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.

British author Salman Rushdie said Monday that if a fatwa calling for his murder over his book "The Satanic Verses" had been issued in the social networking era, it would have further endangered his life.

The writer, in Berlin to publicize his new account of the near decade he spent in hiding, said the campaign against his 1988 book had been "very efficient and very international" with just phones and fax machines.

As they work to give away part of Warren Buffett's roughly $47 billion fortune, his three children have adopted an approach that looks remarkably similar to their father's technique for making all that money.

Like Buffett, each relies on tiny staffs. And just like their father invests only in businesses he understands, they restrict their giving to their targeted projects.

When Wu Rui's 12-year-old daughter died she lost not just the only child she would ever have but also her source of security and support in old age.

Today the 55-year-old takes care of herself and her own elderly parents on a paltry pension in a ramshackle two-room home, living in fear of medical emergencies she has no way to pay for.

Shanghai on Monday opened two new art museums on the former site of the 2010 World Expo, as China's commercial hub seeks to rival art capitals like New York and Paris.

The China Art Museum, intended to be Shanghai's premier showplace for modern art, threw open its doors in the former China pavilion, which was the signature building for the world's fair.

Northern Ireland braced for one of its biggest Protestant parades in years on Saturday, with police on high alert as pro-British marchers took to the streets of Belfast.

Some 30,000 people were expected to join the march marking the 100th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant, a landmark declaration signed by nearly half a million Protestants who vowed to defend themselves against rule from Dublin.

The road to heaven is paved with more than good intentions for Germany's 24 million Catholics. If they don't pay their religious taxes, they will be denied sacraments, including weddings, baptisms and funerals.

A decree issued last week by the country's bishops cast a spotlight on the longstanding practice in Germany and a handful of other European countries in which governments tax registered believers and then hand over the money to the religious institutions.

Some say that only food and football can unite all Peruvians. But with the nation's prowess on the pitch on the wane it is cooking that has become a passion.

Chicken morsels blended with rice and wrapped in leaves from a fabulously red, spiky Amazon plant called the Lobster Claw.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling spent the day "trying to avoid newspapers" as her first novel for grown-ups hit the bookshops, but she is confident the book is "the best I can do", she told fans.

"The book is what I wanted it to be," she told about 900 fans at London's Southbank Centre on Thursday night after "The Casual Vacancy", a black comedy of village life, was published -- having already sold one million advance copies.

A stage performance by bikini-clad women wearing headpieces styled after traditional Peking Opera has sparked debate in China after photos were made public this week, highlighting divided views on how to preserve the country's traditions.

Organizers of the Miss Bikini International Committee — which was responsible for the show staged in April to promote an upcoming bikini competition — defend the use of Chinese opera elements as a bold artistic attempt.