The writers' group PEN is honoring Salman Rushdie for his "outstanding" literary output and support for freedom of expression.

The India-born writer, who spent years in hiding after his novel "The Satanic Verses" drew a death edict from Iran's religious authorities, was named winner Friday of the PEN/Pinter prize.

A Japanese military brothel in China has been declared a protected historic site, state media said Thursday, as Beijing highlights old grievances amid modern-day tensions with its longtime rival.

The seven-building complex in the eastern city of Nanjing housed more than 200 "comfort women" forced to serve Japanese soldiers during World War II, and was the largest such facility in Asia, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

What would Lady Macbeth be without something extravagant in which to sweep on stage or Hamlet without a silk doublet and padded hose?

Costumes -- the unsung heroes of Shakespearean theatre -- are the stars of a new exhibition that reveals the huge effort that goes into dressing the Bard's leading men and women.

The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on Uganda including canceling a military air exercise, visa bans and freezing some aid after Ugandan leaders brought in tough anti-gay laws.

The new legislation signed into law in February "runs counter to universal human rights and complicates our bilateral relationship," the White House said, as it announced the new steps.

Hundreds of children are believed to have been kidnapped in Africa and brought to Britain for brutal voodoo rituals, a U.N. watchdog said Thursday, urging London to step up its fight against the scourge.

"We're concerned about reports that hundreds of children have been abducted from their families in Africa and trafficked to the UK, especially London, for religious rituals," said Kristen Sandberg, head of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Amsterdam residents fearing the loss of a popular park have rejected a multi-million-euro Holocaust memorial by famed U.S. architect Daniel Libeskind, forcing officials to rethink the plan.

A district council in the city voted on Tuesday to send the project back to the drawing board after residents complained that the city had backed the project without having properly consulted them.

Denmark's largest purpose-built mosque, including the country's first minaret, opens on Thursday in Copenhagen's gritty northwest district after receiving a 150 million kroner (20.1 million euros, $27.2 million) endowment from Qatar.

The longstanding political influence of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP), as well as the row over Prophet Mohammed cartoons that led to deadly protests in Muslim countries have strained relations between Denmark's largest religious minority and the majority population.

U.N. cultural body UNESCO on Wednesday put the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania on the list of endangered World Heritage sites because of widespread poaching.

The animal population at the 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 square miles) park had dwindled significantly since it was listed as a heritage site in 1982, UNESCO said.

At least 127 test-takers in a Chinese province hired other people to take the country's all-important college entrance exam on their behalf, the provincial college admission office said.

The Higher Education Admission Office of the central Henan province promised a full investigation into the scam after state broadcaster China Central Television ran an expose piece about it on Tuesday.

Jennifer Weiner had so much to share with her readers.

The author of such best-sellers as "Goodnight Nobody" and "In Her Shoes" spoke before about 100 fans Tuesday at a Barnes & Noble on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They came out on a humid evening for the chance to learn more about her new novel, "All Fall Down," and to hear the latest from a woman they think of as a friend, whose stories are in some ways their stories.