World News - The Morning Sun

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2024 state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (Esa Alexander/pool photo via AP)

South African president defends 30 years of ANC rule in speech to Parliament ahead of elections

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confronted some of his country’s deep problems in his annual State of the Nation speech in Parliament on Thursday. But he claimed ahead of elections later … more

By GERALD IMRAY | 2/8/24

FILE - Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in Norfolk, England on Dec. 25, 2023. Upon receiving his first treatment for cancer, Britain's King Charles III retreated to Sandringham House, a private estate. That's where the monarch has long taken refuge while walking and shooting along the windswept North Sea coast of eastern England. Sandringham, the private home of the last six British monarchs, sits amid parkland, gardens and working farms about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of London. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Charles retreats to Sandringham, an estate with brisk winds and splendid isolation

Upon receiving his first treatment for cancer, Britain's King Charles III retreated to Sandringham House, a private estate. That's where the monarch has long taken refuge while walking and shooting … more

By DANICA KIRKA | 2/8/24

FILE - Carlos Bolsonaro, son of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro who is running for re-election, whispers in his father's ear during his arrival at the presidential debate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 29, 2022. Brazil's federal police carried out a search warrant Jan. 29, 2024 for Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, an officer with knowledge of the operation told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Brazil police investigate ex-President Bolsonaro's top aides over alleged coup plot

Brazilian police have searched homes and offices of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s top aides in an investigation alleging they plotted a coup and that the ex-president was aware of the plan. … more

By DIANE JEANTET and DAVID BILLER | 2/8/24

In this undated photo provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces Press Office Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky pose for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky removed Valery Zaluzhny and appointed Oleksandr Syrsky as new Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Zelenskyy's new military chief has played key roles in big Ukraine wins, including Kyiv's defense

The man Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named to lead the country’s military has played a key role in some of Ukraine’s biggest victories in its war with Russia, including overseeing … more

By SAMYA KULLAB | 2/8/24

FILE - The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, gather for their extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, to discuss the situation in Niger. Three West African nations of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have quit the regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS. Their respective juntas said in a joint statement on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 thatt he bloc has imposed “inhumane” sanctions to reverse the coups in their nations and has also “moved away from the ideals of its founding fathers and Pan-Africanism” after nearly 50 years of its establishment. (AP Photo/Richard Eshun Nanaresh, File)

After coups, West African nations hurry to leave the regional bloc that opposed military takeovers

West Africa’s regional bloc says the coup-hit nations of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are in haste to withdraw their membership of the association without following its rules of exit. The regional … more

By CHINEDU ASADU | 2/8/24

Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, carry the coffin of a commander from the Kataib Hezbollah paramilitary group, Wissam Muhammad Sabir Al-Saadi, known as Abu Baqir Al-Saadi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. The U.S. military says a U.S. drone strike blew up a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing the high-ranking commander.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A look at the Iraqi government's relationship with armed groups that are clashing with US forces

A U.S. strike in Baghdad that killed a commander with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah paramilitary group this week highlighted the ambiguous status of the country’s Iran-allied armed factions. Some … more

By ABBY SEWELL | 2/8/24

From left, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Philip Jaffe, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Ann Skelton, and Vice-Chair Bragi Gudbrandsson, present its findings on Bulgaria, Congo, Lithuania, Russia, Senegal and South Africa, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. A panel of U.N.-backed experts that focuses on children's human rights called Thursday on Russia to prevent efforts to rewrite school curricula and textbooks to reflect the government's “political and military agenda,” including over the war in Ukraine. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

UN experts take Russia to task over deported Ukrainian children and a 'military agenda' in schools

A panel of U.N.-backed experts that focuses on children’s human rights is calling on Russia to prevent efforts to rewrite school curricula and textbooks to reflect the government’s “political … more

By JAMEY KEATEN | 2/8/24

Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen during press conference on the situation of the eastern border stations of Finland in Helsinki Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. Finland will continue the closure of the eastern border stations until April 14, 2024. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)

Finland extends Russia border closure until April 14 saying Moscow hasn't stopped sending migrants

Finland's government says that it will extend the closure of the country's border with Russia until April 14. Finland says it sees no signs that Moscow was stopping its “hybrid operation” of … more

2/8/24

FILE - A Ukrainian soldier sits in his position in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Aug. 18, 2023. Ukrainian forces claimed Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, to have shot down a Russian attack helicopter near the eastern Ukraine city of Avdiivka, where the sides are fighting from street to street as the Kremlin’s forces step up their four-month campaign to surround Kyiv’s defending troops. (AP Photo/Libkos, File)

Ukraine claims it shot down a Russian attack helicopter in fierce street battle for Avdiivka city

Ukrainian forces are claiming they shot down a Russian attack helicopter in eastern Ukraine near the city of Avdiivka. That's where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are fighting from street to street … more

