One of the four quarters of old Jerusalem belongs to the Armenians, keepers of an ancient monastery and library, heirs to a tragic history and to a stubborn 1,600-year presence that some fear is now in doubt.

Buffeted by Mideast forces more powerful than themselves and drawn by better lives elsewhere, this historic Jerusalem community has seen its numbers quietly drop below 1,000 people. The Armenians, led by an ailing 94-year-old patriarch, find themselves caught between Jews and Muslims in a Middle East emptying of Christians, and between a deep sense of belonging in Jerusalem and a realization that their future might lie elsewhere.

Police in Beijing are hunting for a 27-year-old man suspected of stealing several items from the Forbidden City, in a rare theft at China's ancient imperial palace, state press said Wednesday.

Officials at the Forbidden City told police that seven items belonging to an exhibit on loan from a private Hong Kong museum and valued at up to 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) were stolen on Sunday, the Beijing News said.

An Andy Warhol canvas depicting Jacqueline Kennedy, titled "Sixteen Jackies," sold for $20.4 million Tuesday at Sotheby's in New York.

The acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas work repeatedly showing the wife of assassinated president John F. Kennedy led a solid, but unspectacular auction in a packed-to-overflowing room at Sotheby's. The price reached was at the low end of the pre-sale estimate.

Anyone with a taste for toasting the rich, famous and incarcerated might want to bid on this: fraudster Bernard Madoff's wine cellar is coming to the auction block.

Morrel and Company, a New York concern, will hold the sale May 18 on the Internet.

Archaeologists on Wednesday began digging for the remains of a 16th-century woman believed to be the model for Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa in a bid to unlock an art world mystery.

The team of historians say they will try to find the remains using geo-radar equipment and then try to re-create a likeness of what the woman, Lisa Gherardini, would have looked like to compare her to the painting.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to a tiny Hong Kong island Tuesday for a bizarre ancient ritual known as "bun scrambling", part of a religious festival to celebrate victory over evil.

Huge crowds converged on Cheung Chau, a picturesque fishing village, for the annual "Bun Festival", a celebration unique to the southern Chinese city.

Sitting in his vast office, crammed full of relics and curiosities, museum curator Taher Ghalia has good reason to welcome the downfall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Just as a fresh breeze now blows through the country's politics and press, Tunisia's cultural institutions too have the chance to flourish.

A museum in Montreal is showcasing the on-screen discoveries of Hollywood's fictional adventurer Indiana Jones, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young archaeologists.

"Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition," marking the 30th anniversary of the famed character's silver screen debut, takes visitors on a virtual tour of sites depicted in the adventure film series.

A specially composed opera with a difference premiered in a Berlin swimming pool this week, with singers performing in and out and even under the water.

"Aquaria Palaoa" is the brainchild of Claudia Herr, a champion swimmer in her youth before turning to singing, who plays the lead role, diving into the Stadtbad Neukoelln pool in her green evening dress.

A rare wooden bust by Paul Gauguin sold Tuesday at auction in New York for $11.2 million, setting a record for a sculpture by the French artist.

The "Jeune Tahitienne" sculpture was estimated by Sotheby's to sell for between $10-15 million and depicts the head of a young girl with large earrings and coral necklaces.