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There will be more than just fireworks lighting up the night sky this New Year's.

They have been killed, recruited to fight, used as human shields, forced into marriage and enslaved. 2017 has been a "nightmare year" for children caught in the crosshairs of conflict, the UN's agency for children has said.

Evacuations of the first critical medical cases from a rebel-held region east of Damascus have begun, aid agencies say.

A senior administration official told CNN that the Trump administration is planning to be "more quiet" and "more discreet" about speaking publicly on US military exercises with the Republic of Korea and Japan aimed at demonstrating military capability against North Korea.

See CNN's Fast Facts for a look at the life of the late Pope John Paul II. He was canonized as a saint on April 27, 2014.

Chess tournaments, for better or worse, don't usually command international headlines. Not so for the World Chess Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week.

A topless protester was detained by Vatican police on Monday for attempting to steal the doll of baby Jesus from the Vatican's nativity scene. The incident occurred as thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear the Pope's Christmas Day message.

Russia is ready to serve as a mediator between North Korea and the United States if both sides agree, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Tuesday.

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your empty gift boxes.

Guatemala plans to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on his official Facebook account on Sunday.

Read CNN's Fast Facts about Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.

CNN's John Allen says Pope Francis continued his campaign for peace by highlighting the dispute over Jerusalem, the situation in Myanmar and other hotspots.

Pope Francis used his annual Christmas Day message to pray for a peaceful two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Peru's President on Sunday pardoned former leader Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year prison for human rights abuses, citing the failing health of the ex-president.

North Korea warned Sunday that a new round of UN sanctions against it are "an act of war," saying the US and other nations that supported the strict measures will pay a heavy price.

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses, was pardoned Sunday for "humanitarian reasons."

The UN says child malnutrition in Eastern Ghouta is the worst it has ever been as a result of ongoing war. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.

Karim Abdel Rahman -- a Syrian infant who lost his left eye two months ago in an artillery attack -- has become a symbol of the carnage and the humanitarian crisis in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta.