A Syrian archbishop said the United States' reluctance to offer asylum to persecuted Christians is "unjust and condemnable" and appealed to the American people for help withstanding Islamic militants fighting to root out their faith.

The Islamic State group's rise has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi Christians from their homes, threatening a religion that has survived in the region for 2,000 years and spurring a growing worldwide humanitarian effort.

The first Catholic bishop to be ordained in China for more than three years was consecrated on Tuesday amid a heavy police presence, worshippers said.

Joseph Zhang Yilin was installed as the official bishop of Anyang in the central province of Henan, as hundreds of police blocked access to the Sacred Heart of Jesus church. Agence France Presse was denied access to the ceremony.

Iran's top sculptor Parviz Tanavoli is to dedicate a new work to Cecil, the lion who was killed by an American dentist in Zimbabwe sparking an international outcry.

"The cruel killing of the Zimbabwean lion known as Cecil broke my heart," said the 78-year-old, who has created many distinctive sculptures of lions in a career spanning six decades.

Workers in Cuba have begun building the altar where Pope Francis will deliver mass during a landmark visit next month, placing it just to the left of a giant image of Che Guevara.

Francis, who hails from Argentina like the famous revolutionary, will visit Cuba September 19 to 22 as part of a tour that will later take him to the United States.

A Picasso worth 25 million euros ($27.4 million) and considered a cultural treasure by Spanish authorities who had barred it from being exported was seized from a boat docked at Corsica, French authorities said Tuesday.

An attempt to export the painting, "Head of a Young Woman", to Switzerland on Thursday "drew the attention of French officials", the country's customs authority said in a statement, with customs agents on the French island boarding the vessel the following day.

The master recording of Emperor Hirohito's speech announcing Japan's World War II surrender has been brought back to life in digital form ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

The Imperial Household Agency on Saturday released the original audio from the vinyl master records of Hirohito's radio broadcast on August 15, 1945.

From cheery peasant girls in Tsarist times to Soviet-era cosmonauts to today's Pussy Riots, the changing face of Russia's matryoshka nesting dolls reflects the country's tumultuous history.

For tourists the dolls inside dolls that generally depict a buxom woman in a colored headscarf are a must-buy souvenir believed to date back to a centuries-old tradition, but a new exhibition throws up some surprises.

Tokyo's largest district has said it will start issuing "partnership" certificates to same-sex couples from November, becoming the second in Japan to recognize such unions following a pioneering move by the capital's bustling Shibuya ward.

While the certificates would not be legally binding, the Setagaya district council said it hoped they would encourage hospitals and landlords to ensure same-sex couples receive similar treatment to married people.

An Australian museum said Monday it would exhibit what it believes is the best opal stone ever found -- a 6.0-centimeter (2.4 inch) multi-colored gem unearthed in the Outback named the Virgin Rainbow.

The South Australian Museum said the stone, valued at more than Aus$1.0 million (U.S.$730,000), would go on public display for the first time in September to mark the centenary of opal mining in the country.  

Nearly a thousand people rallied outside Taiwan's education ministry Sunday, demanding the minister's resignation and the scrapping of what they describe as a "China-centric" high school curriculum.

The protesters, whom police estimated at around 800, ripped up the new versions of textbooks printed under the new curriculum guidelines.