China has long been known for its highly disciplined approach to education, but parents and lawmakers alike are beginning to question the wisdom of putting so much pressure on young children.

China's tough approach to bringing up children was made famous worldwide last year by the Chinese-American professor Amy Chua, who told in her book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" how she insisted on top marks from her kids.

Two of Japan's best-selling pop acts will play in Washington to mark the centennial of the capital's cherry blossoms and offer thanks for U.S. support after last year's tsunami, organizers said Monday.

Misia, Japan's best-known R&B singer who has sold more than 30 million albums, will perform on March 25 at a ceremony to celebrate 100 years since Japan gifted the celebrated pink-flowering trees to the United States.

Sunday marks 50 years since the end of Algeria's war of independence from France, but there will be no formalities to mark the milestone for fear of reopening old wounds in an election year.

The anniversary of the signing of the Evian Accords that rang in independence for the north Africa nation after 132 years of colonial rule, will be a low-key affair.

Art sleuths said on Monday they believe they have found traces of a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece on a hidden wall in a palace in Florence that has not been seen in over four centuries.

The traces were collected using tiny probes introduced into a wall covering the original surface in a lavish hall in the Palazzo Vecchio and contained a black pigment also used in his "Mona Lisa", project organizers said.

Centuries after his ancestors were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, Antonio Pina could still find signs of his family's Jewish origins in his grandmother's kitchen.

As a child he was puzzled that she had separate plates for some foods and used chicken fat instead of pork fat when cooking meals.

Long before Richard Nixon rose to power and fell from grace, he was just another man in love.

Decades before he became known to some as "Tricky Dick," Nixon was the one penning nicknames (sweet ones) to his future bride in gushy love notes that reveal a surprisingly soft and romantic side of the man taken down by Watergate. Nixon shared the stage with Patricia Ryan in a community theater production and six of the dozens of letters they exchanged during their two-year courtship will be unveiled Friday at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum as part of an exhibit celebrating the 100th birthday of the woman Nixon playfully called his "Irish gypsy."

A representative of Mexico's main anthropology agency says the remains of 167 people found in a cave in the country's south were part of a pre-Hispanic cemetery dating back some 1,300 years.

The Chiapas state prosecutor's office said authorities found the remains on Friday on the Nuevo Ojo de Agua ranch in a region where Central American migrants pass through while heading north. Local farmers had first come across the cave last week and had alerted authorities.

Hundreds flocked to a Beijing hotel Saturday for a glimpse of a rare Chinese porcelain bowl made almost 1,000 years ago that is expected to fetch more than $10 million when it goes under the hammer in Hong Kong next month.

But what was initially meant to be a public event was turned into a more private showing for potential buyers as organizers feared a stampede of visitors, after the bowl drew crowds in Shanghai on Wednesday and Thursday.

Japan fell silent on Sunday to honor the 19,000 people killed a year ago in a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a generation.

Tearful families gathered in towns and villages across the country's shattered northeast to remember those they lost as the towering waves smashed ashore.

With four grown-up children, ample savings and her own house, Lee Hua thought she could live out her golden years in modest comfort. Now, the 77-year-old collects recyclable garbage to make ends meet.

In a slow and frail voice, Lee explained how she was forced out of her home and now lives in a shabby rented house outside Taipei, has no money left in the bank and has all but lost contact with her three daughters and one son.