Iraq will allow only 40,000 foreigners, 30,000 from Iran, to attend the Arbaeen pilgrimage later this month in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, authorities said Sunday, due to the pandemic.

Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the forces of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.

Having started on the 15th of August and running until the 26th of September, an extraordinary musical event featuring 37 soloists, seven orchestras and twelve conductors from all over the world is being held in Dubai, UAE. This distinguished project is led by the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) with the collaboration of SAMIT Event Group. InClassica 2021 brings classical music to new audiences, and gives this prestigious art form a new platform in today's cultural landscape.

In addition to this outstanding festival, the EUFSC and SAMIT are also bringing to Dubai two hotly anticipated events: the Classic Piano International Competition, which started on the 15th August and finished on the 3rd of September, and the Middle East Classical Music Academy (MECMA). Classic Piano featured the winners of fourteen preliminary competitions from around the world, who competed in Dubai across four rounds in a display of pianistic excellence. The Middle East Classical Music Academy, taking place in parallel with InClassica from 4th to 23rd September, welcomes some of the most esteemed professors and performers from across the globe, for a series of workshops, lectures and open masterclasses for piano, violin, cello, clarinet and flute.

The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro was inaugurated on Sunday, arriving by helicopter under the protection of police who dispersed protesters with tear gas.

A small group of Afghan women protested near the presidential palace in Kabul on Friday, demanding equal rights from the Taliban as Afghanistan's new rulers work on forming a government and seeking international recognition.

The Taliban captured most of the country in a matter of days last month and celebrated the departure of the last U.S. forces after 20 years of war. Now they face the urgent challenge of governing a war-ravaged country that is heavily reliant on international aid.

The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do not "have the semblance of truth," but an attorney for the accusers said they would press forward with their civil cases.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said Wednesday that the Vatican has closed its investigation into allegations made separately by two men, who accused the bishop, Nicholas DiMarzio, of abusing them a half century ago when he was a priest in New Jersey.

The president of the U.N. Security Council says the U.N.'s most powerful body will not take its focus off Afghanistan this month and "the real litmus test" for the new Taliban government will be how it treats women and girls.

Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason of Ireland said Wednesday that the protection and promotion of human rights for women "must be at the very heart of our collective response to the crisis."

Pope Francis has criticized the West's recent involvement in Afghanistan as an outsider's attempt to impose democracy — although he's done so by citing Russia's Vladimir Putin while thinking he was quoting Germany's Angela Merkel.

In a radio interview aired Wednesday, Pope Francis was asked about the new political map taking shape in Afghanistan after the United States and its allies withdrew from the Taliban-controlled country after 20 years of war. The pope said he would answer using a quote that he attributed to the German chancellor, who he described as "one of the world's greatest political figures."

Near the start of each school year, many U.S. schools wrestle with how to teach about 9/11 – the deadliest foreign attack ever on American soil.

In interviews I conducted recently in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area – one of three places where hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001 – I found that Muslim students are often subjected to ridicule and blame for the 9/11 attacks.

Pope Francis on Saturday replaced an Australian bishop who stepped down amid a Vatican investigation into what Australian media have described as allegations of sexual misconduct.

The Vatican said Francis accepted Bishop Christopher Alan Saunders' resignation as head of the Broome diocese in Western Australia state. Francis appointed another prelate, Bishop Michael Henry Morrissey of the Geraldton diocese, to temporarily administer the sprawling Catholic diocese in Broome.

The decaying dinosaur toys outside the abandoned theme park tell the tale of grand ambition, waste and troubles facing the long-ruling party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The problems started early for "Wonderland Eurasia", meant to be Europe's largest amusement venue and billed by Erdogan as "a symbol of pride" at its opening in Ankara in March 2019.