Green-domed mosques still dominate the skyline of China's "Little Mecca", but they have undergone a profound change -- no longer do boys flit through their stone courtyards en route to classes and prayers.

In what locals told AFP they fear is a deliberate move to eradicate Islam, the atheist ruling Communist Party has banned minors under 16 from religious activity or study in Linxia, a deeply Islamic region in western China that had offered a haven of comparative religious freedom for the ethnic Hui Muslims there.

A woman may face charges under a new harassment law in Saudi Arabia after storming a stage to hug a pop star, authorities and local media said Sunday.

The woman could face two years in prison and a fine of up to 100,000 Saudi riyals ($27,000, 23,000 euros), attorney Abdulkarim al-Qadi told the Okaz news site.

It is a century since the execution of Russia's last tsar and his family after the revolution that established the Soviet Union, a massacre that still raises questions today.

Rescuers who pulled a young Thai football team from deep inside a flooded cave were dismantling their worksite Thursday, as plans emerged to turn the spot into a museum in tribute to the daring operation.

At least one film production house was already working on a scheme to make a Hollywood treatment out of the heroics of divers, cavers and medics who risked their lives to free the "Wild Boars".

South Korea approved a rare screening of North Korean movies at a local film festival on Tuesday, as a diplomatic thaw gains pace following two landmark summits between their leaders.

Christians have been rooted in the Middle East as minority communities since the birth of the religion, but their numbers are dwindling amid conflict and jihadist attacks.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was in "serious" condition Monday on the 50th day of his hunger strike in a Russian jail, his lawyer said, as supporters called rallies for his release.

Gay rights groups and activists pressed ahead with the Istanbul Pride parade on Sunday despite Turkish authorities banning the event for a fourth year in a row.

The marriage of a Malaysian man with a 11-year-old Thai girl has sparked outrage in the Muslim majority country with one activist Sunday labeling the groom a "child predator."

Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to marry if they obtain the permission of a religious court. 

Visitors to Britain's revamped Royal Air Force Museum opening on Saturday can fend off cyber attacks, identify airstrike targets and practice landing jets on flight simulators.