Close to half of the approximately 56 million abortions performed every year worldwide are unsafe, researchers said on Wednesday in a study.

The United States will reduce the number of refugees it is prepared to welcome for resettlement to only 45,000 over the next year -- just over half the figure for 2016, officials said on Wednesday.

Iraq's Kurds announced a massive “yes” vote for independence on Wednesday following a referendum that has incensed Baghdad and sparked international concern.

Ireland announced it will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all cases – just a few weeks before Pope Francis visits.

Hurricane Irma killed 72 people in Florida when it battered the southern state on September 10, according to an updated death toll that includes figures from individual counties.

Popular Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike Wednesday vowed a break with old-school politics as she unveiled a new party she hopes will shake up the upcoming snap election in Japan.

Republican senators struggled to gather more support for a last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare on Monday despite revising funding provisions of their bill to make it more attractive to a handful of undecided lawmakers.

More than 57,000 people have fled a volcano on the tourist island of Bali as rising magma and increased tremors fuel fears of an imminent eruption, officials said Tuesday.

The Brazilian government backed off a controversial proposal to authorize private companies to mine a sprawling Amazon reserve on Monday after blistering domestic and international criticism.