The cool 1960s-style lines of the Ariana Cinema's marquee stand out over a traffic-clogged roundabout in downtown Kabul. For decades, the historic cinema has entertained Afghans and borne witness to Afghanistan's wars, hopes and cultural shifts.

Now the marquee is stripped of the posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks that used to adorn it. The gates are closed.

Omar El Akkad, an Egyptian-Canadian author and journalist, the author of a story of the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child, has won Canada's richest literary award.

El Akkad won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his book "What Strange Paradise." The former Globe and Mail journalist received the honor at a nationally televised Toronto gala Monday night.

From the front porch of their cinderblock home, Garry and Amanda James gaze over Dubai's soaring skyscrapers and massive malls.

It's a skyline that in their young days had seemed impossibly far off. Outside Amanda's childhood home in the same spot three decades ago were just miles of empty desert.

The Vatican's Apostolic Library, which is home to ancient manuscripts, rare books and reading rooms for scholars is opening its doors to the general public with a small new exhibition space aimed at pairing its artistic treasures with contemporary art.

The inaugural exhibit "Tutti" (All) takes its inspiration from Pope Francis' 2020 encyclical "Brothers All" which combines his appeals for environmental sustainability, greater human fraternity and a more just socio-economic order in the post-COVID world.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates has issued new rules governing divorce, inheritance and child custody for non-Muslims in Abu Dhabi, the country's state-run news agency reported.

The report Sunday by the WAM news agency said Abu Dhabi would create a new court to handle these cases, which will be held in both Arabic and English to be better understood by the emirate's vast foreign worker population.

Pope Francis has decried the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia and pressed for dialogue to prevail over the protracted war.

The pontiff in his traditional appearance to the public in St. Peter's Square said he was following the news with "worry" from the Horn of Africa, particularly from Ethiopia, "shaken by a conflict that has dragged on for more than a year and has caused numerous victims and a grave humanitarian crisis."

Four women have been found dead in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban government said on Saturday, following reports that activists had been killed.

Pope Francis will travel to Greece and the eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus on a five-day trip next month, the Vatican confirmed Friday.

The pope will visit Larnaca, Cyprus, from Dec. 2-4, before traveling to Greece, with stops in Athens and on the island of Lesbos, from Dec. 4-6. The Vatican released no further details of the trip.

China on Friday criticized a press freedom survey from the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club that found nearly half its members were considering leaving the city.

The survey said the members were concerned about a decline in press freedoms under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing following massive antigovernmental protests in 2019.

A LGBT advocacy group in China that has spearheaded many of the country's legal cases pushing for greater rights is halting its work for the foreseeable future.

LGBT Rights Advocacy China announced it was ceasing all activities and shutting down its social media accounts in an announcement on social media Thursday.