Turkey on Monday denounced as "unacceptable" and an "insult" a bill being discussed in the Israeli parliament to limit the volume of calls to prayer at mosques.

The Turkish government said on Monday it was open to changes proposed by the opposition to a controversial bill that could overturn the convictions of thousands of male sex offenders, after a huge public backlash.

Pope Francis, making permanent a temporary measure put in place for the Vatican's jubilee year, declared Monday that all priests would have the right to forgive abortion.

Her face covered in mud, 18-year-old Smadar crawls beneath thorny brush, her automatic rifle around her neck.

Pick-up trucks, cowboy boots and a 24-hour booze-fueled party in the Outback: welcome to modern-day dating in Australia's bush, where swiping right is not an option.

Pope Francis on Sunday brought to a close the Catholic Church's "Year of Mercy," shutting the Holy Door at Saint Peter's after a year in which he raised Mother Teresa to sainthood and took in Syrian Muslim refugees.

Pope Francis will create 17 new cardinals from across the globe Saturday in a time-honoured ceremony, elevating them to an elite body that advises and elects popes. 

Next time you're at the Taj Mahal, find yourself standing on a precarious cliff or see an approaching train, maybe just enjoy the moment rather than trying to capture the perfect selfie.

The row over the discovery of a "lost" Vincent Van Gogh notebook took a dramatic new turn Thursday, with experts who back the find demanding a public debate with the Van Gogh Museum, which has dismissed it as a fake.

The Jewish birthrate has drawn level with that of Arabs in Israel for the first time since the state was founded in 1948, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics says.