Two children's books dealing with gay subjects won't be destroyed after all and will be restored to Singapore's public libraries, an official said Friday.

Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim had said in mid-July he supported the state-run National Library Board's decision to pulp three books deemed to have inappropriate content. But many people in the conservative Southeast Asian city-state objected.

The devout Christian family that upended a part of President Barack Obama's health care law aims to open a Bible museum in Washington in 2017, a spokesperson for the project said Friday.

A large, colorful billboard from the 1937 release of the animated film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is up for auction.

Heritage Auctions said the rare billboard is expected to sell for at least $10,000 on Saturday in Dallas. The 20-by-9-foot billboard was printed in England to promote the Disney film there. It features three scenes, the main one showing a rosy-cheeked Snow White in front of a castle in her classic outfit with a bright yellow skirt, surrounded by the dwarfs and other characters from the film.

Forty years after the division of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriot schoolchildren are still being taught separate narratives of their shared legacy of pain.

On July 20, 1974, the first Turkish troops landed on the north coast at Kyrenia, with the declared aim of protecting the Turkish Cypriot minority after a coup to unite the island with Greece.

"Spasiba, Katya," David Hallberg calls out, thanking a colleague in what sounds like a pretty convincing Russian accent. We're on our way upstairs to his dressing room at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, where his name is emblazoned on the door — in Cyrillic letters.

Talk about worlds colliding. For the past three years, since he made headlines by becoming the first American — and first foreigner — to be named a principal dancer at the storied Bolshoi Ballet, Hallberg, a blond, elegant dancer from the American heartland, has lived what he calls two separate lives — his American life, in New York, and his Russian life, in Moscow.

The Imperial War Museum in London reopens its doors Saturday after a £40-million ($70-million, 50-million-euro) refit, with a new permanent exhibition to the experiences of Britons and Commonwealth soldiers in World War I.

One hundred years after the start of the 1914-1918 conflict, curators have harnessed modern technology to create a multi-sensory experience for a new generation of visitors.

A German court ruled Wednesday that 4.5 million euros ($6.1 million) be paid from the estate of the late Princess Soraya of Iran to three French charities.

The French Red Cross, an animal protection group and an organisation for the rights of disabled people must equally share the money, which is part of the fortune of Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary, who died in Paris in 2001, the court in Cologne ruled.

A collection of unusual items signed by anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela are to go under the hammer on Thursday, on the eve of the former South African president's birthday. 

Among the 202 lots on sale are an array of kitsch items, including salt and pepper shakers in the shape of Mandela and FW de Klerk -- the last president to rule over apartheid South Africa, with whom he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. 

The Hong Kong Book Fair opened its doors Wednesday with hundreds of thousands expected to attend the seven-day show, packed with everything from cute cartoons to cutting-edge political satire.

Some book stalls reflected the heightened tensions in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, where fears are growing over what is seen as increasing interference by Beijing and where pressure for democratic elections is growing.

A Japanese businessman whose donation helped restore an ancient Roman pyramid said it was a way of thanking Italy for his success, as he toured the monument with Italy's culture minister on Tuesday.

Dressed in an impeccable white suit, the wavy-haired fashion importer Yuzo Yagi admired the work due to be completed within months thanks to his two-million euro ($2.7 million) gift.