The Islamic-rooted government of Turkey will give civil servants time off work to attend the weekly Friday prayers in mosques, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday. 

China's ruling Communist party has tightened its ban on members believing in "feudal superstitions", state media said, as part of new regulations on discipline.

President Xi Jinping, whose power derives from his position as the ruling party's general secretary, has been tightening his control on the organisation in recent months alongside a much-publicised anti-corruption drive.

A Cairo court has acquitted an Egyptian writer who had faced a possible jail sentence for publishing sexually explicit material that allegedly violated public morals.

Mahmoud Othman, a lawyer representing author Ahmed Naji, says the writer and Tarek el-Taher, the editor-in-chief of Egypt's top literary magazine, were acquitted Saturday.

A French academic and an MP published online Friday the famous diary of Anne Frank, despite a dispute with rights holders as to whether the work is now in the public domain.

The duo claim "Diary of a Young Girl" became public property on January 1 as 70 years had elapsed since Frank's death at the age of 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Nigeria on Friday unveiled a nine-meter tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa.

Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes.

Hindu temples in southern India began turning away devotees wearing western clothes Friday after a court order banning jeans and shorts as "inappropriate" for spiritual worship came into effect.

In December the Madras High Court ordered temple authorities in Tamil Nadu state to refuse entry to anyone wearing jeans, bermuda shorts, skirts, short-sleeves or tight leggings to "enhance spiritual ambiance."

A Hong Kong employee of a publishing firm known for producing books critical of the Chinese government has gone missing, his wife said Friday, following the earlier apparent disappearance of four colleagues.  

It is the latest incident to fuel growing unease in Hong Kong at the erosion of freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, with fears that the five men may have been detained by Chinese authorities.

Married couples in China will from Friday be allowed to have two children, after concerns over an ageing population and shrinking workforce ushered in an end to the country's controversial one-child policy.

The change, which was announced in October by the ruling Communist Party, takes effect from January 1, 2016, Beijing's official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend.

France's decision to open up archives from its World War II collaboration with Nazi occupiers is being seen as breaking one of the last taboos that has poisoned debate about the era for years.

"This brings an end to the fear of scandal. We are taking responsibility and we will have a better understanding of the issues," said Gilles Morin, a historian who heads the association of users of national archives.

Pope Francis faces a tough 2016, Vatican insiders say, with no let-up in his physically demanding schedule or the political battles over his efforts to modernize the Church.

The 79-year-old pontiff, who eschews holidays and has appeared worn out at times during the last year, has already scheduled major trips to Mexico (February) and Poland (July).