World

A Hebrew Bible more than 1,000 years old sold for $38.1 million in New York on Wednesday, setting a record for the most valuable manuscript ever sold at auction.

It was sold by Sotheby's following a four-minute bidding battle between two bidders, the auction house said in a statement.

Ukraine said Thursday it had downed nearly an entire barrage of Russian missiles overnight, the latest in an "unprecedented" wave of aerial attacks on the capital Kyiv.

The defense ministry said Russian forces had launched 30 cruise missiles from land, sea and air, targeting several regions and killing one person in Odesa.

Johnny Depp hit back on Wednesday against years of negative press, telling the Cannes Film Festival that most of the stories about him were "fantastically, horrifically written fiction".

Speaking to reporters a day after the premiere of his new film "Jeanne du Barry" on the festival's opening night, he said he did not care about being boycotted by Hollywood.

The publication of the first magazine dedicated to West Africa’s LGBT community, originally set to hit shelves on May 12, has been delayed due to difficulties finding gay-friendly printers in the Ivory Coast. “Meleagbo” would be French-speaking West Africa’s first LGBT publication. Launched by the NGO Gromo, which advocates LGBT rights in Abidjan, the magazine promotes gay icons and highlights the community’s culture, history and victories.

The magazine’s publication would represent a step forward for a continent where some 33 countries still have laws on the books criminaliaing same-sex relations.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase as they were followed by paparazzi in New York City Tuesday, according to reports.

The incident was reminiscent of the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a crash in 1997 as she was chased by photographers in Paris.

A dazzling tiara worn at two British coronations and the Star of Egypt diamond purportedly once belonging to King Farouk are among the historic jewelry items being auctioned Wednesday by Christie's in Geneva.

The glittering pieces are going under the hammer in the auction house's Magnificent Jewels sale in the Swiss city.

Hazel Tindall sits in the armchair of her living room, her fingers moving with speed and precision as her knitting needles click together and the brightly-colored yarn in her lap takes shape.

For Tindall, who first picked up her needles as a young child and is now 70, knitting was always a way to earn income on Shetland, off the far northeast coast of Scotland.

At a hillside temple, a monk in saffron robes blows a refrain on a conch and begins chanting prayers as thousands of origami cranes donated to Hiroshima burn.

For a decade, the Daisho-in Buddhist temple on Miyajima island, facing Hiroshima, has held ritual burnings of the millions of origami cranes sent to the city each year.

An arsonist may have ignited the hostel blaze that killed at least six people in New Zealand's capital, police said on Wednesday, as they opened a homicide investigation.

Smoke and flames engulfed the 92-room, four-storey Loafers Lodge in Wellington in the early hours of Tuesday, sending residents fleeing for their lives.

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy lost his case on Wednesday against a 2021 conviction for corruption and influence peddling at the Paris Court of Appeals. The court upheld a sentence of three years with two years suspended; he will wear an electronic bracelet for the remaining year instead of going to prison. Sarkozy has vowed to appeal the verdict at France’s Supreme Court.

The 68-year-old, who served one term from 2007 to 2012, has been embroiled in legal troubles ever since leaving office.