By AFP/Clement Melki with Sebastien DuvalPope Francis called Wednesday for "arms to be silenced" around the world in his Christmas address, appealing for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan as he denounced the "extremely grave" humanitarian s...

By AFP/Sebastien DuvalWith no Christmas tree or decorations adorning the Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, holiday cheer was absent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday.But for some, like Jer...

By AFPHundreds of Christians in war-ravaged Gaza City gathered at a church on Tuesday, praying for an end to the war that has devastated much of the Palestinian territory.Gone were the sparkling lights, the festive decorations, and the towering Chris...

By AFP/Watsamon TRI-YASAKDAAlmost 1,000 kilometres off the Thai coast devastated by a tsunami 20 years ago, engineers lower a detection buoy into the waves -- a key link in a warning system intended to ensure no disaster is as deadly again.On Decembe...

By AFP/Caroline TAÏXUK families of some 240,000 people who died from Covid-19 have hung festive lights on a London wall, a symbol of love, anger and pain ahead of another Christmas overshadowed by loss.As the fifth anniversary of the global pandemic...

By AFP/Anuj CHOPRAA US health boss's murder sparked a torrent of online misinformation and calls for violence against other executives, suggesting a failure of social media moderation that analysts fear could translate into real-world harms.The posts...

By UN News/Vibhu MishraThe General Assembly on Tuesday adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, a landmark global treaty aimed at strengthening international cooperation to combat cybercrime and protecting societies from digital thre...

By AFP/Dessy SAGITAWith flickering candles and the sound of organs, hundreds of Catholics held a muted Christmas Eve mass in Indonesia's Aceh province, the only one under ultraconservative Islamic law in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nati...

By AFP/Oscar BatresEl Salvador's Congress on Monday approved a bill promoted by President Nayib Bukele to roll back a ban on the mining of gold and other metals, dismaying environmentalists.The small Central American nation became the world's first c...

By AFPMorocco proposed on Tuesday reforms to its family law, addressing issues such as limits on underage marriage and women's inheritance rights, which activists have said were not guaranteed under the current code.Based on landmark 2004 legislation...

By AFPA gang of Bangladesh student protesters entered the offices of the investor of a television station accusing it of "propaganda", protesters said Tuesday, with at least five journalists subsequently fired.The students had taken part in the Augus...

By AFP/Vibhu MishraSudan is confronting a widening famine crisis, with widespread starvation, surging acute malnutrition and mass displacement exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, a UN-backed food security assessment released on Tuesd...