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'No Room' for Gays in Kenya, Says Deputy President

Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, has told worshippers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality had no place in the east African nation, reports said Monday.

Homophobia is on the rise across much of Africa and remains illegal in many countries, including Kenya where it was outlawed under British colonial legislation.

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Ten Russian Bikers Reach German Border ahead of WWII Rally

Ten pro-Kremlin Russian bikers, part of a larger group on a controversial World War II victory ride through Europe, reached the German border late Sunday, the Bavarian authorities said.

Having been turned back at the Polish and Lithuanian borders the members of the Night Wolves, a fiercely nationalistic motorcycle club backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, still hope to ride into the German capital Berlin on Saturday to celebrate the Soviet Union's role in the victory over Nazi Germany.

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New York Auction could Smash Art World Records

Christie's auction house is hoping to set new world records with a Picasso valued at $140 million and a Giacometti worth $130 million, as New York's spring auction season kicks off Tuesday.

Pablo Picasso's colorful "The Women of Algiers (Version 0)," depicting a scene from a harem, will be up for grabs when Christie's puts it on the auction block May 11.

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Nepal Quake-ravaged Temple Faces Threat from Looters

Surrounded by ochre rubble, Pannakaji beds down on a mattress wedged between Buddha statues at Kathmandu's "Monkey Temple", hoping to deter looters from the quake-ravaged site where his ancestors have served as priests for 1,600 years.

The hilltop Swayambunath Temple complex, one of Nepal's oldest and most sacred religious monuments, was partly reduced to debris by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on April 25.

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Tunisians Unfurl World's 'Largest' Flag

Tunisians have unfurled a national flag the size of 19 football pitches in a bid to set a Guinness world record and promote patriotism in the face of Islamist extremism.

Hundreds of people turned out for the event at Ong Jmel in the southern desert on Saturday, an AFP correspondent reported. 

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Publisher: British Crime Writer Ruth Rendell Dies

Best-selling British crime writer Ruth Rendell, who wrote over 60 books in a career spanning five decades, died on Saturday at the age of 85, her publisher said.

Rendell suffered a stroke in January and had been in a critical condition in hospital.

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In Iraqi Malls, Syrian Women Work Jobs Spurned by Locals

Two years after fleeing from her home in Damascus, 22-year-old Rahaf Abdullah is working at a gleaming mall in Iraq's Kurdish region, selling sweets to local women who largely refuse to take such jobs.

While the mall job is a rite of passage for teenagers in America, in Iraq's conservative and relatively well-off Kurdish region the idea of women working — particularly in menial or retail jobs — is frowned upon. That has created opportunities for some of the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqis who have sought refuge here.

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Anger as Algeria Pores over New Alcohol Measures

Alcohol has resurfaced as a hot-button issue in Algerian politics, with ultra-conservative Muslims angered by plans to liberalise sales in a country torn between respect for Islam and freedom of choice.

With deeply-conservative Salafists threatening to take to the streets, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal in mid-April blocked a circular issued by Commerce Minister Amara Benyounes liberalising the wholesale trade of alcohol.

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Nepal's Rich Cultural Heritage Devastated by Quake

Sujan Shrestha says it breaks his heart to look at the piles of rubble that are all that remain of the ancient Nepalese temples where he has worshipped all his life.

The 28-year-old shopkeeper grew up in a house just off Patan Durbar Square, a spectacular World Heritage site in the quake-hit Kathmandu Valley packed with ornately-carved Hindu temples, statues and a royal palace.

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Long-Delayed Nazi Museum Opens in 'Home of the Movement'

Munich opened a museum Thursday on the former site of the Nazi party headquarters, in a long-delayed reckoning with the German city's status as the "home of the movement".

The inauguration coincided with the 70th anniversary of the "liberation" of Munich by U.S. troops at the end of World War II, and of Adolf Hitler's suicide the same day in a Berlin bunker.

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