An expected worldwide boom in Muslim tourism is reflected in the growing availability of amenities such as halal spas and airport prayer rooms, experts say.

Thanks to their growing number and affluence, Muslims -- especially from the oil-rich Middle East -- are travelling like never before, and it is a trend that looks set to gather pace.

Looking at the spray paint on the cross and the rusting scooter seat in the weeds, it is hard to argue with the local landowner who laments, "Iraq is not like Egypt -- here, nobody gives a damn about our heritage."

In this town in south Iraq, home to two cemeteries -- one for British and Indian soldiers, the other for Turkish veterans -- who died in World War I, much of the remnants of bygone eras and rulers have been left crumbling.

The United States warned the world was sliding backwards on religious freedoms Monday, slamming China for cracking down on Tibetan Buddhists and hitting out at Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As the State Department unveiled its first report on religious freedoms since the start of the Arab Spring, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was a "signal to the worst offenders" that the world was watching.

Iran is a very urbanized society with a largely educated, young Muslim population that ranks as the Middle East's second-biggest, its latest census figures, published on Sunday, show.

The snapshot, issued on the website of the presidency's planning and strategic supervision department (www.amar.org.ir), also corrected some misconceptions about the country, notably by reporting fewer than expected Jews and Internet users.

Koyuki Higashi is slim, articulate and intelligent, things that make a would-be wife attractive to many in Japan. But Higashi knows she will probably never marry because she is a lesbian.

Despite the increasing tolerance of gay marriage in much of the developed world, especially in Europe, and a gradual acceptance of the issue in more liberal states in the U.S., the subject is not on the radar in Japan or in many parts of Asia.

Once banned as "bourgeois", the work of painter Marc Chagall is enjoying a revival in the ex-Soviet Union with a new exhibition delving into the influence folk art and his Russian Jewish roots had on his work.

"Visitors often ask, why Chagall's animals are blue, yellow or pink, why the bride is flying over the rooftops and the man has two faces. They will now understand where Chagall drew (his images) from," said curator Ekaterina Selezneva.

A row over religious circumcision in Austria that has spread from Germany made more waves Saturday after an unprecedented joint call by Jews, Muslims and Christians for unequivocal government support.

The Jewish Community (IKG), the Islamic Community of Austria (IGGiOe) and Catholic and Lutheran bishops called on Friday on Vienna to "issue a clear commitment to religious freedom and to the legality of male circumcision."

Estonia's new Jarvi Summer Festival of classical music kicked off this week promising to draw some 300 musicians from over a dozen countries to the Baltic coast city of Parnu in the south.

The festival was founded last year under the baton of globally renowned Estonian conductors Paavo Jarvi and his father Neeme Jarvi.

Want to see Pol Pot's grave or his broken toilet seat? How about a visit to the house of a feared Khmer Rouge commander known as "The Butcher"?

Welcome to the town of Anlong Veng, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold which hopes to become the next must-see destination on Cambodia's dark tourism trail, but which faces calls not to glorify its role in the country's bloody past.

The prestigious Vienna State Opera has been told by the Austrian government to find savings of 10 million euros ($12.3 million), its flabbergasted musical director was quoted as saying Friday.

Franz Welser-Moest said that Finance Minister Maria Fekter had told him -- on holiday -- "to save 10 million euros if possible, which it isn't," he said in a television interview to be broadcast on Sunday.