The video showing the corpse of one of two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State appeared to be credible, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday, adding that the killing of Haruna Yukawa left him "speechless."
Malaysia's top court has denied the Catholic Church's final attempt to be allowed to use the word "Allah" in its local language newspaper amid increasing religious tensions.
Pope Francis is encouraging families to learn how to talk to each other again amid the proliferation of modern gadgets.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have started to prepare for an assault by summer to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from its Islamic State occupiers, America's top commander in the Middle East said.
The Doomsday Clock moved to three minutes before midnight on Thursday due to "unchecked climate change and global nuclear weapons modernization."
Saudi Arabia swiftly ushered in a new king this week following the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away Friday after spending days in the hospital due to a lung infection.
Lower revenues from decreasing oil prices in the global market could affect Iraq's military campaign against the Islamic State.
More than one in eight Danish voters want a party more critical of immigration than the already-hardliner Danish People's Party (DF) as the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) movement spreads to Denmark.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has marked "educated, professional" women for execution, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has disclosed.
The first doses of the experimental vaccine against Ebola virus by drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline have reportedly been shipped to the Liberian capital of Monrovia.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi vowed on Thursday to make the country attractive to foreign investments despite the region's continuing political strife even as he defended the crackdown on political opponents.
Chinese authorities have detained multiple pastors and church workers from Beijing Jiaquan Church, an independent house church that has operated in the capital for more than two decades. ChinaAid founder and President Bob Fu said his organization is “urgently concerned for the safety, health and legal rights of every Jiaquan pastor and church co-worker who has been taken away.”
A planned church in East Java Province in Indonesia is facing renewed opposition from Muslim residents who argue that an address discrepancy in permit documents should halt construction. Residents in the Dukuh Kukun area of Babat Jerawat Urban Village, Pakal District, Surabaya, say the address listed on the official permit does not match the church site in the CitraLand housing complex.
National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School may continue pursuing plans to become the nation’s first religious charter school while its legal challenge to an Oklahoma law moves forward, a federal judge ruled. According to Baptist Press, the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation is challenging provisions of the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act that bar religious organizations from operating publicly funded charter schools because of their religious character.
Former President Joe Biden received an award from Planned Parenthood of Delaware on Thursday and used his remarks to defend his abortion-rights record while encouraging supporters to continue their efforts. Biden spoke at Planned Parenthood of Delaware’s 22nd Annual Chocolate & Champagne Gala in Claymont, where former first lady Jill Biden presented him with the Sonia Schorr Sloan Service Award.
A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators called on President Donald Trump to raise China’s persecution of Christian pastors and other religious minorities during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week. Led by Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., the lawmakers thanked Trump for diplomatic pressure they said helped secure the July 3 release of Beijing Zion Church founder Ezra Jin after 266 days in detention.