VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis lamented that the use of guns by civilians to defend themselves is becoming a “habit.”

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli group raising funds for Jewish extremists convicted in some of the country’s most notorious hate crimes is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans, according to findings by The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim.

BERLIN (AP) — Lore Mayerfeld was 4 years old when she escaped from the Nazis in 1941. Together with her mother, the little Jewish girl ran away from her German hometown of Kassel with nothing but the clothes she wore and her beloved doll, Inge.

OMMEREN, Netherlands (AP) — A hand-drawn map with a red letter X purportedly showing the location of a buried stash of precious jewelry looted by Nazis from a blown-up bank vault has sparked a modern-day treasure hunt in a tiny Dutch village more than three quarters of a century later.

Amazon is ending a charity donation program it ran for a decade in its latest cost-cutting move.

ROME (AP) — The archbishop of Vienna, a longtime friend and former student of Pope Benedict XVI, has confirmed that it was he who wrote a letter to his former teacher urging him to accept election as pontiff in 2005 if the votes went his way.

The film “Devotion” reignited efforts to repatriate the remains of Jesse Brown, America's first Black Navy pilot, who died in 1950 after having to crash land his damaged plane during the Korean War.

LODZ, Poland (AP) — The discovery in central Poland of hundreds of objects that were most likely hidden by their Jewish owners during World War II provided a rare and precious find, officials said Wednesday.

DENVER (AP) — Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister said Wednesday that several countries and some of the world's institutions have pledged $9.7 billion to help his country rebuild from the summer's catastrophic flood that killed 1,739 people.

HAVANA (AP) — The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services as of last week, the first time it has done so since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed the American presence in Havana.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Constantine, the former and last king of Greece, who won an Olympic gold medal before becoming entangled in his country's volatile politics in the 1960s as king and spent decades in exile, has died. He was 82.

JERUSALEM (AP) — More than 30 graves at a historic Christian cemetery in Jerusalem were found toppled and vandalized, the diocese said Wednesday, jolting the Christian minority in the contested city.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s last words were “Lord, I love you,” his longtime secretary said Sunday, quoting a nurse who helped care for the 95-year-old former pontiff in his final hours.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrew Tate, a divisive social media personality and former professional kickboxer, was detained in Romania late Thursday on charges of human trafficking and rape, according to local media reports.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lucid, alert and stable but his condition remains serious, the Vatican said Thursday, a day after it revealed that the 95-year-old's health had deteriorated recently.

SAO PAULO — Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old’s condition, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Polar bears in Canada's Western Hudson Bay — on the southern edge of the Arctic — are continuing to die in high numbers, a new government survey of the land carnivore has found. Females and bear cubs are having an especially hard time.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's Taliban rulers on Tuesday banned female students from attending universities effective immediately in the latest edict cracking down on women's rights and freedoms.

BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Tuesday convicted a 97-year-old woman of being an accessory to more than 10,000 murders for her role as a secretary to the SS commander of the Nazis' Stutthof concentration camp during World War II.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It could be the end of the red dusty line for NASA’s InSight lander, which has fallen silent after four years on Mars.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An ancient tomb traditionally associated with Jesus’s midwife is being excavated anew by archaeologists in the hills southwest of Jerusalem, the antiquities authority said Tuesday.

RAPA NUI, Chile (AP) — The hillside of Rano Raraku volcano on Rapa Nui feels like a place that froze in time.

A U.S.-French satellite that will map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers rocketed into orbit Friday.

LUSAIL, Qatar — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands.

LONDON (AP) — Microsoft agreed Wednesday to make the hit video game Call of Duty available on Nintendo for 10 years should its $69 billion purchase of game maker Activision Blizzard go through — an apparent attempt to fend off objections from rival Sony.

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists discovered the oldest known DNA and used it to reveal what life was like 2 million years ago in the northern tip of Greenland. Today, it’s a barren Arctic desert, but back then it was a lush landscape of trees and vegetation with an array of animals, even the now e…

Russia has freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, with the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The swap was confirmed by U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the deal bef…

One would have to go back hundreds of years to find a monarch who reigned longer than Queen Elizabeth II.

CAIRO (AP) — The debate over who owns ancient artifacts has been an increasing challenge to museums across Europe and America, and the spotlight has fallen on the most visited piece in the British Museum: The Rosetta stone.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed slightly last year, a year after a 15-year high, according to closely watched numbers published Wednesday. The data was released by the National Institute for Space Research.

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, Jackie Young had been searching.

NEW YORK (AP) — Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and “Don’t Stop,” died Wednesday at age 79.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Christian Pulisic gave his body for his country, scoring the goal that advanced the United States in the World Cup while crashing into the goalkeeper.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say measles immunization has dropped significantly since the coronavirus pandemic began, resulting in a record high of nearly 40 million children missing a vaccine dose last year.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Johannes Vermeer's “Girl with a Pearl Earring” went back on display at the Netherlands' Mauritshuis museum Friday, a day after climate activists targeted the 17th-century masterpiece.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Two car bombs exploded Saturday at a busy junction in Somalia's capital near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties" including children, national police said. The attack came five years after a massive blast at the same location.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mudslide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials …

LONDON — Rishi Sunak ran for Britain's top job and lost. Then he got another shot — and the chance to say "I told you so."

Our Medieval ancestors left us with a biological legacy: Genes that may have helped them survive the Black Death make us more susceptible to certain diseases today.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned — bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first Native American woman in space said Wednesday she is overwhelmed by the beauty and delicacy of Mother Earth, and is channeling “positive energy” as her five-month mission gets underway.

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study suggests Neanderthals formed small, tightknit communities where females may have traveled to move in with their mates.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dolly Parton laughs at the idea that she is some sort of secret philanthropist.

BERLIN (AP) — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says it will commit $1.2 billion to the effort to end polio worldwide.

LONDON — Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series "Cracker" and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" movies, has died. He was 72.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The asteroid that got smacked by a NASA spacecraft is now being trailed by thousands of miles of debris from the impact.