World News - The Morning Sun

Rescuers carry the body of a flood victim that was retrieved from the Jukskei river in Johannesburg, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. At least nine people have died while eight others are still missing in South Africa after they were swept away by a flash flood along the Jukskei river in Johannesburg, rescue officials said Sunday. (AP Photo)

Flash flood kills nine at church gathering in South Africa

Rescue officials say at least nine people have died and eight others are still missing in South Africa after a flash flood swept away members of a church congregation who were gathered along the … more

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME | 12/4/22

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an image captured off a screen at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China shows the Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-14 crew chatting after a historic gathering in space on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. Three Chinese astronauts docked early Wednesday with their country's space station, where they will overlap for several days with the three-member crew already onboard and expand the facility to its maximum size. (Guo Zhongzheng/Xinhua via AP)

3 Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 6-month mission

Three Chinese astronauts have landed in a northern desert after six months working to complete construction of the Tiangong station, a symbol of the country’s ambitious space program. State TV … more

12/4/22

In this image taken from footage provided by the RU-RTR Russian television on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, Journalists and Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office employees walk near the bodies of dead seals on shore of the Caspian Sea, Dagestan. About 700 endangered seals were found dead on the coast of the Caspian Sea in Dagestan. According to the local authorities, the reason for the death has not been established yet, and the number of dead animals may increase. Specialists of the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency and the Environmental Prosecutor's Office are inspecting the coastline and collecting data for laboratory research. (RU-RTR Russian Television via AP)

1,700 dead seals found on Russia's Caspian coast

Officials say that about 1,700 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia. Authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan say that it’s still unclear what caused the … more

12/4/22

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 22, 2016 file photo, police and rescue teams are pictured outside the metro station Maelbeek in Brussels. The trial of 10 men accused over the 2016 suicide bombings at Brussels airport and an underground metro station starts in earnest this week. Survivors, and relatives of the 32 people killed in the deadliest peacetime attacks on Belgian soil, are hoping the trial will bring them closure. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Survivors of Brussels suicide attacks seek closure at trial

The trial of 10 men accused over the 2016 suicide bombings at Brussels airport and an underground metro station starts in earnest this week. Survivors, and relatives of the 32 people killed in the … more

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN | 12/4/22

This is a locator map for Iran with its capital, Tehran. (AP Photo)

State news: Iran executed 4 people it says spied for Israel

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says authorities have executed four people accused of working for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. IRNA said Sunday the country’s powerful Revolutionary … more

12/4/22

A man looks on as Mount Semeru releases volcanic materials during an eruption on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022 in Lumajang, East java, Indonesia. Indonesia’s highest volcano on the country’s most densely populated island of Java erupted Sunday. (AP Photo)

Indonesia's Mt. Semeru unleashes lava river in new eruption

Indonesia’s highest volcano on its most densely populated island has spewed ash skyward and released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava in its latest eruption. Monsoon rains eroded and finally … more

12/4/22

Participants get ready for the Miss Trans Northeast 22, beauty pageant in Guwahati, India, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. In a celebration of gender diversity and creative expression, a beauty pageant in eastern Indian state of Assam brought dozens of transgender models on stage in Guwahati. Sexual minorities across India have gained a degree of acceptance especially in big cities and transgender people were given equal rights as a third gender in 2014. But prejudice against them persists and the community continues to face discrimination and rejection by their families. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

AP PHOTOS: Pageant celebrates transgender life in India

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Anilya Boro may not have won the crown at India's Miss Trans NE pageant this year, but having her parents there in support was a validation in its own right. “I must … more

By ANUPAM NATH | 12/4/22

Migrant workers with their belongings leave a barricaded village after authorities' easing of COVID-19 curbs in Haizhu district in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong province on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. Local Chinese authorities on Saturday announced a further easing of COVID-19 curbs, with major cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing no longer requiring negative tests to take public transport. (Chinatopix Via AP)

Beijing, Shenzhen scrap COVID-19 tests for public transport

Chinese authorities have announced a further easing of COVID-19 curbs with major cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing no longer requiring negative tests to take public transport. The slight relaxation … more

12/3/22

A resident wounded after a Russian attack lies inside an ambulance before being taken to a hospital in Kherson, southern Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

AP PHOTOS: Residents face new reality in retaken Kherson

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — When Ukraine wrested back Kherson from Russian occupiers nearly a month ago, it was a moment of glory and pride, hailed as the beginning of the end of the war. But hardship … more

By BERNAT ARMANGUE | 12/3/22

Members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union stage a rally against the government's return-to-work order on cement truckers in Uiwang, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. South Korea's government issued an order Tuesday for some of the thousands of truck drivers who have been on strike to return to work, insisting that their nationwide walkout over freight fare issues is hurting an already weak economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Thousands protest in South Korea in support of truckers

Thousands of demonstrators representing organized labor marched in South Korea’s capital on Saturday to denounce government attempts to force thousands of striking truckers back to work after they … more

By KIM TONG-HYUNG | 12/3/22

Former South Korean National Security Director Suh Hoon, center, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. South Korean prosecutors arrested the country’s former national security director on Saturday over suspicions that he engaged in a cover-up to hide details and distort the circumstances surrounding North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official near the rivals’ sea boundary in 2020. (Han Sang-kyun/Yonhap via AP)

