Turkey's ruling party submitted a bill to parliament Tuesday to allow court testimonies to be given in the Kurdish language, one of the demands raised by hundreds of hunger strikers nationwide.

"A detainee, if he likes, may use another language (than Turkish) to defend himself against charges brought against him in the court," according to the bill proposed by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In a poor but fertile corner of southern Morocco, illiterate Berber women are tapping the surge in global demand for argan oil, a "miracle" product they grind from a special nut, that is helping to lift them out of poverty.

Sometimes known as "liquid gold" or "miracle oil" for its rich cosmetic, culinary and medicinal properties, the exclusively Moroccan export has caused a sensation in the West, where it is touted as a unique hair care and anti-aging skin potion.

As Gyani Maiya Sen nears the end of her life she worries that her final words may the last ever spoken in her mysterious mother tongue.

The 76-year-old, part of a vanishing tribe in remote western Nepal, is the only surviving native speaker of Kusunda, a language of unknown origins and unique sentence structures that has long baffled experts.

Libya's first video art exhibit proved a hit in Tripoli, drawing scores of spectators in a country emerging from 42 culturally barren years under the regime of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

People from all over the capital flocked to the seaside Old City this month following the itinerary charted by "First Glance," an outdoor exhibition organized by The Arete Foundation for Arts and Culture, a Libyan initiative.

Five years ago, as he watched TV images of South Korea's foremost historical treasure being engulfed in flames lit by a lone arsonist, Hong Chang-Won remembers having to turn his head away.

"It was too heartbreaking to see such beautiful architecture being destroyed like that," said Hong, a registered master craftsman who specializes in traditional Korean ornamental painting.

Three armed robbers stormed into the Pretoria Art Museum Sunday and made away with around 15 million rands ($1.8 million) worth of artwork, South African media reported.

"They pulled out a list and said they were looking for so and so painting which is our old masterpieces," Daywood Khans, a museum employee who was held at gunpoint, told radio 702.

Russia on Saturday quietly marked 30 years since the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, an enigmatic figure whose era of "stagnation" witnessed repressions and a massive nuclear arms drive.

The burly and chain-smoking World War II veteran served from 1964 until his death in 1982 at a time when Moscow and Washington were churning out weapons of mass destruction and carving up the globe for spheres of influence.

Leading bishops have voiced alarm at a rise in anti-Islamic sentiment in France and admitted that hardening attitudes within the Roman Catholic church are fueling the trend.

In comments that will add to pressure on President Francois Hollande to respond to demands from France's large Muslim community to speak out on the issue, the Bishop of Angouleme, Claude Dagens, said he was profoundly concerned by recent developments.

Italy's parliament has passed a law making it compulsory to teach the national anthem in schools, angering the Northern League federalist party which has long campaigned against national symbols.

"Imposing something is a sign of weakness because it means that it is not felt in the hearts of the people," Northern League boss Roberto Maroni told the party's radio station Radio Padania on Friday after the law passed on Thursday.

The accident-prone British thirty-something Bridget Jones is to return in a third novel next year, her creator Helen Fielding announced on Friday.

Fielding's first two books about Jones, written in the form of diaries chronicling the heroine's failed efforts to find love, lose weight and quit smoking, have sold more than 15 million copies.