VATICAN CITY (AP) — Fresh off a four-nation tour of Asia, where he saw record-setting crowds and vibrant church communities, Pope Francis travels to Belgium this week as the once-staunchly Catholic country again confronts its appalling legacy of clergy sex abuse and institutional cover-up. He will receive a sobering welcome: Abuse survivors have penned an
Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel, including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. It was the group’s farthest strike yet in nearly a year of exchanges . Israel said it intercepted the projectile, and there were no reports of casualties or damage. Hezbollah said
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Marxist lawmaker who won Sri Lanka’s presidency faces a key challenge in how to balance ties with his country’s two most crucial partners, India and China, as he seeks to draw foreign investment and pull the economy out of the doldrums. Anura Kumara Dissanayake , 55, won the weekend
Tropical Storm Helene was rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and expected to become a hurricane Wednesday while moving north along Mexico’s coast toward the U.S., prompting residents to evacuate, schools to close and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia. The storm is forecast to be “near hurricane strength” when it passes near
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday that four soldiers were killed and nine others injured in an accident. The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency carried a military statement that offered no other immediate details, simply calling the incident Tuesday night “an accident … while they were carrying out their
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep a U.S. mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrance despite China’s expressions of alarm , two Philippine officials said Wednesday. The U.S. Army transported the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and
PREK TAKEO, Cambodia (AP) — The Mekong River is a lifeline for millions in the six countries it traverses on its way from its headwaters to the sea, sustaining the world’s largest inland fishery and abundant rice paddies on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Cambodia’s plan to build a massive canal linking the Mekong to a port
It has been a devastating week for Hezbollah and the people of Lebanon. Bombs hidden in the group’s pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of people and wounded thousands — many of them Hezbollah members. An Israeli strike in Beirut killed one of its top commanders . And Israel has bombed what it said were 1,600
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Many Mexicans will feel a deep sense of loss when folksy, charismatic, nationalistic President Andrés Manuel López Obrador leaves office on Sept. 30 — and that’s no surprise. López Obrador himself has spent an inordinate amount of time talking about his own legacy — and his place in history — over
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The victory plan that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will present to the White House this week asks the Biden administration to do something it has not achieved in the two and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine: act quickly to support Kyiv’s campaign. While Western dawdling has amplified Ukraine’s losses, some
