Pope Francis on Wednesday described large families as a "gift from God", just days after he said Catholics did not need to "breed like rabbits".

In an apparent row back from comments he made on his way back from the Philippines, the Argentinian pontiff argued that an unfair economic system is the primary cause of poverty, rather than overpopulation.

Amna Fatani knows she wants a brilliant career and a life different from that of Saudi women of her mother's generation who married early, usually to a husband not of their own choosing.

The 27-year-old, studying for her master's degree at Georgetown University in Washington and hoping to someday become Saudi Arabia's first female labor minister, is part of a growing number of Saudi women choosing to remain single through their 20s and into their 30s as they pursue other ambitions.

A popular piece of street art destroyed by Hong Kong authorities and later re-made has fetched almost HK$2 million ($258,000) at a Sotheby's auction, a new record for its French creator.

The ceramic mosaic of 1970s American cartoon character Hong Kong Phooey -- a mask-wearing dog who is an expert in kung fu -- was recreated by high-profile French street artist Invader after being removed from a city wall last year.

A hidden manuscript written by British mathematician and code breaker Alan Turing at Bletchley Park is to go on auction in New York in April, Bonhams said Tuesday.

The extraordinary document from 1942, when Turing was working to crack the Nazi's Enigma Code, is expected to fetch at least $1 million, the auction house said.

Ernst Grube, a sprightly 82-year-old Munich native with a ready smile, has had enough.

Seventy years after surviving a Nazi concentration camp and losing several close family members to the gas chambers in German-occupied Poland, Grube said the time had come for relatives to be allowed to choose their own way of remembering their dead.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that an Arkansas prison cannot prevent a Muslim inmate from wearing a half-inch long beard, in keeping with his religious beliefs.

The case was brought by Gregory Holt, also known as Abdul Maalik Muhammad, who is serving a life sentence for a domestic violence conviction.

Novelist Marilynne Robinson, economist Thomas Piketty and cartoonist Roz Chast are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle prizes.

Nobel laureate Toni Morrison will receive a lifetime achievement award, while National Book Award winner Phil Klay has won the John Leonard Prize for the best debut release of 2014, the short story collection "Redeployment."

Bones from at least five people, including a baby and an elderly woman, were identified in a massive tomb in Greece dating back to the era of Alexander the Great, the culture ministry said Monday.

"A minimum number of five people have been identified from bone remains, four of whom were buried and one of whom was burned," the ministry said in a statement.

On the eve of his 90th birthday, storied Nicaraguan poet and priest Ernesto Cardenal laments what he calls the betrayal of the Sandinista revolution by President Daniel Ortega.

Ordained a Catholic priest in 1965, Cardenal left a mainly farming community he founded on the Solentiname Islands to join Sandinista rebels fighting against the Somoza family regime, which had ruled the country for nearly half a century.

Bones from at least five people, including a baby and an elderly woman, were identified in a massive tomb in Greece dating back to the era of Alexander the Great, the culture ministry said Monday.

"A minimum number of five people have been identified from bone remains, four of whom were buried and one of whom was burned," the ministry said in a statement.