Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Friday officially reopens the renovated Mauritshuis museum, home to Vermeer's iconic “Girl with the Pearl Earring" and a treasure trove of other Golden Age masterpieces.

The elegant 17th-century mansion in The Hague has undergone a 30-million-euro ($40-million) revamp and more than doubled its floor space thanks to an art deco extension accessed through a light-filled underground atrium.

Trundling down dun-colored mountain slopes, they ignore hard stares and vulgarities from passing men, reveling in an activity that seemed unthinkable for previous generations of Afghan women –- riding a bicycle.

The sight of a woman on a bicycle may not be unusual in most parts of the world, but it is a striking anomaly in Afghanistan where strict Islamic mores deem the sport unbecoming for women.

The Prince's Palace of Monaco will auction the contents of its museum dedicated to Napoleon this November in what experts describe as the "sale of the century" for fans of the period.

French auction house Osenat confirmed reports on Thursday that the palace's museum would hold the auction on November 15 and 16 in Fontainebleu, near Paris. 

Sarajevo marks 100 years since the assassination that triggered World War I on Saturday, but without the leaders of Europe and with its people still torn over the legacy of that fateful day.

Five weeks after a Bosnian Serb nationalist shot dead the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Europe's great powers were sucked through a complex network of alliances into four horrific years of war.

Canada's Supreme Court recognized native groups' rights over a large swathe of land for the first time Thursday in western British Columbia province.

The landmark ruling in favor of the semi-nomadic Tsilhqot'in people -- numbering about 3,000 -- could have an impact on similar Native American claims currently pending in court, as well as on impact on mining, forestry and other projects exploiting raw materials across vast portions of Canada.

Saudi authorities threatened Thursday to expel non-Muslim foreigners who eat, drink or smoke in public during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

The interior ministry urged non-Muslims to "respect the feelings of Muslims by refraining from eating, drinking or smoking in public places, streets and at work."

The oldest known Neanderthal poo, uncovered in Spain, shows that cavemen ate not only meat but vegetables too, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The discovery was made at the archeological site of El Salt, where researchers have found signs that Neanderthals lived some 45,000-60,000 years ago.

Amazing what you can find when you do a good clean out.

Bristol University in Britain learned this firsthand when researchers discovered a box containing materials from archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley's dig of the Sumerian city of Ur tucked away on top of a cupboard.

The rights group running Russia's only museum in a preserved former Soviet labor camp warns that the facility is facing closure as authorities grow increasingly hostile to probing the country's totalitarian past. 

The Perm-36 museum -- named after the notorious prison camp where it is housed -- has seen operations grind to a halt after local authorities cut off key funding "without explanation", the non-governmental organisation Memorial said.

Germany's book industry said Tuesday it had complained to the country's competition watchdog about Internet giant Amazon, accusing it of using "blackmail" to gain discounts from publishers.

The U.S. giant has been delaying delivery of printed books from Sweden's media and publishing group Bonnier, which has 16 publishers in Germany, since early May, the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association said.