World News - The Morning Sun

Pope Francis meets with King Philippe and Queen Mathilde in the Castle of Laeken, Brussels, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Belgian PM blasts Pope Francis for Catholic Church's sex abuse cover-up legacy in blistering welcome

Belgium’s prime minister has blasted Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups. He has demanded “concrete steps” to come clean with the past … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD and RAF CASERT | 9/27/24

President Joe Biden hosts an event with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, and other world leaders launching a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukrainian Recovery and Reconstruction, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

As the Ukraine war enters a critical period, the EU moves ahead without the US

The war in Ukraine is entering a critical period as the European Union enters a new era. The EU has decided to take more responsibility for what it sees as an existential threat to security in its … more

By LORNE COOK | 9/27/24

A NYPD patrol car parks across the street from the United Nations Headquarters, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Top climate negotiators urge tougher targets, but outsiders say they aren't cutting back themselves

At the United Nations, the troika of the current and next two presidents of U.N. climate conferences are telling other leaders to make their required climate-fighting targets much more ambitious. … more

By SETH BORENSTEIN | 9/26/24

FILE - Candidates for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) presidential election pose for a photo before a debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on Sept. 14, 2024. From left are Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, former Economic Security Minister Takayuki Kobayashi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, Digital Minister Taro Kono, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi. (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP, File)

A crucial party election Friday will determine Japan's new prime minister

A crucial party election in Japan on Friday will determine the nation’s new prime minister. The vote by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will technically be to choose a new party leader, but … more

9/26/24

Migrants arrive to Lajas Blancas, Panama, after trekking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S., Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap say they lost hope after July's election

Venezuelans trekking across the Darien Gap – a rugged jungle passage between Colombia and Panama – say they’re making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change following a … more

By JUAN ZAMORANO | 9/26/24

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks to the media after his talks with Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Director General Alexey Likhachev in Kaliningrad, Russia, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The UN's nuclear chief says the world needs to pursue dialogue with North Korea over nuclear weapons

The U.N.'s nuclear chief says the world must recognize that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and pursue dialogue despite its violations of U.N. sanctions and international law. In an interview … more

By EDITH M. LEDERER | 9/26/24

A woman reacts at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the town of Maisara, north of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

What is the 2006 UN resolution that some hope could help to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict?

In 2006, after a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militant group, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution to end the conflict … more

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB | 9/26/24

Religious leaders and Ethiopians celebrate Meskel, meaning the Cross in Amharic, is an annual religious holiday among Orthodox in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)

Thousands gather in Ethiopia's capital to celebrate a religious festival. Many are thinking of peace

Thousands of Ethiopians have gathered in the capital city to celebrate an annual religious festival distinguished by the lighting of bonfires according to the beliefs of the local Orthodox Christian … more

By SAMUEL GETACHEW | 9/26/24

Part of the Sao Raimundo that connects to the Negro River is visible amid a severe drought in Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo /Edmar Barros)

Dramatic images show drought's toll on Amazon and its rivers

MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Drought is devastating Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and some rivers are falling to historic lows. Images of one of the Amazon River’s main tributaries, the Negro River, … more

By EDMAR BARROS and DAVID BILLER | 9/26/24

Pope Francis and Archbishop of Luxembourg, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, right leave in a popemobile the Cercle-Cite convention center in Luxembourg after a meeting with the national authorities and the civil society on the first day of Francis's four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Tone deaf and color blind? Catholic Church struggles to keep accused abusers out of religious art

An unholy argument over a hymn has struck a discordant note in the preparations for the main event of Pope Francis' trip to Belgium. Sunday's Mass was to end with a work of a local priest composer. … more

By RAF CASERT and NICOLE WINFIELD | 9/26/24

FILE -Firefighters work as smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

Denmark's king marks reconstruction of famed landmark badly damaged by fire

Denmark’s King Frederik has laid a foundation stone to mark the reconstruction of Copenhagen’s iconic Old Stock Exchange, which was partly destroyed by a fire in April that toppled its green … more

By JAN M. OLSEN | 9/26/24

Conservator Lucy Ackland adds the finishing touches to the memorial to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey in London, England, Thursday Sept. 26, 2024. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)

A misspelled memorial to the Brontë sisters gets its dots back at last

With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back. More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three sibling novelists in London’s Westminster … more

9/26/24

Sudan military offensive sparks new fighting in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens

Officials say new fighting has hit Sudan’s capital as the death toll jumps up from the country’s cholera outbreak. Sudan’s military launched an operation in the early hours of Thursday aimed at … more

BY FATMA KHALED | 9/26/24

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Security Council meeting on nuclear deterrence at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Aleksei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Kremlin says changes in Russia's nuclear doctrine are intended to send a warning to the West

The Kremlin says that changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended to discourage Ukraine’s Western allies from supporting attacks on Russia. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told … more

9/26/24

In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, a Russian BM-21 Grad self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher fires on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian missiles and drones target Kyiv for 5 hours, hitting Ukraine's power grid

Officials say Ukraine’s air defenses battled an overnight Russian aerial attack on the capital Kyiv for five hours. Meanwhile, missiles and drones again hammered the Ukrainian power grid that has … more

By ILLIA NOVIKOV | 9/26/24

FILE - Dogs are seen in cages at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea on June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

South Korea publishes compensation plan for dog meat farmers ahead of 2027 ban

South Korea announced plans Thursday to compensate famers and others in the country’s dwindling dog meat industry before a formal ban goes effect in 2027, a move that is drawing opposition from … more

By HYUNG-JIN KIM | 9/26/24

A woman walks on a main boulevard in Luxembourg a day before the trip of Pope Francis to Luxembourg and Belgium, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Pope Francis heads for Luxembourg and Belgium on a trip to a dwindling flock

Pope Francis is traveling to once-strong bastions of Christianity in the heart of Europe to try to reinvigorate a Catholic flock that is dwindling in the face of secular trends and abuse scandals. … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD and RAF CASERT | 9/26/24

FILE - This undated photo provided on Sept. 13, 2024, by the North Korean government shows its leader Kim Jong Un, center, on an inspecting visit at what they say is an institute of nuclear weapons and a facility for nuclear materials at an undisclosed location 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 language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea has enough uranium to build a 'double-digit' number of bombs, Seoul's spy agency says

North Korea has likely enriched enough uranium to build a “double-digit” number of bombs and is making progress in its efforts to develop more powerful and accurate missiles targeting rival South … more

By KIM TONG-HYUNG | 9/26/24

Iwao Hakamada, left, 88-year-old former boxer who has been on death row for nearly six decades after his murder conviction that his lawyers said was based on forced confession and fabricated evidence, is helped by a supporter as he goes for a walk in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese court acquits a former boxer in a 1966 murder retrial after decades on death row

A Japanese court has ruled that an 88-year-old former boxer was not guilty in a retrial for a 1966 quadruple murder case, reversing an earlier wrongful conviction after decades on death row. Iwao … more

By MARI YAMAGUCHI | 9/26/24

FILE - Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer attends a press conference in Vienna, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

A far-right party is looking for a historic election win in Austria

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party could win a national election for the first time when Austria votes on Sunday. It is tapping into voters’ anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and … more

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN | 9/26/24