Some Poles liken the skyscraper to an elephant in lace underpants. A famous poet dubbed it "the nightmare of a drunken baker." And one joke goes that it provides the best view of Warsaw because you can't see the building from inside.

Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science has been derided as an oppressive eyesore ever since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin built it as his personal gift to the city. Now —having survived persistent calls to tear it down — the building marks its 60th birthday on Wednesday as an enduring symbol of a city that has known waves of destruction.

Police handed Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei his passport on Wednesday four years after it was confiscated, he told AFP, hailing the move with a smiley emoticon.

Ai is China's best known contemporary artist abroad, but authorities have denied him a passport since 2011 in an apparent attempt to limit his international influence.

Award-winning American author E.L. Doctorow, known for fictional historical works such as "Ragtime," "Billy Bathgate" and "The March," and an experimental narrative style, died Tuesday, The New York Times reported. He was 84. 

The cause of death was complications from lung cancer, the novelist's son, Richard Doctorow, told the paper.

A young Palestinian man died on Tuesday after being badly beaten in an "exorcism", medical and police sources in the West Bank town of Hebron said.

The family of the 19-year-old with psychological problems had called in two "healers", a man and a woman, who beat the young man to drive out evil "spirits", Palestinian police sources said.

A trove of documents from a French chateau has cast doubt on the remains of beloved Irish poet W.B. Yeats but fans have shrugged off the controversy and said there is no doubt as to his spiritual home.

The Nobel laureate died in southern France in 1939 but because of legal issues and the outbreak of World War II it wasn't until 1948 before a coffin said to carry his remains was repatriated to Ireland.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday dismissed gay rights as a "non-issue" ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama later this week.

Kenyatta also said Deputy President William Ruto, who is still on trial at the International Criminal in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity, would also meet the U.S. leader.

The black director of South Carolina's public safety agency said Monday he was surprised a photo showing him helping a white man wearing a racist T-shirt went viral. But now that it has, he is hoping it will be a catalyst for people to work toward overcoming hatred and violence.

Leroy Smith said in a statement that the photo, taken at a Ku Klux Klan rally, captured "who we are in South Carolina" and represents what law enforcement is all about: helping people "regardless of the person's skin color, nationality or beliefs."

This week's reopening of embassies and resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba opens a new chapter in the countries' complicated relationship.

But any visitor to the Cuban capital can see that connections between the two nations run long and deep just by taking stock of all the attractions showcasing American culture and history. Despite decades of hostility, some of these sites even seem to celebrate Americans, while others reflect an anti-U.S. point of view.

A 63-year-old Indian woman has been dismembered and beheaded by machete-wielding villagers who accused her of practicing witchcraft, police said Tuesday.

Seven people have been arrested over the death of Moni Orang, a mother of five who was seized from her home in the northeastern state of Assam on Monday after local priests said she was casting spells.

When a massive earthquake struck Nepal in April, Nepal's longest-serving "living goddess" was forced to do the unthinkable -- walk the streets for the first time in her life, she told AFP in a rare interview.

Still following the cloistered lifestyle she entered at the age of two, Dhana Kumari Bajracharya also opened up about her unusually long 30-year reign, suggesting the pain of her unceremonious dethroning in the 1980s was still raw.