French artist JR on Friday put the final touches to a huge collage in the courtyard of the Louvre, his latest eye-popping-project unveiled to mark the 30th birthday of the Louvre's glass pyramid.

President Recep Taayyip Erdogan said Wednesday it was time to rename Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia as a mosque, saying that it had been a "very big mistake" to convert it into a museum. 

"Hagia Sophia will not be called a museum. It will be taken out of that status. We will call Hagia Sophia a mosque," Erdogan told A Haber television during an interview.

An advertising campaign by Germany's transport ministry to persuade cyclists to wear helmets has sparked accusations of sexism, as it features a model wearing just a helmet and underwear.

After years of war, the scent of laurel oil once again wafts from a small soap workshop in Aleppo, signalling the revival of a landmark trade in the battered northern city.

Pope Francis has rejected the resignation of French cardinal Philippe Barbarin who was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence this month for failing to report sex abuse by a priest under his authority, prompting surprise among Church leaders and condemnation from victims.

A new exhibition has uncovered a hoard of art looted from a Jewish family almost wiped out by the Nazis in the Louvre and other leading French museums.

Cubans are using new found social media muscle to challenge their leaders in ways hitherto unseen on the communist-run island.

A new ad with an elegantly dressed minister using "fascist" perfume drew online outrage Tuesday, the latest in a social media war ahead of an Israeli election that has also featured a flatulent hippo.

Fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine insurgents has now reached the ancient temples of Mrauk U, the former capital of the Rakhine kingdom and a popular tourist site, local residents said Monday.

The carnage unleashed in Christchurch by a white supremacist has highlighted what analysts say is the global problem of a far-right threat that frequently flies beneath the intelligence radar.