London landmark Big Ben fell silent for four years in front of a reverential crowd on Monday amid an outcry over the temporary loss of a cherished symbol of stability at a time of national uncertainty.

A sweeping crackdown by U.S. internet and social media companies on neo-Nazi and white supremacist material has sparked warnings in America that the web's grand promise of free speech is on the rocks.

Over the past week, Vanguard America, Daily Stormer and other such ultra-right racist groups and their members known for extremely violent and offensive postings and websites were essentially scrubbed from the public web.

Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for advocating education for girls in her native Pakistan, announced Thursday she has won a place to study at Oxford University.

Britain's much-loved Big Ben will fall silent for four years from next week as conservation work is carried out on the famous 19th century bell in a clock tower next to the Houses of Parliament.

Four boys and two girls have been arrested in Iran for teaching "Western" dance moves including Zumba, a Colombian fitness routine, a local Revolutionary Guards commander said.

One trope in filmmaking that is sure to draw scorn from culturally aware critics is the "Magical Negro" -- a black character whose sole purpose is to help the white protagonist.

From Whoopi Goldberg's psychic Oda Mae Brown in "Ghost" (1990) to Chief Gus Mancuso, played by Laurence Fishburne, in 2016's "Passengers," it is a relatively new device with roots deep in the traditions of American storytelling.

A wildly popular drama likened to "Sex and the City" is breaking ground on China's staid state television with content that strikes at the heart of life today for the nation's urban women.

It is nearly midnight when Tova Saul, an Orthodox Jew, approaches the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, carrying two large cases and a variety of contraptions.

Australia will hold a voluntary postal vote on whether to legalise gay marriage if parliament rejects plans for a plebiscite on the contentious issue, the prime minister said Tuesday.

Parliament's upper house, the Senate, last November rebuffed plans for a national plebiscite involving 15 million people, with the Labor opposition, Greens and crossbench MPs arguing it would be expensive and spark divisive debate.

Researchers may have found the home town of Peter and two other apostles of Jesus near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, an archaeologist said Monday.