The United Arab Emirates will begin teaching about the Holocaust in history classes in primary and secondary schools across the country, the country's embassy in the U.S. says.

The embassy provided no details on the curriculum and education authorities in the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, did not immediately acknowledge the announcement on Monday.

Iranian hardliners have burned French flags outside the French embassy in Tehran, protesting cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that lampoon Iran's ruling clerics.

The caricatures were published at a time of persistent anti-government protests in Iran, now in their fourth month. Demonstrators are calling for the downfall of its Islamic Republic and are challenging its hardline establishment.

More than 30 graves at a historic Christian cemetery in Jerusalem were found toppled and vandalized, the diocese said, jolting the Christian minority in the contested city.

Israel's Foreign Ministry called the attack an "immoral act" and "an affront to religion." Jerusalem's Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum called it a "clear hate crime." The British consulate said it was just the latest in a string of assaults on the Christian community in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

"The ministry is ending the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran as a first step," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Tehran had warned Paris of consequences.

Mourners poured into St. Peter's Square early Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to pay their final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and to attend a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one.

Bells tolled and the crowd applauded as pallbearers carried Benedict's cypress coffin out of the basilica and rested it before the altar in the piazza, as red-robed cardinals looked on.

Pope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's "acute and gentle thought" as he presided over a packed Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, while thousands of people paid tribute to the former pope on the final day of public viewing in St. Peter's Basilica.

Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Paul VI auditorium and shouts of "Viva il papa!" or "Long live the pope" as he arrived for his weekly catechism appointment with the faithful.

Hong Kong's outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to pay his respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Vatican City, his secretary said on Tuesday.

Zen, a 90-year-old retired bishop, will attend the funeral Mass, led by Pope Francis, at St. Peter's Square on Thursday and return to Hong Kong on Saturday, the secretary said.

Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries.

"With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

Former minister Amir Ohana was elected as Israel's first openly gay speaker of parliament on Thursday, ahead of the swearing in the of new government.

The United Nations' human rights chief on Tuesday decried increasing restrictions on women's rights in Afghanistan, urging the country's Taliban rulers to reverse them immediately. He pointed to "terrible consequences" of a decision to bar women from working for non-governmental organizations.

Last week, Taliban authorities stopped university education for women, sparking international outrage and demonstrations in Afghan cities. On Saturday, they announced the exclusion of women from NGO work, a move that already has prompted four major international aid agencies to suspend operations in Afghanistan.