A bronze statue honoring longtime film critic and Pulitzer Prize winner Roger Ebert was unveiled Thursday in Illinois, where he grew up.

Ebert died last April at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer.

A film that will be shown at the National September 11 Memorial Museum when it opens next month unfairly links Islam and terrorism, clergy members said in letters demanding it be changed.

"The Rise of Al Qaeda," a brief documentary narrated by NBC anchor Brian Williams, shows the growth of international terrorist groups in the years leading up to the 2001 attacks. The film has not been publicly released, but museum officials have screened it for groups including an interfaith clergy advisory panel.

Pope John XXIII, who will be made a saint with John Paul II on Sunday, surprised many by leading the Catholic Church to more open relations with the world.

When the man nicknamed "Good Pope John" became head of the Catholic Church on October 28, 1958 at the age of 77, many thought he would be a simple caretaker.

A priest dances in a famous piazza in Rome surrounded by four gyrating parishioners. Tourists stare and dozens of children on a school trip from France start to twist and turn to the music.

The scene is for a video in a social media campaign for the canonization of John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday that is breaking new ground for the Vatican's use of the Internet.

William Shakespeare's plays are to be performed in mid-air as Britain celebrates the 450th anniversary of his birth this week, while a tour of "Hamlet" aims to reach every country on Earth.

Shakespeare, the English language's greatest playwright, was baptised on April 26, 1564, and his birthday is traditionally observed on April 23.

On the night of Oct. 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII did something so natural that it's astonishing it was so revolutionary at the time. He came to the window of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and spoke to thousands of candle-bearing faithful below — not in the arcane, scripted words of pontiffs past but in those of a father and pastor looking out for his flock.

"Going home, you will find your children. Give them a caress and tell them 'This is the caress of the pope,'" John said to the torch-lit cheers from St. Peter's Square.

With golden umbrellas covering them from the equatorial sun, boys in princely attire are hoisted onto the shoulders of their fathers and uncles, part of a ritual carried out this time every year at Buddhist pagodas all over Myanmar: young would-be-novices preparing to enter the monkhood.

They circle around the temples in hopes of winning a blessing from Buddha, processions of beautifully dressed damsels following closely behind.

In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the split between nationalists and pro-Russians extends to religion, with sharp divides appearing between churches tied to Moscow and those that want to keep the country united.

"We should say thank you to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, who helped us to understand that we are Ukrainians. The aggression against Ukraine has helped reinforce our identity," said Father Tikhon, a 43-year-old priest of the local Greek Catholic church.

On a small rock wall a short drive from the Philippine capital, enigmatic carvings that are believed to date back 5,000 years are in danger of disappearing before their mysteries can be solved.

The 127 engravings of people, animals and geometric shapes are the Southeast Asian nation's oldest known artworks, but encroaching urbanization, vandals and the ravages of nature are growing threats.

Three men were charged Monday in New York in connection with a $33 million scam over two decades making and selling paintings purportedly by world-famous artists but which were in fact fakes.

Among the bogus works were pieces supposedly by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock and sold to unsuspecting collectors for tens of millions of dollars.