WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Iraq will begin talks soon to wind down the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the in Iraq, both governments said Thursday. The Pentagon said the size of the U.S. military footprint in the country will be part of the discussions.

The announcement comes as U.S. forces in Iraq have been increasingly targeted by Iran-backed militias, though the U.S. says the talks were first discussed last year and

BERLIN (AP) — At least 1,259 people working for the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse in the last decades and at least 2,225 victims were affected by the abuse according to an independent report published Thursday.

The numbers are based on the study of documents and files from the regional churches and the Lutherans’ diaconal relief and social welfare organization, known as Diakonie.

However, the authors said they were not able to analyze the personnel files of all pastors and deacons within

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish report on Thursday said adoptions of children from South Korea to Denmark in the 1970s and 1980s was “characterized by systematic illegal behavior” in the Asian country.

These violations, the report said, made it “possible to change information about a child’s background and adopt a child without the knowledge of the biological parents.”

The report was the latest in a dark chapter of international adoptions. In 2013, the

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-controlled Myanmar on Thursday ordered the family home of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, where she spent 15 years under house arrest, put on auction in March following a bitter decades-long legal dispute between her and her brother.

The decision by a district court in Yangon, the country’s largest city, came nearly 1 1/2 years after the Supreme Court upheld a special appeal lodged by Suu Kyi’s estranged older brother, Aung San Oo,

BEIJING (AP) — The bodies of the remaining victims of a were recovered Thursday, bringing the death toll to 44 after four days of searching through the rubble of dirt and crumbled homes, state media said.

The final body was found in the evening, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which posted photos of excavators and teams of searchers in orange uniforms and helmets, part of a contingent of more than 1,000 rescuers.

The landslide slammed into houses at the foot of a slope early Monday morning

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has agreed to meet with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán, who invited Kristersson to Budapest to discuss , Swedish media reported Thursday.

Kristersson said he agrees more dialogue between the countries would be beneficial. Orbán’s invitation comes as Hungary and Turkey remain the only NATO members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid to join the defense alliance.

“I look forward to discussing all these issues in depth with you in Budapest at a time convenient for both

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas Thursday, putting him to death with a first-of-its-kind method that once again placed the U.S. at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment. The state said the method would be humane, but critics called it cruel and experimental.

Officials said Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Several thousand university students and supporters took part in a protest in central Athens Thursday to oppose plans by Greece‘s conservative government to allow privately run universities.

The protesters, chanting “Students, United, Will Win,” filed past the main Athens University building and statues of the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates as they marched through central Athens and riot police took up positions in nearby side streets.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right government is pushing through several key pieces of