Paris is known for its many Belle Epoque cultural landmarks -- ornate museums, gilded theaters, the stately Eiffel Tower. But its brand-new concert hall opening Wednesday undoubtedly comes from a different era.

The ultra-modern, multi-layered, crested structure, designed by leading French architect Jean Nouvel and planted in the northeast of the French capital, would not look amiss in a glittering, modern desert city like Doha or Dubai.

The Cold War finally came to an end in Switzerland late last year, without a bang.

A quarter century after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, the Swiss army has finally finished demining hundreds of bridges, tunnels, roads and airfields. And much to the surprise of many residents.

After years of war forced it into near silence, Damascus' once-thriving Opera House is slowly coming back to life, bringing respite and a little culture to residents of Syria's capital.

Recent weeks have seen a sharp increase in the number of performances at the Opera House, as residents look to revive some of the capital's cultural life despite a civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people.

Pope Francis on Monday slammed "deviant forms of religion" following deadly attacks by Islamist militants in France last week which left 17 people dead.

"Losing their freedom, people become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion," he said, laying the blame on "a culture of rejection" which leads to "the breakdown of society and spawning violence and death."

Hundreds of Tanzanian schoolgirls returned home Monday after spending three months hiding in safe houses to escape genital mutilation, state television said.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) can range from hacking off the clitoris to the removal of the entire female genitalia.

China's push to encourage more couples to have a second child after decades of restrictive family planning policies has fallen short of expectations in the first year, state media reported Monday.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission received less than half of the expected two million annual applications for couples to have a second child, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, without citing exact numbers.

Turkey's increasingly stringent television watchdog has fined a national private channel over a show where the characters discussed the merits of strawberry-flavored condoms, the Hurriyet daily reported Saturday.

TV 2 was fined 12,353 Turkish lira ($5,320) for broadcasting the segment from the French-produced comedy sketch show "Vous Les Femmes", which in Turkish is broadcast as "Ah Biz Kadinlar" and in English-speaking countries as "Women!".

Slain Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero has moved one step closer to beatification.

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference, reported Friday that a committee of theologians had confirmed that Romero died as a martyr. The designation means he can be beatified without having a miracle attributed to his intercession. A miracle is needed, however, for him to be made a saint.

Pope Francis embarks on his second Asian pilgrimage this coming week, visiting Sri Lanka and the Philippines exactly 20 years after St. John Paul II's record-making visit to two countries with wildly disparate Catholic populations. Francis will make headlines of his own, drawing millions of faithful in the Philippines and treading uncharted political waters following Sri Lanka's remarkable electoral upset this past week.

New Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who capitalized on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's unpopularity among the island nation's ethnic and religious minorities, will be on hand to welcome Francis when he arrives in the capital, Colombo, on Tuesday.

Russia has passed a controversial law banning transvestites, transsexuals and people with other "disorders"  from driving, prompting sharp criticism from rights activists, including a prominent Kremlin advisor.

The legislation, which took effect this week, says its aims at lowering the country's high death rate from road accidents.