Italy's Senate on Thursday began examining a civil union bill for same-sex couples, a topic which has profoundly divided the country and could prove toxic for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

The debate has spilled over onto the streets: tens of thousands of supporters demonstrated last weekend throughout the country, while opponents are planning a mass rally in the capital for Saturday.

The Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev on Wednesday presented a controversial bill to cut subsidies to cultural institutions deemed not to be "loyal" to the state.

The draft law would give Regev, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party, the power to decide whether particular film and theatrical productions meet criteria for awarding grants.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday he had not asked his Italian hosts to cover up classical nude statues in a Rome museum he visited with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

A smiling Rouhani told reporters he had "no contact on the subject" with Italian authorities.

A South Korean woman forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers more than 70 years ago heaped scorn on Wednesday on an agreement between Tokyo and Seoul aimed at settling the so-called comfort women issue.

The Japanese government must face its past and directly address those victimized by its soldiers, said 88-year-old Lee Ok-Sun, who said she was forcibly taken to China as a teenager to work in Japan's military-run brothels.

Indonesia has relocated more than 1,500 members of a controversial sect from their village "for their own safety", an official said Wednesday, but rights groups described their treatment as religious persecution.

Members of the mysterious Light of Nusantara Movement -- or Gafatar -- have been moved from a remote communal farm in Indonesia's half of Borneo island after a mob attack.

Glass cabinets filled with mundane but poignant objects including cologne bottles, dentures and postcards form the centerpiece of a London exhibition presented by Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk on Tuesday.

The unique collaboration between the 63-year-old author and the Somerset House gallery physically recreates his 2008 novel "The Museum of Innocence".

Pakistan has asked Internet companies to block more than 400,000 pornography websites, officials said Tuesday, as part of a crackdown on what the top court calls "offensive content" in the Muslim-majority nation.

The move follows a Supreme Court order this month to ban online material considered blasphemous or objectionable in socially conservative Pakistan, where pornography is illegal and considered un-Islamic.

Italy's desire to court visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani extended to covering up classical nude sculptures in the museum where he met Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, it emerged on Tuesday.

The two men made speeches in Rome's Capitoline Museum after a Monday signing ceremony which saw Italian companies tie up 17 billion euros ($18 billion) worth of deals with the Islamic Republic.

A team of intrepid walkers and their camels wearily marched towards the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday, the last leg of a 50-day trek across the world's largest sand desert.

They are on the verge of successfully retracing the historic 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) route taken in 1930 by British civil servant and Arabist Bertram Thomas.

An Egyptian court jailed Tuesday a female writer for three years for insulting Islam after she criticized the slaughter of animals during a major religious festival, a judicial official said.

Fatima Naoot went on trial last year after she wrote "Happy Massacre" on her Facebook page in October 2014 during Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice.