Pope Francis celebrated a mass for hundreds of thousands of faithful in East Timor on Tuesday, rallying nearly half the population of the world's most Catholic country outside the Vatican in stifling tropical heat.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has announced the 2025-2026 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES). This scholarship program provides high school students between the ages of 15-17 with the opportunity to spend a full academic year in the United States.

Selected students will live with American host families in the U.S. and attend American high schools. They will also engage in activities to learn about American society and values, develop leadership skills, and help educate Americans about Lebanese culture. The scholarship covers round-trip travel expenses, tuition fees, health insurance, accommodation, and a monthly allowance to cover miscellaneous expenses. 

In a Dubai recording studio, hijab-clad Ghaliaa Chaker tunes her guitar and belts out original songs as she builds a career that is turning heads for more than just her music.

The 26-year-old Syrian, who was raised in the United Arab Emirates, has become a social media sensation, with 437,000 followers on Instagram and millions of views on her YouTube channel.

Lightning struck Rome's Constantine Arch near the Colosseum during a violent thunderstorm, loosening fragments from the ancient structure.

The fragments from Tuesday's lightning strike were immediately gathered and secured by workers at the Colosseum Archeological Park, officials said. The extent of the damage was being evaluated.

Pope Francis urged Indonesia to live up to its promise of "harmony in diversity" and fight religious intolerance on Wednesday, as he set a rigorous pace for an 11-day, four-nation trip through tropical Southeast Asia and Oceania that will test his stamina and health.

Francis had a packed first full day in Indonesia, meeting with outgoing President Joko Widodo and other Indonesian authorities at the presidential palace and then greeting Catholic priests, nuns and seminarians at Jakarta's main cathedral in the afternoon.

Shaimaa Saadoun is haunted by her memory of being forced into an abusive marriage to a 39-year-old man just after she turned 13.

Her impoverished family near the southern Iraqi city of Basra hoped that the dowry of gold and money would help improve their circumstances. Her husband presented a bloodstained piece of linen to prove her virginity after their wedding night.

Minus 1 (Tabaris) and Roland el Khoury have invited the public to the opening of the art exhibition "Solace - Before the World Turned Silent."

The exhibition features fourteen unique chapters, each inspired by songs that helped the artist navigate the pain of societal pressures and the fear of losing his hearing -- transforming these challenges into powerful works of art.

At first glance, the European Union may seem like a paragon of gender equality — what with Ursula von der Leyen heading the all-important executive branch. Still, all the talk this week is about an excess of men poised for top positions at the EU headquarters.

Not that von der Leyen, the first woman to hold the position as European Commission president, would want anything other than full gender parity in the body that runs the day-to-day business of the world's biggest trading bloc of 450 million people.

Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday at the start of the longest trip of his pontificate, hoping to encourage its Catholic community and celebrate the tradition of interfaith harmony in a country with the world's largest Muslim population.

After an overnight flight from Rome, Francis was wheeled off the plane in his wheelchair and onto the tarmac for a welcoming ceremony under Jakarta's perennial hazy, humid and polluted skies.

At a shop nestled in a busy, crowded Beirut district, Hasan El-Makary is weighing out containers of warm, fragrant mufataka, a traditional sweet in the Lebanese capital that is rarely found in stores.

"I've been in this shop for 50 years, but we started specializing in mufataka 30 years ago," Makary said from the humble shop with its ageing decor and low ceiling.