The British Embassy in Beirut is launching the ‘Ambassador For A Day’ competition where winners will be able to shadow an Ambassador in Lebanon for one day. The competition aims to encourage young girls to become leaders and advocates for change.

The theme of the competition is Embrace Equity which is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023. All girls aged 15-18 years old and who are not at university are eligible. The competition is open from now until 9 February 2023.

Pope Francis met on Monday with Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the longtime secretary of Pope Benedict XVI who was a key figure in his recent funeral but who has raised eyebrows with an extraordinary memoir in which he settles old scores with the reigning pontiff and reveals palace intrigue.

The Vatican provided no details about the content of the private audience, other than to say that it happened.

Pope Francis on Monday broke his silence on the nationwide protests convulsing Iran, denouncing the recourse to the death penalty there and seemingly legitimizing the rallies as demonstrations "demanding greater respect for the dignity of women."

Francis made the comments in an annual speech to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican, a foreign policy speech the pope delivers at the start of each year outlining the areas of greatest concern for the Holy See.

The United Arab Emirates will begin teaching about the Holocaust in history classes in primary and secondary schools across the country, the country's embassy in the U.S. says.

The embassy provided no details on the curriculum and education authorities in the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, did not immediately acknowledge the announcement on Monday.

Iranian hardliners have burned French flags outside the French embassy in Tehran, protesting cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that lampoon Iran's ruling clerics.

The caricatures were published at a time of persistent anti-government protests in Iran, now in their fourth month. Demonstrators are calling for the downfall of its Islamic Republic and are challenging its hardline establishment.

More than 30 graves at a historic Christian cemetery in Jerusalem were found toppled and vandalized, the diocese said, jolting the Christian minority in the contested city.

Israel's Foreign Ministry called the attack an "immoral act" and "an affront to religion." Jerusalem's Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum called it a "clear hate crime." The British consulate said it was just the latest in a string of assaults on the Christian community in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

"The ministry is ending the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran as a first step," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Tehran had warned Paris of consequences.

Mourners poured into St. Peter's Square early Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to pay their final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and to attend a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one.

Bells tolled and the crowd applauded as pallbearers carried Benedict's cypress coffin out of the basilica and rested it before the altar in the piazza, as red-robed cardinals looked on.

Pope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's "acute and gentle thought" as he presided over a packed Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, while thousands of people paid tribute to the former pope on the final day of public viewing in St. Peter's Basilica.

Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Paul VI auditorium and shouts of "Viva il papa!" or "Long live the pope" as he arrived for his weekly catechism appointment with the faithful.

Hong Kong's outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to pay his respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Vatican City, his secretary said on Tuesday.

Zen, a 90-year-old retired bishop, will attend the funeral Mass, led by Pope Francis, at St. Peter's Square on Thursday and return to Hong Kong on Saturday, the secretary said.