By ILLIA NOVIKOV | 2/8/24

The frigate "Hessen" leaves the port at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, for the Red Sea. A German Navy frigate set sail on Thursday toward the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in a European Union mission to help defend cargo ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen that are hampering trade. (Sina Schuldt/dpa via AP)

German military frigate heads toward the Red Sea for a planned EU mission to protect ships

A German Navy frigate has set sail toward the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in an EU mission to defend cargo ships against attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels that are hampering … more

2/8/24

Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal Russian politician who is seeking to run in the March 17 presidential election, holds his phone waiting the beginning of the meeting of the Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. Russia's Central Election Commission holds a meeting where it decides whether an opposition presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin is qualified to run in the March election. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine is rejected as a presidential candidate

Russia’s main election authority has refused to allow a politician opposing Moscow’s military action in Ukraine on the ballot for the upcoming presidential election. Boris Nadezhdin, a legislator … more

2/8/24

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, sits across the table as he meets with former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief Gadi Eisenkot and former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

Blinken ends latest Mideast mission after new Israeli snub of proposed Gaza ceasefire plan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has left the Middle East with public divisions between the United States and Israel at perhaps their worst level since Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza … more

By MATTHEW LEE | 2/8/24

Indonesian presidential hopefuls are trying social media, K-pop to win young voters. Will it work?

As Indonesia votes this month to replace popular President Joko Widodo, all three candidates have all been aggressively seeking to win the votes of younger people, reaching out to them on the apps … more

By EDNA TARIGAN | 2/8/24

This 2023 photo provided by a 32-year-old professional soldier from Medellín, Colombia who goes by the call sign Checho shows him in his combat gear in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Checho says he was struck by fire from a drone during a rescue operation to save a wounded colleague on the front line after three days of heavy fighting with Russian forces. At the hospital in the Kyiv region, Checho found himself with more than fifty other Colombians, most with light injuries sustained while fighting Russian occupation forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. They are among hundreds of Colombian veterans who have made the journey to Ukraine to help its forces fight the Russians. (Courtesy of Checho via AP)

Ukraine needs more troops fighting Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping

Ukraine’s ranks are depleted by two years of war. As it battles Russia, Ukraine is welcoming hardened fighters from one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. Professional soldiers from … more

By ILLIA NOVIKOV and MANUEL RUEDA | 2/8/24

Panama's former President Ricardo Martinelli speaks to supporters during a campaign rally, in Panama City, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. Panama's Supreme Court, on Friday, denied an appeal from Martinelli, convicted of money laundering in the case of a media company he purchased, likely ending his re-election bid. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

Panama ex-President Ricardo Martinelli receives political asylum from Nicaragua

Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli has received political asylum from Nicaragua days after the country’s Supreme Court denied his appeal over a money laundering conviction that carried … more

By ALMA SOLÍS | 2/7/24

Election campaign poster of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party are displayed at a market in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistan is electing a new parliament in a vote plagued by deep divisions and cries of foul

Pakistan is electing a new parliament Thursday as surging militant attacks and cries of foul have cast a shadow over the vote and deep political divisions make a coalition government seem more … more

By MUNIR AHMED and RIAZAT BUTT | 2/7/24

Ecuador's high court decriminalizes euthanasia, following a lawsuit by a terminally ill patient

Ecuador’s high court has decriminalized euthanasia and ordered lawmakers and health officials to draft rules and regulations for the procedure. The decision of Ecuador’s highest court came in … more

2/7/24

FILE - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, center, is taken in handcuffs to a waiting aircraft as he is extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges at an Air Force base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 21, 2022. Hernandez's trial in New York starts Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Elmer Martinez, File)

Ex-head of Honduras police pleads guilty to drug trafficking; darkens outlook for ex-president

For years, Juan Carlos Bonilla, better known as “El Tigre,” was a feared figure in Honduras. His roots were in the military and he brought that bearing to the National Police that he ultimately … more

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ | 2/7/24

FILE - Monarch butterflies land on branches at Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, Calif., on Nov. 10, 2021. The number of western monarch butterflies overwintering in California dropped 30% from the previous year likely due to a wet winter. Researchers with the Xerces Society, a nonprofit environmental organization, said Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, that volunteers who visited sites in California and Arizona around Thanksgiving tallied more than 230,000 butterflies, compared to 330,00 in 2022. (AP Photo/Nic Coury, File)

The number of monarch butterflies at their Mexico wintering sites has plummeted this year

Experts say the number of monarch butterflies at wintering areas in Mexico dropped by 59% this year to the second lowest level since record keeping began. The experts blame pesticide use and climate … more

By MARK STEVENSON | 2/7/24

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Sunak criticized for a gender remark on the day a murdered teen's mother visited UK Parliament

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing mounting pressure to apologize for a remark he made about transgender people, moments after he was informed that the mother of a murdered transgender … more

By PAN PYLAS | 2/7/24