World News - The Morning Sun

FILE - The head of the Portuguese Bishops Conference, Bishop Jose Ornelas, centre, arrives for a news conference to comment on the report released hours earlier by the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church, set up by Portuguese bishops, in Lisbon, on Feb. 13, 2023. While the Catholic Church in the U.S., Australia and some other countries began coming to terms with their clergy sexual abuse legacies years ago and set up mechanisms to compensate victims, the hierarchy in Portugal has only recently offered an account and bungled its initial response to victims. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)

Portugal is starting the atoning process for clergy sex abuse. Here's what other countries have done

The Catholic Church in the United States, Australia and some other countries began coming to terms with their clergy sexual abuse legacies years ago and set up mechanisms to compensate victims. But … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 7/27/23

Kuwait executes 5 prisoners, including a man convicted in 2015 Islamic State-claimed mosque bombing

Kuwait says it executed five prisoners including an inmate convicted over an Islamic State group-claimed mosque bombing in 2015 that killed 27 people. A statement from Kuwait’s Public Prosecution … more

By NICK EL HAJJ | 7/27/23

Antonio Grosso tears up after reading aloud the letter his daughter wrote him saluting his courage when he publicly recounted his story of sex abuse by members of the church in a 2002 Portuguese magazine interview, at his home in Oeiras, outside Lisbon, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Grosso's personal journey has taken him from would-be priest studying as a child at a Portuguese seminary to co-founder of the first church sex abuse victim association in Portugal. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Church sex abuse is the elephant in the room as Pope Francis visits scandal-hit Portugal

Pope Francis is making a five-day visit next week to Portugal, where a scandal that erupted earlier this year over Catholic Church sex abuse is still simmering. A panel of experts reported in … more

By BARRY HATTON | 7/27/23

FILE - Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a news conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley at the Pentagon in Washington, on July 18, 2023. Austin met with Papua New Guinea leaders on Thursday, July 27, 2023 to discuss developing the Pacific Island nation’s military strength and deepening security ties, as the United States competes with China for influence in the Indo-Pacific region. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

US Defense Secretary Austin meets with Papua New Guinea leaders about boosting security ties

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met with Papua New Guinea leaders to discuss developing the Pacific Island nation’s military strength and deepening security ties, as the U.S. competes with … more

By ROD McGUIRK | 7/27/23

Tourists take cover from the mid-day heat at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Army fire kills a 14-year-old, Palestinians say, as an Israeli minister visits flashpoint mosque

Palestinian health officials say Israeli military fire killed a 14-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The death came hours before an extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a … more

By TIA GOLDENBERG and ISAAC SCHARF | 7/27/23

A man and children ride a bicycle beside a swollen river due to enhanced rains brought about by Typhoon Doksuri on Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Marikina city, Philippines. Typhoon Doksuri lashed northern Philippine provinces with ferocious wind and rain Wednesday, leaving several people dead and displacing thousands of others as it blew roofs off houses, flooded low-lying villages and triggered dozens of landslides, officials said. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Taiwan shuts down schools and offices as Typhoon Doksuri scrapes the island's coast

Two of Taiwan’s largest cities have shut down schools and offices Thursday as Typhoon Doksuri brought heavy rains and winds to the island’s eastern and southern coast. Doksuri weakened further on … more

By HUIZHONG WU | 7/27/23

Gao Peng, son of Chinese dissident Gao Zhi, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 17, 2023. Since landing in Thailand July 3, he says he has been accused of making bomb threats, put on an EU travel blacklist, and seem his mother and 16-year-old sister detained and threatened with deportation back to China. The threats, made in the family's names against airports, luxury hotels and the Chinese embassy in Bangkok derailed their plans to join Gao Zhi in the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Accused of bomb threats they say they didn't make, family of Chinese dissident detained in Thailand

The wife and daughter of exiled Chinese dissident Gao Zhi are in detention on immigration charges in Thailand, after a series of bomb threats made in their names against airports, luxury hotels and … more

By HUIZHONG WU, TIAN MACLEOD JI and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI | 7/27/23

In this photo provided by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, rescuers tend to a long-finned pilot whales, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, after nearly 100 whales beached themselves at Cheynes Beach east of Albany, Australia. Volunteers worked frantically on a second day to save dozens of pilot whales that have stranded themselves but more than 50 have already died. (DBCA via AP)

Survivors of pilot whale pod that beached on the Australian coast are euthanized after rescue fails

Survivors of a pod of almost 100 whales that beached on the southwest Australian coast have been euthanized after a second day of frantic, but unsucessfulv efforts to rescue them. The pod of … more

7/26/23

FILE - Belarus journalist Pavel Mazheika speaks to the Associated Press, in the city of Zhlobin, 231 km (144 miles) east of Minsk, Belarus, on Jan. 22, 2003. A prominent journalist in Belarus has been sentenced to six years in prison, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, independent journalists and human rights activists. On trial in the city of Grodno in western Belarus, Pavel Mazheika, 45, was found guilty Wednesday of “complicity in extremist activity” for covering the activities of the political opposition. (AP Photo, File)

Belarusian journalist sentenced to 6 years in prison for reporting on the opposition

A prominent journalist in Belarus has been sentenced to six years in prison, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, independent journalists and human rights activists. On … more

