A pair of Indonesian Islamic universities are pushing female students to ditch niqab face veils -- with one threatening expulsion for non-compliance -- as concerns grow over rising fundamentalism in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.

Working themselves into a trance, bare-chested men in eastern China lean into incandescent fountains of sparks to cleanse themselves of evil spirits and ensure a fortuitous new year.

Sofia Rusova was a young political journalist in a provincial Russian city when a lawmaker pursued her with sexual text messages, staked her out and even assaulted her near her apartment.

A Turkish government minister has lashed out at a decision by Saudi-owned broadcaster MBC to stop airing Turkish soap operas, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported, amid ongoing tensions between Ankara and some Gulf Arab states.

Pope Paul VI, who oversaw sweeping reforms of the Catholic Church in the 1960s, will be made a saint along with a Salvadoran archbishop who was shot dead while celebrating mass, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised female bosses and their "typically feminine traits" during a visit to a pastry factory ahead of International Women's Day. 

Iranians gave a warm welcome to a new exhibition by France's Louvre on Tuesday -- the first major show by a foreign museum in the country. 

Saudi-owned broadcaster MBC has stopped airing Turkish soap operas, a spokesman said on Tuesday, prompting fans to take to social media to express dismay.

Mervat Bukhari, a force of nature draped head-to-toe in Islamic niqab, braved insults and taunts to become the first Saudi woman to work at a gas station, something unimaginable not long ago.

A "No dancing or swaying" instruction on tickets to Egyptian pop sensation Tamer Hosny's upcoming concert in Saudi Arabia has triggered an avalanche of mockery and ridicule on social media.