Iran has requested foreign assistance in extinguishing a large fire that has ravaged UNESCO World Heritage-listed forests in the north of the country for several days, local media reported on Saturday.

Swiss authorities were searching Friday for two robbers who overpowered a security guard at an ancient Rome-themed museum in Lausanne, smashed a display case and made off with dozens of gold coins that had been displayed inside.

City police said the suspects had purchased tickets and waited until other visitors had left shortly before closing time on Thursday, before assaulting and restraining the guard, and then breaking the display case.

A remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus has been unearthed in Hungary's capital, offering a rare window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she inhabited around 1,700 years ago.

Archaeologists with the Budapest History Museum discovered the limestone coffin during a large-scale excavation in Óbuda, a northern district of the city that once formed part of Aquincum, a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier.

National Book Awards judges honored authors worldwide on Wednesday night, from Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine's "The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)" to Chicago-born poet Patricia Smith's "The Intentions of Thunder."

Alameddine's narrative of intense family bonds within the chaos of modern Lebanon received the fiction prize, while Smith, who has received numerous previous awards for her lyricism and intensity, won for poetry. The nonfiction prize was given to the Canadian Iranian novelist-journalist Omar El Akkad for his fierce indictment of the contemporary West, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This."

ENTRY WOUND unfolds as Ryan Eid’s exploration of a fragile space where presence and erasure coexist, and where identity forms as a means of survival rather than an expression of freedom.

Emerging from rural, marginalized and militarized contexts, his subjects stand before the viewer with hardened gestures and quiet defiance, their bodies shaped by accumulated pressures and inherited histories.

One of the most spectacular examples of Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, the 15th-century Borso D'Este Bible, is going on rare public display as part of the Vatican's Holy Year celebrations.

The two-volume masterpiece, known for its miniature paintings in gold and Afghan lapis lazuli, was unveiled Thursday in the Italian Senate, where it will remain on display until Jan. 16.

The British Council and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) have renewed their strategic partnership under the English and School Education Program to advance education reform, strengthen school leadership, and promote inclusive and equitable learning across Lebanon.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by H.E. Dr Rima Karami, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and Mayssa Dawi Hachem, Country Director of the British Council in Lebanon, in the presence of Amir Ramzan, Regional Director, British Council MENA, Hamish Cowell, UK Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr Hyam Ishak, President of the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), Dr Hilda El Khoury, Director of Counselling and Guidance Department at MEHE, and senior representatives from MEHE and CERD.

When Merat Behnam first gathered enough courage to ride her yellow scooter through the gridlocked streets of Iran 's capital to the coffee shop she runs, traffic wasn't her main worry.

Thieves broke into the national museum in the Syrian capital and stole several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era, officials said Tuesday.

The National Museum of Damascus was temporarily closed after the heist was discovered early Monday. The museum reopened in January as the country is reeling from the 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule last year.

Beirut returns, as it does each year, both a destination and a sanctuary -- a place where the prayer of calling meets the call of prayer, where beauty is not only sung but becomes itself a song. Voices rise in devotion, and instruments spill melodies like candles casting their glow across the eighteenth edition of the Beirut Chants Festival.

Over the years, Beirut Chants has grown into a welcoming home for distinguished choirs and musicians from around the world, while celebrating the steadfast and radiant presence of Lebanese artists.