Rachelle Mazraani is travelling from Sydney to Beirut for Pope Leo XIV's visit this week, one of many Lebanese at home and abroad who hope the trip will revive their struggling country.

After visiting Turkey, Leo is to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday for a three-day trip that includes an open-air mass at Beirut's waterfront that organizers expect to draw 120,000 people.

Pope Leo XIV is heading to Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling the late Pope Francis' plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions.

Leo is arriving first in Ankara, where he has a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country's diplomatic corps. He'll then move on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip.

Sanae Takaichi made history by becoming Japan's first female prime minister in October. She must now decide whether she'll break another barrier: the taboo barring women from the sumo ring.

The winner of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament that ends Sunday will be presented with the Prime Minister's Cup. Some of her male predecessors, including former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, have entered the ring to hand over the cup.

The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games — missing a little of its usual magic.

Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia's ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.

As Pope Leo XIV prepares to embark on his first trip abroad with a visit to Turkey to mark a key event that shaped the foundations of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, there has been a surge of renewed optimism over the possible reopening of a Greek Orthodox religious seminary that has been closed since 1971.

The Halki Theological School has become a symbol of Orthodox heritage and a focal point in the push for religious freedoms in Turkey.

Lebanon is a country where crosses rise from mountaintops, rooftops and street corners, and Christian symbols are woven into everyday life. The upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV highlights the depth of Christianity's roots in this small Mediterranean nation, dating to the earliest days of the faith.

From Mount Lebanon's peaks to the coastal plain, ancient sites sit beside modern life, reflecting a landscape shaped by centuries of Christian presence. Lebanon's mosaic of 18 sects — including 12 Christian ones — makes it one of the region's most diverse societies, with a Maronite Christian traditionally serving as president.

Pope Leo XIV embarks on his debut overseas trip Thursday, travelling to Turkey and Lebanon to promote Christian unity and urge peace efforts amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.

Iran has requested foreign assistance in extinguishing a large fire that has ravaged UNESCO World Heritage-listed forests in the north of the country for several days, local media reported on Saturday.

Swiss authorities were searching Friday for two robbers who overpowered a security guard at an ancient Rome-themed museum in Lausanne, smashed a display case and made off with dozens of gold coins that had been displayed inside.

City police said the suspects had purchased tickets and waited until other visitors had left shortly before closing time on Thursday, before assaulting and restraining the guard, and then breaking the display case.

A remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus has been unearthed in Hungary's capital, offering a rare window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she inhabited around 1,700 years ago.

Archaeologists with the Budapest History Museum discovered the limestone coffin during a large-scale excavation in Óbuda, a northern district of the city that once formed part of Aquincum, a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier.