He is 87 years old and in recent years has battled health difficulties and begun using a wheelchair. But Pope Francis is embarking on the longest trip of his pontificate. On Monday, the pontiff starts a marathon 12-day visit of four countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific: Indonesia,…

From bustling Tel Aviv to the southern Israeli city of Eilat, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in one of the biggest nationwide protests since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Hamas as they called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. Anger at…

An official investigation into the helicopter crash in May that killed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and seven other people found it was caused by challenging climatic and atmospheric conditions, Iranian state TV reported Sunday. The final report of the Supreme Board of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said the main…

A tiger mauled its handler at a popular amusement park on the Gold Coast in Australia, leaving the experienced worker hospitalized with “serious lacerations and puncture wounds” to her arm. The unnamed handler, 47, was working with one of Dreamworld’s nine tigers when, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service, she was attacked shortly before 9…

Israel’s main international airport suspended flights Monday as part of a nationwide strike following public fury over the killing of six captives in Hamas tunnels under Gaza as calls mount for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. The country’s largest labor union, known as Histadrut, has threatened to…

Norway (AP) — A white beluga whale named “Hvaldimir,” first spotted in Norway not far from Russian waters with a harness that ignited rumors he may be a Moscow spy, has been found dead. The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that the whale carcass was found floating at the Risavika Bay in…

Rock stars get to see more of the world than most of us, but when members of the quintessential 2000s’ rock band Hoobastank jetted into the US military base of Camp Humphreys in South Korea, they were struck by the familiarity. “It’s like we’re in a different part of the…

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has become the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since the Nazi era, dealing a crushing blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government with only a year to go before the next federal election. After voting closed on Sunday, the AfD was…

The short videos show plumes of smoke rising from targets in Moscow and the neighboring Tver region. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the size of the Ukrainian attack, but downplayed its effectiveness, saying Sunday that 158 Ukrainian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) “were destroyed and intercepted by on-duty air defense” overnight…