A world-renowned collection of avant-garde Russian art housed in a remote museum in Uzbekistan may be at risk after the director was abruptly fired on allegedly trumped-up charges of theft, staff say. 

The alarm was raised by staff working at the Savitsky Karakalpkstan Museum who claim the director, Marinika Babanazarova, was forced to resign over allegations she had stolen works of art.

Iran's most expensive movie, "Muhammad", which chronicles the childhood of the Muslim prophet, opened nationwide on Thursday, winning praise from early audiences.

Directed by Majid Majidi, the 171-minute, visually stunning film cost around $40 million (36 million euros), partly funded by the state, and took more than seven years to complete.

The eagerly-awaited sequel to Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium crime trilogy hit store shelves in 25 countries on Thursday, as the author admitted he wrote the book in a manic depressive state.

Speaking to reporters just hours ahead of the launch, David Lagercrantz said he was "terrified" as he wrote "The Girl in the Spider's Web".

A film about children with same-sex parents has been barred from being shown in public schools throughout Australia's most populous state, despite the documentary makers Thursday insisting students will benefit.

"Gayby Baby", which chronicles four children growing up with gay parents, was due to be shown in high schools in New South Wales as part of the student-led Wear it Purple initiative on Friday, which promotes diversity and inclusiveness. 

Huang Yung-fu greets visitors to his village in central Taiwan with paint-stained hands and shoes spattered with flecks of colour, a sign of the daily artistic labour that has seen him single-handedly stave off the developers' bulldozers.

At 93 years old, the former soldier still gets up at 3am every day to spend four hours daubing the walls of the small settlement with colourful figures, from birds and animals to celebrity singers and sportsmen.

A Cambodian court on Thursday sentenced five men to seven years in jail each for stealing a golden urn said to contain relics of Buddha after it was snatched from a mountain shrine.

The disappearance of the urn -- believed to contain hair, teeth and bones of Buddha -- and several small statues came to light in late 2013, sparking a nationwide manhunt in the Buddhist-majority country.

The first prose piece by "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien is to be published in Britain on Thursday, a version of an epic Finnish poem that experts describe as "undeniably his darkest work".

Written in 1914-1915 when Tolkien was still a student at the University of Oxford, "The Story of Kullervo" shows the young author "finding his feet", Vincent Ferre, professor of comparative literature at University Paris Est-Créteil told AFP.

The eagerly awaited premiere of Iran's multimillion-dollar film "Muhammad" about the childhood of the prophet was postponed Wednesday for 24 hours due to technical problems, a spokesman said.

The huge production cost an estimated $40 million and took more than seven years to complete.

The award-winning director of Iran's most expensive ever film, "Muhammad", says he hopes it will improve Islam's "violent image", but the religious epic risks angering many Muslims despite not showing the prophet's face.

The huge production about the childhood of the prophet cost up to an estimated $40 million and took more than seven years to complete.

Idaho is home to one of the biggest concentrations of Basques in the United States, and the best way to learn more about that heritage is by visiting the Basque Block, tucked in the center of the state's capital city.

Basques began settling in southwestern Idaho as early as the late 1800s, with many coming from the Basque region on the border of Spain and France to work as sheepherders in Idaho. Nearly 8,000 residents of the Gem State identify as Basque today.