Bollywood stars have joined calls for Mumbai to temper celebrations and reduce water wastage during a riotous Hindu festival this week, as millions face their worst drought in decades.

India's Holi festival takes place on Wednesday at a time when central parts of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, are reeling under a severe water shortage with no rain due until the monsoon in June.

"The Paradise Guest House" (Ballantine Books), by Ellen Sussman

The tranquil beauty of beachside Bali is the alluring backdrop for "The Paradise Guest House," and Jamie Hyde, a plucky and passionate adventure guide, is the delectable heroine at the novel's heart.

Nazi bombs left Warsaw as little more than a smoldering heap of rubble at the end of World War II.

Now, nearly seventy years later, the charm of the pre-war Polish capital dubbed the "Paris of the north" has been brought back to life for the first time thanks to a new film, using cutting-edge three-dimensional computer imaging.

A Buddhist temple on Tuesday won an auction for North Korea's de facto embassy in Japan, after it was seized by authorities for unpaid debts, the religious body said.

The Saifukuji temple in southwestern Kagoshima topped the bidding with 4.52 billion yen ($48 million) in the forced auction, one of the temple's secretaries told Agence France Presse.

One of Haiti's biggest shantytowns, a vast expanse of grim cinderblock homes on a mountainside in the nation's capital, is getting a psychedelic makeover that aims to be part art and part homage.

Workers this month began painting the concrete facades of buildings in Jalousie slum a rainbow of purple, peach, lime and cream, inspired by the dazzling "cities-in-the-skies" of well-known Haitian painter Prefete Duffaut, who died last year.

Supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage are prepared to turn out in force in Washington on Tuesday, when the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a landmark case.

Over two days, lawyers from both sides of the emotionally-charged debate over marriage equality will put their cases before the nine justices who make up the highest court in the land.

International students studying in New Zealand, where prostitution is legal, have been told they are to be barred from working in the sex trade.

A government immigration website, www.nzstudywork.com, said Monday overseas students have the same workplace rights as all New Zealanders, but lists jobs they cannot do.

Before visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art can stroll past the Picassos, Renoirs, Rembrandts and other priceless works, they must first deal with the posted $25 adult admission and the meaning of the word in smaller type just beneath it: "recommended."

Confusion over what's required to enter one of the world's great museums, which draws more than 6 million visitors a year, is at the heart of a class-action lawsuit this month accusing the New York City institution of scheming to defraud the public into believing the fees are required.

Hong Kong's top court on Monday threw out a landmark case that would have given hundreds of thousands of foreign maids the right to seek permanent residency, ending a legal battle that split the city.

In rejecting the bid to give maids the same residency rights as other foreigners, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that there was no need to refer the case to Beijing for a final say, which would have sparked new controversy.

The massive bronze sculpture is formally known as "Draped Seated Woman," a Henry Moore creation that evoked Londoners huddled in air raid shelters during the Blitz.

To the East Enders who lived nearby, the artwork was known as "Old Flo," a stalwart symbol of people facing oppression with dignity and grace.