Pope Francis has extended indefinitely the power of all Roman Catholic priests to forgive women who've had abortions. Last year, he granted priests the same powers for the duration of what he decreed as the Holy Year of Mercy, which ended on Sunday. Prior to that, only bishops and special confessors had been able to give absolution.
A suicide bomb attack at a mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed at least thirty people and injured fifty more. Many casualties are children. The Islamic State group said it was responsible for the blast at the mosque used by the Shiite community.
Some 200,000 unemployed graduates in Nigeria have begun receiving text messages to say they've been hired by government job creation scheme. They are the first batch to be taken on following the government's election pledge last year to find work for half a million graduates.
Japanese troops have arrived in South Sudan on a peacekeeping mission, the first time in nearly seventy years that Japan has deployed its soldiers overseas with a broad mandate to use force if necessary. There's been criticism that the new powers run counter to Japan's pacifist constitution.
The United Nations says almost one million Syrians are now living under siege. The Head of U.N. Aid said the figure had doubled in the past six months.
The UN's AIDS program says treatment has been made available to a million more HIV-positive people in the past half year. But it's also warned that young women are being let down. Our report shows that the number of people with access to anti-retroviral therapy in June doubled in five years.
A controversial pastor in South Africa has provoked a storm in social media, after it emerged that he's been spraying his congregants with an insecticide called doom, as part of a healing ritual. The pastor is pictured spraying a woman in the face in order to drive out demons.
