A room in Gaza's only music school fills with the sound of the qanun, a traditional Middle Eastern instrument, transporting listeners far from the impoverished territory.

Seven-year-old Zeina al-Hamamra confidently picks out a melody on the instrument, a kind of zither, leaning forward to pluck the farthest strings with tiny fingers strapped with silver picks.

At the stroke of midnight this New Year's, millions of people around the globe will hold hands and belt out the famous song "Auld Lang Syne" -- but how many will have a clue what it means?

The Scottish poem and heartstring-tugging tune are reckoned to vie for the title of most widely recognized song on the planet after "Happy Birthday".

Danielle Arbid's movie Beirut Hotel was banned in Lebanon by the General Security because it contains explicit scenes and it "puts Lebanon's security in danger".

The director Danielle Arbid said on her Facebook page that her latest film "cannot be shown in Lebanon ! Its release in Beirut, originally scheduled for 19 January 2012, has just been cancelled."

A new documentary about Benito Mussolini examines the near cult-like fascination that many Italians had with the fascist dictator — and how his body became a focus for the fixation.

"Il Corpo Del Duce," ("The Duce's Corpse"), contains some gruesome, never-before-seen images of Mussolini's decayed corpse hanging upside down in a Milan square on April 29, 1945 after he was shot by anti-fascist partisans.

A German octogenarian puts his lifelong fascination with armor under the hammer Tuesday when the largest private collection of medieval weapons goes on sale for millions of euros.

The collection valued at between three and four million euros ($4-5.4 million), goes up for auction in Brussels and includes not only classical armor and weaponry such as shields, helmets and swords, but also crustaceans.

The Indian capital of New Delhi marked its 100th birthday on Monday without any official celebrations of a day that revives memories of British rule over the country.

On December 12, 1911, visiting King George V told crowds at an elaborate imperial ceremony that India's capital would be moved from the eastern port of Calcutta to a new city to be built next to the ancient settlement of Delhi.

Kensal Rise library was opened by Mark Twain in 1900 -- and how it could do with the support of the great American man of letters now to fight off its threatened extinction as government cuts bite.

The red-brick Victorian building has closed its doors and will be shut down permanently unless a determined campaign organized by the residents of the multi-ethnic district of north London can save it.

One hundred years ago Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen won the race to the South Pole in a dramatic and ultimately fatal duel with British adventurer Robert Scott that captured the world's attention.

On December 14, 1911, not long before the outbreak of World War I as nationalism was on the rise in Europe, Amundsen and the four members of his team were the first to plant the Norwegian flag at the southernmost tip of the globe.

The United States has returned a gold monkey head to Peru dating back to the Moche civilization that flourished in northern Peru from the second to eighth centuries, officials said Friday.

The gold pendant, which was returned Thursday during a repatriation ceremony at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, had been exhibited for years at the Museum of New Mexico, Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. It had been donated by private collector John Bourne.

A brass desk set inscribed "AH" and used by Adolf Hitler at the signing of the Munich Pact, which preceded World War II, has sold for $423,000, a U.S. auction house said.

The ceremonial desk set, including ink wells and the Nazi crest of an eagle and swastika, had been expected to fetch at least half a million dollars.