APRNEWS - Morocco’s King Mohammed VI Sunday urged the government to take “urgent action” to address social issues, in particular health and education in the north African country which has been hit by protests over employment and corruption.

APRNEWS - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Philip Wilson, an Australian archbishop convicted in May of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s, the Vatican said Monday.

APRNEWS - Earlier this year, Ethiopia looked on the brink of widespread unrest as protests broke out against the government and abuses by security forces. But after just four months in office, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is steering the ship in a new direction.

APRNEWS - Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe on Monday cast his ballot in the country's first election since he was ousted by the military in November after ruling for 37 years.

APRNEWS - Neymar has tackled critics who derided his play-acting at the World Cup, admitting he "overreacts" and blaming his "brat" like behaviour on his inner child.

The Brazilian superstar was widely lambasted in Russia for his theatrical reactions to challenges which often left the world's most expensive footballer wincing and rolling on the ground.

APRNEWS - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday paid his first visit to the area ravaged by the country's worst ever wildfires as anger mounts over his government's response to the disaster that left scores of people dead.

His trip was not announced beforehand in what local media said was a bid to avoid protests by residents of the hard-hit seaside villages east of Athens -- Mati and Rafina.

REUTERS - A mother of three from a remote area of northwestern Afghanistan remembers the day the head of a local Islamic State group came to her village, demanding money he said her husband had promised.

REUTERS - Al Qaeda’s franchise in the Sahara has claimed a multiple mortar attack on a village in northern Mali during Sunday’s election that disrupted voting, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

REUTERS - Zimbabweans voted on Monday in the first election since the removal of former president Robert Mugabe, a watershed moment they hope will rid the country of its pariah status and spark a recovery in its failed economy.

APRNEWS - North Korea on Friday returned the remains of what are believed to be U.S. servicemen killed during the Korean War, the White House said, with a U.S military plane making a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve 55 cases of remains.