China is heavily promoting Shanghai's role sheltering European Jews from the Nazis as part of its commemorations for the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan, which will culminate in a huge military parade.

As the "port of last resort", China's commercial hub provided a home to tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled persecution in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.

Islamic State militants blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the UNESCO-listed Syrian city of Palmyra on Sunday, the latest in a series of cultural relics to be destroyed by the jihadist group.

The jihadists have become notorious for demolishing archaeological treasures since declaring a "caliphate" last year straddling Iraq and Syria.

Palmyra, the ancient Syrian city that has fallen to the Islamic State jihadist group, has withstood the last 2,000 years with its immaculate temples and colonnaded streets.

Listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the "pearl of the desert" is a well-preserved oasis 210 kilometres (130 miles) northeast of Damascus.

Wrapped tightly in sleeping bags to keep them from freezing in frigid conditions, Australian winemaker Sirromet's bottles slowly make their way across the vast Mongolian landscape on the back of a yak.

The wine's journey from Queensland state on Australia's east coast, about 9,500 kilometers (5,900 miles) as the crow flies, to isolated parts of the sparsely-populated Asian nation is one example of the growing appeal of vintages from Down Under.

Hands clasped together before the four-faced Hindu god Brahma, Bangkok's glimmering temple dancers were back on stage Friday, four days after a bomb tore through the shrine thronged daily by devotees.

Sunisa Pothisansuk was midway through an act she has performed every other day for eight years when the blast struck Erawan shrine, escaping unscathed from an attack which killed 20 people, mostly Asian tourists, and left scores injured.

Britain's intelligence services kept tabs on Nobel winning author Doris Lessing during the 1950s, fearing that her communist sympathies had been "fanned almost to the point of fanaticism", according to archived documents released Friday.

The country's domestic and foreign intelligence agencies amassed files on the author, detailing her visits to East Germany and Cold War Moscow at the invitation of the Union of Soviet Writers.

There are 65 border walls either planned or erected in the world, up from just 16 when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, according to University of Montreal expert Elisabeth Vallet.

Experts say they serve a primarily political and symbolic function, but they have become increasingly popular with governments as they try to look tough on migration and security.

He's 6-foot-6, built like a heavyweight boxer and has tattoos all over his body. Baba Mujhse may sound like the type of guy most people would run away from — but hundreds of desperate migrants are instead running to him for help.

This gentle giant, with a Hungarian-Jewish mother and Egyptian-Muslim father, is a living embodiment of reconciliation as he helps the mostly Islamic asylum seekers who turn up exhausted every day at Budapest's main train station.

Indian chiefs and dancing red and black devils invade the Nicaraguan capital each August as the annual Santo Domingo festival explodes in the streets of Managua to honor the tiny statue of a Roman Catholic saint.

A Ferris wheel that operates with a noisy truck motor and other carnival rides go up outside the Santo Domingo Las Sierritas parish church. Equestrian parades and bullfights are organized for the festival celebrating the popular saint.

With some help from Japanese volunteers, more than 80 foreigners from around the world, including the United States, Russia and Malaysia, donned casual summer kimonos called "yukata" for a stroll around old Tokyo this month.

The six-hour "Yukata de Guide Tour," now in its 10th year, took them to Japan's national sumo arena, a traditional tea ceremony at the Kyu Yasuda Garden and a cruise on the Sumida River.