The Arbil Citadel that dominates the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan was granted World Heritage Site status Saturday in a move praised as a rare "note of optimism" amid the country's violence.

Delegates at UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted to grant the coveted status at a gathering in Doha, where they are considering some 40 cultural and natural wonders for inclusion on the U.N. list.

Druids and pagans were among the nearly 40,000 people who gathered at Britain's ancient Stonehenge monument to hail the summer solstice at dawn on Saturday.

Police said they arrested 25 people, mostly for drug offences, during the all-night celebration to mark the longest day of the year.

"The Girl With a Pearl Earring" has come home.

After a two-year global tour that drew record crowds in Japan, Italy and the United States, Johannes Vermeer's 1665 masterpiece and other works from the Netherlands' 17th-century Golden Age have returned home to the newly renovated Mauritshuis museum in the Hague.

Guam may ditch the colorful blossoms of an invasive plant and instead adopt the white petals of a native shrub as its national flower.

Speaker Judith Won Pat introduced a bill that would make the torchwood plant known as gaosali the U.S. territory's official flower, the Pacific Daily News (http://bit.ly/1pt0hbC ) reported.

"We are in a war."

Hundreds of conservative Republicans who gathered for the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference this week in Washington see a conflict raging across the United States pitting their faith and family values against liberal encroachment fueled by President Barack Obama.

The West Bank community of Battir, granted UNESCO endangered World Heritage status on Friday, is famous for its Roman-era irrigation system that is under threat from the Israeli separation barrier.

The U.N. cultural agency's World Heritage Committee granted protected status to the agricultural community south of Jerusalem, where Israel plans to build part of the barrier, after an emergency nomination by Palestinian officials.

Open one door to see a naked woman perched on a bicycle seat high on a wall; enter another room and find twins reading identical books under a pair of dot paintings.

Fleeting installations involving living people are stealing the show at this year's Art Basel, the world's biggest meeting place for deep-pocketed collectors.

The writers' group PEN is honoring Salman Rushdie for his "outstanding" literary output and support for freedom of expression.

The India-born writer, who spent years in hiding after his novel "The Satanic Verses" drew a death edict from Iran's religious authorities, was named winner Friday of the PEN/Pinter prize.

A Japanese military brothel in China has been declared a protected historic site, state media said Thursday, as Beijing highlights old grievances amid modern-day tensions with its longtime rival.

The seven-building complex in the eastern city of Nanjing housed more than 200 "comfort women" forced to serve Japanese soldiers during World War II, and was the largest such facility in Asia, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

What would Lady Macbeth be without something extravagant in which to sweep on stage or Hamlet without a silk doublet and padded hose?

Costumes -- the unsung heroes of Shakespearean theatre -- are the stars of a new exhibition that reveals the huge effort that goes into dressing the Bard's leading men and women.