The new Gucci Museum in Florence opened its latest show this month -- a selection of U.S. artist Cindy Sherman's early works -- in a setting where medieval architecture meets fashion history.

"For visitors to Florence, it's nice to react with something that is contemporary and alive," said Francesca Amfitheatrof, curator at the Gucci Museum and a celebrated London-based jewelry designer in her own right.

A former Iraqi soldier and prisoner who brought one of the world's oldest stringed instruments back into the spotlight is set to end his exile and take his haunting songs back home.

Naseer Shamma is something of a global ambassador for the oud -- a pear-shaped, six-stringed wood instrument hailing from ancient Mesopotamia -- but has not reaped the fruits of fame in his turmoil-hit homeland.

More than a million Muslims gathered on the banks of a river in Bangladesh on Friday to pray and listen to religious scholars at the start of the world's second largest annual Islamic congregation.

The streets of Dhaka were largely deserted as devotees flocked to the River Turag at Tongi, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the capital, where the Biswa Ijtema (World Muslim Congregation) is being held over the next three days.

China's one-child policy has created a generation that is less trusting, more risk-averse and perhaps less likely to become entrepreneurs, according to new Australian research released Friday.

Published in the journal Science, the study of more than 400 Beijing residents who were born around the time the controversial population policy was first introduced could have implications for China's economy, researchers say.

Long plagued by a reputation for gang crime and lawlessness, France's port city of Marseille is hoping its year as the European Capital of Culture will finally give its image a makeover.

The gritty Mediterranean city will kick off the festivities on Saturday with a downtown parade, fireworks and the opening of a slew of exhibitions.

Prince William and his wife Catherine's baby will not be born until the summer, but changes to the rules of succession that would fundamentally affect its life are causing disquiet in the British establishment.

Prince Charles has led the warnings this week, echoed by senior clergy and peers, that the forthcoming legislation could have far-reaching consequences for the monarchy and the Church of England.

Around 400 Rohingya migrants discovered in a raid on a camp hidden in a remote rubber plantation in southern Thailand will be deported back to Myanmar, Thai police said Friday.

The group, 378 men, 11 women and 12 children, were found in a makeshift shelter in the plantation in Songkhla province where they had languished for three months waiting to be trafficked to a "third country", local police said.

A Malaysian Islamic sect that stockpiled a huge cache of swords, gunpowder and other weaponry was preparing for last month's much-hyped Mayan apocalypse prophecy that never came true, police said Friday.

The 46-year-old leader of the sect, which called itself "Sky Banner", was arrested Saturday in the southern state Malacca, and a police raid at his home turned up an array of weapons and survival gear.

The West African nation of Benin Thursday held sacrifices and ceremonies for its annual celebration of voodoo, the traditional religion that spread to the Americas with the slave trade.

Benin is considered a voodoo heartland, particularly the city of Ouidah, which was a major slave trading port, and traditional beliefs often mix with Catholicism or other religions.

Grand Central, the country's most famous train station and one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in America, turns 100 on Feb. 1. Its centennial comes 15 years after a triumphant renovation that removed decades of grime and restored its glittering chandeliers, cathedral windows and famous ceiling depicting a night sky.

The building's survival is also a testament to historic preservation: The landmark was saved from demolition in the 1970s thanks to a battle spearheaded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1978, the court ruled that cities have the right to protect historic buildings, even if that limits the owner's ability to develop or sell the property. The decision legitimized preservation efforts around the country.