“It’s the economy, stupid” has been a political mantra for more than two decades. Nowadays, the phrase is repeated ad nauseam in development discussions. But making countries...

The Vatican is taking the unusual step of conducting a worldwide survey on how parishes deal with sensitive issues such as birth control, divorce and gay marriage, seeking input ahead of a major...

U.S. government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate.   The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and...

The unemployment rate in the 17-nation eurozone remained at a record high of 12.2 percent in September as the bloc's nascent recovery failed to generate new jobs, official data showed...

For centuries, optimists and pessimists have argued over the state of the world. Pessimists see a world where more people means less food, where rising demand for resources means depletion and war,...

The backlash in Europe over U.S. spying is threatening an agreement that generates tens of billions of dollars in trans-Atlantic business every year — and negotiations on another pact worth many...

Four Frenchmen held hostage by al-Qaida militants landed in France on Wednesday after three years in captivity in the punishing African Sahel.   The wife and daughters of one hostage, Daniel...

A bus crashed into a highway barrier in southern India and erupted in flames early Wednesday, killing 42 passengers — many of them burned alive in the inferno, officials said.   The...

A Moldovan dancer who had been on the bridge of the Costa Concordia cruise ship when it crashed into a reef off Italy electrified the captain's manslaughter trial Tuesday by testifying reluctantly...

A major investigation into whether art hanging in Dutch museums may have once been Nazi loot has yielded an unexpectedly large result: 139 suspect works, including ones by masters like Matisse, Klee...