BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's heir apparent shook up German politics Monday by declaring she would step down as the governing party's leader and not run for chancellor, fueling uncertainty in the country seen as Europe's anchor of stability...

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — The Mozambican attorney general’s office on Monday withdrew its appeal to South African courts to have former Finance Minister Manuel Chang extradited back home amid a massive debt scandal.Chang faces trial in the United...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will visit the Mediterranean island nation of Malta on May 31, the Vatican said Monday, confirming the Pope's first foreign trip for the year.Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna said he expected the visit would highlight...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian Parliament is expected to pass a motion on Monday calling for Israel to immediately extradite a former school principal wanted on dozens of charges of child sex abuse.The motion to be moved by lawmakers from...

VATICAN CITY (AP) —Pope Francis called on internet-based companies Sunday to be vigilant about keeping human traffickers from using electronic communications to entrap victims.Francis said during his remarks to the public in St. Peter's Square on Sunday...

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan diocese of the Episcopal Church has its first female and openly lesbian bishop.The Rev. Bonnie A. Perry was consecrated and ordained Saturday during a ceremony in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn.She was elected last June at...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will mark the fifth anniversary of his ecological manifesto by visiting a southern Italian region where decades of toxic-waste dumping by the mob have polluted the environment and sickened its people.The diocese of Acerra...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Residents of India's capital voted Saturday in a crucial state election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party sought to regain power after a 22-year gap and major victories in a national vote.About 57% of...

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Turkmenistan's autocratic president has named his only son to head the country's newly established ministry for construction and industry.The appointment that was announced Saturday in the government's newspaper Neitralny...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The trial of an Illinois militia leader accused of being the ringleader in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque will be postponed until April to give his defense team more time to prepare, a federal judge ruled Friday.Michael...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — In a state where betting on the Kentucky Derby is seen as a rite of passage, efforts to legalize wagering on other sports have barely gotten out of the starting gate.A bill to allow wagering on sports other than horse racing has...

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — The European Union's enlargement commissioner on Friday urged dialogue in EU-hopeful Montenegro over a contentious religious rights law that has fueled tensions in the Balkan country.Oliver Varhelyi also said that the small...