An employee at a nursing home in China told media outlets this week that government authorities removed a cross from the nursing home a few days before Christmas.

The Islamic State released a video this week that claims to show a hostage Jordanian pilot whose plane went down in Syria last week.

German scientists are suggesting a hollow tree where bats lived in Guinea is the source of West Africa\'s massive Ebola outbreak that has claimed over 7,000 deaths.

Authorities announced Tuesday that on the third day of search efforts, the remains of AirAsia flight 8501, including some bodies, were discovered floating in the water near Indonesia's Pangkalan Bun.

Officials in Indonesia announced Monday that the AirAsia commercial flight that went missing Sunday morning is likely at the bottom of the sea.

Amid attempts to contain the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, public Christmas festivities were canceled in Sierra Leone this past week.

The presumed crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501with 162 people on board has thrown several countries in Asia under a pall of gloom.

An AirAsia flight traveling from Indonesia to Singapore disappeared over the Java Sea Sunday evening amid a flight stricken with stormy weather, the airline said in a statement. Concern over the jet's fate has heightened as the search for the missing plane entered its second day Monday.

Christians living in the embattled Iraqi capital of Baghdad reportedly celebrated Christmas Eve mass on December 24, expressing their religion despite fear of the Islamic State terror group that controls parts of Iraq.

The African country of Morocco recently banned theaters from showing the new Ridley Scott film \"Exodus: Gods and Kings,\" with many speculating that the movie was banned due to its portrayal of God and prophets in a predominately Islamic country.

The internet connection in North Korea continued to suffer into Friday of this week, with several websites, including the national media group, failing to get online.