Byzantium frescoes, paintings by early Baroque artists and a letter by Christopher Colombus are among 31 stolen artifacts recovered by Italian police to go on show Wednesday at UNESCO's Paris headquarters.

"This exhibition ... is aimed at raising awareness worldwide about the safeguarding of our cultural heritage," said Pasquale Muggeo, general of Italy's Carabinieri paramilitary police which recovered the stolen works with help from authorities worldwide.

After decades struggling with official censorship, China's contemporary music scene is finally taking off, fuelled by live shows, the Internet and a government eager to cash in on a growing market.

Chinese indie bands came late to the music scene, largely missing out on the lucrative days of vinyl records, cassettes and compact discs, and also suffered enormously from state broadcasters' preference for pop.

A father in northwestern India remained unrepentant Tuesday after beheading his daughter with a ceremonial sword in a rage over her relationships with men, police said.

The father surrendered at a police station, carrying the head in one hand and the bloodied sword in the other, police said.

The head of Milan's Scala opera house and the world famous conductor Daniel Barenboim have taken a 10 percent salary cut to help slash the company's debt, Italian media reported Tuesday.

After several years of culture budget cuts, imposed as a debt-laden Italy struggles to fend off the eurozone crisis, 11 department heads, including the choral and ballet directors, have also agreed to take the 10 percent cut.

Alexandra, one of Johannesburg's most notorious townships, marks its 100th anniversary this year with hopes of revitalizing a slum that has come to symbolize inequality in South Africa.

The ramshackle township that was Nelson Mandela's first home in Johannesburg sits just across a highway from the gleaming high-rise buildings of Sandton, which boasts of being Africa's richest square mile.

Models strutted down a catwalk in front of Budapest's parliament recently, as part of a fashion show inspired by Hungarian folk motifs, the latest effort to highlight nationalism in art and culture.

The show not only offered new takes on old Hungarian themes but was also held on National Unity Day, a holiday introduced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in 2010 to promote a united Hungary.

Cook and Eat Lebanese is a portal designed to connect Lebanese food lovers, consumers and service providers in an uninterrupted fashion, a press release said Monday.

Founded by a group of Lebanese food enthusiasts passionate about promoting Lebanese eating on a global basis, the team has grown to include equally passionate volunteers and professionals with the shared objective of promoting Lebanese food as a primary, shared value that all Lebanese are proud of.

Aboriginal rock art found in remote Australia has been dated at 28,000 years old, experts said Monday, prompting new speculation that indigenous communities were among the world's most advanced.

Archaeologists picked up the fragment in inaccessible wilderness in Arnhem Land in the country's north a year ago, and recent carbon dating of its charcoal drawing has placed it among some of the oldest art on the planet.

Hundreds of Romanian artists upped pressure on the government Sunday to preserve the independence of a state-funded body that promotes the country's culture at home and abroad.

An online petition is attracting signatures after Prime Minister Victor Ponta's center-left government issued an emergency order Wednesday to shift control of the Romanian Cultural Institute from the presidency to the Senate.

An auction of fine and rare wines fetched $2.2 million in Hong Kong on Saturday, with more than 90 percent of the lots sold, the organizers said.

Christie’s Asia head of wine Charles Curtis said the sale "showed the vigor of the fine wine market in Asia".