Saudi Arabia on Thursday re-imposed social distancing measures at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, after recording the highest number of infections in months.

Workers have returned floor markings removed on October 17 to guide people to social distance in and around the Grand Mosque -- which is built around the Kaaba, the black cubic structure towards which Muslims around the world pray.

The UAE has issued its first civil marriage license for a non-Muslim couple, state media reported, as the Gulf country seeks to keep its edge over regional competitors. 

The United Arab Emirates -- where foreigners make up 90 percent of the approximately 10-million population -- has been amending its laws to present itself as a modernizing force in a largely conservative region. 

Advertisements featuring some Chinese models have sparked feuding in China over whether their appearance and makeup are perpetuating harmful stereotypes of Asians.

German automaker Mercedes-Benz and a Chinese food company are the latest to get caught up in the fray.

Egypt has "digitally unwrapped" the mummy of famed Pharaoh Amenhotep I, revealing its secrets for the first time since it was discovered in 1881 without disturbing his funerary mask.

France has ordered the closure of a mosque in the north of the country because of the radical nature of its imam's preaching, regional authorities told AFP on Tuesday.

The mosque in Beauvais, a town of 50,000 people some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Paris, will remain shut for six months, according to the prefecture of the Oise region where Beauvais is located.

Thousands of Belgian performers, cinema operators, event organizers and others have joined together to protest the government's decision to close down the country's cultural life to stem the spread of the surging omicron variant.

Waving posters reading "The show must go on" or "No culture, no future," the crowd demonstrated peacefully despite the pouring rain, accusing the government of unfairly targeting the culture industry with the new virus restrictions.

Bells rang at midday Monday from St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town to honor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a day after his death at age 90.

The bells at the cathedral, where Tutu urged South Africans of all races to work together against apartheid, will toll for 10 minutes at noon for five days to mark Tutu's life.

Desmond Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday. He was 90.

An uncompromising foe of apartheid — South Africa's brutal regime of oppression against the Black majority — Tutu worked tirelessly, though non-violently, for its downfall.

Christmas arrived around the world Saturday amid a surge in Covid-19 infections that kept many families apart, overwhelmed hospitals and curbed religious observances as the pandemic was poised to stretch into a third year.

Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge health care for all, vaccines for the poor and for dialogue to prevail in resolving the world's conflicts.