The discovery in Gaza of a life-size bronze statue of a naked ancient Greek god has presented the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers with a dilemma: should there be a cover-up?

Religious sensitivities about nudity and pagan idolatry aside, mystery also surrounds the circumstances of how the statue of Apollo turned up.

In a vacant lot between gleaming hotels in downtown Miami, are a series of holes carved into the bedrock that form eight circles.

At first glance, the site seems like an eyesore, but it's here where archaeologists say they have uncovered a major prehistoric Native American village, one of the largest and earliest examples of urban planning ever uncovered in North America.

Tourists, hawkers and motorcyclists rub shoulders every morning in the congested alleyways of Hanoi's low-rise Old Quarter, which seems generations away from the office towers and electronics megastores springing up in other parts of the capital. The quarter's street grid, laid out in the 15th century, is still dominated by dilapidated shops selling everything from brass gongs to bamboo scaffolding.

It is now among Asia's best-preserved urban hubs of traditional commerce — thanks largely to decades of inattention. The 82-hectare (203-acre) downtown area is crammed with Buddhist temples, pagodas and French colonial shophouses, whose original tiles and peeling yellow paint have become a draw for foreign visitors.

Thousands of engaged couples clutching heart balloons and holding "I Love You" banners crowded into St Peter's Square on Friday for a highly unusual Valentine's Day date -- an audience with Pope Francis.

White silk cushions on which couples tie their wedding rings were handed out as gifts -- complete with the pope's signature in Latin, "Franciscus" -- during an unprecedented event entitled "The Joy of Yes Forever".

Newly released video footage has thrown doubt on claims by a headscarf-wearing mother that she was attacked by a group of protesters in Istanbul during last year's mass anti-government protests.

Zehra Develioglu alleges that around 100 half-naked men with leather gloves attacked her while she was waiting with her baby for her husband near Kabatas tram station -- a claim widely trumpeted by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Malaysian Islamic authorities took their annual swipe at Valentine's Day Friday, calling it a threat to Muslim values, but 138 couples took part in a mass wedding to mark the date.

In its official Friday sermon text distributed to mosques in the Muslim-majority country, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department blamed Valentine's Day for everything from alcoholism to abortion.

Global art sales hit a new record high of $12.05 billion (8.8 billion euros) in 2013 with China keeping its spot as the top buyer, a leading art market data firm said Wednesday.

France-based Artprice said sales of artworks around the globe -- which include paintings, sculptures and photographic prints -- grew 13 percent in 2013.

Nearly 13,000 years ago, a baby boy died in what is Montana today.

Mourners stained his tiny body with red ochre and entombed him with artefacts that had likely been in his family for generations.

Ugly people with a sense of humor appear to trump their good-looking but dull peers in the Philippines' dating game, according to a pre-Valentine's Day poll published Thursday.

Given a choice, nine in 10 adult Filipinos told survey group Social Weather Stations they would pick "a man/woman who has a sense of humour". Ten percent preferred "a man/woman who is good-looking but has no sense of humor."

Documents related to the Nanjing Massacre are being submitted for inclusion on a UNESCO list by authorities in the Chinese city, state media reported Thursday, after uproar over a Japanese bid to include suicide pilots' farewell letters.

According to the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post, it is the third time that Nanjing has submitted the documents for inclusion in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, which also includes such items as the diary of Anne Frank and Britain's Magna Carta.