McDonald's USA on Wednesday announced that its iconic burgers, including the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, no longer have artificial preservatives, artificial flavors or added colors from artificial sources. Only the pickle slices still contain an artificial preservative,...

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced plans Wednesday for a luxury tourism destination on its northwestern coast, the latest in a series of mega projects as the oil-reliant kingdom seeks to diversify. The project called "Amaala" would be "a natural extension of the...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was open to pulling Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination if he finds the evidence against him of sexual assault convincing. "I can always be convinced," Trump said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head to Pyongyang next month to discuss denuclearization efforts, the State Department said Wednesday. Spokesperson Heather Nauert said Pompeo accepted an invitation from his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho on the sidelines of the UN General...

Beijing authorities who shut down a Christian church after its pastor criticised new curbs on religion have now ordered it to pay 1.2 million yuan ($170,000) in back rent and removal costs. The Zion Church had been one of China's biggest unofficial Protestant churches until it was...

Pope Francis called Wednesday for all Chinese Catholics to reconcile, while admitting that a historic deal with Beijing on nominating bishops may have caused "confusion". "I now invite all Chinese Catholics to work towards reconciliation," the pope wrote in a message to Roman Catholics...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called for a "comprehensive United Nations reform process" in an article he penned for the Foreign Policy magazine. Speaking about the ongoing humanitarian crises across the world, Erdogan said: "The list goes on, but it is clear that the...

Nigeria appears to have taken a softer stance on Africa's leading mobile operator MTN, assuring stakeholders that a dispute over the repatriation of $8.13 in dividends will be "resolved". Talking to reporters in Abuja following a monetary policy committee meeting on Tuesday, Nigeria's...

Bill Cosby was marched out of court in handcuffs on Tuesday after being sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for sexual assault, capping the downfall of the once-beloved comedian known as "America's Dad." Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of trying to topple his government Tuesday as he poured cold water on the idea of resuming talks with Washington after its pullout from an international nuclear accord. "It is ironic that the US government does not even...

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday pleaded for urgent aid for Palestinian refugees to curb the appeal of radicalism after the United States ended all support. Addressing the UN General Assembly, the Jordanian leader sought a revival of the Middle East peace process and voiced worries...

The US Federal Reserve is due to begin a two-day policy meeting later Tuesday, and markets overwhelmingly expected the third rate hike of the year as inflation mounts and the economy grows. Central bankers are gathering under a long shadow cast by President Donald Trump, who has...

A German court said Tuesday it could not enforce a Chilean prison sentence for a German former member of a Nazi paedophile sect for complicity in child sex abuse. It ruled that Hartmut Hopp, 74, could not be jailed because the evidence the Chilean court had provided against him fell...

The United States on Tuesday urged Hong Kong to allow freedom of expression as it voiced concern over a ban on the pro-independence party. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement said the United States was "concerned" by the ban on the Hong Kong National Party, a first since...

Pope Francis on Tuesday admitted the clerical sex abuse scandals have put off some young people who believe the Catholic Church has not expressed enough condemnation. "We know -- and you have told us -- that many young people do not turn to us for anything because they don't feel we...

A key figure in Britain's main opposition Labour party said Tuesday that remaining in the European Union should not be ruled out if there is a second Brexit referendum. Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer told the left-wing party's annual conference that campaigning for another vote on...

Iran's intelligence ministry said Tuesday that investigators had found last week's deadly attack on a military parade in the mainly ethnic-Arab southwestern city of Ahvaz was mounted by "jihadist separatists". "The five members of a terrorist squad affiliated to jihadist separatist...

Sweden's centre-right opposition and the far-right ousted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, after September 9 elections left neither the left or right bloc with a majority. A total of 204 of 349 members of parliament voted against Lofven, while 142...

The World Bank warned Tuesday that the Gaza Strip's economy is in "free fall" as cuts to aid and salaries add to an already crippling Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run enclave. The bank's report will be presented to the international donor group for Palestinians, known as the Ad Hoc...

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Yemen's Huthi rebels of hostage-taking, torture and other serious abuses against people in their custody. The New York-based watchdog said it had documented 16 cases of illegal imprisonment by the Iran-backed Shiite insurgents, "in large part to...