Part of the Elgin Marbles has left Britain for the first time since they were taken from the Parthenon in 1803, on loan to a Russian museum, the British Museum said on Friday.

The museum has loaned one of the statues -- taken from Greece by British diplomat Lord Elgin and which Athens has repeatedly demanded be returned -- to Russia's State Hermitage Museum.

Allied and German planes hang side by side in a show opening in London on Thursday that charts WW1's role in advancing aviation, and spotlights the work of the staff behind the scenes.

"First World War in the Air" at the Royal Air Force (RAF) museum brings together 14 aircraft including a unique British FE2b night bomber, painstakingly reconstructed over the last 20 years.

We are not asking for the moon, only a star! says the slogan of the initiative.

Field Of Stars is a corporate social responsibility initiative which aims at helping children in need by raising funds and equally distributing them to 26 Lebanese children charities, a press release said.

Mpumelelo Masinga takes a deep drag from his cigarette, his hand trembling with apprehension.

Masinga is preparing to spend three hours at Black and White Tattoo Studio in Johannesburg getting Nelson Mandela's face tattooed on the center of his back.

A DNA study confirming that a skeleton found in 2012 was that of Richard III also found evidence of "false paternity" that raises doubts about the royal claims of centuries of British monarchs, researchers said on Tuesday.

The study said the remains matched the DNA of two descendants of Richard III's sister, Anne of York, meaning researchers are certain "beyond reasonable doubt" that the skeleton is indeed the king's.

An Italian historian's theory that Mona Lisa might be a Chinese slave and Leonardo da Vinci's mother -- making the 15th-century polymath half-Chinese -- sent online commentators into a frenzy Wednesday.

Angelo Paratico, a Hong Kong-based historian and novelist from Italy, told the South China Morning Post: "On the back of Mona Lisa, there is a Chinese landscape and even her face looks Chinese."

Turkish students know Albert Einstein but can't name any Muslim scientists or scholars, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complained on Tuesday as he called for a new curriculum in schools.

"If you ask them who Einstein is, every young person has something to say about him. If you ask who Ibn Sina is, you see the child has never heard about him," Erdogan told a teachers' forum in the southern city of Antalya.

Iran was urged by human rights groups on Tuesday to drop the death sentence given to a man convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed in several Facebook posts.

Soheil Arabi was found guilty in August and the decision was upheld by Iran's Supreme Court last month.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Tuesday weighed in on a debate about gender-specific toys in the lead-up to Christmas, saying boys should be boys and girls should be girls.

Greens senator Larissa Waters has backed a "No Gender December" campaign, aimed at breaking down stereotypes around buying dolls for girls and trucks for boys.

Ninety-two-year-old Johanna beams at the 20-year-old stepping into her room -- not a visiting grandson, but rather a housemate at her retirement home.

Town planning student Jurrien is one of six who have chosen to live in the yellow-brick home in Deventer in the eastern Netherlands as part of a unique project that benefits everyone.