Pope Francis' former ambassador to France, Luigi Ventura, will stand trial for sex assault in Paris in November following complaints by four men, one of whom accused the cleric of inappropriate touching, lawyers said Thursday.

Israeli police arrested two prominent Palestinian cultural leaders on Wednesday at their home in east Jerusalem on a suspicion of "funding terrorism," police and a defense lawyer said.

Rania Elias, who heads the Yabous Cultural Center and her husband Suhail Khoury, Director General of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, were detained at their home in Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Hagia Sofia on Sunday just days before the first Muslim prayers are due to be held at the Istanbul landmark since it was reconverted to a mosque last week.

French investigators were on Sunday questioning a man who worked at the cathedral in the city of Nantes which was badly damaged by fire a day earlier, a prosecutor said.

Michelle Obama will debut as a podcaster later this month on Spotify, hosting a show aimed at helping listeners open new and "hard conversations" with their loved ones.

Egypt has seen a strong resurgence of the #MeToo movement after dozens of women made shocking claims of sexual abuse and assault by a member of the country's wealthy elite. 

Sisters Mimi and Nikki have battled Thailand's tropical climate, chased off elephants from their vineyards and won over a skeptical public to their award-winning wine. Now they're taking on the "unfair" booze laws critics say benefit the kingdom's billionaire booze monopolies.

A young Tunisian woman was sentenced to six months in jail by a Tunis court on Tuesday over a parody posted on Facebook linking the Quran and COVID-19.

Russia said Monday that Turkey's decision to turn the iconic Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque was the country's own business.

Pope Francis said Sunday he was "very distressed" over Turkey's decision to convert the Byzantine-era monument Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.