Pope Francis is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the landmark meetings that brought the 2,000-year-old Catholic Church into the modern era, amid continued disagreement about what the council taught that divides the faithful today.

Francis is celebrating a Mass on Tuesday in honor of St. John XXIII, who convened the council and presided over its opening sessions. Tuesday's commemoration opens with a reading of John's inaugural speech and ends with a re-enactment of the candle-lit procession that lit up St. Peter's Square on the night of Oct. 11, 1962.

The severed head and decapitated torso of a 25-year-old Palestinian were discovered on the side of a road in the occupied West Bank, police said Friday, confirming gruesome details of a killing that shocked Palestinian society.

But accounts that the victim, Ahmad Abu Murkhiyeh, was a gay man who feared persecution for his sexuality and had sought asylum in Israel two years ago turned the terrible crime into a socially and politically explosive case.

ARAB ART FAIR, the First Affordable Art Fair in the region, has announced its dates for 2022. The fair will return from November 2nd to 6th, 2022 in the Yacht Club Beirut, Zaitunay Bay.

ARAB ART FAIR offers an opportunity for Art galleries and independent Artists in the region to showcase their artworks to thousands of enthusiastic art lovers.

The Karama Beirut Human Rights Film Festival (KBHRFF) kicked-off on Sunday evening at Sunflower Theater in Tayyouneh, Beirut, under the theme “The First Gate” in the run-up to the United Nations Day, which is the day the organization celebrates its establishment when the U.N. Charter entered into force on 24 October 1945.

U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut hosted an evening with the Mayyas dance group and a discussion with choreographer Nadim Cherfan, following the group’s recent victory on the America’s Got Talent TV competition series, the Embassy said on Saturday.

The event was held as part of the Embassy’s “Meet the Artist” series, which highlights emerging Lebanese talents from all artistic backgrounds. Not only was the event the group’s first performance in Lebanon following their U.S. victory, but it offered an inside look into choreographer Nadim Cherfan’s background, inspiration, and effort to create the Mayyas dance group.

Iran stepped up pressure on celebrities and journalists Thursday over the wave of women-led protests sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the Islamic republic's morality police.

An elderly Lebanese priest found guilty in France of sexually assaulting children has been defrocked by the Vatican, the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon said.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday it will launch a training program with the goal of sending its own astronauts, including a woman, into space next year.

The kingdom is actively promoting science and technology as part of its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to overhaul its economy and reduce its dependency on oil.

From a Lebanese student decrying government failures through art to a Palestinian teacher seeking escape in music, young people across the Middle East are creatively giving voice to complex situations.

In a series exploring youth aspirations in the volatile region -- where more than half of the population is under 30 -- AFP speaks to artists in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip, Israel and Iraq about the hardships, uncertainties and challenges they face.

Nabila works 10 hours or more a day, doing the heavy, dirty labor of packing mud into molds and hauling wheelbarrows full of bricks. At 12 years old, she's been working in brick factories half her life now, and she's probably the oldest of all her co-workers.

Already high, the number of children put to work in Afghanistan is growing, fueled by the collapse of the economy after the Taliban took over the country and the world cut off financial aid just over a year ago.