The world's top Islamic body called Saturday for the international community to protect Muslims in Myanmar's unrest-hit Rakhine state from "genocide" as U.S. President Barack Obama readied for a landmark trip to the country.

"We expect from the United states to convey a strong message to the government of Burma so they protect that minority, what is going on there is a genocide," said Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who is the acting chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Russian art experts have uncovered what is believed to be an original Rubens painting in a small-town museum in the Urals mountains region, its director said Friday.

The painting called "Mary Magdalene in mourning with her sister Martha" was long assumed to be a copy, but restoration revealed it to be "undoubtedly" an original by the 17th century Flemish painter, museum director Valery Karpov told Agence France Presse.

Russia's state English language channel Russia Today (RT) scored one of its biggest scoops by interviewing Syrian President Bashar Assad but its coverage of the crisis has come under increasing scrutiny over alleged pro-regime bias.

Assad dramatically used the exclusive interview with the Kremlin-funded channel to pledge "to live and die" in Syria, days after RT was criticized by British television watchdog Ofcom for lack of balance in one of its news broadcasts on Syria.

In czarist times, Geda Zimanenko watched her mother offer the local police officer a shot of vodka on a plate and five rubles every Sunday to overlook the fact that their family lived outside the area where Jews were allowed to live.

Then came the Bolshevik Revolution and Zimanenko became a good Communist, raising her own son to believe in ideals that strove to stamp out distinctions of race and religion. Her grandson, born after the death of dictator Josef Stalin, was more cynical of Communism and felt the heat of growing Soviet anti-Semitism.

Early humans were already using stone tips to enhance the killing power of spears at least 500,000 years ago, some 200,000 years earlier than previously thought, anthropologists said Thursday.

Attaching stone points to spears -- a technique known as "hafting" -- requires more planning and effort than simply sharpening a stick, and was important in the development of early hunting weaponry.

The Soviet Union 50 years ago allowed publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's landmark account of life in the Stalin prison camps "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", shocking readers by revealing a hitherto hidden horror.

In November 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was looking for a powerful symbol that could help his risky campaign to expunge Stalin's lasting impact on political and cultural life. He found it in a story by the then unknown author Solzhenitsyn.

Political talk flowed as freely as booze in the lively Khartoum of decades past, and The Grand Hotel was its fountain.

Behind the colonial-era walls, deals were made and gossip exchanged by an elite group of civil servants, politicians, intellectuals and businessmen.

Milan cathedral has launched a campaign to adopt its gargoyles to help it raise the 25 million euros ($32 million) needed to clean up the landmark monument as culture budgets take a hit from the crisis.

A total of 135 gargoyles are up for adoption and donors who cough up more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) will have their name engraved under the gargoyle.

When the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science opens, visitors will be able to feel the ground shake beneath them in an earthquake simulation, program a robot to navigate a maze and even test their speed against a virtual Tyrannosaurus rex.

"It's just going to be an incredible hands-on learning experience for people interested in nature and science," said Nicole G. Small, the museum's chief executive officer.

A conch pearl and diamond bracelet that once belonged to Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain fetched 3.2 million Swiss francs (2.7 million euros, $3.4 million) at auction in Geneva on Wednesday, more than doubling reserve estimates.

Spectators in a packed auction room at Sotheby's looked on as bids for the baby-pink and diamond-encrusted Cartier piece surpassed expectations, which had put the final sale price at 750,000 to 1.5 million Swiss francs.