A German court ruled Wednesday that 4.5 million euros ($6.1 million) be paid from the estate of the late Princess Soraya of Iran to three French charities.

The French Red Cross, an animal protection group and an organisation for the rights of disabled people must equally share the money, which is part of the fortune of Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary, who died in Paris in 2001, the court in Cologne ruled.

A collection of unusual items signed by anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela are to go under the hammer on Thursday, on the eve of the former South African president's birthday. 

Among the 202 lots on sale are an array of kitsch items, including salt and pepper shakers in the shape of Mandela and FW de Klerk -- the last president to rule over apartheid South Africa, with whom he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. 

The Hong Kong Book Fair opened its doors Wednesday with hundreds of thousands expected to attend the seven-day show, packed with everything from cute cartoons to cutting-edge political satire.

Some book stalls reflected the heightened tensions in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, where fears are growing over what is seen as increasing interference by Beijing and where pressure for democratic elections is growing.

A Japanese businessman whose donation helped restore an ancient Roman pyramid said it was a way of thanking Italy for his success, as he toured the monument with Italy's culture minister on Tuesday.

Dressed in an impeccable white suit, the wavy-haired fashion importer Yuzo Yagi admired the work due to be completed within months thanks to his two-million euro ($2.7 million) gift.

Croatian lawmakers adopted Tuesday a long-awaited law allowing gay couples to register as life partners, enjoying the same rights as their heterosexual peers except on adopting children.

Gay rights activists hailed the legislation in the largely conservative EU member state, which is strongly influenced by the powerful Roman Catholic Church.

Four Romanians behind a spectacular art heist in the Netherlands were ordered Monday to pay 18 million euros, with the fate of the stolen masterpieces by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin and Lucien Freud still a mystery. 

Seven paintings that were temporarily on display at the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam were stolen in 2012 in a raid that lasted only three minutes, in what the Dutch media called "the theft of the century".

Nana Mouskouri, one of the best-selling singers of all time, returned to the stage in her native Greece on Monday as part of a tour to celebrate her 80th birthday.

Ahead of a concert at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, where six years ago she bid goodbye to the music industry, the icon known for her signature black-rimmed glasses and marble-like profile, admitted leaving was a mistake.

Highbrow art house Sotheby's is opening a door to the masses in an alliance with Internet age online marketplace eBay.

The companies touted the tie-up as uniting eBay's global clout with the "iconic international art" expertise of Sotheby's famed auction house.

The Church of England overcame bitter divisions Monday to vote in favor of allowing female bishops for the first time in its nearly 500-year history.

The decision reverses a previous shock rejection in 2012 and comes after intensive diplomacy by Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

South African Nobel Prize-winning writer and anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer, who became an icon through her unique insights into the country's social agonies, has died at the age of 90.

Through 15 novels, several volumes of short stories, non-fiction and other works published in 40 languages around the world, Gordimer eviscerated white-minority rule under the apartheid system and its aftershocks once democracy had been achieved in 1994.