World News - The Morning Sun

Pakistan: 1 soldier, 4 militants killed in army operation

The army says a military operation in Pakistan’s northwest targeting militants triggered a firefight that left a soldier and four fighters dead. Sunday's development comes weeks after Pakistani … more

1/1/23

Islamic State claims attack on Egypt police that killed 4

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a militant attack on a police checkpoint in Egypt’s Suez Canal city of Ismailia that killed at least four people, including three police. The … more

1/1/23

Italian journalist Giovanna Chirri poses for a portrait at the end of an interview with The Associated Press at the Vatican, Thursday, April 29, 2021. Giovanna Chirri who was covering a routine ceremony by Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 11, 2013, never expected what unfolded, or that her high school Latin would give her the scoop of a lifetime. Giovanna Chirri of the authoritative ANSA news agency was in a Vatican press room watching the event on closed-circuit TV when Benedict said calmly and in Latin that he would be retiring because he believed he was too old for the job. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Benedict’s 2013 resignation shook a routine Vatican ceremony

The reporter who was covering a routine ceremony by Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 11, 2013, never expected what unfolded, or that her high school Latin would give her the scoop of a lifetime. Giovanna … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 1/1/23

FILE - Pope Benedict XVI smiles during a Mass in St. Peter's Square celebrated by 15,000 white-robed priests, all marking the end of the Vatican's Year of the Priest, on June 11, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI rarely got credit for having turned the Vatican around on clergy sexual abuse, but as cardinal and pope, he pushed through revolutionary changes to church law to make it easier to defrock predator priests. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

Though faulted, Benedict turned Vatican around on sex abuse

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI rarely got credit for having turned the Vatican around on clergy sexual abuse, but as cardinal and pope, he pushed through revolutionary changes to church law to make it … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 1/1/23

A child wearing a mask stands near light decorations at a mall in Beijing, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. China is on a bumpy road back to normal life as schools, shopping malls and restaurants fill up again following the abrupt end of some of the world's most severe restrictions even as hospitals are swamped with feverish, wheezing COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Canada, Australia impose COVID rules on travelers from China

Australia and Canada have joined a growing list of countries requiring travelers from China to take a COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight, as China battles a nationwide outbreak of the … more

1/1/23

FILE - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva smiles during his election certification ceremony at the Supreme Electoral Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Lula will be sworn on Jan. 1, 2023 in the capital of Brasilia and assume office for the third time. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Lula set for inauguration to preside over polarized Brazil

Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be sworn in Sunday in the capital of Brasilia and assume office for the third time, marking the culmination of a political comeback sure to … more

By DIANE JEANTET and CARLA BRIDI | 1/1/23

Croatia's Minister of Interior Davor Bozinovic, left, pushes a button to lift the barrier at the Bregana border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia, accompnanied by Slovenian counterpart Sanja Ajanovic Hovnik, early Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. More than nine years after Croatia became the European Union's newest member, it is switching to the EU's common currency, the euro, and joining Europe's passport-free travel Schengen area. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Croatia rings in New Year as fully integrated EU member

At the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Croatia switched to the shared European currency, the euro, and removed dozens of border checkpoints to join the world's largest passport-free travel area, … more

By SABINA NIKSIC | 12/31/22

Palestinian Fatah supporters chant slogans and wave the movement's flags during a rally marking the 58th anniversary of Fatah movement foundation at the Unknown soldier square in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians thronged a Gaza City park Saturday to mark the 58th founding anniversary of Fatah party, a rare show of popularity in the heartland of the militant Hamas group, Fatah's main rival. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Huge crowds of Palestinians mark Fatah anniversary in Gaza

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have thronged a Gaza City park to mark the 58th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah party. It was a rare show of popularity in the heartland of the militant … more

12/31/22

Believers and clergy attend a mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Saint Magdalena church in Altoetting, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Andreas Schaad)

Believers gather at Bavarian pilgrimage town to mourn pope

Mourners lined up quietly in the Collegiate Church of Altoetting in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland to pay condolences to one of the region’s most famous sons. The former pope died at age … more

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER | 12/31/22

Migrants try to stay warm while camping outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. Growing numbers of migrants suffer violence that amounts to torture on their journeys. Doctors, social workers, clergy and shelter directors say they’re arriving at the US-Mexican border in desperate need for trauma-informed medical and mental health treatment. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Migrant shelters try to help traumatized assault survivors

Growing numbers of migrants suffer violence that amounts to torture on their journeys. Doctors, social workers, clergy and shelter directors say they’re arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border in … more

GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO | 12/31/22

FILE - Pope Benedict XVI attends his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. He was the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps and Mozart piano concertos to the public glare and majesty of Vatican pageantry. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI and was thrust into the footsteps of his beloved and charismatic predecessor, he said he felt a guillotine had come down on him. The Vatican announced Saturday Dec. 31, 2022 that Benedict, the former Joseph Ratzinger, had died at age 95. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)

Benedict XVI, reluctant pope who chose to retire, dies at 95

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a reluctant pope who never wanted to be pontiff. So it should have come as little surprise that with a few words uttered in Latin on a Vatican holiday in 2013, Benedict … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 12/31/22

A person takes a picture of a portrait of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. (Armin Weigl/dpa via AP)

Wealth of tribute comes for Benedict, who desired simplicity

Within minutes of the Vatican's announcement of the death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, a wealth of tributes poured in from around the world. The Holy See revealed on Saturday that the late pontiff … more

By FRANCES D'EMILIO and GIADA ZAMPANO | 12/31/22

Ukrainian soldier Vasyl Khomko, 42, hugs his daughter Yana as she arrives at the train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Khomko's wife and daughter have been living in Slovakia due to the war but returned to Kyiv to spend New Year's Eve together. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)

Despite war, some Ukrainian families reunite for New Year

For millions of Ukrainians, many of them under Russian bombardment and grappling with power and water shortages, New Year's celebrations will be muted as Russia’s 10-month war rumbles on with no … more

By RENATA BRITO | 12/31/22

FILE - Pope Francis, right, greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the end of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Sept. 28, 2014. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2013 resignation sparked calls for rules and regulations for future retired popes to avoid the kind of confusion that ensued. Benedict, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Benedict’s resignation sparked calls for retirement protocol

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2013 resignation sparked calls for rules and regulations for future retired popes to avoid the kind of confusion that ensued. Some critics say Benedict’s decision to use the … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 12/31/22

FILE - Pope John Paul II places his hands on the shoulders of West German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich and Freising, on Oct. 22, 1978, during the solemn inauguration of his ministry as universal Pastor of the Church in Vatican City. As John Paul’s right-hand man on doctrinal matters, Ratzinger wrote documents reinforcing church teaching opposing homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia, and asserting that salvation can only be found in the Catholic Church. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95. (AP Photo, File)

Benedict's lasting mark on papacy will be his resignation

Although Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had a long and illustrious career as one of the Roman Catholic Church’s pre-eminent theologians, he will forever be known as the first pope in 600 years to … more

12/31/22

FILE - Joseph Ratzinger, the new archbishop of Munich and Freising, raises his arms to greet believers at his arrival in the Bavarian capital of Munich, Germany, on May 23, 1977. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Dieter Endlicher, File)

Highlights from the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Highlights from the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. more

By The Associated Press | 12/31/22

FILE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a ceremony, in Ankara, Turkey, on May 16, 2022. Even by the standards of Turkey's and Greece's frequently strained relations, it was a remarkable escalation. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan directly threatened his country's western neighbor: Unless the Greeks "stay calm," he said, Turkey's new ballistic missiles would hit their capital city. The striking rhetoric has led many to question the reasons behind it, and whether it could be a harbinger of even more alarming developments, including potential armed conflict between the two neighbors, both NATO members. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)

Despite rhetoric, Greek-Turkish armed conflict seen remote

Even by the standards of Turkey’s and Greece’s frequently strained relations, it was a remarkable escalation. Turkey’s president directly threatened his country’s western neighbor: Unless the … more

By ELENA BECATOROS and SUZAN FRASER | 12/31/22

Libya says boat with 700 Europe-bound migrants intercepted

Coast guard forces in eastern Libya say they have intercepted a vessel carrying at least 700 migrants off the coast of the North African country. The coast guard said the boat was stopped Friday off … more

By SAMY MAGDY | 12/31/22

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, third from left, meets with the winners of the 2022 Ratzinger Prize, Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler, left, and father Michel Fedou, partially hidden at right, at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican where Benedict XVI lives, in this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. Second from left, is the foundation's president Father Federico Lombardi, and fourth from left is Benedict XVI's long-time personal secretary Bishop Georg Gänswein. (Fondazione Vaticana J.Ratzinger via AP)

Benedict XVI, first pope to resign in 600 years, dies at 95

The Vatican says that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as first pope in 600 years to resign, has died. He was 95. A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo … more

12/31/22

Members of a Turkish dance club perform during New Year's Eve celebrations in a public garden in Turkish capital Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Cities in Asia ready for New Year parties after COVID hiatus

Revelers have begun gathering in major city centers across the Asia-Pacific region to celebrate the first new year without COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic began in 2020. While COVID-19 … more

12/31/22