Marijuana users in Colorado and Washington are counting down the hours before the western U.S. states become the first to legalize recreational pot shops on January 1.

Blazing a trail they hope will be followed in other parts of the United States, cannabis growers and others are also rubbing their hands, while tax collectors are eyeing the revenue the newly-legalized trade will generate.

Saudi police on Saturday pulled over a woman minutes after she got behind the wheel in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after activists called for a new challenge to a driving ban.

"Only 10 minutes after Tamador al-Yami got behind the wheel police stopped her," activist Eman al-Nafjan told Agence France Presse, adding that Yami carries an international driving licence and was with another woman who was filming her in the car.

As soon as the beat started, the young veiled woman bobbed her head to the rhythm, raised her hands to get the crowd clapping and then unleashed a flood of rap lyrics that tackled some of the biggest social challenges women face in the Arab world.

With the Middle East's hit TV show "Arabs Got Talent" as her stage, 18-year-old Myam Mahmoud rapped about sexual harassment, second-class treatment of women, and societal expectations of how a young religious woman should behave.

With India's wedding season in full swing, the glass sales counters in Mumbai's famed Zhaveri gold bazaars are crowded with customers eyeing elaborate headpieces, nose rings and necklaces. No one does jewelry quite like an Indian bride, who by tradition wears all the gold she can stand up in and her family can afford.

These days, though, even the most ambitious bridal budgets don't bring the bling like they used to, thanks to hikes in import duties and a rise in local gold prices that have shoppers like Rajanikant Mehta grumbling.

A Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. who has been in prison for more than a year for his handling of priest sex-abuse complaints had his conviction reversed and was ordered released Thursday.

Monsignor William Lynn has been the first U.S. church official ever charged or convicted for the handling of clergy-abuse complaints.

A senior Iranian official said Thursday that the ancient citadel of Bam, destroyed by an earthquake a decade ago, will again be a major tourist attraction by 2016, media reported.

"Over the next two or three years, Arg'e Bam will be rebuilt so it again becomes a major tourist attractions" Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Ali Najafi, head of Iran's heritage organisation as saying.

The most expensive artwork ever sold at auction is on display at the Portland Art Museum.

In New York last month, an anonymous collector paid more than $142 million for the "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" — a 1969 triptych by Francis Bacon. The museum is exhibiting the work for three months before it heads to the owner's private collection.

George Washington has made his annual Christmas Day ride across the Delaware River.

Washington's daring Christmas 1776 crossing of the river turned the tide of the Revolutionary War. The 61st reenactment of it was staged Wednesday.

With a deft clip here and a gentle tug there, Makoto Ishibashi sculpts trees with the skill of an artisan whose work is far more than just a job.

The heir to a centuries-old family business, he creates masterpieces that can turn a pine tree into a work of art that could fetch $40,000.

The world's tiny but hugely successful Zoroastrian community will confront a demographic crisis which threatens its very existence when it gathers en masse in its spiritual home of Mumbai this week.

The four-day World Zoroastrian Congress, beginning Friday, brings together followers of one of the world's oldest religions, many of whom are descended from Persians who fled to India to escape persecution more than 1,000 years ago.