Bosnia's National Museum, founded in the 19th century and home to a famed 600-year old Jewish manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, closed its doors indefinitely Thursday due to political disputes and a lack of funding.

"Such a complex institution cannot function by improvisations. The authorities must provide the funds for employees' salaries and functioning costs," museum manager Adnan Busuladzic said.

A Picasso painting the famous artist created in denouncing war has come to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis.

The battle raging on Rue Du Faubourg Saint-Denis, a shabby Paris street where hip bars are sprouting up like mushrooms, is part of a wider war in the city pitching sleep-starved residents against nocturnal revelers.

Here, as in districts across Paris, officials are trying to reconcile locals' demands for peace and quiet with the French capital's stated aim of regaining its lost reputation as a buzzing city with great nightlife.

Lacking the necessary cash and manpower, Pakistan is struggling to stem the flow of millions of dollars in ancient Buddhist artifacts that looters dig up in the country's northwest and smuggle to collectors around the world.

The black market trade in smuggled antiquities is a global problem that some experts estimate is worth billions of dollars per year. The main targets are poor countries like Pakistan that possess a rich cultural heritage but don't have the resources to protect it.

Orthodox Jewish Israelis, the driving force of the West Bank settlement movement, have begun to turn their attention inward to Israel itself, moving into Arab areas of mixed cities in an attempt to cement the Jewish presence there.

Activists say that in recent years, several thousand devout Jews have pushed into rundown Arab areas of Jaffa, Lod, Ramle and Acre, hardscrabble cities divided between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods. Their arrival has threatened to disrupt fragile ethnic relations with construction of religious seminaries and housing developments marketed exclusively to Jews.

Catholic bishops from around the world are convening for a synod starting on Sunday to debate how to counter rising secularism on the 50th anniversary of the historic but controversial Second Vatican Council.

The synod will hear a call from Pope Benedict XVI for a "new evangelization" drive for the Catholic Church, which is fast losing followers in Europe and feels increasingly discriminated against in many parts of the world.

Australian billionaire Clive Palmer said Wednesday he will unveil the design and plans for his ambitious Titanic II project in New York with the help of John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline.

The flamboyant Palmer, who announced plans in April to construct the replica Titanic with exactly the same dimensions as its ill-fated predecessor, will hold a gala dinner on December 4 on the retired aircraft carrier USS Intrepid.

One of the Washington's biggest art museums lifted the wraps Tuesday on the first North American survey of the work of Ai Weiwei, with the Chinese dissident artist conspicuous by his absence.

"Ai Weiwei: According to What?" which opens Sunday, takes up an entire floor of the Hirshhorn Museum with the outspoken artist's photographs, videos, sculptures, installations and, on the walls, thought-provoking quotations.

 First delivered by horse-drawn carriages to Paris newsstands and hotels, the International Herald Tribune marks its 125th anniversary on Thursday amid troubling times for the newspaper industry.

But the pioneer of global journalism -- a dependable presence for international travelers whether in Paris, Kuwait or Tokyo -- is confident it can adapt to a digital age that has turned the newspaper business model on its head.

Eric Hobsbawm, the eminent British historian who chronicled the extremes of the 19th and 20th centuries from a Marxist perspective, died on Monday at the age of 95, his daughter said.

Hobsbawm was a distinguished but controversial figure due to his long and unapologetic membership of the Communist party, which he maintained despite atrocities in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.