Japan says it has found no evidence its WWII government and military forcibly rounded up women to be sex slaves, Tokyo has told a U.N. committee, the latest pronouncement in a corrosive row over interpretations of history. 

The confirmation Tuesday, ahead of a conference on women later this month, is likely to renew anger among the dwindling number of surviving former "comfort women", who say the country has never taken full responsibility for what it did in wartime.

India's top court agreed Tuesday to review a decision which criminalizes gay sex, sparking hope among campaigners that the colonial-era law will eventually be overturned in the world's biggest democracy. 

The Supreme Court's three most senior judges accepted a last-ditch challenge against a 2013 decision reimposing the ban, which is stipulated in India's criminal code and enables the jailing of homosexuals.

Art historians on Monday revealed that a painting stored for decades at an American museum was in fact a work by Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch.

The surprise discovery comes as 's-Hertogenbosch, the hometown of the artist whose nightmarish visions on canvas earned him the moniker of "the devil's painter", marks the 500th anniversary of his death. 

Czech archeologists have unearthed an ancient funerary boat near the Abusir pyramids south of Cairo, officials said Monday, in a discovery that could shed light on shipbuilding in ancient Egypt.

The discovery of the more than 4,500-year-old remains of the wooden vessel, which archaeologists believe belonged to a prominent member of society, was made at the Abusir South cemetery, an antiquities ministry statement said.

Internationally acclaimed Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has accused the European Union of turning a blind eye to the state of democracy in Turkey because of its cooperation in the migration crisis, local media reported on Sunday.

"They have forgotten all their values," Pamuk told the Hurriyet newspaper in an interview, referring to the EU, adding that the fight against the Islamic State group and the migrant crisis had "tied Europe's hands."

The special envoy of Pope Francis told a gathering of hundreds of thousands in the Philippines on Sunday that they had a special role to play in spreading the gospel, even to developed nations.

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar was delivering a homily at the closing mass after a week-long International Eucharistic Congress.

Turkish police have recovered an original painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in an undercover operation in Istanbul, state-run Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday.

The operation targeted alleged art thieves attempting to sell the painting "Woman Dressing Her Hair" which was stolen from a collector in New York, Anatolia said.

Mix one part superstition, two parts fashion, a dab of celebrity idolatry and a heap of media frenzy, and what do you get? "Child angel" dolls, the latest craze in Thailand.

The dolls occupy a niche somewhere between Buddhist amulets, beloved by gamblers, gangsters and policemen for their reputed magical protective powers, and Furby toys, adored by children for their cuteness.

In Japan, where communal ties to local Buddhist temples are fading, families have in recent years been able to go online to find a Buddhist monk to perform funerals and other rituals.

But when Amazon Japan allowed a provider to offer "Obo-san bin," or "Mr. Monk Delivery," on its website, it shone a spotlight on the emerging trend and prompted a major Buddhist organization to criticize the Internet marketer of commercializing religion.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to protest in Rome's Circus Maximus arena Saturday against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

"As many people as possible must take part, remember this is the only weapon we have!" organizer Massimo Gandolfini said ahead of the "Family Day" rally, which begins in the capital's ancient Roman chariot racing stadium at 1100 GMT.