Loukas Sehremelis was just 12 years old when Nazi troops burst into his house in the Greek village of Distomo, shooting and killing indiscriminately.

"A burly German soldier launched himself through the window and fired a shot in the air from his pistol," said Sehremelis, now 83, sitting in the tiny living room where his family was massacred on June 10, 1944.

One hundred years ago, African-Americans began a mass exodus from the rural South, heading north in search of economic opportunity and social equality. The Museum of Modern Art is paying tribute to that movement in a rare exhibition of a series chronicling the phenomenon from artist Jacob Lawrence, himself the son of migrants.

His Great Migration series, featuring 60 poignant narrative paintings, is the centerpiece of the exhibition that runs through Sept. 7.

A play about American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, is winning quiet acceptance in New York, where uproar postponed its debut a decade ago.

Her parents and the play's director say the dimming controversy reflects a shift in American attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinian conflict.

A pair of previously unknown sketches by Paul Cezanne will be displayed in Philadelphia following their recent discovery on the backs of two watercolors.

They'll be on view at the Barnes Foundation in double-sided frames, with both sides visible, from Friday through May 18. One sketch is in graphite, the other in watercolor.

As preparations were made to remove the statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes from the University of Cape Town Thursday, white groups launched protests to protect what they see as their heritage.

South Africa's oldest university voted Wednesday to remove the monument from its campus after a month of student protests against a perceived symbol of historical white oppression.

The U.N. gave a third of the world's countries a passing grade Thursday for efforts to provide universal basic education, but said most governments had failed on a pledge made 15 years ago.

In 2000, 164 countries agreed at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Education Forum to ensure basic education for all by 2015.

China's top official in Tibet vowed on Wednesday to evaluate Buddhist monks and nuns for their "patriotism" and install national flags in monasteries to strengthen ideological control in the region.

The ruling Communist party will deepen "assessment activities" to ensure "model harmonious monasteries" as well as "patriotic, law-abiding monks and nuns", the region's party chief Chen Quanguo wrote in the People's Daily newspaper.

Cuba is far from seeing a McDonald's or Starbucks open any time soon, but the diplomatic thaw with the United States is bringing more American visitors to the sweltering island.

While the U.S. embargo against Havana still forbids regular tourism to Americans, a growing number have flocked to the Caribbean destination under easier-to-get special permits.

Karen Emiliano was a boy called Jonas when she gave up studying 23 years ago, bullied for saying she felt she was a girl.

At the age of 13, she left home and headed for Sao Paulo, where she became a prostitute.

Thieves have raided some 300 deposit boxes in London's diamond quarter, accessing the vault through a lift shaft and using heavy cutting equipment, the police and media reports said on Tuesday.

The daring heist apparently took place over the long Easter weekend and police said in a statement that they were only called to the address in Hatton Garden in central London at 8:10am (0710 GMT) Tuesday.