A stage performance by bikini-clad women wearing headpieces styled after traditional Peking Opera has sparked debate in China after photos were made public this week, highlighting divided views on how to preserve the country's traditions.

Organizers of the Miss Bikini International Committee — which was responsible for the show staged in April to promote an upcoming bikini competition — defend the use of Chinese opera elements as a bold artistic attempt.

A Swiss foundation on Thursday unveiled what it said was an earlier version of the "Mona Lisa" painted by Leonardo da Vinci, although some experts said the claim was unlikely.

Before carefully pulling back long velvet white drapes to reveal a radiant painting of what looks like a younger version of the Mona Lisa displayed in the Louvre, the Zurich-based Mona Lisa Foundation said it had evidence the work had indeed been executed by the Italian master.

When Tashi Sangmo was 17 she married a 14-year-old neighbor in a remote Himalayan village in Nepal and, as part of the package, she also agreed to wed his younger brother.

In ancient times, the sons of almost every family in the region of Upper Dolpa would jointly marry one woman but the practice of polyandry is dying out as the region begins to open up to modern life.

A thousand-year-old Buddhist statue taken from Tibet in 1938 by an SS team seeking the roots of Hitler's Aryan doctrine was carved from a meteorite, scientists reported on Wednesday.

In a paper published in an academic journal, German and Austrian researchers recount an extraordinary tale where archaeology, the Third Reich and cosmic treasure are intertwined like an Indiana Jones movie.

A British anti-arms trade campaign and promoters of peace, human rights and the environment from the United States, Afghanistan and Turkey have been named as winners of this year's Right Livelihood Awards, also known as the "alternative Nobels."

American scholar Gene Sharp, a developer and promoter of nonviolent revolution techniques, will share the €150,000 ($195,000) cash prize three ways with Sima Samar, an Afghan doctor whose organization provides health care and education for the poor, and Britain's Campaign Against Arms Trade.

The terror of Saddam Hussein's secret police has lived on long after his fall through their millions of reports, which are still dragged up by Iraqi politicians and the media, often with damaging results.

But Saad Iskander, the head of Iraq's national archives, thinks the documents have been used for long enough, and is pushing legislation that would criminalise their release without the consent of the people they concern.

A prominent Muslim group in Austria called Wednesday on Saudi Arabia to allow a church to be built there, arguing that Riyadh supported mosques in Catholic countries.

"The liberal Muslims hereby request the construction of a church in Saudi Arabia," the group said in a letter to Saudi ambassador Mohammed al-Salloum, asking him to pass this demand on to the "appropriate authorities" in Riyadh.

Philippine authorities said Wednesday they had launched an investigation into the possible involvement of Catholic priests in the illegal trade of African ivory.

The inquiry came after a National Geographic report said church ownership of religious icons made from ivory was widespread in the mainly Catholic country of about 100 million people, officials said.

"War criminal" is not the first expression that comes to mind when seeing white-haired Chou Ching-feng in his living room in Taiwan, sipping tea with his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.

But nearly 70 years ago, he worked for the Japanese army in what is now Malaysia, guarding Australian prisoners in one of the numerous prisoner-of-war (POW) camps that were scattered across occupied Southeast Asia.

Sofia will be among the 10 Bulgarian cities vying for the title of 2019 European Capital of Culture, its mayor said Monday, highlighting the city's recent archeological digs as an added attraction.

Two European Capitals of Culture will be selected for 2019, one from Italy and one from Bulgaria.