Thai authorities are investigating the BBC over a Thai-language profile of the new king, officials said Wednesday, after the article outraged ultra-royalists in a country where criticism of the monarchy is outlawed.

Sri Lankan cricket legend Arjuna Ranatunga Wednesday abandoned a bid to build a record-breaking 100-meter tall Christmas tree after the head of the Catholic church on the island called it a waste of money.

A four-meter-high golden statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was raised secretly in a Tel Aviv square in a free speech protest Tuesday, sparking political debate and online humor.

Some UK communities are "worryingly" segregated and government failure to tackle social and economic isolation, particularly among Muslims, is playing into the hands of extremists, a government-commissioned report warned Monday.

Music icon Bob Dylan won't be at the Nobel prize ceremony this week to accept his award, but he has sent along a speech to be read aloud, the Nobel foundation said Monday.

Flags flew at half mast in government buildings in communist Vietnam Sunday, as the country marked a day of national mourning for Fidel Castro -- an honor of the highest accord that has divided public opinion.

Cuba will respect Fidel Castro's dying wish that no statues be erected in his honor and no streets be named after him, President Raul Castro said Saturday.

The national assembly will introduce legislation at its next session later this month so that "his wish is fulfilled," Raul Castro told a massive rally for his brother on the eve of his burial in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

A town in eastern France has been ordered to remove a statue of the Virgin Mary to comply with a national ban on religious symbols in public, the local mayor said Saturday.

Representatives of around 40 countries on Saturday approved plans to establish a fund to protect heritage sites in war zones and a network of safe havens for endangered artworks. 

"We are committed to pursuing (these) two ambitious, long-term goals to guarantee the further mobilisation of the international community for the safeguarding of heritage," a statement issued after a two-day meeting in the United Arab Emirates capital said.

It is one of the greatest and most visited art museums in the world, and the only one in an old railway station. Thirty years after the Musee d'Orsay opened its doors for the first time, it has become as much a Paris landmark as its big sister the Louvre just across the River Seine. 

But the very success of the museum best known for its unrivalled collection of Impressionist paintings is now causing it problems.