The supporter of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is accused of taking $34,000 from a gambling operator.

In his Christmas Day message, Francis says a more compassionate attitude can help end suffering.

Willis also co-wrote hits for Earth, Wind & Fire and is a Songwriters Hall of Fame member.

Thousands are stranded at ports and more than 100 families are without a home this Christmas.

Five-year-old Iris Ouattara goes to church with her dad and mosque with her mum in Burkina Faso.

BBC Sport looks back on memorable Boxing Day moments from the past decade.

Activists from the People's Peace Movement disappear after entering Farah province.

Police battle activists again as Hong Kong's leader accuses "reckless rioters" of ruining Christmas.

Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will also run in the 200m when she defends her Olympic 100m title in Tokyo next year.

The monarch says "small steps" and not giant leaps bring about the most lasting change.

The authorities reportedly order services to be cut off ahead of fresh planned demonstrations.

Ruslan Shaveddinov's forcible conscription to serve in the Arctic is condemned by his allies.

Experts believe the marsupial could have been taken by a wolf named August, known to roam the area.

Three members of the same family were found in a Costa del Sol swimming pool on Christmas Eve.

An ancient Christian order runs a maternity hospital in Bethlehem for people of all faiths and ethnicities.

Author Ari Behn and the king's eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, divorced in 2017.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged "total co-ordination" with the White House.

"One sweet here, another one there - that could kill him," says a man whose son has Prader-Willi syndrome.

There’s a very unusual bakery in a mental health hospital outside Beijing where the patients are the bakers.

Emma Jane Kirby meets exiled journalists who are now off air, and have nowhere that feels like home.

Throughout the year, you've been sending us your amazing photographs and these are some of the highlights.