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Pope Francis on Monday extended indefinitely to all Roman Catholic priests the power to forgive abortion, a right previously reserved for bishops or special confessors in most parts of the world.

Indonesian police said on Wednesday they will investigate a blasphemy complaint by Muslim groups against the Christian governor of Jakarta, amid simmering religious and ethnic tension in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

BEIRUT - Donald Trump's election as U.S. president on Wednesday aroused concern among Syrian rebels and a degree of optimism in Damascus, where his victory was seen as a better outcome than a Hillary Clinton win.

LONDON - World leaders offered to work with Donald Trump when he takes over as U.S. president, but expressed anxiety over how he will handle problems from the Middle East to an assertive Russia and whether he will carry out a number of campaign threats.

President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager on Wednesday did not rule out the appointment of a prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton's past practices while serving as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, a threat he made in an election debate.

Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.

Islamic State fighters abducted 295 former Iraqi Security Forces members near the militant stronghold of Mosul and also forced 1,500 families to retreat with them from Hammam al Alil town, the United Nations human rights organization said on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday as investors bet Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would win the U.S. presidential election.

The long and contentious race for the White House between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump hurtled toward its conclusion on Tuesday as millions of Americans cast ballots, with only hours left to vote.

Pope Francis goes to Sweden on Monday to help start commemorations of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's Reformation, a trip that has won him praise from Lutherans but criticism from Catholic conservatives.

The number of children and teens hospitalized for prescription opioid poisonings has more than doubled in recent years, with both accidental overdoses and suicide attempts on the rise, a U.S. study suggests.

Islamic State forces in Iraq have abducted tens of thousands of men, women and children from areas around Mosul and are using them as "human shields" in strategic sites in the city as Iraqi troops advance, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday.

A U.S. federal judge on Thursday blocked abortion restrictions in Alabama that limit how close clinics can be to public schools and ban a procedure used to terminate pregnancies in the second trimester.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign was hit on Friday by the FBI's reopening of its investigation into her use of a private email server while secretary of state, eroding a political boost from a strong U.S. economic report.

A federal judge on Thursday sided with women's health provider Planned Parenthood in a lawsuit aiming to block a Mississippi law that barred medical providers that perform abortions from participating in the state's Medicaid program.

Islamic State expanded its attacks on Monday against Iraqi army and Kurdish forces to relieve pressure on its militants confronting an offensive on Mosul, its last major urban stronghold in the country.

A Northern Irish bakery that refused to bake a cake iced with a pro-gay slogan lost its bid to overturn its prosecution for discrimination on Monday as a local court rejected an appeal based on its owners' Christian beliefs.

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump faces a formidable challenge on Wednesday when he and Democrat Hillary Clinton face off in their third and final debate as Trump tries to reverse his standing in an election that appears to be tilting away from him.

A gunman deemed mentally unfit to stand trial for killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last year said in a courtroom outburst on Tuesday that he is being "forcibly" drugged at a state hospital.

A deep tunnel, booby trapped with an improvised explosive device, burrows under houses at the entrance to the village. Nearby, an anti-personnel mine lies half buried in a dirt road.

Pope Francis declared two martyrs, four priests and a mystic nun saints of the Catholic church on Sunday, saying they all had a "generous and steadfast heart".

Louisiana's attorney general said he got legal clearance on Monday to keep blocking a measure protecting gay and transgender workers in the state, one of a growing list of disputes over LGBT rights heating up across the south.

The Syrian army and its allies see a risk that Islamic State will regroup in eastern Syria as it is forced from the Iraqi city of Mosul in a U.S.-backed operation, posing new risks for President Bashar al-Assad.

Behnam Abboush won't feel any safer if Iraqi forces drive Islamic State out of their stronghold of Mosul. That's why he and 300 other Assyrian Christians in the paramilitary force under his command are taking matters into their own hands.

Iraqi government forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants' last major stronghold in the country.