Over 2 million Muslims from around the world are beginning the five-day hajj pilgrimage on Friday. They will circle Islam's most sacred site, the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, and take part in a series of rituals intended to bring about greater humility and unity among Muslims.

Around a thousand Beatles fans came together in London on Thursday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band making their iconic zebra crossing picture for the "Abbey Road" album cover.

Applications for Chevening Scholarships to study in the UK are open between 5 August and 5 November 2019, with applications to be submitted via www.chevening.org/apply, the British embassy in Lebanon said in a statement on Wednesday.

Chevening Scholarships are awarded to individuals with demonstrable leadership potential who also have strong academic backgrounds. The scholarship offers full financial support for future leaders to study for any eligible master’s degree at any UK university whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.

Walid al-Aqqad's Gaza home would be the envy of many an antiquities collector.

Pieces of Corinthian columns greet visitors in the backyard. Inside, hundreds of ancient pots and other artifacts hang on the walls or are arranged helter-skelter on shelves.

More than 2.5 million Muslims will on Friday begin the annual hajj pilgrimage in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, against a backdrop of tensions in the Gulf.

Crowds of worshippers have already begun to gather in Mecca in the days ahead of the hajj, the focal point of the Islamic calendar.

Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in "Beloved," ''Sula" and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race, has died at age 88.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced that Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York after a brief illness.

Tourists to the Eternal City will no longer be able to catch their breath on the Spanish Steps, after Rome banned people from sitting on the famous monument.

One was fueled by racist hatred of immigrants and warned of a "Hispanic invasion." The other's motives are less clear but he apparently resented women and compiled a "hit list" of girls in high school.

Women farmers face the brunt of the threat posed by climate change, yet they may hold the key to helping limit its fallout, according to a landmark UN report to be released this week.

German cancer researcher Fiona Kolbinger won the mixed annual 4,000km (2,485 miles) cycling Transcontinental Race on Monday, becoming the first woman to do so.