Brazil on Friday marks the centennial of the birth of Jorge Amado, its most acclaimed modern writer, whose ribald tales of urban life in his native Bahia state have been translated into 49 languages.

The author, who died 11 years ago, left behind an extensive body of works that celebrate life's sensual pleasures and explore the theme of racial mixing in Bahia, a northeastern state with a large Afro-Brazilian population.

The global Muslim communities of 1.6 billion people agrees on the core principles of their faith, but differ widely in religiosity and religious tolerance, according to a poll published Thursday.

"Muslims are unified by core beliefs and in core practices" like faith in a single God, believe in the Prophet Mohammed and fasting during Ramadan, but "there are differences, sometimes widely" in religious interpretation, James Bell, the principal author of the new Pew Research Center study, told Agence France Presse.

Mexican archeologists found the remains of 2.500 year-old chocolate on a Mayan plate during research in Yucatan, NBC reported last week.

Traces of chemical substances considered "markers" for chocolate were found on fragments of plates uncovered at the Paso del Macho archaeological site in Yucatan in 2001.

For the past 30 years, Israeli Judaic scholar Menachem Cohen has been on a mission of biblical proportions: Correcting all known textual errors in Jewish scripture to produce a truly definitive edition of the Old Testament.

His edits, focusing primarily on grammatical blemishes and an intricate set of biblical symbols, mark the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in nearly 500 years.

The sight of a bearded man in a turban can provoke violent anti-Muslim hatred in America -- and never mind whether the man under the turban is actually Muslim.

For Sikhs, who wear turbans and beards as core attributes of their religion, the mix of Islamophobia and ignorance spells danger.

The pop-art exhibition in Iran that was prohibited by the government for being against Islam and carrying pornographic items is back on display after being hidden underground for 30 years.

The works of art, which were kept safely underground with the help of Farah Pahlavi, the wife of the last Iranian Shah before the Islamic Revolution, are now open for display in Tehran.

Perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Lot River in southwestern France, the mediaeval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie has survived wars and invasions since the 13th century.

Now the picturesque hamlet is facing a new and potentially more dangerous threat: tourists.

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Monday he is creating a "green brigade" to prevent anyone from using national parks to grow coca -- the raw material for cocaine, also important in Andean culture.

"I want to warn any fellow in national parks" against the cultivation of coca, the president said in a speech broadcast on radio and television, noting that Bolivia's anti-narcotics laws make it illegal to use ecological reserves for the crop.

Influential Australian art critic, historian and writer Robert Hughes has died aged 74 in New York after a long illness, his family said Tuesday.

Hughes, whom the New York Times once proclaimed the world's most famous art critic, passed away at the Calvary Hospital in the Bronx on Monday.

A new book offers a fresh, youthful and personal twist on Germany's turbulent decades-long division by the Berlin Wall, with true stories depicted through comic illustrations.

Five first-hand accounts by Berliners whose lives were shaped and marked by communist East Germany's decision to divide itself off from the West in 1961 are told in the comic book entitled "Berlin -- Divided City".