Pope Says Weapons Cannot Lead to ‘Lasting Peace’

 Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with members of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with members of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
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Pope Says Weapons Cannot Lead to ‘Lasting Peace’

 Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with members of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with members of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)

Pope Leo XIV on Monday called global peace a "true moral imperative" and said weapons could only lead to a "temporary silence" not a "genuine and lasting peace".

"Peace emerges as a political aspiration and, even more so, as a true moral imperative," he said in a speech to the Spanish parliament, calling for "patient dialogue" instead of rearmament in Europe and beyond.

"Weapons may impose a temporary silence but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace," he said.

He said that escalating conflicts and polarization were ‌pushing the ‌world into a "profound ‌spiritual ⁠and cultural crisis".

He also firmly ‌reiterated his opposition to increased European ⁠military ⁠spending - calling it "troubling" - and urged help for the world's migrants.



Israel Military Says Iran Fired Nearly 30 Missiles Since Sunday

 An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish man reacts near a part of a missile protruding from the ground, following strikes from Iran, in the central Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish man reacts near a part of a missile protruding from the ground, following strikes from Iran, in the central Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Military Says Iran Fired Nearly 30 Missiles Since Sunday

 An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish man reacts near a part of a missile protruding from the ground, following strikes from Iran, in the central Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish man reacts near a part of a missile protruding from the ground, following strikes from Iran, in the central Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. (Reuters)

An Israeli military official said Iran fired nearly 30 missiles towards Israel since Sunday night, in the first exchange of fire between the two countries since a truce in April.

"Last night the Iranian regime began firing ballistic missiles towards Israel... they fired close to 30 ballistic missiles towards Israel," the official told journalists on Monday, adding that Yemen's Houthi militants separately fired two missiles at the country.

Israel's military said earlier Monday it had struck several targets at a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran in retaliation.

"In this complex, chemical materials are produced and used for ballistic missiles that are fired towards here, towards the state of Israel," the official said.

"The strikes and the damage to the complex disrupts their ability to manufacture various types of weapons."

The Israeli military said it also struck Iranian air defense systems.

The official said the Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had spoken twice to the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) over the past day.

"Over the past day, the Israeli army chief of the general staff has spoken twice to the commander of CENTCOM and they are discussing the situation," the official said, without elaborating.

Air raid sirens sounded across large areas of northern and central Israel, with explosions heard over Jerusalem earlier on Monday, AFP journalists reported.

The exchange of fire between the two countries is the first such since a truce was announced on April 8 in the Middle East War.


WHO Chief Visits Ebola-hit Uganda

Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment place the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola virus disease on a pickup truck ahead of her safe burial at her home in Bunia on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Jospin Mwisha / AFP)
Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment place the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola virus disease on a pickup truck ahead of her safe burial at her home in Bunia on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Jospin Mwisha / AFP)
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WHO Chief Visits Ebola-hit Uganda

Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment place the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola virus disease on a pickup truck ahead of her safe burial at her home in Bunia on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Jospin Mwisha / AFP)
Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment place the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola virus disease on a pickup truck ahead of her safe burial at her home in Bunia on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Jospin Mwisha / AFP)

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday visited Uganda, where a deadly Ebola outbreak has killed two people after spreading from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The WHO has declared an international health emergency over the current outbreak, which was announced on May 15 in the northeastern DRC.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently also visited the DRC, which has seen 515 confirmed Ebola infections, including 91 deaths, according to the UN health agency.

"I am in Uganda, where the government has mounted a prompt and capable response to the outbreak of Ebola," Tedros wrote on X.

"Screening at the borders helped detect cases arriving from neighboring DRC, and the country's surveillance, testing and case management systems are doing steady work."

The WHO chief early on Monday met a senior Ugandan health ministry official, a WHO spokesman in Geneva told AFP.

"Of the 19 confirmed cases so far, 14 were among people who entered from DRC and five are Ugandan nationals," Tedros said on X.

"Sadly, two people from DRC have died, and our thoughts are with their families," he added.

It is the 17th Ebola outbreak to hit the DRC, a vast central African country of more than 100 million people.

There is no specific vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo Ebola strain behind the latest outbreak.

Tedros said the WHO was supporting Uganda alongside the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners across the region "as the country leads this response."

"With continued collaboration, I am confident this outbreak can be brought under control," he added.


Trump Says Israel and Iran Must Immediately Stop 'Shooting'

US President Donald Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
US President Donald Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
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Trump Says Israel and Iran Must Immediately Stop 'Shooting'

US President Donald Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
US President Donald Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)

US President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post on Monday said that "Israel and Iran ⁠must immediately stop 'shooting.’”

Israel earlier ⁠said it hit a petrochemical ⁠plant in Iran's southwest, along with strikes elsewhere on military targets, after Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime ⁠Minister ⁠Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further attacks.

Israeli authorities said three waves of Iranian missiles targeted the country.

Tehran warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.