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...

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...

Customs authorities in Portugal say officials searching a cargo container in the port of Lisbon discovered 1,235 kilograms (2,700 pounds) of cocaine with an estimated street value of €56.5...

Amid a worldwide frenzy of advertisers and new-agers preparing for a Maya apocalypse, one group is approaching Dec. 21 with calm and equanimity — the people whose ancestors supposedly made the...