Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence Wednesday over the lynching of a Muslim man suspected of eating beef, calling it "unfortunate", after criticism over his failure to speak out.

Modi accused the opposition of trying to stir up controversy over the incident last month in which Mohammad Akhlaq was dragged from his home and beaten to death over rumors he had eaten beef.

New Zealand censors on Wednesday overturned the country's first book ban for more than two decades, ruling an award-winning teen novel could go on sale with no restrictions.

The book, "Into the River" by Ted Dawe, was ordered off shelves last month after conservative lobby group Family First complained about depictions of sex and drug use.

Jamaican author Marlon James on Tuesday won the Man Booker Prize for "A Brief History of Seven Killings", a re-telling of the attempted assassination of musician Bob Marley.

James, 44, is the first Jamaican to win the award in its 47-year history. One of the world's most prestigious literary awards, the Man Booker Prize carries a £50,000 (67,000 euro, $77,000) prize and winners enjoy a boost in sales and a global readership.

A disturbing tale of male friendship which features graphic depictions of child sex abuse is favorite to win the annual Man Booker Prize for best novel, being awarded in London on Tuesday.

US author Hanya Yanagihara's "A Little Life" follows four young men after they graduate from college but focuses on the traumatic past of one of them, who was abused by monks as a child and self-harms.

The Frankfurt Book Fair says the Iranian government has canceled plans for a national stand at this year's event to protest a planned appearance by British author Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie is to appear at a news conference Tuesday ahead of the annual fair's opening. The author spent years in hiding with heavy security after his novel "The Satanic Verses" drew a death edict from Iran's religious authorities.

The 2015 Nobel season wraps up Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, which could go to research into the job market or consumer behaviour, though no obvious frontrunner stands out.

The prize is to be announced on Monday at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, and will mark the close of a season that has seen the literature prize go to Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich and the peace prize awarded to Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet, four civil society groups that helped rescue the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring.

A high-ranking Polish priest who was fired after coming out as gay before the Vatican's key synod on the family said on Sunday that there was no "gay lobby" in the Church. 

Krzysztof Charamsa told a private Italian television channel that he has "never met a gay lobby in the Vatican", referring to rumors of a network of homosexual priests.

Egypt started work Saturday to remove a crust of dried glue on the beard of legendary boy pharaoh Tutankhamun's golden mask after a botched repair job on the priceless relic.

The beard fell off in an August 2014 accident at the Cairo Museum, leading to the botched repair by employees.

Saudi Arabia has summoned the Czech ambassador over a new translation of British writer Salman Rushdie's controversial book "Satanic Verses", official media said Friday.

The kingdom wanted to express its "condemnation and disapproval of translating the book," which it considers offensive to Islam, and hopes Prague will stop publication of the work, the Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying.

A rare Pablo Picasso painting from the collection of US tycoon Bill Koch that will be sold on November 5 was shown in London for the first time on Friday.

The painting by the Spanish artist depicts a morose-looking nude cabaret singer with red lips and brown curly hair, contrasting with her unhealthy pale skin.