Seoul arrests ex-top security official over border killing

South Korean prosecutors arrested the country’s former national security director over suspicions he engaged in a cover-up to hide details and distort the circumstances surrounding North Korea’s … more

By KIM TONG-HYUNG | 12/2/22

FILE - Cattle graze on land recently burned and deforested by cattle farmers near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, on Aug. 23, 2020. The Amazon region has lost 10% of its native vegetation, mostly tropical rainforest, in almost four decades, an area roughly the size of Texas, a new report released Dec. 2, 2022, says. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

Amazon loses 10% of its vegetation in nearly four decades

The Amazon region has lost 10% of its vegetation in nearly four decades, according to a new report. That's an area roughly the size of Texas, From 1985 to 2021, the deforested area surged from … more

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE | 12/2/22

An Israeli activist gives a tour of the embattled West Bank city of Hebron, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. Israeli peace activists toured the occupied West Bank's largest city Friday in a show of solidarity with Palestinians, amid chants of "shame, shame" from ultra-nationalist hecklers. The encounter in the center of Hebron signaled the widening rift among Israelis over the nature of their society and Israel's open-ended military rule over the Palestinians, now in its 56th year. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)

Palestinian assailant killed, fatal shots caught on video

Israel’s paramilitary border police says an officer killed a Palestinian assailant in the occupied West Bank after they wrestled over a weapon. Dramatic amateur video captured the moments Friday … more

By SAM McNEIL and FARES AKRAM | 12/2/22

Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, uses his phone prior to the start an interview with the Associated Press at the Vatican, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. Yurash confirmed that both Ukraine's consulate in Naples and its embassy to Italy received letters, with the one in Naples containing fish eyes. In addition, Yurash said the entrance to his Rome residence was vandalized with what he believed was animal feces on Thursday afternoon. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Ukraine says animals' eyes sent to some of its embassies

A Ukrainian official says Ukrainian embassies and consulates in six European countries have received packages containing animals’ eyes in recent days. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that … more

12/2/22

Residents wearing masks cross an intersection in Beijing, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. More cities eased restrictions, allowing shopping malls, supermarkets and other businesses to reopen following protests last weekend in Shanghai and other areas in which some crowds called for President Xi Jinping to resign. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

WHO pleased to see China ease harsh zero COVID policies

A top official at the World Health Organization said the U.N. agency was “pleased” to see China loosening some of its coronavirus restrictions, saying “it’s really important that governments … more

12/2/22

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020. The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, said Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, that he has resumed contact after unexpectedly becoming unreachable in November. Along with WNBA star Brittney Griner, Whelan is the focus of efforts by the United States to arrange a prisoner swap with Russia.(Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File)

Brother of Russia-imprisoned American says contact resumed

The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, says that he has resumed contact after unexpectedly becoming unreachable in November. Along with WNBA star Brittney Griner, … more

By JIM HEINTZ | 12/2/22

In this photo released by Army's public relations wing 'Inter Services Public Relations', Pakistan's outgoing Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, right, hands over a ceremonial baton to his successor Gen. Asim Munir during the Change of Command ceremony, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Pakistan's new army chief Munir, took command of the country's armed forces amid a deepening political rift between the government and the popular opposition leader, as well as a renewed threat from a key militant group that has been behind scores of deadly attacks over 15 years. (Inter Services Public Relations via AP)

US names anti-Pakistan groups 'terrorist' organizations

The State Department says it has added a key anti-Pakistan militant group and its al-Qaida branch to its list of "global terrorists.” Thursday’s move comes days after the Tehrik-e-Taliban … more

By MUNIR AHMED | 12/2/22

City workers set up a billboard in Kherson, southern Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022. The billboard reads in Ukrainian "Kherson Hero City". (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

AP PHOTOS: Propaganda billboards embodied Russian occupation

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — In the liberated city of Kherson, Ukrainians have been tearing down a glaring symbol of occupation -- billboards spreading Russian propaganda. Throughout the southern … more

By BERNAT ARMANGUE | 12/2/22

Winnipeg Police Inspector Shawn Pike provides an update to an ongoing homicide investigation in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. Police alleged Thursday that Jeremy Skibicki, of Canada, previously charged with murdering an Indigenous woman also killed three other women — two also confirmed to be Indigenous and one believed to be. Pike shows a jacket that may help identify the fourth subject. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian man charged in deaths of 3 more Indigenous women

Police in Canada allege a man previously charged with murdering an Indigenous woman also killed three other women — two also confirmed to be Indigenous and one believed to be. Jeremy Skibicki was … more

12/1/22

FILE - A fighter from the Christian Syriac militia that battles the Islamic State group under the banner of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, burns an IS flag on the front line on the western side of Raqqa, northeast Syria, July 17, 2017. The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in a battle recently, the group’s spokesman said in audio released Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022, without giving further details. No one claimed responsibility for the killing. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Syrian rebels did not know Iraqi militant killed was IS head

Syrian opposition activists and state media apparently did not know that an Iraqi militant who was killed in October in southern Syria was the leader of the Islamic State group. It became clear on … more

By BASSEM MROUE | 12/1/22