Italy's president has dissolved parliament following Premier MarioMonti's resignation, formally setting the stage for general elections in February in...

    Pope Benedict XVI granted his former butler a Christmas pardon Saturday, forgiving him in person during a jailhouse meeting for stealing and leaking private papers in one of...

    Winners of Spain's cherished Christmas lottery — the world's richest — celebrated Saturday in more than a dozen locations where lucky tickets were sold, a moment...

    Police in Maine say a woman has joined her husband on the client list of a Zumba dance instructor charged with using her studio as a front for...

    Mario Monti handed in his resignation to Italy's president in Rome on Friday, bringing to a close his 13-month technical government and preparing the country for...

    The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people manipulating their God-given identities to suit their sexual choices — and...

  A 3-year-old Australian boy was lucky to escape uninjured after a collection of eggs he found in his yard hatched into a slithering tangle of deadly snakes. Reptile specialist Trish...

Though the Mayans never really predicted that the world would end on Friday, some New Agers are convinced that humanity's demise is indeed imminent. Or at least that it's a good excuse for a...

    The U.N. General Assembly has unanimously approved a resolution calling for a global ban on female genital mutilation, a centuries-old practice stemming from the belief that...

The celebration of the cosmic dawn began with a fumbling of the sacred fire meant to honor Friday's end of the Mayan long count calendar.   Gabriel Lemus, the white-haired guardian of...