World News - The Morning Sun

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a video celebrating the anniversary of the referendum called illegal by the U.N. in four Ukrainian regions one year ago, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin marks anniversary of annexation of Ukrainian regions as drones attack overnight

Russian President Vladimir Putin has released an address marking the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s unilateral annexation of four Ukrainian regions. He claimed that residents of the Donetsk, … more

By SUSIE BLANN | 9/30/23

FILE - Former Slovak Prime Minister and head of leftist SMER - Social Democracy party Robert Fico arrives for an election rally in Michalovce, Slovakia, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Fico leads his party in the upcoming early elections that are held in Slovakia on Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

Slovakia election pits a pro-Russia former prime minister against a liberal pro-West newcomer

Voters in Slovakia are casting ballots in an early parliamentary election that pits a populist former prime minister who campaigned on a pro-Russia and anti-American message against a liberal, … more

9/30/23

Poland's opposition leader and former prime minister, Donald Tusk, left, and his Civic Platform member, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, right, flash victory signs during an election campaign rally in Otwock, Poland, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. Tusk is leading a march in Warsaw on Sunday aimed at mobilizing supporters in his against-the-odds battle to unseat the right-wing government in the Oct. 15 parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk seeks to boost his election chances with a rally in Warsaw

Poland’s opposition leader Donald Tusk is leading a march in Warsaw on Sunday aimed at energizing supporters and winning new hearts in his against-the-odds battle to unseat the right-wing … more

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA | 9/30/23

Maldives' main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz participates in a rally as he concludes his campaign for the second round of presidential election in capital Male, Maldives, Friday, Sept.29, 2023. Maldivians return to the polls Saturday, Sept.30 to vote in a runoff election between the top two candidates in the country's presidential race after neither secured more than 50% in the first round earlier this month. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan )

Maldivians vote in a runoff presidential election that will decide whether India or China holds sway

Maldivians are voting in the runoff presidential election that has turned into a virtual referendum on which regional power, India or China, will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean … more

By MOHAMED SHARUHAN | 9/30/23

FILE - Poland's former president Lech Walesa wears a T-shirt reminding Poland's current right-wing government that it should respect the nation's constitution, in his office in Gdansk, Poland, on Aug. 26, 2021. Walesa, who is turning 80 Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, is very critical of the conservative government of the Law and Justice party and says Oct. 15 parliamentary elections must bring a change. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish democracy champion Lech Walesa turns 80 and comments on his country's upcoming election

Former Polish President Lech Walesa says he is supporting opposition leader Donald Tusk’s effort to oust Poland’s conservative government in the country’s parliamentary election next month. … more

9/29/23

FILE - King Mswati III of Eswatini arrives for the swearing-in ceremony of Cyril Ramaphosa at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, on May 25, 2019. The small southern African nation of Eswatini was holding elections Friday Sept. 29, 2023 to decide part of the makeup of its parliament, even as the extremely wealthy king retains absolute power, political parties are banned and elected representatives can merely advise a monarch whose family has reigned supreme for 55 years. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

An election with no parties: Africa's Eswatini, one of the last absolute monarchies, holds vote

The small southern African nation of Eswatini is holding elections to decide part of the makeup of its parliament while its extremely wealthy king retains absolute power. Political parties are banned … more

By GERALD IMRAY | 9/29/23

Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh sit after arriving in Armenia's Goris in Syunik region, Armenia, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced Thursday that it will dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by the end of the year, and Armenian officials said more than half of the population has already fled. More than half of the region's population has already fled to Armenia, according to Armenian officials. (AP Photo/Vasily Krestyaninov)

More than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees as separatist government says it will dissolve

Armenian officials say more than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh's original population have fled the region for Armenia. It comes as the separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh says it will dissolve itself … more

By AVET DEMOURIAN | 9/29/23

Explosion at rally celebrating birthday of Islam's prophet kills 6 people in southwest Pakistan

Police and a government official in Pakistan say a powerful bomb has exploded at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of … more

9/29/23

This frame grab from video aired by Iranian state television on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, shows what Iran's Communication Minister Isa Zarepour said is a Noor-3 satellite being launched from an undisclosed location, in Iran. Iran claimed on Wednesday that it successfully launched an imaging satellite into space, a move that could further ratchet up tensions with Western nations that fear its space technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons. (IRIB via AP)

US quietly acknowledges Iran satellite successfully reached orbit as tensions remain high

The United States has quietly acknowledged that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard successfully put an imaging satellite into orbit this week in a launch that resembled others previously … more

By JON GAMBRELL | 9/29/23

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley drops his chairman's coin into Capt. Palomino's beer as he walks through crowds of soldiers celebrating the anniversary of D-Day in the town square of Sainte-Mere-Eglise in Normandy, France on June 4, 2023. This was Milley's last visit to Normandy as a soldier, just a few months before he was to retire, and he soaked it in talking to soldiers and veterans, and handing out his chairman's coin to many of them. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

Traveling with Milley: A reporter recalls how America's top soldier was most at home with his troops

