In 2022, Salman Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture before a live audience in western New York when a man ran towards him and plunged a knife into the author's hand as he raised it in self-defense.

"After that there are many blows, to my neck, to my chest, to my eye, everywhere," Rushdie recalled in a memoir that followed. "I feel my legs give way, and I fall."

Karla Sofía Gascón, the Oscar-nominated trans actor and star of the movie "Emilia Pérez," is apologizing for her old posts on social media that denigrated Islam and that called George Floyd "a drug addict and a hustler."

"As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain," the actor said in a statement via Netflix, where her film can be streamed. "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."

President Donald Trump has launched his second bid to oust all transgender troops from the military, and once again it will be headed to the courts to sort it out.

Although the new order will affect only a tiny fraction of America's 2.1 million service members, it has taken on oversized importance to Trump and his administration, who see transgender forces as a sign the military is "woke" or not focused on training and winning wars.

A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before. The pristine, snow-capped dormant volcano is the second highest on New Zealand's North Island at 2,518 meters (8,261 feet) and a popular spot for tourism, hiking and snow sports.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at cutting federal support for gender transitions for people under age 19, his latest move to roll back protections for transgender people across the country.

"It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures," the order says.

Firecrackers popped, incense was offered at temples and dancers and drummers paraded Wednesday in Asia and farther afield as millions around the world celebrated the Lunar New Year.

From Beijing to Havana, the holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated in many countries. Wednesday marked the start of the Year of the Snake, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.

Hindu devotees, mystics and holy men and women have gathered in India's northern city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering.

The festival is held every 12 years at the confluence of sacred rivers. A stampede occurred as people rushed to take part in a bathing ritual at the festival early Wednesday. In images from the scene of the stampede, families waited at makeshift hospitals to get word of their missing relatives, rescuers were helping the injured and police tried to manage the massive crowds.

Thousands of anti-abortion activists are coming to Washington Friday for the annual March for Life, seeking to build momentum after a string of victories and maintain pressure on legislators. After decades of fighting to overturn Roe v. Wade, organizers are seeking to focus on the multiple state-by-state battles taking place over abortion rights.

Here's what to know about the 52nd March for Life:

Pope Francis said Donald Trump's plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a "disgrace," as he weighed in on the incoming U.S. president's pledges nearly a decade after calling him "not Christian" for wanting to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

History's first Latin American pope was asked about the Trump administration pledges of deportations during an appearance Sunday night on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa.

On a chilly January night, hundreds of people gathered on the steep and narrow cobblestoned streets of San Bartolome de Pinares — population 500 — to watch a dramatic sight: horses galloping through towering flames.

It's a centuries-old tradition in the Spanish village about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Madrid that takes place every year to honor St. Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of animals. Riders guide horses through bonfires lit in the middle of the street in an act believed to purify the animals in the coming year.