World News - The Morning Sun

FILE - In this photoreleased by Xinhua News Agency, the Chang'e 4 lunar probe launches from the the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China's Sichuan province, on Dec. 8, 2018. China's space agency said Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 that its latest lunar explorer had arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. (Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua via AP, File)

China says it will launch its next lunar explorer in the first half of this year

China’s space agency says its latest lunar explorer has arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. Wednesday's announcement came a day after … more

1/10/24

FILE - Doctors and nurses work in the neonatal intensive care unit at The Medical Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 11, 2010. Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the world’s highest rates, according to a new federal report released Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)

Cesarean deliveries surge in Puerto Rico, reaching a record rate in the US territory, report says

Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the world’s highest rates. More than half of babies born in the territory are now delivered via surgery compared with … more

By DÁNICA COTO | 1/10/24

FILE - Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. srael is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Israel taps top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to battle genocide claim at world court

Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The robust engagement … more

By TIA GOLDENBERG | 1/10/24

Men lie face down on the ground, detained by police outside TC Television, after a producer told police that they were part of a group who broke onto their set during a live broadcast, although they had not entered the station, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. The country has seen a series of attacks after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the apparent escape of a powerful gang leader from prison. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Armed attack during live broadcast at Ecuadorian TV station. What's behind the spiraling violence?

A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent … more

By GONZALO SOLANO | 1/10/24

In this photo provided on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, inspects as he tours munitions factories on Jan. 8-9, 2024, in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Kim calls South Korea a principal enemy as his rhetoric sharpens in a US election year

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea “our principal enemy” and threatened to annihilate it if provoked. He is escalating inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric ahead of South Korean … more

By HYUNG-JIN KIM | 1/9/24

Yemen's Houthi rebels launch drone and missile attack on Red Sea shipping, though no damage reported

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, though no damage was initially apparent. That's according to a private intelligence firm and … more

By JON GAMBRELL | 1/9/24

Poland's President Andrzej Duda, center, poses with new adviser Stanislaw Zaryn, far left, former deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik, and to his right former interior minister Mariusz Kaminski, and new adviser Blazej Pobozy in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, January, 9, 2004. Duda on Tuesday welcomed Kaminski and Wasik, who have been convicted and sentenced for abuse of power, and gave them refuge in his palace as police were preparing to arrest them. The legal drama surrounding the two is building into a legal standoff between the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland for eight years until last month following its loss of a general election in October. (AP Photo/President Palace/Jakub Szymczuk)

Polish police arrest 2 convicted politicians with former government who took refuge with president

Polish police have arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who had taken refuge for hours in the palace of President Andrzej Duda. The arrests, reportedly made inside the palace, mark a … more

By VANESSA GERA | 1/9/24

FILE - Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny takes part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 29, 2020. Associates of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny say he has been located at a prison colony above the Arctic Circle nearly three weeks after contact with him was lost. Navalny, the most prominent foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Kremlin foe Navalny says he's been put in a punishment cell in an Arctic prison colony

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says officials at the Arctic prison colony where he is serving a 19-year term have isolated him in a tiny punishment cell over a minor infraction. Navalny … more

By DASHA LITVINOVA | 1/9/24

Volunteers collect plastic pellets from a beach in Nigran, Pontevedra, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Spanish state prosecutors have opened an investigation into countless tiny plastic pellets washing up on the country's northwest coastline after they were spilled from a transport ship. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)

Spain investigates contamination of Atlantic shore by countless plastic pellets spilled from ship

Countless tiny plastic pellets are washing up on the shores of northern Spain and local authorities have declared an environmental emergency after a shipping container fell off a transport vessel … more

By MARÍA GESTOSO and JOSEPH WILSON | 1/9/24

FILE - Queen Elizabeth II stands on the balcony during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant at the Buckingham Palace in London, Sunday, June 5, 2022, on the last of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. A 26-year-old man has been sentenced on Monday Jan. 8, 2024 for defrauding eBay buyers by trying to sell what he claimed was a walking stick used by the late Queen Elizabeth II as she struggled with mobility in old age. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool, File)

A man who claimed to be selling Queen Elizabeth II's walking stick is sentenced for fraud

Prosecutors say a 26-year-old man who tried to sell what he claimed was a walking stick used by the late Queen Elizabeth II has been sentenced for eBay buyers. Dru Marshall, from Hampshire in … more

1/9/24

Mourners carry the coffin of senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil during his funeral procession in the village of Khirbet Selm, south Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday in southern Lebanon fought for the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hezbollah launches drone strike on base in northern Israel. Israel's military says there's no damage

Hezbollah says it launched a drone strike at the Israeli army’s northern headquarters Tuesday in retaliation for recent strikes in Lebanon that killed top Hamas and Hezbollah officials. Israel’s … more

