Bill Viola, the acclaimed contemporary artist, is back in Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance masters who inspired some of his most famous works, powerful, immersive video installations dealing with the extremes of human emotion and experience.

Four decades after he first worked in the Tuscan capital, the New Yorker regarded as one of the pioneers of video art has returned for a major exhibition that explores the links between his 20th-21st century output and paintings completed between 400 and 600 years earlier.

Twice raising the little finger represents "I" and placing a thumb on the index finger and the middle finger makes an "S" to signify ISIS, or the Islamic State jihadist group.

At an NGO in Damascus, two young deaf Syrians, Bisher and Ryad, are working to create special sign language characters so thousands of Syrians like them can talk about the war that has ravaged their country for the past six years.

France's Muslim women feel the sting of prejudice whether they choose to cover their heads or not -- and many are beginning to speak out in a deluge of books, online postings and open letters. 

Israel's parliament gave preliminary approval Wednesday to two controversial measures that would limit calls to prayers from mosques, including one prohibiting the use of loudspeakers at all hours, after shouting matches between lawmakers.

Around a thousand people marched through Kiev on Wednesday, International Women's Day, calling for a return to the original feminist meaning of a holiday now largely associated with flowers and gifts.

Crawl through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels in near total darkness and suddenly they appear: two great winged bulls dating from the Assyrian empire found intact under the ground of Mosul.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent a key transgender rights case back to a lower court for reconsideration, after the administration of President Donald Trump withdrew guidance to schools that was relevant to the case.

The high court had scheduled a hearing for March 28 on a case involving bathroom rights for Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school boy in Virginia.

Pope Francis was urged by a prominent church reform group Monday to oust the head of a powerful Vatican department after accusations that senior officials blocked reforms approved by the pontiff to curb sex abuse.

The U.S. Defense Department is investigating allegations that Marines distributed nude pictures of female service personnel taken without their knowledge, officials said Monday.

The explicit photos, shared on a secret Facebook page which has since been taken down, reportedly showed female Marines and other women in various states of undress.

No self-congratulations but calls to action will mark many celebrations of the 40th International Women's Day on Wednesday, as the fight for equality faces new threats.