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Ganesha Idols Adorn Indian Town before Hindu Festival

Recently married, Namrata Raut returned to her family home in rural western India to paint hundreds of Ganesha idols ahead of a major Hindu festival celebrating the elephant-headed deity.

Pen, in Maharashtra state, is renowned for its exquisitely designed and beautifully colored statues of the auspicious god, which are sold around the world providing the lifeblood of this small community. 

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Replica of General Lafayette's Ship Returns to France

A replica of the French frigate that transported General Lafayette to America in 1780 to rally U.S. rebels battling for independence was due back in France on Monday after a four-month Atlantic voyage.

The Hermione was due to land with its 80-strong crew at Brest in northwestern France, accompanied by a fleet of 25 traditional boats and a modern navy frigate.

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Derelict Albanian Military Island Opens up to Tourists

Former communist Albania's most secretive military base, the strategic Sazan island on the Adriatic Sea, has opened its derelict bunkers and tunnels, hoping to turn it into a top tourist draw.

Situated at the entrance of Vlora bay in southwestern Albania and at a strategic point on the Otranto canal that separates the Adriatic and Ionian seas, the tiny island of only a dozen square kilometers (4.5 square miles) was through centuries coveted by various armies: Roman, Ottoman, Greek, Italian and even German.

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London Gay Bars Wilt as Tolerance Blooms, Property Booms

Fresh out of jail and sporting tattoos on his neck and knuckles, 53-year-old Shaun Perkins sits in one of London's oldest gay pubs looking bewildered.

"When you're in prison, they put you in a cell and it's like time stands still," he said, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans.

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Pentagon still Searching for its Lost WWII Veterans

Long dead but little forgotten, U.S. soldiers who disappeared across the globe during World War II are being reunited with their loved ones in a dogged push to find and bring home their bodies.

From the forests of Germany to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, U.S. experts employed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency -- among them historians, archeologists and forensic experts -- are the main sleuths.

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China Media Seek Probe into Claims against 'CEO Monk'

Lurid allegations against the head of China's Shaolin temple -- renowned as the birthplace of kung fu -- must be investigated by the government, state media said Monday, after former monks accused him of philandering and corruption.

The abbot, Shi Yongxin, has long been known as the "CEO monk" for transforming the ancient Buddhist temple into a global commercial enterprise. 

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Married by a Woman: A Quiet Palestinian Revolution

Holding the young couple's identity cards in one hand and the Koran in the other, the Palestinian justice of the peace pronounces Thaer and Rawan man and wife.

It's an everyday scene at the Islamic sharia law court in the West Bank city of Ramallah except for one glaring difference -- the justice is a woman, the first in the Palestinian territories licensed to perform Muslim marriages.

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'Face of War': Ukraine Artist Creates Putin Portrait with Bullet Shells

A young Ukrainian artist has captured global media attention by creating a striking portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin out of 5,000 bullet shells collected in the separatist east.

Daria Marchenko's "The Face of War" -- a remarkably realistic and politically tinged depiction of Putin in a dark suit and red tie -- stands more than two meters (nearly seven feet) tall and dominates the artist's studio apartment.

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Pompeii Set to Rise again in Happy End to Restoration Saga

Pompeii is rising from the ashes again -- despite the worst that Italy's mafia, and bureaucracy, could throw at it.

The ancient city, buried during a volcanic eruption in the first century, is undergoing a multi-million euro restoration which will see the preserved bodies of victims go on display at the site.

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Snowden Bust Kicks Off New York Art Festival

A cement bust of America's most-wanted whistleblower Edward Snowden, once famously confiscated by police, returned to public display in New York on Friday to kick off a street art festival.

The 100-pound (45-kilo) likeness stands proud on a plinth in Manhattan's tourist-clogged Little Italy neighborhood, to be guarded round the clock until the weekend Lo Man Art Festival closes.

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