Tens of thousands of yoga fans are expected in Berlin this weekend for a huge festival organized in the German capital's 1930s Olympic Stadium by one of India's best-known gurus, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The July 2-3 World Culture Festival is billed as a "unique celebration of harmony in diversity", bringing together a hoped-for 70,000 participants from 151 countries.

Germany on Saturday ordered the closure of its embassy in Yemen and the rapid repatriation of its staff amid widespread unrest, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Even if the fighting in the capital is not directed against foreigners, the dangerous nature of the situation has led the foreign ministry to take this decision," the statement said.

Berlin's Schoenefeld international airport, located in the capital's rural outskirts, Wednesday announced a long-term project to monitor air quality by studying local bees and their honey.

"The honey monitoring will supplement our air quality control system," Jochen Heimberg, responsible for the airport's environmental division, said in a statement.

A German man scooped the title of world's best beard on Sunday after impressing competition hosts in Norway with his facial hair featuring a moose and a Norwegian flag.

Hairdresser Elmar Weisser, 47, beat 160 hopefuls from 15 countries to take first prize in the World Beard and Mustache Championship, held this year in Trondheim.

Raul Krauthausen, who has used a wheelchair since childhood, has always been uncomfortable with the services Germany provides for the physically handicapped, like special taxis and grocery delivery — saying they feel patronizing and further isolate him from the able-bodied world.

So Krauthausen took matters into his own hands and launched wheelmap.org, an iPhone application and website in German and English that allows users to share ratings and tips on how accessible shops, bars and other places are.

A treasure trove of 3,000-year-old giant birds, lions, and goddesses goes on show in Berlin with a past so incredible that it could rival archaeology action film hero Indiana Jones.

The story kicks off nearly 100 years ago when Max von Oppenheim, the son of a rich German banker, fell in love with the Middle East as a diplomat keeping an eye on British empire-building.

Egypt is officially requesting the return of the 3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti that has been in a Berlin museum for decades.

The bust, dating back to the 14th century B.C. monarch, tops Egypt's wish list of artifacts the country hopes to bring back as part of a campaign to retrieve thousands of antiquities spirited out during the colonial period and afterward.