from the Islamic State group in the ancient city of Palmyra and restored in Italy have been returned to Syria, the country's antiquities director said Wednesday.

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NY Museums Wage Cultural War against Trump Prejudice

Museums across New York are waging a cultural war on prejudice in Donald Trump's America, flexing the soft power of art and photography to compound the city-wide climate of protest.

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U.S. Supreme Court Debates Ban on Accessing Social Media

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday took up a case involving a North Carolina law that bars registered sex offenders from accessing social media and raises a broader question: can one live without the likes of Facebook?

It goes back to a seemingly harmless event in April 2010, when a man named Lester Packingham learned that authorities had dropped court proceedings stemming from a traffic ticket he had been given.

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Yad Vashem Asks Amazon to Remove Holocaust Denial Books

Israel's Yad Vashem has written to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos urging the internet retail giant to remove books which deny the Holocaust, the Holocaust memorial organization said Monday.

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