Gen. Mark Milley, in June, made his last trip to Normandy to honor those who fought on D-Day, and to celebrate with the young American soldiers in the French town that welcomes them every year. This … more

By TARA COPP | 9/29/23

Lebanese-Armenian protesters, protest near the Azerbaijani Embassy, to denounce the Azerbaijani military offensive that recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh from the separatist Armenian authorities in the enclave, in Ain Aar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. A 24-hour Azerbaijani blitz last week forced Armenian separatist authorities to sit down for talks on Nagorno-Karabakh's "reintegration" into Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The fall of an enclave in Azerbaijan stuns the Armenian diaspora, extinguishing a dream

The Armenian diaspora has been stunned by the swift fall of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani troops and the exodus of much of its population. Traumatized by a genocide … more

By BASSEM MROUE | 9/29/23

Schoolchildren attend a class Tuesday, Sept.19, 2023 in the Ben Omar district of Algiers. More tan 11 millions student are back to school Tuesday. (AP Photo/Str)

Algeria expands English-language learning as France's influence ebbs

Algeria is among many countries in Africa to take steps to transition parts of its education system away from French and toward English. Students returning to the third and fourth grade this week … more

9/29/23

Police stand on the site of a powerful explosion that occurred early Thursday morning Sept. 28, 2023, in a housing area in Storvreta outside Uppsala, Sweden. A 25-year-old woman died in the blast. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)

Sweden's leader turns to the military for help as gang violence escalates

Sweden’s prime minister has summoned the head of the military to discuss how the armed forces can help police deal with an unprecedented crime wave that has shocked the country with almost daily … more

By KARL RITTER | 9/28/23

Emergency services attend to the scene at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday Sept. 28, 2023. Police in the Netherlands say that people have been killed in two shootings in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, one at a university hospital and one at a nearby home. (AP Photo)

Dutch police say 2 people are killed in shootings at a university hospital and home in Rotterdam

Police in the Netherlands say a lone gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire in an apartment and a hospital in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, killing two people and seriously injuring a … more

By MIKE CORDER | 9/28/23

Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Senior Col. Wu Qian speaks during a monthly media briefing in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson said Thursday that he was "not aware of the situation" in the ministry's first public comments on the disappearance of the defense minister from public view about one month ago. (AP Photo/Emily Wang)

China's defense minister has been MIA for a month. His ministry isn't making any comment

The Chinese defense ministry has given its first public statement on the disappearance of the minister from public view about a month ago. A ministry spokesman has told a monthly news conference he's … more

9/28/23

Andrew Tate turns away to look at media as he leaves the Bucharest Tribunal, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who both face human trafficking charges in Romania, appeared on Tuesday at a court in Romania's capital, Bucharest, to ask that the current judicial measures imposed on them be lifted as well as measures that saw a number of their assets seized during investigations. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Romanian court eases geographical restrictions on divisive influencer Andrew Tate

A court in Romania’s capital on Thursday has eased geographical restrictions on Andrew Tate, the divisive social media influencer who is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal … more

BY STEPHEN McGRATH and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU | 9/28/23

A group of navy personnel pass through Taiwan's domestically-made submarine during the naming and launching ceremony of domestically-made submarines at CSBC Corp's shipyards in Kaohsiung, Southern Taiwan, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. Taiwan's first domestically made submarine prototype starts underwater testing. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

Taiwan launches the island's first domestically made submarine for testing

Taiwan’s president has launched the island’s first domestically made submarine for testing. The submarine, if successful in its tests, will be a major breakthrough for Taiwan in shipbuilding and … more

By JOHNSON LAI and HUIZHONG WU | 9/28/23

Apostolis Dafereras, 83, looks out of the window of his house into the flooded street in Volos city, Greece, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. Torrential rainfall has caused widespread flooding in and around the Greek city of Volos and other central areas of the country for the second time in less than a month. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Storm Elias crashes into a Greek city, filling homes with mud and knocking out power

A second powerful storm in less than a month has hammered parts of central Greece, sweeping away roads, smashing bridges and flooding thousands of homes. The storm – called Elias – caused … more

By PETROS GIANNAKOURIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS | 9/28/23

Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system and in support of the Supreme Court ahead of Thursday's pivotal hearing, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. The hearing over a law that makes it more difficult to remove Netanyahu from office deepens a rift between the government and the judiciary amid months of turmoil in Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel's High Court hears challenge to law that makes it harder to remove Netanyahu from office

Israel’s Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to a law that makes it harder to remove a sitting prime minister. Critics say the law is designed to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has … more

By TIA GOLDENBERG and MOSHE EDRI | 9/28/23

FILE - ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network Glamos, Matthias Huss, checks the thickness of the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

As thaw accelerates, Swiss glaciers lost 10% of their volume in the last 2 years, experts say

A Swiss Academy of Sciences panel is reporting a dramatic acceleration of glacier melt in the Alpine country, which has lost 10% of its ice volume in just two years after high summer heat and low … more

By JAMEY KEATEN | 9/28/23