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Cambodian Jungle Graveyard Mystifies Experts

Over a hundred "burial jars" and a dozen coffins arranged on a ledge in remote Cambodian jungle have for centuries held the bones -- and secrets -- of a mysterious people who lived alongside with the Angkor era.

Why the bones were placed in jars on a cliff some 100 meters (320 feet) high in the Cardamom Mountains, or indeed whose remains they are, has long puzzled experts.

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Sri Lanka Bans Time 'Buddhist Terror' Edition

Sri Lanka has banned the latest issue of Time magazine over its cover story on Myanmar's Buddhist-Muslim clashes, which it said could hurt religious sentiment on the island, an official said Tuesday.

Customs department spokesman Leslie Gamini said they held the July 1 issue because it carried a photo of a prominent Myanmar monk under the headline: "The Face of Buddhist Terror".

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Baalbek International Festival to be Held Exceptionally in Jdeideh

The famed Baalbek International Festival, normally held in the town's spectacular Roman ruins, will be held this year in the Northern Metn district of Jdeideh near the capital Beirut, the festival's organizing committee said on Monday.

La Magnanerie, a former silk factory that dates back to the nineteenth century, will be this year's venue, the committee announced in a statement.

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Confederate Flags Still a Sensitive Symbol in U.S.

Confederate flags are a hot-button issue in the United States almost a century and a half after the end of the American Civil War.

Case in point: to celebrate this coming week's 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Virginia asked Minnesota to loan it such a flag seized during that turning point in the war, which concluded in 1865.

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Climbers Flock to Mt. Fuji as Season Begins

Hordes of trekkers flocked to Mount Fuji Monday at the start of a two-month climbing season, after it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in recognition of its status as a symbol of Japan.

Hundreds of hikers began their ascent of the 3,776-metre (12,389-feet) peak before dawn in a bid to stand at the summit to watch the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean.

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White Man's Skull has Australians Scratching Heads

The centuries-old skull of a white man found in Australia is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country's east coast.

The skull was found in northern New South Wales in late 2011, and police initially prepared themselves for a gruesome murder investigation.

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French Hand Back Plundered Bronzes to China

French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault on Friday handed back to China two rare bronzes plundered from Beijing's Old Summer Palace during the Second Opium War in 1860.

The bronzes of two animal heads were the subject of controversy in 2009, when they were put up for auction at Christie's by Pierre Berge, the partner of late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

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Dozens of Mummies Found in Pre-Inca Royal Tomb in Peru

Polish and Peruvian archaeologists have discovered a royal burial chamber with 60 mummies and some 1,200 gold, silver and ceramic objects from over 1,000 years ago in Peru.

The mummies -- including three princesses -- and other items date back to a pre-Inca culture called the Wari, who peaked between the seventh and 11th centuries, researchers said.

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China Denies Changing Policy on Dalai Lama

China denied changing its stance on exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday, after reports said Beijing had relaxed its policies of publicly denouncing him and banning worship of his image.

"Our policy towards the Dalai Lama is clear and consistent, and has not changed," China's state bureau of religious affairs said in a fax sent to Agence France Presse.

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U.S. Museum Puts on Major Photo Show

The Smithsonian American Art Museum marks the 30th anniversary of its photography collection Friday with a major exhibition of 113 works that reflect how the medium has evolved.

"A Democracy of Images" includes pictures by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Edward Weston and Gerry Winogrand, among many others.

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