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UNESCO: Reconstruction of Timbuktu Mausoleums Begins

Masons in Timbuktu on Friday began rebuilding precious mausoleums that were destroyed by Islamist guerillas when they controlled the Malian city before a French intervention, the U.N. cultural body said.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants destroyed 15 of the northern city's mausoleums, important buildings that date back to the golden age of Timbuktu as an economic, intellectual and spiritual center in the 15th and 16th centuries, UNESCO reported in June last year.

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Church Criticized over Spain's Mosque-Turned-Cathedral

Spanish campaigners accuse the country's Catholic Church of trying to cover up the Islamic history of Cordoba Cathedral, a world heritage site that was originally a mosque.

It is one of the most famous Islamic sites in Europe, but those coming to learn about that are left none the wiser by the information leaflets given out to tourists, critics say.

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Auschwitz Acquires Stamps Used to Tattoo Prisoners

Rare metal stamps used by the Nazis to tattoo prisoners at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp have surfaced in Poland.

A donor insisting on anonymity handed over the stamps to the memorial museum at the site of the World War II-era camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland.

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S. Korean Strongman's Art Collection Sold to Pay Fines

Art works confiscated from the family of former South Korean dictator Chun Doo-Hwan have been auctioned to pay multi-million-dollar fines imposed for bribes the disgraced military strongman received in office.

Two auction houses said Thursday they had raised 7.2 billion won ($6.7 million) from the sale of 600 art works since December.

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Philippines to Build Elephant Monument from Destroyed Ivory

The Philippines is to build an elephant monument from the ashes of seized tusks it destroyed in a landmark action against the ivory trade, an official said Thursday.

The ash will be mixed with concrete to build a giant sculpture of a mother elephant protecting her calf, said Josie de Leon, chief of the environment ministry's wildlife division.

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Nigerian Author Adichie Wins Fiction Prize

The latest novel by the acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Americanah," has won the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction.

Sheri Fink's book on Hurricane Katrina, "Five Days at Memorial," won for nonfiction. The biography winner was Leo Damrosch's "Jonathan Swift" and Amy Wilentz's "Farewell, Fred Voodoo" received the autobiography prize.

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U.N: Syria Cultural Heritage in Peril from War, Looting

The United Nations on Wednesday appealed to warring factions in Syria's bloody civil war to protect the country's cultural heritage, warning of widespread looting and damage at historical sites caught up in the conflict.

A joint statement from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UNESCO director Irina Bokova and international mediator on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called on all sides to "halt immediately all destruction of Syrian heritage, and to save Syria's rich social mosaic and cultural heritage."

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Arab Countries Ban 'Noah' Citing Islamic Concerns

Three Arab countries have banned the biblical epic movie "Noah" because it contradicts Islam, while three more are expected to follow suit, a studio spokesman said Wednesday.

Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates told Hollywood giant Paramount last week that the film, starring Russell Crowe, will not be released in their countries. Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait are expected to follow suit.

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President: No English Please, We're Gambians

Gambia will drop English as its official language, President Yahya Jammeh said in his latest diatribe against former colonial power Britain.

"We're going to speak our own language," he said, without specifying which of the poor west African country's indigenous tongues would replace English.

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Mo Yan, Jelinek Finalists for Best Translated Book

Nobel laureates Mo Yan and Elfriede Jelinek are among the finalists for a prize honoring fiction translated into English.

University of Rochester-based Three Percent announced the long list of 25 nominees Tuesday for the Best Translated Book Award. The winning author and translator each will receive $5,000 from Amazon.com.

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