Kate, the Princess of Wales, apologized Monday for "confusion" caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace — a photo of her with her children that was intended to calm concern and speculation about the princess's health, but had the opposite effect.

Five major news agencies, including The Associated Press, withdrew the image over concerns about digital manipulation.

Xabi Alonso doesn't yet dare speak of winning the Bundesliga but his team is playing like a champion inexorably closing in on the German title.

Bayer Leverkusen passed its latest test Sunday with a mature performance in a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg, three days after returning from Baku, Azerbaijan, where it came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Qarabağ in the Europa League.

Japan marked the 13th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear meltdown and left large parts of Fukushima prefecture uninhabitable on Monday with a minute of silence and memorial events, where officials pledged continued support for rebuilding.

A 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami ravaged parts of Japan's northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, killing about 20,000 people.

A religious procession in downtown Barcelona celebrated the appearance of long-awaited rain, after nine days of praying for relief from a severe drought.

Around 100 local people took part in the Catholic ceremony on a rainy Saturday evening.

Rescuers recovered more bodies as waters began to recede after flash floods and landslides caused by torrential rains on Indonesia's Sumatra island, which have killed at least 26 people and left 11 missing, officials said Monday.

Monsoon rains and rising rivers have submerged nine districts and cities in West Sumatra province since Thursday. Late Friday, a major mudslide caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside villages in Pesisir Selatan district.

Portugal's political future is hanging in the balance after a general election Sunday, with two moderate mainstream parties closely contesting the race and set to wait weeks for a decision on the winner after an unprecedented surge in support for a populist party that finished third.

The center-right Social Democrat-led Democratic Alliance won 79 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal's Parliament, after all votes cast in Portugal were counted.

Sweden's national flag was raised at NATO headquarters on Monday, cementing the Nordic country's place as the 32nd member of the alliance two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine persuaded its reluctant public to seek safety under NATO's security umbrella.

Under a steady rain, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

In the heart of Istanbul, on top of the towering minarets that dot the city's skyline, 68-year-old Kahraman Yildiz toils away at a craft that has illuminated the Muslim holy month of Ramadan for generations.

Yildiz, a master of Mahya, the unique Turkish tradition of stringing religious messages and designs between minarets, is facing the twilight of a practice deeply ingrained in Turkish culture that is also taken for granted.

"Oppenheimer," a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowned best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan.

After passing over arguably Hollywood's foremost big-screen auteur for years, the Oscars made up for lost time by heaping seven awards on Nolan's blockbuster biopic, including best actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and best director for Nolan.

China's national congress was concluding its annual session Monday with the usual show of near-unanimous support for plans designed to carry out ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's vision for the nation.

The weeklong event, replete with meetings carefully scripted to allow no surprises, has highlighted how China's politics have become ever more calibrated to elevate Xi.