The legendary Alamo battleground and the vineyards that produce France's beloved champagne are among the sites likely to get World Heritage status at a UNESCO meeting starting Sunday.

At least 36 natural and cultural sites, including a disputed bid from Japan, are vying to get the United Nations cultural body's prestigious distinction and add their names to the more than 1,000-strong list.

When French superchef Alain Ducasse stunned the world of haute cuisine last year by dropping meat, boosting veggies and lightening up his menus, he was less bucking convention than joining a trend of accommodating vegetarians and people with food allergies.

Fine dining at top-class restaurants run by uncompromising chefs might once have been unthinkable for such clients. But no more.

Brazil's image as a religious melting pot has been shaken in recent weeks by a series of hate crimes, raising alarm over growing intolerance amid a surge in Evangelical Christianity.

Brazilians are known for fusing African, European and indigenous beliefs into a diverse array of colorful local traditions.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage Friday, saying it shows social changes once thought impossible can become reality.

"Today we can say in no uncertain terms that we've made our union a little more perfect," Obama said in a White House address shortly after the court issued its decision.

British author J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter novels became global bestsellers, said Friday that an "untold part" of the story about the fresh-faced wizard will be staged as a play in London.

"A new play called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be opening in London next year," she tweeted, saying that she could not reveal any details but that it would be an "untold part of Harry's story".

A German artist whose painting of a blue horse was presented as a gift to Britain's visiting Queen Elizabeth II, prompting a quizzical reaction over its "strange color", defended her work Friday.

Nicole Leidenfrost told German newspapers that her art was about "having fun" and insisted the 89-year-old queen had liked the rendering of her as a little girl being led on a pony by her father, King George VI.

With scenes of religious coexistence and vintage elegance in a more cosmopolitan era, an Egyptian soap opera aims to dispel prejudice towards the country's long-vilified and nearly extinct Jewish community.

"The Jewish Quarter" shows life inside Cairo's Haret al-Yahud district during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, depicting an almost idyllic portrait of a society where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived side by side.

Sixty-five extremely rare pink and red diamonds were unveiled Friday by mining giant Rio Tinto which expects the stones from a remote western Australia mine to fetch record prices.

The diamonds come from the Anglo-Australian firm's Argyle mine -- where more than 90 percent of the world's pink and red jewels are produced each year.

Two Moroccan women who walked through a market wearing dresses are facing charges of "gross indecency", a rights group and media reported Thursday, sparking an outcry in the kingdom.

The women were arrested on June 16 as they strolled through the open-air market in Inezgane, a suburb of the southern city of Agadir, on their way to work, said Fouzia Assouli, head of women's rights organization LDDF.

When it comes to history, soccer's classic derby matches are put in the shade by the Calcio Storico Fiorentino, a fixture that has been played in Florence since the 16th Century.

Every year on June 24, the feast day of the city's patron saint, St John the Baptist, sees teams from two of the four historic neighbourhoods do battle in the final of a competition that wraps football and rugby skills into something that resembles a mass brawl conducted in historical costume.