After eight years of brutal war in Syria, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Aleppo lies in ruins -- but a vast digital archive in Germany aims to keep its memory alive and help rebuild it one day.

The Syrian Heritage Archive Project documents what it can of the millennia-old history of a part of the world that saw some humanity's earliest urban centres and writing systems, but which has become a symbol of the barbarity of war.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex crimes.

Pope Francis on Sunday vowed to tackle every single case of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church, comparing pedophilia to "human sacrifice" in a speech that left victims cold.

Authorities in Colombia carried out a controlled explosion on Friday to demolish the former fortress of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in Medellin.

A crowd of 1,600 people including some families of Escobar victims, watched as just before midday a loud detonation was heard and the eight stories of white concrete crumbled to the ground, leaving behind a cloud of smoke that lingered for several minutes.

Pope Francis opened Thursday a landmark summit at the Vatican on fighting child sex abuse, saying that the world expected "concrete measures" on tackling paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

A senior nun has spoken out for the first time about priests sexually abusing nuns in staunchly Catholic Poland following an an unprecedented public admission by Pope Francis.

Shamima Begum was a normal London schoolgirl who watched "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" before becoming a jihadi bride in Syria and creating a moral dilemma in Britain.

British fashion house Burberry on Wednesday said it was removing from its collection a hoodie shown during London Fashion Week that included a knot shaped like a noose.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's partner gave a birth to a baby boy Wednesday, her office said, heralding it as a historic event although the conservative country does not legally recognize same-sex marriages or partnerships.

A French court Monday approved cinema screenings of an award-winning director's new film about the real-life story of a priest accused of sexually abusing boy scouts, even though the case has yet to come to trial.