Pope Francis

Joe Biden's cousin Joe Blewitt speaks to the media underneath his mural painted on a wall in Ballina, Ireland, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Joe Biden's great-great grandfather Patrick Blewitt was born in Ballina, County Mayo, in 1832. He left for the US in 1850, aged 18. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

World hopes for renewed cooperation with US under Biden

Jan. 21, 2021 12:22 AM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — World leaders welcomed into their ranks the new U.S. President Joe Biden, noting their most pressing problems, including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, require multilateral cooperation, an approach his predecessor Donald Trump ridiculed. Many expressed hope Biden would right...

A Sri Lankan airport worker stands next to a thermal scanner inside a terminal at the Katunayake International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Sri Lanka's tourism minister said that the airports in the country will be reopened for tourists according to health guidelines from Jan.21. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The Latest: Sri Lanka reopens tourism after 10-month closing

Jan. 20, 2021 11:56 PM EST

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka is welcoming tourists again after keeping the doors closed to visitors for nearly 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The government’s action Thursday is seen as an effort to revive the island nation’s tourism industry, which has been badly hit by the...

President-elect Joe Biden, right, listens as his nominee for the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and adviser on science Eric Lander speaks during an event at The Queen theater, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Biden says his advisers will lead with 'science and truth'

Jan. 18, 2021 4:55 PM EST

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — In a dig at the outgoing Trump administration, President-elect Joe Biden introduced his slate of scientific advisers Saturday with the promise that they would summon “science and truth” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, climate crisis and other challenges. ...

FILE - In this March 12, 2018 file photo, youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. Bernice King is welcomed by Pope Francis on the occasion of their private audience at the Vatican. Francis sent a message of prayer Monday to King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, with whom the pontiff met in 2018. He called for unity, not division and extinguishing hatred and “not holding onto it.” (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope says MLK's message of non-violent protest timely now

Jan. 18, 2021 2:20 PM EST

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the commemoration of his birthday, saying his message of equality through peaceful means remains more timely than ever. Francis sent a message of prayer Monday to King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, with whom...

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2014 file photo, Vatican Gendarmes, background, take position prior to the start of a ceremony for the opening of the Vatican judicial year, outside the Vatican's Court Palace. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)

Vatican drops Italian extradition bid in test of fair trial

Jan. 18, 2021 12:28 PM EST

ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Monday abruptly abandoned its extradition request for an Italian woman wanted on embezzlement-related charges in a case that could have tested whether Italy considers the Vatican a place where someone can get a fair trial. At the hearing in a Milan court, the Vatican said it no...

Motorists make their way through a road affected by an earthquake-triggered landslide near Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021. Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered Indonesia's rescuers after a strong and shallow earthquake left a number of people dead and injured on Sulawesi island. (AP Photo/Yusuf Wahil)

Damaged roads, lack of gear hinder Indonesia quake rescue

Jan. 16, 2021 10:12 AM EST

MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered rescuers after a strong earthquake left at least 49 people dead and hundreds injured on Indonesia's Sulawesi island. Operations were focused on about eight locations in the hardest-hit city...

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, Pope Francis holds his pastoral staff as he arrives to celebrate Mass, at St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis received the first shot of the ant-COVID vaccine on Thursday. No visuals of the 84-yer-old pontiff receiving the shot have been released. The pope has advocated that everyone should get the vaccine, calling it an “ethical option” performed not only for one’s own health but for the “lives of others.” (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, FILE)

Papal jersey: Francis blesses Hawks jersey on MLK birthday

Jan. 15, 2021 7:28 PM EST

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks sent a special gift to Pope Francis: an MLK jersey that was blessed by the pontiff on Martin Luther King Jr's 92nd birthday Friday. The Vatican delivery followed Francis' meeting in November with a delegation of NBA players to discuss social justice and economic...

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2010, file photo, Eric Steven Lander, head of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, gestures as he delivers a speech during the forum Mexico XXI Century, organized by the Telmex Foundation, in Mexico City. President-elect Joe Biden picked a pioneering geneticist to be his science advisor and elevated the job to his Cabinet. Friday's announcement of Lander won wide praise (AP Photo/Claudio Cruz, File)

Biden picks geneticist as science adviser, puts in Cabinet

Jan. 15, 2021 6:32 PM EST

President-elect Joe Biden announced Friday that he has chosen a pioneer in mapping the human genome — the so-called “book of life” — to be his chief science adviser and is elevating the top science job to a Cabinet position. Biden nominated Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad...

A man and woman wearing masks to help protect themselves from the coronavirus share a smartphone on the street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. A global team of researchers for the World Health Organization arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Latest: China says COVID-19 hospitalizations above 1,000

Jan. 14, 2021 9:40 PM EST

BEIJING — China says it is now treating more than 1,000 people for COVID-19 as numbers of cases continue to surge in the country’s north. The National Health Commission said Friday that 1,001 patients are under care for the disease, 26 of them in serious condition. It says 144 total new cases were...

FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2019, file photo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center front left, speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump, center front right, after a group photo at a NATO leaders meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. For America’s allies and rivals alike, the chaos unfolding during Donald Trump’s final days as president is the logical result of four years of global instability brought on by the man who promised to change the way the world viewed the United States. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

World warily watches America's postelection aftershocks

Jan. 13, 2021 9:05 AM EST

PARIS (AP) — For America's allies and rivals alike, the chaos unfolding during Donald Trump's final days as president is the logical result of four years of global instability brought on by the man who promised to change the way the world viewed the United States. From the outside, the United States has...

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