VATICAN CITY, Holy See – Former pope Benedict XVI is "lucid and alert" and his condition remains serious but stable, the Vatican said Thursday, the day after revealing the 95-year-old's health had deteriorated. Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign as...
SEOUL, South Korea – President Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday that South Korea must boost its preparedness to respond to airspace intrusions after the military failed to shoot down five North Korean drones that crossed the border. The Monday intrusion by the drones -- one of which flew close to the...
WASHINGTON, United States – A Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously within 20 feet (six meters) of a much larger US air force surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea, the US military said Thursday. Credit: iStock Photo In the December 21 incident, a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter pilot...
Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Jerusalem, on December 29, 2022. Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister after a stint in opposition, heading what analysts call the most right-wing government in the country's...
GENEVA, Switzerland – Restrictions some countries have introduced in response to China's Covid-19 surge are "understandable", given the lack of information from Beijing, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (AFP/File) WHO chief Tedros...
BEIJING, China – The United States joined nations imposing Covid tests on travelers from China after Beijing dropped foreign travel curbs despite surging cases, but the EU's health agency said Thursday such measures weren't warranted in the bloc. A health worker takes a swab sample from a...
US President Joe Biden (AFP/File) SAINT CROIX, United States – President Joe Biden on Thursday signed off on a $1.7 trillion spending bill that will keep the US government funded through the next fiscal year -- notably including another big package for Ukraine's war effort. Biden,...
WASHINGTON, United States -- The death toll from a fierce winter storm that gripped much of the United States over Christmas rose to at least 61 on Thursday, officials said. A gigantic snow pile is seen in front of Central Terminal in Buffalo, New York, on December 29, 2022. The death toll from a...
LONDON, United Kingdom -- British experts on Wednesday said 2022 was set to be the UK's warmest on record after a year of heatwaves and minimal rainfall. The findings come as communities across the globe reel from a catalogue of extreme weather this year including soaring temperatures and drought...
SAN FRANCISCO, United States -- Twitter users around the world reported errors accessing it for several hours, web monitors said Wednesday, in one of the biggest outages since Elon Musk bought the platform. Twitter has been riven by chaos since the controversial billionaire completed his $44...
MOSCOW, Russia -- President Vladimir Putin has gifted eight golden rings to Moscow-allied leaders of post-Soviet countries, sparking a torrent of jokes and comparisons with power-hungry tyrant Sauron from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. During a summit that took place in Saint Petersburg on Monday...
Stranded Southwest Airlines passengers looks for their luggage in the baggage claim area at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, on December 28, 2022. The perfect storm of fierce snow squalls, howling wind and sub-zero temperatures forced the cancellation of thousands of...
