Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for more patriotic education for his country's youth in order to protect them from foreign influences in what he views as a global ideological battle.

"There is a tough battle in the world for hearts and minds, for ideological and informational influence," Putin said at a government meeting on Thursday, cautioning against "artificial conflicts" stirred by foreign states, including among different ethnicities.

The Vatican has formally recognized the International Association of Exorcists, giving its blessing to a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who claim to save the possessed from Satan.

The association's practice of exorcism is now recognized under canon law, the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper reported Thursday.

The traditional Gallic "pot" -- a convivial office drinks party -- may be a thing of the past after the French government on Thursday allowed employers to ban wine from the workplace.

The government had so far exempted wine and cider from the list of alcoholic drinks that employers could ban in offices.

Colorado's Democratic governor and its Republican top lawyer asked a U.S. court Wednesday to issue an injunction declaring their state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.

But Gov. John Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers want the court to delay implementation of the ruling until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the issue.

Prince William and his wife Catherine have been given a glamorous make-over at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London, with the prince's hair altered to reflect his thinning thatch.

The couple were installed at the attraction two years ago to mark their first wedding anniversary, clothed in the outfits they wore to announce their engagement.

A minister in India's resort state of Goa has drawn ridicule by saying women in bikinis should be banned from beaches and girls in short dresses should not visit pubs.

Sudin Dhavalikar, the state's public works department minister, told reporters on Tuesday that bikini wearing "can attract problems like molestations" which police find out about too late to deal with.

China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region from taking part in Ramadan fasting, government websites said, prompting condemnation from an exile group on Wednesday.

China's ruling Communist party is officially atheist, and for years has restricted fasting in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.

British artist Tracey Emin's controversial 'My Bed' sold for £2.2 million ($3.8 million, 2.8 million euro), almost double its guide price, at an auction in London on Tuesday.

The work, a rumpled bed surrounded by the intimate debris of empty bottles of vodka, cigarette packets and condoms, attracted controversy when it was shortlisted for the 1999 Turner Prize, prompting a debate about the state of contemporary art.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's controversial burqa ban, rejecting arguments that outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.

In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion.

Galloping with the vigor of strong and simple brush strokes, the horses painted by late Chinese master Xu Beihong inspired his countrymen in wartime -- and now to pay huge sums to treasure them.

Xu, who died in 1953, created horses that pulsed with beauty and bravery just as China was knuckling under Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s, imbuing them with realism learned at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.