A Maryland auction house has sold a wristwatch that once belonged to Adolf Hitler for $1.1 million.

Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City had estimated the value between $2 and $4 million, describing the watch as a "World War II relic of historic proportions."

Millions of Shiite Muslims — from Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan — were marking the festival of Ashoura on Monday, one of the most emotional occasions in their religious calendar, commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

Security forces, particularly in Taliban-run Afghanistan, were on high alert for any violence. In the past, bloody attacks have marred the festival across in the Middle East, as Sunni extremists who view the Shiites as heretics seize on the holy day to target large gatherings of mourners.

A long-lost painting by the British graffiti artist Banksy has resurfaced in a swank art gallery in downtown Tel Aviv, an hour's drive and a world away from the concrete wall in the occupied West Bank where it was initially sprayed.

The relocation of the painting — which depicts a slingshot-toting rat and was likely intended to protest the Israel occupation — raises ethical questions about the removal of artwork from occupied territory and the display of such politically-charged pieces in radically different settings from where they were created.

Pope Francis marked the second anniversary of the Beirut port explosion by insisting Wednesday that truth and justice "can never be hidden," in an apparent reference to the stalled investigation into the disaster.

Francis made the comments at the end of his weekly general audience, the first after his month-long summer break.

Marking the World Day against Trafficking in Persons (TiP) 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Lebanon organized awareness raising sessions on trafficking in persons for more than 150 migrants from various communities.

The sessions were organized in collaboration with Caritas Lebanon and Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), L'Union Pour La Protection de L'Enfance Au Liban (UPEL) and KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation.

Somalia has appointed the former deputy leader and spokesman for the Al-Shabaab Islamist group as religion minister, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said Tuesday. 

The British Embassy Beirut has announced that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program opened on August 2.

Applicants should apply online via www.chevening.org/apply by 1 Nov 2022.

In the basement of the National Library of Tunis, conservator Hasna Gabsi combs through shelves of newspapers dating back to the mid-19th century to select the latest to digitize.

She picks out a yellowed copy of an Arabic-language newspaper printed in the 1880s, then walks to the sections containing French, Italian, Maltese and Spanish-language newspapers published in Tunisia.

Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails into a traditional wooden boat he built by hand, toiling under the scorching sun on Syria's Mediterranean coast to preserve a disappearing ancient skill.

"We are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria," said the 39-year-old on the shores of Arwad island, near the city of Tartus.

The Mona Lisa may maintain her famously enigmatic smile because she benefits from one of Paris' best-kept secrets: An underground cooling system that's helped the Louvre cope with the sweltering heat that has broken temperature records across Europe.

The little-known "urban cold" network snakes unsuspecting beneath Parisians' feet at a depth of up to 30 meters (98 feet), pumping out icy water through 89 kilometers (55 miles) of labyrinthine pipes, which is used to chill the air in over 700 sites. The system, which uses electricity generated by renewable sources, is the largest in Europe — and chugs on around the clock with a deafening noise totally inaudible above ground.