Four Old Masters stolen by the Nazis, including Hitler's deputy Hermann Goering, go under the hammer in New York this week where they are expected to fetch up to $1 million, Sotheby's announced Monday.

The paintings looted after the 1940 fall of France were returned to their owners by the Monuments Men, the allied organization responsible for protecting treasures during World War II.

The bullet-sprayed car in which Charles de Gaulle escaped assassination, as portrayed in "The Day of the Jackal", went on show in Beijing Tuesday in an exhibition marking 50 years of Chinese-French ties.

The black Citroen DS 19 sped De Gaulle and his wife to safety in 1962 despite taking around 20 shots from opponents of Algerian independence, a scene recreated in Frederick Forsyth's 1971 thriller and the subsequent film.

A saffron-robed monk takes to the stage in the Thai capital and urges cheering protesters to fight a "black-hearted" government -- testing a taboo in the devout kingdom about clerics getting involved in politics.

Since opposition protests broke out in Bangkok three months ago, Luang Pu Buddha Issara has emerged as a key figure in the anti-government movement, organizing prayers and addressing the crowds, with rally leader Suthep Thaugsuban sitting at his feet in a sign of respect.

The largest ever Knesset delegation to leave Israel toured Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday to mark the 69th anniversary of the Nazi German death camp's liberation and honor the dwindling number of survivors.

The 55 members of the Israeli parliament walked through the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" wrought-iron gate of the camp, which the Nazis set up in the southern city of Oswiecim after occupying Poland in World War II.

President Vladimir Putin said Monday the memory of Russia's heroism and sacrifice during World War II must endure as the country marked the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

The 61-year-old leader said the world should never forget "the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and residents of Leningrad" as he participated in commemorative ceremonies in his native Saint Petersburg, known as Leningrad under the Soviet Union.

They are the traditional markers in Nigeria of both ethnic and social identity -- and even royalty -- but for Raphael Akindele and young men like him, hats are sometimes quite literally a pain.

"I just don't feel smart and comfortable wearing a hat on a 'buba and sokoto'," said the 21-year-old, referring to the traditional long robe and trousers worn by many Nigerian men.

A fire has destroyed more than 100 homes in a Chinese village built three centuries ago, state media said on Sunday, the third blaze to ravage a cultural site in weeks.

The blazes, which all erupted in the southwest of the country, often burned down old wooden structures.

Sorcery, plate-smashing and animal sacrifice are not often associated with Sufi festivals, but they all feature at a popular annual pilgrimage to a Moroccan shrine linked to the "queen of the genies".

In the town's main square, to a chorus of trilling pipes and banging drums, spectators press around a cluster of believers, who sway to the hypnotic rhythms in a trance-like state, sometimes leaping up and down in ecstasy, sometimes cutting themselves on the scalp with sharp tools.

Spain's government Friday slashed a tax on sales of works of art as a "first step" to help the cultural industry, which has been howling about the impact of a 21-percent sales tax.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government decided at a ministerial meeting to cut the sales tax for works of art by more than half, to 10 percent.

Two versions of Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" are going on display side-by-side in London.

One is owned by Britain's National Gallery, the other by Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, which has loaned its painting to London for an exhibition.