By YURAS KARMANAU | 7/26/23

Workers transplant seedlings in a recovered mangrove forest, once part of a garbage dump, in Duque de Caxias, Brazil, Tuesday, July 25, 2023. An environmental project between Rio’s Municipal Cleaning Company and a private company have recovered the area, once part of the Gramacho neighborhood landfill that was considered one of the largest in Latin America. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Mangrove forest thrives around what was once Latin America's largest landfill

It was once Latin America’s largest landfill. Now, a decade after Rio de Janeiro closed it down and redoubled efforts to recover the surrounding expanse of highly polluted swamp, crabs, snails, … more

By MARIO LOBÃO and DIANE JEANTET | 7/26/23

An ambulance is parked at the emergency unit of the National hospital in Abuja Nigeria, Wednesday, July. 26, 2023. The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors on Wednesday is on strike again, demanding better working conditions for its members. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

Nigerian doctors walk off the job again. Overstretched and underpaid, many have left for overseas

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors is on strike again, demanding better pay and working conditions for its members. The doctors decided after their meeting on Tuesday night to embark on a … more

By CHINEDU ASADU | 7/26/23

Campaigners, including many who are personally infected and affected by infected blood, hold placards as they gather in Westminster, London, calling for compensation for victims to be authorised by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is giving evidence to the Infected Blood inquiry, Wednesday July 26, 2023. The inquiry was established in 2017 to examine how thousands of patients in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. About 2,900 people died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

UK prime minister urged to speed up compensation for infected blood scandal victims

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he is committed to paying out compensation swiftly to thousands of people affected by the country’s infected blood scandal, which saw more than 2,000 … more

By SYLVIA HUI | 7/26/23

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrives at Pulkovo International Airport to participate the Russia Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Peter Kovalev/TASS News Agency Host Pool Photo via AP, File)

African leaders arrive in Russia for summit with Putin, as Kremlin seeks allies in Ukraine war

Some African leaders have arrived in Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin seeks more allies amid the fighting in Ukraine. Putin has billed the two-day summit that opens … more

7/26/23

People walk in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, backdropped by the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The ruins of Nero's Theater, an imperial theater referred to ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of the future Four Season's Hotel, steps from the Vatican, after excavating the walled garden of the Palazzo della Rovere since 2020, as part of planned renovations on the Renaissance building. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Ruins of ancient Nero's Theater discovered under garden of future Four Seasons near Vatican

Rome’s next luxury hotel has some very good bones. Archaeologists said Wednesday that the ruins of Nero’s Theater have been discovered under the garden of the future Four Seasons Hotel. Ancient … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 7/26/23

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the CPC Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, attends the 13th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisers and High Representatives on National Security in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, July 25, 2023. China removed its sometimes outspoken foreign minister Qin Gang on Tuesday and replaced him with his predecessor Wang Yi at an unusually scheduled meeting, a move that has fueled rumors about what might be going on with the nation's Communist Party elite. (Zhang Yudong/Xinhua via AP)

China's sharp-tongued foreign minister is ousted, but his combative style is expected to continue

China’s sharp-tongued foreign minister, Qin Gang, was something of an avatar for nationalist Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping, warning of “conflict and confrontation” with the … more

7/26/23

Iran gives 'detailed answers' to UN inspectors over 2 sites where manmade uranium particles found

Iran says it gave new details to the U.N. about two sites near Tehran that inspectors say bore traces of manmade uranium. The comments Wednesday by Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s civilian … more

By JON GAMBRELL | 7/26/23

Palestinians mourn around the body of Mohammed Nada, 23, at the hospital's morgue ahead of his funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Israeli troops entered the Al-Ein refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday and arrested a man suspected of shooting at an Israeli bus earlier this week. During the incident, Nada was shot in the chest and later died of his wounds, the Palestinian health ministry said. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinian man killed by Israeli troops during arrest raid in West Bank refugee camp

A Palestinian man was killed in a shootout with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years. … more

7/26/23

FILE - A man takes a nap as the central business district is shrouded by haze in Singapore, on Sept. 23, 2019. Singapore executed a man Wednesday, July 26, 2023, for drug trafficking and is set to hang a woman Friday — the first in 19 years — prompting renewed calls for a halt to capital punishment. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

Singapore hangs a man for drug trafficking. It will hang a woman on Friday — the first in 19 years

Singapore has executed a man for drug trafficking and is set to hang a woman on Friday. She will be the first female hanged in the city-state in 19 years. The new executions have prompted renewed … more

7/26/23

FILE - Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra welcomes his guests for the wedding of his youngest daughter Paetongtarn "Ing" Shinawatra at a hotel in Hong Kong on March 22, 2019. As Thailand grapples with the unexpectedly difficult task of naming a new prime minister, the most controversial former holder of the job, billionaire populist Thaksin Shinawatra, plans to return home next month from years of self-imposed exile, his daughter announced Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Thailand's divisive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra readies return during political turmoil

Thailand's former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire populist who was ousted by a 2006 military coup, plans to return home next month from years of self-imposed exile, as Thailand … more

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI | 7/26/23

FILE - This undated handout image provided by Greece's coast guard on June 14, 2023, shows scores of people on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. The border and coast guard agency Frontex estimated that more than 50,300 attempts were made to enter the EU without authorization from January to May. (Hellenic Coast Guard via AP, File)

EU watchdog opens probe in role of bloc's border agency in Mediterranean shipwreck tragedy

The European Union’s official watchdog says it has opened a probe into the role of the bloc’s Frontex border agency in the shipwreck off Greece last month that is feared to have killed hundreds … more

By RAF CASERT | 7/26/23