Yiyun Li's novel "The Book of Goose," the story of two mischievous teenage girls in post-World War II France and their improbable literary success, has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.

Li will receive $15,000 for the PEN/Faulkner, which in previous years has been given to Philip Roth, Ann Patchett and Deesha Philyaw, among others. She has published both novels and story collections and received numerous other prizes, including the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, presented to her last December.

Spain is getting ready for one of its most revered holiday periods of the year: Easter Week, which means thousands of colorful and noisy religious street processions that draw multitudes onto the streets to watch.

The central pieces of the processions are the richly decorated gigantic floats bearing sculptures of Jesus or the Virgin and often weighing up to a ton or more.

Pope Francis is expected to be discharged on Saturday from the Rome hospital where he is being treated for bronchitis, the Vatican said.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a written statement on Friday that the pope's recovery has been "normal" and that he ate a pizza Thursday for dinner.

As Hollywood emerged from the pandemic, its biggest film productions dipped in diversity after years of incremental progress, according to a new study by UCLA researchers. Opportunities were notably greater for women and people of color on streaming platforms than in theatrically released films.

The annual UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, published Thursday, presented one of the most detailed looks yet at how the film industry was shaped and, in many ways, set back during the pandemic. In analyzing 2022 movie releases, academics found that ethnic and gender inclusivity in theatrical films reverted back to 2019 or 2018 levels in many metrics, turning charts downward that had been slowly trending toward greater equity on screen and behind the camera.

Twitter says it has removed thousands of tweets showing a poster promoting a "trans day of vengeance" protest in support of transgender rights in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of Trust and Safety, said in a tweet Wednesday that the company automatically removed more than 5,000 tweets and retweets of a poster promoting the event.

Visitors flocked to see Michelangelo's David sculpture in Florence on Tuesday, following an uproar over a Florida school's decision to force the resignation of the principal over complaints about a lesson featuring the Renaissance masterpiece.

Tourists, many of them Americans on spring break or studying abroad, posed for selfies in front of the giant marble statue, which features the Biblical David, naked with a sling over his shoulder and a rock in his hand, ready for battle with Goliath.

This year's holy month of Ramadan coincides with the longest drought on record in Somalia. As the sun sets and Muslims around the world gather to break their daily fasts with generous dinners, Hadiiq Abdulle Mohamed and her family have just water and whatever food might be at hand.

Mohamed is among more than 1 million Somalis who have fled their homes in search of help while an estimated 43,000 people died last year alone. She and her husband and their six children now take refuge in one of the growing displacement camps around the capital, Mogadishu.

The Florence museum housing Michelangelo's Renaissance masterpiece the David on Sunday invited parents and students from a Florida charter school to visit after complaints about a lesson featuring the statue forced the principal to resign.

Florence Mayor Dario Nardella also tweeted an invitation for the principal to visit so he can personally honor her. Confusing art with pornography was "ridiculous," Nardella said.

The Lebanese government's last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight savings time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in mass confusion Sunday.

With some institutions implementing the change while others refused, many Lebanese have found themselves in the position of juggling work and school schedules in different time zones — in the same tiny country.

Muslims around the world are welcoming the start of Ramadan, a month of fasting, increased worship, heightened charity, good deeds and community. Christians are also fasting during Lent, the 40-day period of penance and prayer ahead of Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Fasting across religions is practiced for a wide range of reasons that include spiritual purification and self-discipline. Here is a quick look at fasting as an act of faith: