VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV begins his first trip outside Italy as Catholic leader on Thursday with a visit to Turkey, where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.

The first US pope chose mainly Muslim Turkey as his first overseas destination to mark the 1,700th anniversary of a landmark early Church council there that produced the Nicene Creed, still used by most of the world’s Christians today.

Leo, who has a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkey before heading on to Lebanon, will be closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and visits sensitive cultural sites.

“It’s a very important trip because we do not know much yet about Leo’s geopolitical views, and this is the first big chance for him to make them clear,” Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who follows the Vatican, told Reuters.

PAPAL TRIPS ABROAD DRAW GLOBAL ATTENTION
Foreign travel has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes attracting international attention as they lead events with crowds sometimes in the millions, give foreign policy speeches and conduct international diplomacy.

Leo was elected in May by the world’s cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis. A relative unknown on the world stage before his election, Leo spent decades as a missionary in Peru and only became a Vatican official in 2023.

Pope Francis had been planning to visit Turkey and Lebanon but was unable to go because of his worsening health.

Leo, 70, will depart with his entourage from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at around 7.40 a.m. (0640 GMT) and will first visit the Turkish capital Ankara, where he will meet President Tayyip Erdogan and address political leaders.

He will fly on Thursday evening to Istanbul, home to Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox and Catholic Christians split in the East-West Schism of 1054 but have generally sought in recent decades to build closer ties.

Leo and Bartholomew travel on Friday to Iznik, 140 km (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul and once called Nicaea, where early churchmen formulated the Nicene Creed, which lays out what remain the core beliefs of most Christians today.

In a departure from normal practice – popes usually speak Italian on foreign trips – Leo is expected to speak English in his speeches in Turkey.

PEACE WILL BE KEY THEME OF LEBANESE LEG
Peace is expected to be a key theme of the pope’s visit to Lebanon, which starts on Sunday. Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East.

Last Sunday, Israel killed the top military official in the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in an airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut despite a year-long, US-brokered truce.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Monday that necessary security precautions were being taken to ensure the pope’s safety in Lebanon, but he would not comment on specifics.

Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover after years of economic crisis, hope the papal visit might bring global attention to the country. — Reuters

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is investigating the president of the Miss Universe organization in relation to alleged drugs and arms trafficking as well as fuel theft, the Attorney General’s Office said on Wednesday, adding to controversy surrounding the beauty pageant.

The office in a statement said it has issued 13 arrest warrants as part of the probe, without identifying individuals.

Local media reported that a warrant has been issued for Miss Universe President Raul Rocha. The Mexican national owns half of the Miss Universe organization.

The Attorney General’s Office, in disclosing details of the investigation which it said dates back to 2024, referred to Mr. Rocha as “Raul R,” as is customary in Mexico. It said it would announce information about his status in due course.

Mr. Rocha did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent to his Instagram account.

The Miss Universe organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted through its website.

Mexican Fatima Bosch won this year’s Miss Universe contest in Thailand on Friday.

Earlier in the competition, Ms. Bosch led a contestant walk-out, saying pageant director Nawat Itsaragrisil called her a “dumbhead.” Mr. Itsaragrisil denied he used the term and said he had been misunderstood.

Ms. Bosch won the support of Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum who called her “an example of how we women should speak out.”

Mr. Rocha purchased 50% of the Miss Universe organization through his company Legacy Holding Group USA in 2024 from JKN Global Group. — Reuters

HONG KONG — A huge fire still burning in a Hong Kong apartment complex that has killed at least 44 people and left almost 300 missing may have been spread by unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work, police said on Thursday.

Working through the night, firefighters were struggling to reach residents potentially trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex due to the intense heat and thick smoke from the fire that erupted on Wednesday afternoon. The complex in the northern Tai Po district has 2,000 apartments in eight blocks.

By early Thursday morning, authorities said they had brought the fire four in blocks under control, with operations continuing in three blocks after more than 15 hours.

Video from the scene showed flames still leaping from at least two of the 32-storey towers and heavy smoke billowing from several buildings.

Police said in addition to the buildings being covered with protective mesh sheets and plastic that may not meet fire standards, they discovered some windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material, installed by a construction company carrying out maintenance work.

“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, said.

Three men from the construction company, two directors and one engineering consultant, had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the fire, she added.

The green construction mesh and bamboo scaffolding used on the buildings are a mainstay of traditional Chinese architecture but have been subject to a phase-out in Hong Kong since March for safety reasons.

A firefighter was among the 44 killed, with 45 people in hospital in critical condition, Hong Kong police told a press conference before dawn on Thursday.

The death toll is now the highest in a Hong Kong fire since World War Two, surpassing the 41 killed in a blaze in a commercial building in the Kowloon district in November 1996.

The latest fire has prompted comparisons to the Grenfell Tower inferno that killed 72 people in London in 2017. That fire was blamed on firms fitting the exterior with flammable cladding, as well as failings by the government and the construction industry.

“The priority is to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents who are trapped,” Hong Kong leader John Lee told reporters earlier. “The second is to support the injured. The third is to support and recover. Then, we’ll launch a thorough investigation.”

Some 279 people were uncontactable and 900 were in eight shelters, he added.

One 71-year-old resident surnamed Wong broke down in tears, saying his wife was trapped inside.

Harry Cheung, 66, who has lived at Block Two in one of the complexes for more than 40 years, said he heard a loud noise about 2:45 p.m. (0645 GMT) and saw fire erupt in a nearby block.

“I immediately went back to pack up my things,” he said.

“I don’t even know how I feel right now. I’m just thinking about where I’m going to sleep tonight.”

The Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement that its consulate in Hong Kong had received unverified information that some Filipino domestic workers may be trapped inside the buildings. It said it was coordinating with the police to assist any Filipino national affected.

CHINA’S XI URGES ‘ALL-OUT’ EFFORT AGAINST FIRE
On Wednesday, frames of scaffolding were seen tumbling to the ground as firefighters battled the blaze, while scores of fire engines and ambulances lined the road below the development.

From the mainland, China’s President Xi Jinping urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and to minimize casualties and losses, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices have long been a trigger for social discontent in the city and the fire tragedy could further stoke resentment towards authorities ahead of a city-wide legislative election in early December.

Hong Kong’s Transport Department said that a number of roads would remain closed in the area on Thursday morning and 39 bus routes have been diverted.

At least six schools will be closed on Thursday due to the fire and traffic congestion, the city’s Education Bureau said.

A public inquiry yielded sweeping updates to building standards and fire safety regulations in high-rise offices, shops and homes.

BAMBOO SCAFFOLDING BEING PHASED OUT
Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where bamboo is still widely used for scaffolding in construction.

On mainland China, where use of bamboo in construction originated from ancient times, scaffolding is now mainly metal.

Hong Kong’s government moved to start phasing out bamboo scaffolding in March, citing worker safety after 22 deaths involving bamboo scaffolders between 2019 and 2024. It announced that 50% of public construction works would be required to use metal frames instead.

Though fire hazard was not cited as a reason for the phase-out, there have been at least three fires involving bamboo scaffolding this year, according to the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims in Hong Kong.

Wang Fuk Court is one of many high-rise housing complexes in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Tai Po, located near the border with mainland China, is an established suburban district with some 300,000 residents.

Occupied since 1983, the complex is under the government’s subsidized home ownership scheme, according to property agency websites. According to online posts, it has been undergoing renovations for a year at a cost of HK$330 million ($42.43 million), with each unit paying between HK$160,000 and HK$180,000.

Owning a home is a distant dream for many in Hong Kong, one of the world’s most expensive housing markets and where residential rents are hovering around record highs.($1 = 7.7779 HK$). — Reuters