The favorite guessing game in Rome these days is who will be the next Pope. Few take it more seriously than the Gammarelli family, tailors to the Vatican for over 200 years. For the past seven conclaves, Gammarelli has prepared three identical white outfits in small, medium and large for the new Pontiff’s first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The US Senate confirmed counterterrorism expert John Brennan to be the next CIA director on Thursday, filling a third crucial position on President Barack Obama’s national security team.

It appears the Force is still strong with Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

The Falkland Islands will vote in a referendum on Sunday and Monday which residents hope will send a crystal-clear message to Argentina and the world about their strong desire to stay British.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in as acting president of Venezuela on Friday after a state funeral is held for Hugo Chavez, the speaker of the National Assembly said Thursday.

“Star Wars’’ creator George Lucas wants to build a museum dedicated to visual storytelling in San Francisco’s Presidio that would house an art collection he amassed over more than four decades.

Cheering Venezuelans in the U.S. waved their country’s flag and anxiously voiced hope that change would come to their homeland after the death Tuesday of long-ruling populist President Hugo Chavez.

The scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, Rahul Gandhi, who is seen as a leading contender to be the country’s next prime minister, has suggested he may not marry or have children.

British troops will leave Germany by 2019 -- a year earlier than planned -- ending one of the enduring legacies of World War II, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday.

Ten years and $60 billion in American taxpayer funds later, Iraq is still so unstable and broken that even its leaders question whether U.S. efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation were worth the cost.

Ancient, mummified camel bones dug from the tundra confirm that the animals now synonymous with the arid sands of Arabia actually developed in subfreezing forests in what is now Canada’s High Arctic, a scientist said Tuesday.

China targeted 2013 economic growth of 7.5 percent and vowed an unwavering fight against corruption Tuesday at the start of an annual parliamentary session that will seal its transition to new leadership.

Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will visit India for the first time this week for a day-long pilgrimage to a Muslim shrine, officials in both countries said Tuesday.

NASA says the Curiosity rover is returning to normal after a computer problem limited its activities.

UNESCO is ready to send experts to Mali to assess damage to cultural treasures in the troubled north as soon as security conditions allow, its director general said Monday.

Cars honk, people yell and radios blare outside, yet Carmen Castillo is getting a rejuvenating midday nap in downtown Santiago, snoozing away her stress in a dreamland of scented candles, plush pillows and calming massages.

Cardinals said Monday they wanted to be briefed about the true state of Vatican dysfunction before they elect the next pope, evidence that the scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times.   

Travelers at US airports are already being greeted with longer lines and delays due to government spending cuts launched last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday.

Residents of a small town that was the home of exiled Soviet dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn for nearly two decades have decided to create an exhibit honoring him.

Here’s one proven way to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Let others take the early lead in the 1,000-mile (1610-kilometer) trek to Alaska’s wind-scoured Western coast.