Scrolling through news of the Notre Dame fire on social media feeds was like watching a real-time archive of grief in the making, as people expressed their dismay and sorrow at the damage wrought, write Jose Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona and Cristina Garduño Freeman.

Buddha statues have joined Barbie dolls and characters from The Simpsons as banned items in the conservative Muslim nation of Iran.

THE Dalai Lama has said he would step down as Tibet’s political leader, a move seen as transforming the government-in-exile into a more assertive and democratic body in the face of Chinese pressure.

US First lady Laura Bush, on a mission to highlight signs of rebirth in war-weary Afghanistan, ventured outside of Kabul today to an area that symbolises both the destruction of war and Afghanistan’s attempt at rebirth.