With guests including Paul Simon and Seth Meyers, PEN America will gather Thursday night for its annual gala, a dressed-up, high-profile event raised even higher because some wondered if it would be held at all.

The literary and human rights organization has faced ongoing criticism over its response to the Israel-Hamas war, with hundreds of writers alleging that PEN showed limited concern over the suffering of Gaza residents and the deaths of Palestinian writers and journalists. PEN has already canceled its spring awards ceremony after dozens of nominees withdrew and its World Voices festival after hundreds signed an open letter saying they wouldn't participate.

The memoirs of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be released in November, nearly three years after her 16-year tenure leading one of Europe's biggest powers ended.

The roughly 700-page volume, titled "Freiheit" ("Freedom"), will be published on Nov. 26, publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch announced Monday. Merkel co-wrote the book with her longtime assistant and adviser, Beate Baumann.

They stroll Doha's waterfront promenade and sing softly about children who are now "birds in heaven," flying free of the pain of the war in Gaza.

For the Palestinian group Sol Band, it seems surreal that weeks ago they were hiding from Israeli shelling.

The Eurovision song contest continued to spawn unprecedented controversy, days after the winner was crowned, with the 27-nation European Union lambasting organizers for their "incoherence" in banning its flag from the concert hall during the final.

In an unusually sharp letter, EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas wrote to the organizer, the Swiss-based European Broadcast Union, that its ban contributes to "discrediting a symbol that brings together all Europeans."

The Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday with the unveiling of Greta Gerwig's jury and the presentation of an honorary Palme d'Or for Meryl Streep, as the French Riviera spectacular kicks off a potentially volatile 77th edition.

A 10-day stream of stars will begin flowing down Cannes' famous red carpet beginning with the opening night film, "The Second Act," a French comedy starring Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard. During the opening ceremony, Streep will be given an honorary Palme.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed the reopening for Muslim worship of a mosque in Istanbul converted from an ancient Byzantine Orthodox church.

"The Kariye mosque in its new form will remain open to everyone," he said, addressing a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had appealed against the conversion of the Holy Saviour in Chora, decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgement that are still treasured by Christians.

The Cannes Film Festival rarely passes without cacophony but this year's edition may be more raucous and uneasy than any edition in recent memory.

Forty-nine employees of the Vatican Museums have filed a class-action complaint with the Vatican administration demanding better seniority, leave and overtime benefits in an unusual, public challenge to Pope Francis' governance.

The complaint, dated April 23 and made public this weekend in Italian newspapers, also alleged that staff faced health and security risks due to cost-saving and apparent profit-generating initiatives at the museum, including overcrowding and reduced security guards to keep tourists at bay.

When Erdina Laca goes grocery shopping in Eichsfeld these days, she pulls out a special payment card that's for asylum-seekers only.

She no longer pays in cash for her apples, eggs and fish — like most of the Germans standing in line with her at the register.

The birthday of the historical Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha, known as Vesak in several countries, celebrates the birth of the child who became Prince Siddhartha around the end of the 4th century B.C. This is a holy occasion for all Buddhists, but is celebrated on different dates depending on the school of Buddhism or country to which one belongs. In several Asian countries, it is observed on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunisolar calendar, which this year falls on May 15. In several South and Southeast Asian countries, it is celebrated on the first full moon of May, which falls on May 23.

BUDDHA'S BIRTH AND LIFE