National-World

By Chris Lau, Karina Tsui, Rhea Mogul, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Hong Kong’s leader said he will ensure “justice is served” over the inferno that killed more than 150 people last week, as city officials point the finger of blame at construction companies for allegedly using substandard mesh netting to wrap scaffolding on the

By Helen Regan, CNN (CNN) — Four men have been arrested over their alleged involvement in an “international satanic child sex abuse material ring,” according to Australian Police, who say they’re still working to identify the victims. Det. Supt. Jayne Doherty, commander of the New South Wales sex crimes squad, said the four men allegedly

By Alessandra Freitas, Kit Maher, Stefano Pozzebon, CNN (CNN) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made his first public appearance in days on Sunday, putting to an end speculation within the country that he had fled amid escalating tensions with the US. Maduro, who usually appears on Venezuelan television multiple times a week, had not been

By Christopher Lamb and Billy Stockwell, CNN Beirut (CNN) — Pope Leo XIV touched down in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Sunday with the hope of being a “messenger of peace” as he began a three-day visit to the nation at the heart of a Middle East battered by recent conflicts, just days after an Israeli

By Jennifer Hansler, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Alejandra Jaramillo, Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — US President Donald Trump expressed optimism after a high-level meeting between US officials and a Ukrainian delegation in Miami on Sunday, suggesting there was a “good chance” of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Talks were “going along, and they’re going

By Tal Shalev, Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally requested a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing it was in the “public interest.” In a letter addressed to President Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu wrote that his trial has become “a focal point of fierce controversy” for which he bears “broad

By Laura Sharman, CNN (CNN) — Heavy rainfall has unleashed widespread flooding and landslides across Asia, killing more than 1,100 people in a week of destruction for the region and creating treacherous search and rescue operations for hundreds more still missing. Millions of people are dealing with intense flooding after cyclone-fueled downpours battered parts of

By Ben Wedeman, CNN (CNN) — The black-clad priest yanked on the white rope. At once the bells began to clang. The evening mass was beginning at the Monastery of Mar Maroun, or Saint Maroun, in the town of Annaya, high in the Lebanese mountains. This monastery overlooking the Mediterranean will be one of the

By Helen Regan, Kumanan Kanapathipillai, Kunal Sehgal, Hanako Montgomery, CNN (CNN) — Two human skeletons lie entangled on the rough earth – the arms of one wrapped around the other’s head, as though protecting them from danger. Simply known as numbers 177 and 178, their identities remain a mystery. They are among 240 human skeletal

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — It’s August, and a show of hands in an auditorium filled with 300 students at All Saints Anglican School in Australia shows that few of the Grade 9 and 10 students sitting in plush red seats had heard of the country’s impending ban on social media, much

By Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Darya Tarasova (CNN) — Ukrainian underwater drones have struck two tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet in the Black Sea, according to an official in Ukraine’s security services (SBU). Ukraine claimed the attacks after explosions hit the two vessels on Friday and Saturday. A Ukrainian security source told

By Kara Fox, CNN Camber Sands, England (CNN) — Andy Dinsdale began walking the southern English coast in search of a “sea heart,” a tough Mahogany seed carried by ocean currents from Central and South American rainforests. In his quest to find one, he inadvertently became a plastic pollution expert. For the last 20 years,

By Christopher Lamb, Issy Ronald, CNN Istanbul (CNN) — Pope Leo XIV has made his first visit to a mosque since his election, and while he removed his shoes as a sign of respect, he did not appear to pray. On Saturday, Leo went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, a 17th-century place of worship