In a tiny flat in a rundown alley in New Delhi, Rakesh Kumar Misra is working against the odds to bring India's ancient Sanskrit language to the country's millions.

The 4,000-year-old classical language was traditionally used by Brahmin intellectuals and Hindu priests. Rarely spoken as a mother tongue in India, Sanskrit is often dismissed as a dead language.

A Brazilian lawmaker who said Amazon tribal peoples should be left to starve to death and are "a bunch of little gays" has been named Racist of the Year by an NGO.

The man who made these remarks in July is Fernando Furtado, a lawmaker in Maranhao state, said Survival International, which works to protect indigenous groups.

Licio Gelli, a masonic grand master implicated in some of the darkest chapters of Italy's post-war history and one of the worst scandals to rock the Vatican, has died at the age of 96.

Gelli, a fascist sympathizer who was the founder and leader of of the notorious P2 masonic lodge, passed away on Tuesday evening at his villa in Arezzo, Tuscany, his family said, according to local media.

Human rights groups called on Tunisia Wednesday to repeal a law criminalizing homosexuality after six students, who had been forced to undergo anal examinations, were jailed in the North African country.

The 13 NGOs demanded in a joint statement that the authorities "abrogate Article 230 and revise all draconian provisions of the Tunisian Penal Code" stating that homosexuality is illegal.

Japan's top court on Wednesday upheld a law that requires married couples to have a common surname, sparking criticism from activists who complain the rule is sexist and outdated.

In a separate but also highly anticipated decision, the Supreme Court said a six-month waiting period for women remarrying after divorce was excessive and should be reduced.

The wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi on Wednesday accepted the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on his behalf, urging Arab countries to reject theocratic diktats and tolerate differing views.

Ensaf Haidar told the packed assembly that her husband, sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, believed "freedom of expression is like the air that we breathe."

The sale of late British leader Margaret Thatcher's possessions has raised £3.3 million (4.5 million euros, $5 million), auction house Christie's said on Tuesday.

A model of an American bald eagle given to Thatcher by close ally and former US president Ronald Reagan fetched the highest price for an individual item at £266,500 after a flurry of bidding in person, online and by phone.

Iran has impounded tens of thousands of cars since March because women inside the vehicles had not properly covered their hair with a headscarf, Tehran's traffic police said Tuesday.

"Over the past eight months, more than 40,000 cases of bad hijab (headscarf) have been dealt with," said Brigadier General Teymour Hosseini, quoted by ISNA news agency.

A U.S. Army captain who is Sikh has been granted a rare -- albeit temporary -- waiver letting him keep his beard and wear a turban while serving, his representatives said Monday.

The case of Captain Simratpal Singh comes nearly two years after the Pentagon loosened a requirement for soldiers to be "clean-cut."

The election of at least 20 women to local councils in Saudi Arabia for the first time could indirectly lead to longer term reforms in discriminatory policies, activists said Monday.

They said Saturday's vote in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom is a step towards improving the rights of the Gulf nation's roughly 10 million females.