Egyptian officials say archaeologists have unearthed the first basilica erected in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

Antiquities authorities say the basilica is dated to the Roman era and was built on the ruins of a temple from the Ptolemaic reign that ended with the death of Cleopatra.

At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible.

The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites.

Mumbai may be India's entertainment capital and famous for its nightlife, but with revelers increasingly restrained by local rules and regulations, it doesn't always seem that way.

Last weekend, 31 people were each fined 1,200 rupees ($26) for what police said was "indecent" dancing at a nightspot popular with young call-center workers in a northern suburb.

Peruvians celebrate this month the centennial of the "discovery" of Machu Picchu, a world tourist attraction and archeological marvel that has yet to reveal all its secrets.

This 15th-century Inca city of carved stone structures, built high on an Andean mountain range in southeastern Peru, was introduced to the world by American explorer Hiram Bingham.

A priceless 12th century guide to Spain's Way of Saint James pilgrimage, the Codex Calixtinus, has disappeared from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, police said Thursday.

One of the Western world's first 'guidebooks', it is only shown to the public on special occasions such as Pope Benedict XVI's visit last November to the northeastern Spanish city.

Lack of money mean parts of Roman emperor Hadrian's villa have had to be closed off to tourists because they are in danger of collapse, an Italian paper reported Wednesday.

The historic site at Tivoli, 24 kilometers (15 miles) from Rome, received only 370,000 Euros (530,000 dollars) to maintain the villa and its grounds, Il Corriere della Sera reported.

The Vatican is to unlock its secret archives for an exhibition on Rome's Capitol Hill next year, officials said Tuesday.

Documents including an account of the 17th century heresy trial of telescope inventor Galileo Galilei will leave the Holy See for the display entitled Lux in Arcana, opening in the city's Capitoline Museums in February.

Police are on the hunt for a man who walked into a San Francisco art gallery, grabbed a valuable pencil drawing by Pablo Picasso off the wall and then fled in a waiting taxicab.

Police on Tuesday said the drawing, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, was taken from the Weinstein Gallery near Union Square.

The cultural chief in Gothenburg said Tuesday he was surprised to hear that Peru plans to sue Sweden's second city for the alleged theft of pre-Columbian textiles on exhibit at its museum.

"This comes as a total surprise to us, because we've had a good dialogue with Peru ever since they demanded we return the items in question," Bjoern Sandmark, who heads Gothenburg city's culture service division, told Agence France Presse.

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday reviewed work by 60 artists during the debut of a program he spearheaded hoping to strengthen links between the cultural world and the Roman Catholic Church.

The exhibition, titled "Splendor of the truth, beauty of the Truth", featured mainly European artists, sculptures, architects and musicians who agreed to display their work at the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall.