Read this quickly, before it melts.

Ice cream was a rare and expensive treat for centuries because of the difficulty of storing ice. In the summer of 1790, President George Washington spent $200 on ice cream, the equivalent of $7,259 today, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families are an unmissable facet of Israeli life. Immediately recognizable, the men dress in black suits and hats, the women in modest long sleeves and skirts with wigs, turbans or scarves covering their hair, and numerous children tag along, often in matching outfits.

They are growing in numbers and in political and cultural clout. That's bringing their vision of faith, Jewish identity and civic practices into conflict with other Israelis, both religious and secular. Distrust spirals on all sides.

Sou Sreynich dreams of becoming a teacher. But she knows she's far behind.

The 13-year-old first entered a classroom at 10, an age when most Cambodian children already have been in school for years. Her mother waited until she was old enough to swim, fearing the boat to school could capsize — a decision familiar to many parents on Cambodia's Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

Italian authorities recovered three paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said Friday.

A statement from the Italian Carabinieri's art recovery squad said the paintings were discovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, but no details were given. The investigation is ongoing.

Sister Mayela wears her black veil and habit as she walks to work near where another Catholic nun was violently attacked in Jerusalem's Old City — but she's now accompanied by a Jewish volunteer for protection.

Many Christians in Israel, who make up less than 2% of the country's population, are worried visible signs of their faith will draw harassment, which has increased as multiple conflicts grip the region.

Encouraging customers to mend worn clothes instead of buying new ones might seem like a self-defeating sales strategy. But in-store repairs and sewing workshops are becoming essential retail services for clothing brands as they try to appeal to young consumers who want to save money and the planet.

While luxury fashion houses and select specialty retailers like Patagonia and L.L. Bean have offered product repairs for decades, the concept has caught on. Jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co., casual wear chain Uniqlo and budget retailer Primark are a few of the apparel companies hoping to win over Generation Z shoppers with a needle and thread.

Millions of Shiite Muslims observed the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage Tuesday in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, under the shadow of ongoing regional tensions and fears of another round of escalation in the U.S.-Iran war.

Arbaeen is held 40 days after Ashoura, which commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and members of his family, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.

Pope Leo XIV will make his first trip to Latin America as pontiff in November, returning to a region where he spent much of his ministry, with visits to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

The Nov. 6-17 trip will include stops in Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida in Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján in Argentina; and Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa in Peru.

The British Embassy Beirut has announced that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program to study in the UK are now open.

Prospective candidates should submit their applications via chevening.org/apply by 6 October 2026. Lebanese citizens (and Palestinians residing in Lebanon) are eligible to apply under the Lebanon scheme in any subject area.

It took a World Cup to transform a remote cluster of islands that's home to more sheep than people into a cultural juggernaut.

A decision by Argentina's players to unfurl a banner about the disputed Falkland Islands after defeating England in the World Cup semifinals carried a historical cause onto the T-shirts, bedroom walls and Instagram feeds of a new generation. In the weeks since, the image that has endured from the tournament in soccer-crazed Argentina hasn't been of Lionel Messi. It's been the crudely painted sign reading: "The Malvinas are Argentine."