Libyan lawmakers began consultations Monday aimed at confirming a newly appointed government that would lead the war-wrecked country through elections by the end of the year. The U.N. called the session “historic.” More than 130 members of the House of Representatives met in the coastal...

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters appeared on course Sunday to narrowly approve a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters. The measure would outlaw covering one's face in public...

An Israeli woman who crossed illegally into neighboring Syria and was returned in a Russian-mediated deal last month was charged in an Israeli court on Sunday, prosecutors said. The woman, whose name has not been released, was charged with illegally leaving the country and visiting...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A British-Iranian woman held in an Iranian prison for five years on widely refuted spying charges ended her sentence on Sunday, her lawyer said, although she faces a new trial and cannot yet return home to London. The twists and turns of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access. His plan was...

Pope Francis made a emphatic appeal for peaceful coexistence in Iraq on Sunday as he prayed for the country's war dead amid the ruins of four demolished churches in Mosul, which suffered widespread destruction in the war against the Islamic State group. Francis travelled to northern Iraq on...

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian prosecutor on Saturday demanded life sentences for two young Americans being tried on murder charges after a policeman was killed following a botched drugs sale in Rome. Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, has admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police on Saturday dispersed hundreds of opponents of coronavirus restrictions who staged a protest in the capital Stockholm in defiance of a ban on large gatherings. Police blocked a bridge in the centre of the city and said on their website they were in...

Pope Francis and Iraq's top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said...

MILAN (AP) — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive. Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An attempt to get U.N. Security Council approval for a statement calling for an end to violence in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and to spotlight the millions in need of humanitarian assistance was dropped Friday night after objections from India, Russia and...

 Israel on Friday postponed plans to vaccinate Palestinians who work inside the country and its West Bank settlements until further notice. COGAT, the Israeli military agency coordinating day-to-day affairs with the Palestinian Authority, attributed the postponement to...

Pope Francis opened the first-ever papal visit to Iraq on Friday with a plea for the country to protect its centuries-old diversity, urging Muslims to embrace their Christian neighbors as a precious resource and asking the embattled Christian community -- “though small like a mustard seed” --...

European Union Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell arrived in Cyprus on Friday for talks with the ethnically divided island nation's Greek Cypriot President and the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots. The visit comes ahead of a key U.N. brokered meeting next month to determine if...

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Friday said authorities disrupted an attempted hijacking of a passenger plane in flight the previous night, though it offered few details on what happened. The purported hijacking targeted an Iran Air Fokker 100 regional commercial jet heading...

The Latest on Pope Francis' historic visit to Iraq to deliver a message of hope to the country's dwindling Christian community following years of unrest and amid a devastating pandemic (all times local): Pope Francis arrived inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s...

 Greece will introduce an increase in military service for conscripts serving in the army from nine to 12 months, starting in May, as part of a program to boost the armed forces amid tension with regional rival Turkey. The decision made public Friday will bring army service in line...

Israel’s defense minister said his country is upgrading contingency plans to strike Iranian targets if Tehran shows signs of nuclear escalation, the latest sign of rising tensions between the two archenemies. Benny Gantz told the American cable network Fox News that Israel is still...

Dozens of Christians are gathering at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad hours before Pope Francis was due to land in Iraq for a first papal visit to the war-weary country. Men, women and children gathered inside the church early in the morning. Many were not wearing masks and sat...

The International Organization for Migration says at least 20 migrants are dead after smugglers threw 80 overboard during a voyage from Djibouti in East Africa to Yemen. A statement says “smugglers started shouting there were too many on board” after the boat with 200 migrants, including...