The Cannes film festival called Thursday for the "immediate and unconditional release" of the Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who was jailed for a year Wednesday for "attacking the security of the state".

Stars including Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Scarlett Johansson will attend this year's Venice Film Festival, organizers said Thursday, with 21 films vying for the Lion d'Or although only two by women made the cut.

A Lebanese indie band is to play at a music festival in Byblos next month, but only after apologizing for two songs deemed offensive to Christians, organizers said.

They sparked controversy in Egypt, and were banned from performing in Jordan. Now alternative rock band Mashrou' Leila might have a concert canceled at home in Lebanon over alleged offense to religion.

The participation of popular Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila in this year’s edition of the Byblos International Festival has sparked a storm of controversy in the country after the young artists were accused of “insulting Christianity” in their songs.

The band’s supporters and opponents are clashing on social networking websites, amid calls for boycotting and banning the concert. Some users, including Free Patriotic Movement official Naji Hayek, have openly threatened to resort to violence to prevent the gig from taking place.

Pope Francis has banned a former U.S. bishop accused of sexual harassment and of financial mismanagement from performing the liturgy, the Vatican News website reported Sunday.

Germany paid tribute Saturday to Claus von Stauffenberg and others who sought to assassinate Adolf Hitler 75 years ago, a plot that was recognised only belatedly but which a resurgent far-right is now seeking to expropriate.

A Bangladeshi lawmaker has been slammed online for calling the police on teenage lovers kissing in a park and posting their photos on social media in the socially conservative country.

French MPs on Tuesday approved a law on the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, three months after flames ravaged the great Paris cathedral, but with the rebuilding process still mired in controversy.

The rabbi of a Pittsburgh synagogue attacked last year by a white supremacist said Tuesday that the wave of hate will only end when racists feel ostracized, as he opened a major U.S. meeting on religious freedom.