The number of North Korean refugees fleeing to the South fell sharply last year, officials in Seoul said, with activists citing crackdowns and tighter border controls.

A total of 1,508 North Koreans arrived in the South in 2012 -- nearly all of them via China -- down from 2,706 the previous year, the Unification Ministry said.

A disagreement over the ownership of a set of Torah finial bells from Colonial times that is worth millions has led to dueling lawsuits between leaders of the nation's first Jewish congregation and the nation's oldest synagogue.

The dispute started after leaders of the nearly 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, agreed to sell the bells, called rimonim, for $7.4 million to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The sale is opposed by leaders of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City, who say it owns Touro and the rimonim.

The Lebanese Band Association for the promotion of Music organized during the past weekend a Christmas musical concert in cooperation with the Lebanese Order of Physicians (OML) and the Lebanon Lions Club at the headquarters of the OML in Furn al-Chebback.

Tens of children of the national orchestra for boys and girls, the Honor Band, performed during the concert, presenting musical pieces by Anderson, King, Smith and others.

Residents of Saudi Arabia, where booze and New Year's celebrations are banned, flooded into neighboring Bahrain in search of festivities to ring in 2013.

More than 80,000 cars crossed a causeway over the Gulf to Bahrain Monday night to celebrate New Year's Eve, the Saudi newspaper al-Youm reported on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia adheres to a strict interpretation of Islam and bans alcohol as well as celebrations of Christmas and New Year's Eve. It also prohibits unrelated men and women from mingling.

Egypt's state prosecutor ordered on Tuesday an investigation into a claim that popular satirical show host Bassem Yousef insulted President Mohammed Morsi, a judicial source said.

On his show Al-Barnameg (The Program), Youssef, dubbed the Egyptian Jon Stewart, had poked fun at the ruling Islamists and Morsi's temporary adoption of extensive powers in November and December.

The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales has urged followers to write to their representatives in Parliament to oppose the government's plans to allow gay marriage.

In a letter read to congregations over the weekend, Archbishop Vincent Nichols called for Catholics to express their views "clearly, calmly and forcefully."

Kiswanti went to great lengths to get people to read in Indonesia, a nation addicted to social media but with a lacklustre interest in books.

For six years, as she cycled on bumpy village mud tracks in western Java as a door-to-door herbal medicine vendor, Kiswanti would carry a stack of books on the back of her bike to lend to children.

With a champagne flute pressed between his fingers, the Nigerian oligarch stares out with a self-satisfied grin on his bulbous face, not bothered by the desperate masses behind him.

Artist Wande George said the inspiration for the painting, called "The Ruling Class", is visible everyday in the posh Lagos district of Victoria Island where his work was recently displayed.

Wagner, Verdi and a myriad of waltzes will broadcast live to 81 countries when the Vienna Philharmonic kicks off 2013 with its traditional New Year's Concert on January 1.

The event -- sold out over a year in advance and followed by millions around the world -- will once again be conducted by Franz Welser-Moest, musical director at the Vienna Opera, after his first appearance in 2011.

Death row inmates in Japan want to be told of their execution in advance, instead of on the day they are to be hanged, a lawmaker's survey said.

A majority of those sentenced to die would also like the present method of administering punishment to be reviewed, with the largest bloc saying their preferred choice would be lethal injection.