The Islamic State group has released a video in which militants can be seen using rifles and sledgehammers to destroy artifacts at the ancient city of Hatra in Iraq.

Destruction at the UNESCO world heritage site had already been confirmed by the U.N.'s cultural agency a month ago.

Six paintings by French impressionist painter Claude Monet are among the stars heading for New York City's spring art auctions that could realize between $78 million and $110 million, Sotheby's announced Friday.

The works, which span five decades of the artist's career and represent his most indelible scenes, will appear at the auction house's impressionist and modern art sale on May 5. All have long been in private collections.

Once a source of national pride, Syria's national tipple arak has fallen victim to the country's conflict, with a shrinking customer base, supply routes severed and cheap counterfeits aplenty.

The colorless liquor, made from fermented grapes flavored with aniseed, is consumed throughout the Levant, mixed with water that turns it a milky white.

It looks like just another stately mansion on the street leading up to the White House. But the Cuban Interests Section in the U.S. capital is a rich symbol of decades of snarled ties.

Its destiny is to become Cuba's embassy, now that the countries have announced they will bury half a century of Cold War enmity and restore full ties.

Books on Islam are selling out in France after deadly extremist attacks in the capital raised uncomfortable questions about Europe's fastest-growing religion.

A special magazine supplement focused on the Koran has flown off the shelves, and shops are selling more books on Islam than ever after the Paris attacks in January that left 17 dead.

Hong Kong families trekked up to hillside cemeteries Friday to burn offerings for their ancestors, with French macaroons proving this year's must-have delicacy for relatives to enjoy in the afterlife.

The ancient annual tradition sees thousands of people clamber up the city's hills, despite the hot and humid conditions, to burn incense and sweep relatives' graves in the run-up to the Ching Ming festival, which falls on Sunday.

At a sprawling Bronze Age cemetery in southern Jordan, archaeologists have developed a unique way of peering into the murky world of antiquities looting: With aerial photographs taken by a homemade drone, researchers are mapping exactly where — and roughly when — these ancient tombs were robbed.

Based on such images and conversations with some looters whose confidence they gained, archaeologists try to follow the trail of stolen pots and other artifacts to traders and buyers. They hope to get a better understanding of the black market and perhaps stop future plunder.

With wild dancing to a furious beat, booming wooden drums echo over a hill in Burundi: an ancient sound, sacred tradition and once a symbol of unity for the kingdom.

Youngsters dance around the circle of 15 thumping drummers, led by 79-year-old Antime Baranshakaje, still sprightly and waving spear and shield, himself the former drummer of the last king of this small central African nation.

Devotees in the fervently Catholic Philippines marked Good Friday by being nailed to crosses and whipping their backs bloody, in extreme acts of devotion that attracted thousands of spectators.

The annual ritual in scorching hot farmlands just outside of Manila is one of many colorful outpourings of faith in the Southeast Asian nation, where 80 percent of its 100 million people are Catholics.

The Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith on the planet, according to projections released Thursday.

The Pew Research Center's religious profile predictions assessed data from around the world on fertility rates, trends in youth population growth and religious conversion statistics.