Saudi women no longer need a man's consent to carry out certain activities, local media reported on Friday, but activists said the royal order does not go far enough.

Saudi Arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women, and is the only country where they are not allowed to drive.

Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who once memorably nailed his scrotum to Red Square to denounce state power, has won political asylum in France, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

Sunday morning is usually the preserve of Christian pastors in the Nigerian megacity of Lagos but a new form of worship is emerging to challenge the monopoly. 

"Praise Allah!" shouts the imam of the Nasrul-lahi-li Fathi Society of Nigeria (NASFAT) before thousands of his faithful, gathered under tents on the outskirts of the city. 

Istanbul authorities have withdrawn an invitation to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to attend a major conference in the city, officials said Tuesday, after Turkey blocked access to the online encyclopedia.

Mohamed Talbi, a prominent Tunisian academic and specialist on Islam, died early Monday aged 95, the country's culture ministry said.

Russian police on Monday detained young activists protesting against the persecution of gay men in Chechnya at a May Day parade in Saint Petersburg, an AFP photographer witnessed. 

Indonesian police have arrested eight men for allegedly holding a "gay party" in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, police said Monday.

Most of the 20,000 or so Christians in Morocco hail from sub-Saharan Africa, forming a tiny minority in the country's overwhelmingly Muslim population of 34 million.

Rap has been called a universal language -- but it can also be a tool to preserve languages at risk.

Global press freedom has hit a 13-year low, threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump's media bashing and restrictions pursued by both democratic and authoritarian governments, a watchdog said Friday.