Pope Francis was urged by a prominent church reform group Monday to oust the head of a powerful Vatican department after accusations that senior officials blocked reforms approved by the pontiff to curb sex abuse.

The U.S. Defense Department is investigating allegations that Marines distributed nude pictures of female service personnel taken without their knowledge, officials said Monday.

The explicit photos, shared on a secret Facebook page which has since been taken down, reportedly showed female Marines and other women in various states of undress.

No self-congratulations but calls to action will mark many celebrations of the 40th International Women's Day on Wednesday, as the fight for equality faces new threats.

Israeli archeologists have unearthed a "rare and mysterious" Bronze Age dolmen in the Galilee hills, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Sunday.

From the art of war to the art of peace: for decades Belfast adorned its walls with huge community murals marking the bloody history of the Northern Irish conflict.

Secretive British street artist Banksy opened a hotel next to Israel’s controversial separation wall in Bethlehem on Friday, his latest artwork in the Palestinian territories.

A near-record 318 people and organizations are in the running for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Institute said on Thursday, a motley crew believed to include Syria's White Helmets, Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

Olena Gorbatova gave birth to her third child in war-torn eastern Ukraine to the sounds of gunfire and exploding shells in the Kiev-held flashpoint town of Avdiivka.

The 40-year-old Gorbatova calmed herself by thinking the attacks were just a celebration of the baby girl she named Myroslava -- which in Russian and Ukrainian means "glory to peace".

In Egypt's conservative southern province of Minya, young girls in black leotards and white tights wobble on their tip toes to classical music in a room painted with colorful motifs.

Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces are again battling to retake from jihadists, has become a symbol of the Islamic State group's wanton destruction of cultural heritage.