Variety

President Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated an imposing new mosque in Istanbul on Friday, fulfilling a decades-old goal and stamping a religious identity on the landmark Taksim Square in the heart of Turkey’s largest city. The Taksim mosque and its 30-metre high dome loom symbolically over a monument to the foundation of …

The 94th Academy Awards, originally scheduled for Feb. 27, 2022, will return to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022, according to organizers. The 94th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, will be pushed back a month to March 27, 2022, organizers announced on …

Two ‘Corona Devi’ idols set up in the southern city of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu state as the country battles a new infection surge. Hindu priests at an Indian temple are saying daily prayers to two coronavirus goddesses in an effort to tame the pandemic as the country battles a …

Turkey welcomed 790,687 foreign visitors in April, down from a month earlier and only a quarter of the arrivals in 2019 before the pandemic hit, according to official data on Monday that suggested the tourism season may get off to a tough start. A coronavirus spike last month and a …

In what might be the unlikeliest indicator of a post-pandemic recovery, a pair of premium Japanese melons have sold for $24,800 at auction, over 22 times more than last year’s virus-hit price. The 2.7 million yen price tag at the season’s first auction for the famed Yubari melons is still …

Sun loungers are out, beach bars are open and rave music is pumping. Hotels and restaurants are greeting visitors hoping to get a head start on summer after more than a year of coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions. Croatia has widely reopened its stunning Adriatic coastline for foreign tourists, becoming …

The Democratic Republic of Congo has initiated evacuation measures in the eastern city of Goma, which sits dangerously close to the erupting Mount Nyiragongo. The flowing lava has been destroying roads and houses on its path. “The evacuation plan for the city of Goma has been activated,” Communications Minister Patrick …

An anonymous collector snapped up the letter, penned by Einstein to a physicist who had challenged some of his theories A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein containing his famous E=mc2 equation has sold at auction in the US for more than $1.2m (£850,000) – three times more than was expected. …

A huge iceberg, the world’s largest, has broken off from an ice shelf in Antarctica and is floating through the Weddell Sea, the European Space Agency said. Called A-76 and roughly the shape of Manhattan but more than 70 times bigger, it was picked up on satellite images and is …

Intense storms, persistent conflicts, and explosions of violence forced 40.5 million people to become newly displaced within their countries last year. Conflicts and natural disasters forced someone to flee within their own country every second of last year, pushing the number of people living in internal displacement to a record …

European Union countries agreed on Wednesday to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-EU visitors ahead of the summer tourist season, a move that could open the bloc’s door to all Britons and to vaccinated Americans. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved a European Commission proposal from May 3 to …

The occupants of a skyscraper in China’s southern city of Shenzhen were ordered to vacate the building after it began to shake, creating chaos in the surrounding streets. Officials say no earthquake was detected in the city. At 984 feet (300 meters), SEG Plaza is one of the tallest skyscrapers …

As visitors return, some business owners who suffered economically during the pandemic are eyeing the luxury market. For the past 14 years, Eleni Chrysikopoulou has raised her children selling trinkets to tourists. Her shop is well situated at the intersection of two main streets in the heart of Corfu town, …

About 1,000 Los Angeles residents remained under evacuation orders Monday as firefighters protected canyon homes from a smoky wildfire that churned through vegetation that hasn’t burned in half a century. The cause of the fire in steep, inaccessible terrain near Topanga state park has been deemed “suspicious” and is under …

“It’s been 50 years since he gifted all the artworks that had remained in the house where his sister and mother lived on Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona: more than 1,400 pieces. It was a gesture of huge generosity towards the city he loved. This museum is one of Picasso’s …

India is evacuating thousands of people from low-lying areas along its western coast as a powerful cyclone that has killed at least six people is expected to make landfall on Tuesday morning in the state of Gujarat. Cyclone Tauktae, which formed in the Arabian sea, has already brought lashing rain …

Lightning is most likely the cause of the deaths, but other reasons have not been ruled out At least 18 elephants have been found dead in the northeast Indian state of Assam after officials suspect a lightning bolt struck their forest reserve. The carcasses were found by locals in the …

A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Friday, the US Geological Survey said, triggering panic on the nearest island but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The shallow quake hit at 12:30 (0630 GMT) near the island of Nias, about 250 kilousgmeters (160 …

Wednesday is the final day of the fasting month of Ramadan in many countries. Muslims around the world are preparing to celebrate Eid al-Fitr – one of the holiest occasions in the Islamic calendar – while coping with coronavirus restrictions. Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, declared Wednesday as …

Brazil’s arabica harvest kicked off symbolically this weekend with volunteers picking through one of the world’s largest urban coffee farms at Sao Paulo’s Instituto Biológico, a hub of agricultural research in the middle of the metropolis. In the shadow of the institute’s towering art-deco headquarters, the group worked its way …