Residents of the Austrian capital have queued for more than 130 years to sample the Italian ice cream of the Molin-Pradel family, one of Vienna's oldest gelato dynasties.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday denounced the painting of swastikas on a synagogue near Tel Aviv, calling it a "grave act of hatred".

Op-ed by British Ambassador to Lebanon Ian Collard

“The main hope of a nation”, said the Dutch scholar Erasmus, “lies in the proper education of its youth”. For Lebanon, this has never felt more true. The country’s best times have been founded on a strong investment in its education sector – creating Lebanese thinkers, entrepreneurs, and professionals who were able not just to shape their nation positively but whose ambitions spread into the region and indeed beyond. Sadly, one of the greatest risks to Lebanon now, as it deals with one of the most challenging periods in its history, is what is happening to the education of its children.

The United States will return to Iraq some 17,000 archaeological treasures dating back 4,000 years and looted in recent decades, an "unprecedented" restitution, the culture minister in Baghdad said Wednesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi was set to take back the artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia on his aircraft, when he returns Thursday from Washington where he met US President Joe Biden.

The British Museum will restore eight ancient glass artefacts damaged in last year's Beirut port explosion, the London cultural institution announced on Tuesday.

The glass vessels were shattered after 2,750 tones of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut's port caused a blast that devastated the city on August 4, 2020.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday hit out an EU court ruling allowing employers in some cases to ban staff from wearing headscarves at work.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim leading an Islamic-rooted party, presents himself as an advocate of Muslims worldwide, frequently defending the faith against Islamophobia.

Muslim pilgrims gathered at Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Monday in the high point of this year's hajj, being held in downsized form and under coronavirus restrictions for the second year running.

Hajj pilgrims streamed out of the holy city of Mecca Sunday, launching the rituals of the great pilgrimage which Saudi Arabia is holding in a scaled-down form for a second year to ward off coronavirus.

Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 120 people suspected of supplying or procuring fraudulent coronavirus vaccine and test certificates, official media said Thursday, two days before a tightly controlled hajj.

Political leaders and footballing chiefs in Britain expressed disgust on Monday at racial abuse targeting England stars, including three black players who missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.