U.S. authorities ended a more than 70-year-old art drama Wednesday when they returned a 16th century masterpiece to the heirs of a Jewish man after they sought for years to reclaim the painting wrested away during World War II.

A grandson of Federico Gentili di Giuseppe listened in via teleconference from London as American authorities signed the documents transferring over the Baroque painting titled "Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue."

The objects displayed in the U.S. state of Michigan's newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque — a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe.

That's the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation's largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond.

Millions of Israelis on Thursday stood silently and all road traffic stopped as sirens wailed for two minutes to remember the six million Jews who were killed during the Nazi Holocaust.

The annual ritual, which is observed at 10 am (0700 GMT), is a central part of Holocaust Memorial Day which began at sundown on Wednesday.

A photographer capturing the "unsafe, dirty" New York City subway for a year circa 1980, shadowed a lone woman, standing on a platform.

"I took the picture and then I approached her, and she said, 'I was aware of you, and I was getting ready to kick you,'" said photographer Bruce Davidson.

Qatar could invest in a new ancient Roman theme park, Italian media reported Wednesday, a day after the Gulf state's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met with local officials in the Eternal City.

"We showed the emir several plans. The one that most caught his attention and which he said he wants his people to work on is the idea of a theme park on ancient Rome" the city's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, was quoted as saying.

The Philippines leads the world in the number of people who believe in God, while the elderly across all countries tend to be the most religious, according to a U.S. study out Wednesday.

Belief in God tends to be strongest in the United States and Catholic countries and lowest in Scandinavia and former Soviet states, according to the survey carried out by the NORC research group at the University of Chicago.

Sex experts are urging Hong Kongers to strip off their reputation as some the least active lovers in Asia to get more out of their sex lives and overcome challenges of privacy in a cramped city.

"People say Hong Kongers have the least amount of sexual knowledge in the world. One of the reasons is they have no place to have sex," said Professor Emil Ng, associate director at the Family Institute of the University of Hong Kong.

Horse riding has become a popular hobby in the Gaza Strip but local Palestinians face constant hurdles -- from a conservative society to Israel's blockade on the territory -- to practice the sport on their home turf.

The Al-Faisal equestrian club, on the seafront in Gaza City, attracts around 50 riders a day, according to Samir Salama Saad, director of the "Beautiful Life" society which bought the club several months ago.

Some 500 Jews are expected to travel in May to Tunisia's Ghriba synagogue, the oldest in Africa, reviving a pilgrimage scaled back last year amid security fears, the chief organizer said Tuesday.

"This pilgrimage is going to have a very important impact on tourism and its success will attract thousands of Jews in the future," Rene Trabelsi told Agence France Presse.

Sab’a wu Sab’a, Seven and Seven days needed for the moon to complete half its journey in the sky. One night the moon breaks into pieces and disappears, leaving the village in despair. Since that night, no stories could be told.

And so hakawati, shadows, lights, mirrors, water and reflections fly unhinged in an attempt to put together the scattered pieces of the moon.