"A Muslim leader in Florence will present plans to authorities in coming weeks to build a mosque in the style of the city's classic architecture with minarets that resemble the cathedral bell tower designed by Giotto.

The project plans, unveiled in local and national papers this week, met with mixed reactions in local communities around Florence, where roughly 30,000 Muslims live.

'Islamic history shows that Muslims seek to embrace the architecture of of the places where they go,' local imam Izzedin Elzir, who will present the plans, told Reuters on Thursday.

"A Babylonian artefact sometimes described as the world's first human rights charter is to go on display in Iran after Tehran threatened to cut ties with the British Museum if it did not lend the object.

The Cyrus cylinder is a 6th century BC clay object inscribed with an account in cuneiform of the conquest of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus the Great. It arrived in Iran today and will go on display soon at Iran's national museum for four months, state TV reported.

Iran said it was in a dispute with the British Museum for months over its request for a loan of the object and had repeatedly threatened to cut ties with the institution. At one point, a senior Iranian cultural official accused the museum of turning a cultural issue into a political issue.

The loan discussions, which began last October, took place during a time of tension between the two countries. Tehran is under pressure from the west over its nuclear programme, and it has accused Britain and other foreign governments of interfering in its domestic policies by stoking the street protests that followed the disputed presidential election in June 2009."