Once banned by Christian missionaries as a barbaric, heathen custom, traditional tattooing is making a comeback in the Cook Islands as locals in the Pacific nation reconnect with their cultural roots.

Body art was common in South Pacific nations such as the Cooks, Tonga, Tahiti and Samoa before missionaries arrived in the 19th Century -- so much so that the English word tattoo is derived from the Polynesian terms "tatau" and "tatatau".

The dried blood of the Roman Catholic patron saint of Naples mysteriously turned to liquid Wednesday in a repeat of what residents consider a miracle and good omen, the local church said.

A small crowd at the cathedral in the southern Italian city cheered at the announcement, when city archbishop Crescenzio Sepe brought out a small reliquary with the two vials of San Gennaro's blood.

South Korea has issued a ban on an erotic novel by the 18th-century French nobleman and writer, the Marquis de Sade, for "extreme obscenity," a Seoul official and publisher said Wednesday.

The Korea Publication Ethics Commission, a state review board, told the local publisher of "The 120 Days of Sodom" to recall and destroy all copies currently at stores, senior board official Jang Tag-Hwan told AFP.

Australia's parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to reject gay marriage, after days of heated debate that saw one senator resign from a key role after linking same-sex unions to bestiality.

The House of Representatives voted down the bill to legalise marriage between same sex couples by 98 to 42, with Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition conservative leader Tony Abbott both voting against it.

Art patrons Christian and Karen Boros have thrown open the doors this week to their own personal World War II air raid bunker in Berlin, showing off gems from their 700-work collection.

A tree made of found objects by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, Turner prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans's edgy photography and giant spider-web installations by Tomas Saraceno all resonate against a one-of-a-kind backdrop.

The FBI has added a Renoir to its global gallery of major art thefts, a year after it was stolen from a private home in Texas, the U.S. federal law enforcement agency said Tuesday.

"Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair," thought to be worth $1 million, was seized by a lone armed burglar wearing a ski mask in Houston on September 8, 2011.

About 200 Palestinians protested outside offices of the Red Crescent near Ramallah Tuesday, in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Four men are currently fasting in a demand to be released from detention without trial.

California Coptic Christian and Muslim leaders on Monday denounced an anti-Islamic movie that has sparked violence in the Middle East, as the filmmaker and his family left their suburban home and went into hiding.

The Southern California religious leaders joined a chorus of condemnation about last week's killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans as violence continued and the leader of the powerful militant group Hezbollah called for more protests.

Hopeful eyes look on as thousands of candles and the lighted crosses of a dozen tiny chapels dot the chilly nightscape at Krastova Gora, a holy site high up in Bulgaria's Rhodope mountains.

"I've had a stroke. That's why I came here. For help!" said Yanko Dimitrov, 65, one of the many who have come to the sacred site.

Dozens of sub-Saharan Africans expelled from Morocco as immigration policy tightens somehow find their way back into the country, sheltering in makeshift camps on their quest to reach "the other side."

In these camps, located in the Sidi Maafa woods near Morocco's Mediterranean coast, the illegal migrants -- men, women and children -- find themselves tantalisingly close to the narrowest stretch of water separating Africa from mainland Europe.