BOHONIKI, Poland — A Polish imam recited prayers Tuesday over the tiny white casket of an unborn Iraqi boy, the latest life claimed as migrants from the Middle East have tried to slip into the European Union illegally and found their path blocked by soldiers in the forests of Poland and Belarus.

SOFIA, Bulgaria — A bus carrying tourists back to North Macedonia crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including a dozen children, authorities said. DNA tests are being carried out to identify the victims.

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday said his country will not seek dominance over Southeast Asia or bully its smaller neighbors, amid ongoing friction over the South China Sea.

LE GOSIER, Guadeloupe — Schools closed across the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Monday and France's president warned of a “very explosive” situation in the territory, after protests against COVID-19 rules and vaccinations descended into days of rioting and looting.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two of 17 abducted members of a missionary group have been freed in Haiti and are safe, "in good spirits and being cared for," their Ohio-based church organization announced Sunday.

VIENNA — Tens of thousands of protesters, many from far-right groups, marched through Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain the country's skyrocketing coronavirus infections.

ZRENJANIN, Serbia — They are shivering in barracks without heat, going hungry and have no money. They say their passports have been taken by their Chinese employer and that they are now stuck in a grim plainland in Serbia with no help from local authorities.

BRUSSELS — This was supposed to be the Christmas in Europe where family and friends could once again embrace holiday festivities and one another. Instead, the continent is the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases soar to record levels in many countries.

BANGKOK — Thais flocked to rivers and lakes on Friday evening to release small floats adorned with flowers and candles in an annual festival honoring the goddess of water, with thousands of the tiny boats ending up clogging and polluting the country’s waterways.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Two explosions rocked Uganda's capital, Kampala, on Tuesday, killing at least three civilians in what police described as a coordinated attack by extremists opposed to the government.

WARSAW, Poland — Polish forces at the border with Belarus used water cannons and tear gas Tuesday against stone-throwing migrants, as Warsaw accused Belarusian authorities of giving smoke grenades and other weapons to those trying to cross the frontier.

LONDON — British authorities raised the country's threat level to its second-highest rung on Monday, after police said a blast in a taxi outside a Liverpool hospital was caused by a homemade bomb.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the U.N. climate summit as a "game-changing agreement" that sounded the "death knell for coal power" on Sunday -- although he added that his delight at the progress on fighting climate change was "tinged with disappointment."