For most teenage girls in Afghanistan, it's been a year since they set foot in a classroom. With no sign the ruling Taliban will allow them back to school, some are trying to find ways to keep education from stalling for a generation of young women.

At a house in Kabul, dozens gathered on a recent day for classes in an informal school set up by Sodaba Nazhand. She and her sister teach English, science and math to girls who should be in secondary school.

Pope Francis has met with a fourth group of transgender people who found shelter at a Rome church, the Vatican newspaper reported Thursday.

L'Osservatore Romano said the encounter took place Wednesday on the sidelines of Francis' weekly general audience. The newspaper quoted Sister Genevieve Jeanningros and the Rev. Andrea Conocchia as saying the pope's welcome brought their guests hope.

Heavy rains lashing Yemen's capital of Sanaa, which dates back to ancient times, have in recent days collapsed 10 buildings in the Old City, the country's Houthi rebels said Wednesday.

At least 80 other buildings have been heavily damaged in the rains and are in need of urgent repairs, said the rebels, who have controlled Sanaa since the outbreak of Yemen's civil war more than eight years ago.

Some of the world's most prized works of contemporary Western art have been unveiled for the first time in decades — in Tehran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric, rails against the influence of the West. Authorities have lashed out at "deviant" artists for "attacking Iran's revolutionary culture." And the Islamic Republic has plunged further into confrontation with the United States and Europe as it rapidly accelerates its nuclear program and diplomatic efforts stall.

Jill Biden is helping National Geographic promote its upcoming documentary series on U.S. national parks.

The first lady introduces each installment of "America's National Parks," a five-night series scheduled for broadcast on consecutive nights beginning Aug. 29.

Houshang Ebtehaj, a distinguished Iranian poet whose small but influential body of work made him a major figure in his own country and in world literature, died on Wednesday in Cologne, Germany. He was 94.

His death was confirmed by his daughter, Yalda Ebtehaj, who said on Instagram that her father, known by his pen name "Sayeh," or Shadow, had "joined the other world." In the post, she quoted a verse written by her father in the style of the great mystic poet Rumi: "Roam, roam roam ... There are strangers in this home, so you strangely roam."

Serena Williams said it plainly: It isn't really fair. A male athlete would never have to make the same choice.

But after a trailblazing career that both transformed and transcended her sport, Williams, who turns 41 next month, has told the world she'll soon step away from tennis to focus on having a second child and making her daughter, Olympia, a big sister. Her explanation in a lengthy Vogue essay resonated with women in sports and well beyond, many of whom could relate only too well to her words, "Something's got to give." And to the idea that, no, you really can't have it all — at least, not all at the same time.

Egypt detained a male student Wednesday on suspicion of murdering a female student who allegedly rejected his advances, after the second such campus femicide in two months, prosecutors said.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims on Tuesday marked the festival of Ashura in Iraq's holy city of Karbala, the burial place of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

U.S. efforts to root out structural racism are "grossly inadequate," two leading rights groups warned Monday, days before a review by a U.N. watchdog.