The United States filed suit in court Thursday to recover an ancient serpentine ring and gold coins trafficked by the Islamic State group in a move aimed at preventing stolen Syrian and Iraqi antiquities from disappearing into collectors' hands.

Israel's parliament will ease its dress code rules, an official said Thursday, after staffers demonstrated when colleagues who wore skirts deemed too short were barred from entering the building.

The UN's cultural agency called for emergency measures on Thursday to prevent further looting at the historic Iraqi city of Nimrud which has been wrecked by Islamic State militants.

Nimrud, founded in the 13th century BC on the Tigris river about 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of Mosul, was retaken by Iraqi forces on November 13 after it was overrrun by IS in 2014.

Academy award-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is planning to put on public show a boat which sank off Libya killing up to 900 people, Italy's La Repubblica reported Wednesday.

Palmyra may just have fallen yet again to the Islamic State group, but a new "immersive" 3D show in Paris lets you walk through the Syrian city's classical colonnades as they were before the jihadists blew them to bits.

Prominent Syrian philosopher and intellectual Sadiq Jalal al-Azm has passed away in Germany after a long battle with brain cancer, his son said.

Al-Azm was 82.

Once renowned for its bustling souks, grand citadel and historic gates, Aleppo's Old City has been rendered virtually unrecognisable by some of the worst violence of Syria's war.

For centuries, Aleppo was Syria's economic and cultural powerhouse, attracting tourists from around the world to its celebrated heritage sites.

The head of al-Azhar, Egypt's top Sunni authority, said on Monday that the Western concept of modernity is not the "best example" for Muslim women to follow.

Police in the Saudi capital said on Monday they had arrested a woman for taking off her veil in public and posting pictures of her daring action on Twitter.

Therese is a Lebanese mother keen to meet her daughter's groom-to-be but she gets the shock of her life when she hears his Syrian accent.