Archaeologists have uncovered a stone tool at an ancient rock shelter in the high desert of eastern Oregon that could turn out to be older than any known site of human occupation in western North America.

The find was announced Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which controls the land on which the site was found.

Condemnation poured in Friday of the Islamic State group's bulldozing of the ancient city of Nimrud, the jihadists' latest attack on Iraqi cultural treasures that the U.N. termed a "war crime".

After rampaging through Mosul's museum with sledgehammers and torching its library last month, IS "bulldozed" the nearby ruins of Nimrud Thursday, the tourism and antiquities ministry said.

Millions across India welcomed spring with their annual "festival of colors" on Friday, celebrating by covering each other in water and dazzling paint.

The ancient Hindu festival of Holi, which heralds the end of winter and the victory of good over evil, is marked with a national public holiday and sees revelers pour onto the streets.

Austria could find itself Friday facing the loss of one of its most treasured artworks with an expert body due to make a recommendation on whether to return it to the descendants of its Jewish former owners.

If Austria's Art Restitution Advisory Board decides Gustav Klimt's monumental "Beethoven Frieze" should be given back, it would mark one of the most spectacular art restitution cases for works looted by the Nazis.

The Islamic State group began bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq on Thursday, the government said, in the jihadists' latest attack on the country's historical heritage.

IS "assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles," the tourism and antiquities ministry said on an official Facebook page.

Algeria's parliament passed a law on Thursday criminalizing violence against women, in a move criticized by both Islamist lawmakers as well as Amnesty.

The law makes inflicting injury on one's spouse punishable with up to 20 years in prison, and allows a judge to hand down life sentences for domestic violence resulting in death. 

A sculpture of a strutting horse skeleton was unveiled in London's main Trafalgar Square on Thursday -- wearing a London Stock Exchange prices ticker in an allusion to the City's financial power.

Entitled "Gift Horse", the riderless bronze sculpture, by 78-year-old German-US artist Hans Haacke, is in residence on the empty fourth plinth in the British capital's central square.

Elizabeth McCracken, a fiction writer praised for her sharply detailed stories of grief and disaster, has won a $20,000 prize.

McCracken won the Story Prize for her collection "Thunderstruck," award officials announced Thursday night. Her other books include the novel "The Giant's House" and the memoir "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination."

By putting two Romanian beggars on display in their latest show, Swedish artists meant to raise questions about global inequality but instead find themselves accused of exploiting the poor.

For the street beggars, from Europe's oppressed Roma minority, it was an offer they could not refuse.

New York public schools will add two Muslim holidays to their vacation calendars, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday, a promise he made during his election campaign.  

Two of the most sacred holidays in the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, will be observed.