World News - The Morning Sun

Libya: Mass grave with 18 bodies found in ex-IS stronghold

Libyan authorities say they have found 18 bodies buried in a mass grave in the central coastal city of Sirte, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group in the conflict-stricken North African … more

By SAMY MAGDY | 1/1/23

FILE - Pope Francis, second from left, watches Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI enter St. Peter's Basilica accompanied by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, right, at the Vatican, on Dec. 8, 2015. 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/Andrew Medichini, File)

Benedict death paves way for protocols to guide future popes

The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has unfolded in an entirely un-papal-like manner: There were no bells tolling in St. Peter's Basilica, no solemn announcement in a Vatican City square and no … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 1/1/23

Giant banners that read in Portuguese: "Long live King Pele, 82 years", are displayed in the stands of the Vila Belmiro stadium, home of the Santos soccer club, where Pele's funeral will take place, in Santos, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Pele, who played most of his career with Santos, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pelé brought renown to Santos, Brazilian port city and team

Pelé. Santos, Brazil. Over decades, adoring fans around the world mailed thousands of letters, postcards and packages to the sports legend without his address or full name. Almost without fail, mail … more

By MAURICIO SAVARESE | 1/1/23

An emergency worker walks in front of a damaged hotel following a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Ukraine, hit by fresh Russian missiles, faces grim New Year

Ukrainians have had a grim start to 2023 with yet more sirens and fresh missile attacks on their territory, as the death toll from Russia’s massive New Year Eve assault across the country climbed … more

By RENATA BRITO | 1/1/23

Stampede during New Year's event in Uganda kills at least 9

Police say a stampede during New Year’s celebrations at a popular mall in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has left at least nine people dead, including children. The stampede happened at the Freedom … more

By RISDEL KASASIRA | 1/1/23

A Taliban fighter stands guard as a woman walks past in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Recent Taliban rulings on Afghan women include bans on university education and working for NGOs, sparking protests in major cities. Security in the capital Kabul has intensified in recent days, with more checkpoints, armed vehicles, and Taliban special forces on the streets. Authorities have not given a reason for the tougher security. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Taliban: Kabul checkpoint bomb blast kills, wounds several

A spokesman for the Taliban-led government says a bombing at a military airport checkpoint in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed and wounded several people. It is the first deadly blast of 2023. … more

1/1/23

Pope Francis holds a Mass for the solemnity of St. Mary at the beginning of the new year, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. 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/Andrew Medichini)

Pope marks New Year as Vatican prepares to mourn Benedict

Pope Francis has marked the New Year by presiding over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and praying for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a day after his retired predecessor's death. The huge basilica will … more

By FRANCES D'EMILIO | 1/1/23

FILE - Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd at the end of a papal Mass at the Islinger field in Regensburg, southern Germany, some 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) northeast of Munich, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI leaves his homeland with a complicated legacy: pride in a German pontiff but a church deeply divided over the need for reforms in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal in which his own actions of decades ago were faulted. (AP Photo/Wolfgang Radke, Pool, File)

Benedict leaves German homeland with complicated legacy

Pope Benedict XVI leaves his homeland with a complicated legacy: pride in a German pontiff but a church deeply divided over the need for reforms in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal in which his own … more

By GEIR MOULSON | 1/1/23

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