By HUSSEIN MALLA | 1/9/24

FILE - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a crater of an explosion is seen next to the private building destroyed after a Russian missile attack in Novomoskovsk, near Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Russia’s recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraine’s air defense resources, a Ukrainian air force official said Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, leaving the country vulnerable in the 22-month war unless it can secure further weapons supplies. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP, File)

Intensified Russian airstrikes are stretching Ukraine's air defense resources, officials say

A Ukrainian air force official says Russia’s recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching his country's air defense resources. That has left Ukraine vulnerable in the 22-month war … more

By ILLIA NOVIKOV | 1/9/24

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik uses his phone prior to the start an interview with the Associated Press, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023. Bosnian Serb separatist leader wowed to carry on weakening his multiethnic, war-scarred country to the point where it will tear apart, despite the pledge by the United States to prevent such an outcome. "I am not irrational, I know that America's response will be to use force…but I have no reason to be frightened by that (realization) into sacrificing (Serb) national interests," Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia's Serb-run part, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. (AP Photo/Radivoje Pavicic)

As Bosnian Serbs mark controversial national day, US warns celebration amounts to 'criminal offense'

The United States has warned that ongoing celebrations of a Bosnian Serb self-proclaimed national holiday violate Bosnia’s constitution and a 1995 peace agreement, and as such amount to a criminal … more

By RADUL RADOVANOVIC | 1/9/24

FILE - A view the Red Square with the Historical Museum, right, and the Kremlin Towers in background in Moscow, Russia, on April 29, 2023. A Moscow court has arrested a U.S. citizen on drug charges, a move that comes amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions over Ukraine. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

A US citizen has been arrested in Moscow on drug charges

A U.S. citizen has been arrested on drug charges in Russia, a move that comes amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions over Ukraine. The arrest of Robert Woodland Romanov was reported Tuesday by the press … more

1/9/24

People wearing face masks as a precaution wait for a doctor appointment inside a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Regional and national health chiefs are meeting Monday to decide whether to extend mandatory mask—wearing to all health facilities following an epidemic outbreak of flu and other respiratory viruses that are putting a strain on the system. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Spain makes face masks mandatory in hospitals and clinics after a spike in respiratory illnesses

Spain’s government says face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and healthcare centers starting Wednesday due to a surge in respiratory illnesses. Health Minister Mónica García said late Monday … more

1/9/24

FILE - Nikolai Kharitonov, a lawmaker of the Russian Communist Party, the second largest party in the lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, speaks to journalists after submitting his documents as a presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election at the Russia's Central Election Committee in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. Russia’s national elections commission on Tuesday registered the Communist Party’s candidate to compete with President Vladimir Putin in the March election that Putin is all but certain to win. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

A Communist candidate gets approval to run in the Russian presidential election

Russia’s national elections commission has registered the Communist Party’s candidate to compete with President Vladimir Putin in the March election that Putin is all but certain to win. … more

1/9/24

A phone and watch that received an air raid alert is placed together for a photo in New Taipei City, Taiwan Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Taiwan’s defense ministry has issued an alert saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution. The Chinese reads "“Air Raid Alert. China at 15:04 launched a satellite, already flown past the southern air space, Citizens to be aware of safety. If any unidentified object is found, alert police and fire fighters to handle. National Defense Ministry.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Taiwan’s defense ministry issues an air raid alert saying China has launched a satellite

Taiwan’s defense ministry has issued an alert saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution. The alert Tuesday comes days before Taiwan has presidential and parliamentary elections on … more

1/9/24

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Pakistani officer wounded in attack on polio workers dies, raising bombing death toll to 7

An officer wounded in a bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers has died in a hospital in northwestern Pakistan. His death brings to seven the number of officers … more

1/9/24

In this undated photo provided by the New South Wales Police Force, Australian lizards are kept in a container after they are confiscated from smugglers. Four people have been charged over a plot to smuggle hundreds of Australian native reptiles from Sydney to Hong Kong police said in a statement on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (NSW Police via AP)

'Cold-blooded': 4 charged over alleged plot to smuggle AU$1.2 million in Australian reptiles

Four people have been charged over an alleged plot to smuggle hundreds of Australian native reptiles from Sydney to Hong Kong. Police said on Monday they have released 257 reptiles, mostly lizards, … more

1/8/24

In this photograph released by Bangladesh Prime Minister's office, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, addresses a press conference following her election victory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Jan.8, 2024. (Bangladesh Prime Minister's office via AP)

The US and UK say Bangladesh's elections extending Hasina's rule were not credible

The United States and the United Kingdom say the elections that extended Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's rule were not credible, free and fair. Hasina's party won more than two-thirds of … more

By JULHAS ALAM | 1/8/24