Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from across the Arab world, including a Lebanese rock star, released a video on Monday to tell their peers they are "not alone."

Lebanese singer Hamed Sinno, who is openly gay, is one of several people from Morocco to Iraq to recount their struggle with their identity in the video made by two human rights groups.

A 13-year-old boy and an amateur archaeologist have unearthed a "significant" treasure trove in Germany which may have belonged to the legendary Danish king Harald Bluetooth who brought Christianity to Denmark.

A decade after Spain's property bubble burst, dozens of vacant apartments in Madrid and Barcelona city centers have turned into "drug flats", to the dismay of local residents who complain of abandoned syringes and frequent brawls.

"You don't live anymore. You are more afraid at home than outside," said Begona Sebastian, a 51-year-old accountant whose building was one of the first in Lavapies, a district in the center of Madrid, to have a "narcopiso", or drug flat, where people come to buy and consume drugs.

Israelis came to a halt throughout the country Thursday to observe two minutes of solemn silence as a siren blared, marking the annual remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Masazo Nonaka from Japan was recognised Tuesday as the world's oldest man at the ripe old age of 112, as his family revealed his secret: sweets and hot baths.

Pulling down statues of political leaders, such as that of Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi capital 15 years ago, is a symbolic act with many precedents around the world.

When the giant effigy of Saddam was wrenched off its plinth on April 9, 2003 with the help of US Marines, it was confirmation for the jubilant onlookers thar his nearly 24-year rule had also come crashing down.

Austria's government announced Wednesday its intention to bring in a ban on the headscarf for girls in kindergartens and primary schools.

China's culture watchdog has slapped fines on websites that posted parodies of "Communist classics and heroes", as the authorities further restrict what people can say -- or even laugh at -- online.

Major video sites iQiyi and Sina were handed undisclosed fines for "distorting or mocking" classic works, the culture ministry said, less than two weeks after new rules were issued to ban online spoofs.

A Chinese religious affairs official on Tuesday denied that authorities briefly detained an underground bishop last week, after the Vatican poured water on Beijing's suggestion that a deal on the appointment of prelates was imminent.

A Singaporean couple have launched a legal challenge after authorities annulled their marriage because the husband underwent a sex change, a lawyer said Monday.