Though armed Islamists have left their town, the grand old families of Timbuktu are still wary of revealing the secret of how they safeguarded thousands of ancient manuscripts from destruction by extremists.

Before they fled the fabled desert town in northern Mali at the end of January, the Islamists sacked part of the public Ahmed Baba Centre library, burning some 3,000 documents they considered sacrilegious.

Hussein Abdullah clutches his oud, long the symbol of Iraqi music, and sighs. "Iraqis do not care for their musical heritage," he laments. "On TV, all you see are singers who have no voice."

While his contemporaries may have chosen to play the drums or guitar, or belt out modern lyrics, the 25-year-old has instead opted for the oud, part of an attempted revival of Iraqi traditional music, long in decline.

The Vatican post office Friday issued a set of stamps for use during the "Sede Vacante", or Vacant See, created by the historic resignation of pope Benedict XVI.

The unusual interregnum stamps, a series of four, include the Vacant See symbol -- a striped umbrella over crossed keys -- as well as the words Sede Vacante, Citta del Vaticano and MMXIII, the year in Roman numerals.

Picture-postcard Guanabara Bay is the main attraction of the Olympic city's newest cultural center.

The Rio Art Museum commands a view of the bay's azure waters, and its exhibitions feature image after image of the bay, with 18th century maps, 19th century paintings and contemporary photos showcasing its watery expanse, its fringe of tropical vegetation and its iconic Sugarloaf Mountain.

Classical Chinese painters were masters of rocky mountains, but Liu Dan, one of a group of contemporary artists putting a new twist on a thousand-year tradition, sticks with just the rock.

Liu's minutely detailed "Scholar's Rock," a large-scale, almost photographic exploration of a single gnarly, eroded stone at once pays homage to the classical tradition of scrupulous ink and brush skills, while turning the notion of soaring landscapes on its head.

Tunisian students and radical Muslim Salafists have faced off in renewed scuffles over the "Harlem Shake" dance craze in the cities of Sidi Bouzid and Tunis, witnesses said on Thursday.

In Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of Tunisia's 2011 revolution, Regueb school students tried to film their version of the "Harlem Shake" on Wednesday on the premises but were denied permission.

Freshly introduced sexual education classes in Croatia's schools has split the EU-bound country as the powerful Catholic Church challenges the center-left government over its newest addition to the curriculum.

Aimed at raising awareness on potential sexual issues and problems, the pilot "sex-ed" program started last year and will continue to June 2014. Content is adjusted to the age of the pupils, who range from nine to 18 years old.

Sitting on the fringes of upheaval in the Middle East, Lebanon's capital Beirut has become the scene of experimental music-making by Khat Thaleth, a group of rappers out to take the revolts that started during the Arab Spring to the next level.

The collective has members from around the region -- ranging from Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab uprising, to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon -- and vocalizes the realities of a new generation carrying the baggage of the past.

An ambitious new exhibit at Jerusalem's Israel Museum sheds new light on the life and death of Herod the Great, the ancient king whose empire sought to straddle imperial Rome and a flourishing Jewish culture.

The Roman-appointed king, who ruled Judaea from 37 to 4BC, is known as much for his brutal tyranny as for his magnificent building projects, with the new exhibition focusing on his stunning archaeological legacy.

For Zaida Saleh, like for many observant Muslim women, manicures have long posed a religious problem.

With prayers five times a day, and a pre-prayer ritual that requires washing the hands and arms, traditional fingernail polish has been mostly off limits because it prevents water from making contact with the nails.