NewsLite

VATICAN CITY — Unlike Pope Francis, who shook things up early on with a flurry of reforms, appointments and new structures, Pope Leo XIV has sought to find his footing and take a longer view of his pontificate.

Leo has made some significant decisions so far, and has several challenges looming.

Several upcoming appointments in the US and at the Vatican will give Leo an opportunity to shape the church's hierarchy and central governance more to his liking and priorities.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich turned 77 in March, two years over the normal retirement age for bishops, meaning Leo could soon name an archbishop for his hometown.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — As the music comes on in a Gaza refugee camp, a group of boys and girls start showing off their breakdancing moves, kicking and spinning with intense focus on their fast footwork.

Two young girls grin at each other as they nailed a tricky part of the routine.

It's a rare moment of respite and catharsis amid the harsh realities of life in the Gaza Strip.

The children, some wearing sliders on their feet, dance next to mangled metal rods jutting out from a mound of rubble and shattered concrete.

NEW YORK — Hantaviruses do not spread easily between people, which makes health officials confident the recent outbreak on a cruise ship that has killed three people will not turn into an epidemic.

But, still, they need to make sure.

So health officials in several countries are contact tracing: Trying to identify and follow people who may have come in contact with passengers who got sick or died.

Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings.

BANGKOK — Miners in Myanmar have discovered a rare ruby of enormous size, considered to be the second-largest by weight ever found in the conflict-battered Southeast Asian nation, state media reported Friday.

The ruby, measuring 11,000 carats (2.2kg), was unearthed near the town of Mogok, in the upper Mandalay region, the heartland of the lucrative gem-mining industry that has recently experienced intense fighting in the country's wide-ranging civil war.

According to a report from the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar, the newly found rough ruby was discovered in mid-April, just after the traditional New Year festival.

While it weighs roughly half the weight of a 21,450-carat (4.29kg) stone found in 1996, the new discovery is considered more valuable due to its superior colour and quality. It is described as having a purplish-red hue with yellowish undertones, a high-quality colour grade, moderate transparency and a highly reflective surface.

WASHINGTON/CAIRO — The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday (May 9) to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire, while a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could withstand a naval blockade for months.

Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack on Friday.

Washington has been awaiting Tehran's response to a US proposal that would formally end the war before talks on more contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear programme. Speaking in Rome on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was expecting a response that day, although an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran was still weighing its response.

Sporadic clashes continued on Friday between Iranian forces and US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. The Tasnim news agency later cited an Iranian military source saying the situation had calmed but warning more clashes were possible.

JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities on Saturday (May 9) located two Singaporeans who went missing after Mount Dukono erupted on the Pacific island of Halmahera, officials said, but it was unclear whether they were alive.

"We have identified the coordinates of their locations. It's around the crater rim," Iwan Ramdani, the head of Indonesia's rescue agency, told Reuters. "This is on drone surveillance and is consistent with witness accounts."

Both appeared to be 20 to 30m from the rim of the main crater, said disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

Rescuers have not located an Indonesian missing since the volcano in North Maluku province began erupting on Friday, spewing ash as high as 10km.

Singapore's broad priorities when it assumes chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2027 will reflect continuity from previous years' chairmanship, even if the specific measures and focus will differ, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Saturday (May 9).

He was speaking to the media as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Cebu, Philippines to attend the 48th Asean Summit.

Asked about Singapore's priorities as incoming Asean chair next year, PM Wong said these are still being worked out, but the key issues and focus will revolve around similar themes.

He listed strengthening Asean's collective resilience, advancing the 11-member bloc's integration efforts, and advancing its community building agenda as Singapore's possible broad priorities.

Some nine in ten parents polled by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in its inaugural Preschool Experience Survey have indicated their satisfaction with preschool safety standards and education quality.

The findings of the survey, commissioned in November 2025 and involving nearly 1,800 parents, were shared at the Start Small Dream Big Walkathon on Saturday (May 9) .

Organised by educational consultancy Preschool Market and supported by ECDA, the event brought together about 5,000 preschoolers, their families and early childhood educators to foster greater awareness of values-in-action and community involvement in children's development.

In a news release the same day, ECDA said its survey was conducted to understand parents' experiences and satisfaction across key aspects of their children's preschool journey.

Four wet markets in Housing and Development Board (HDB) heartlands — at Fajar Shopping Centre, Yew Tee Square, Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre, and Woodlands North Plaza — will undergo upgrading works when their respective 30-year leases end between now and end-2027, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Sun Xueling.

Sun, who is also Senior Minister of State for Transport, made the announcement in a Facebook post on Saturday (May 9), after she visited the newly upgraded wet market at Serangoon Central Village a day earlier.

The wet market was returned to HDB in 2024 after its lease expired. It later underwent upgrading works and now has a new layout with more stalls.

"The stallholders I spoke to welcomed the bright, airy layout. Residents had also shared with me that they found the rejuvenated market to be a more pleasant experience for them. They were also glad to have more food options than before with a new eating house," Sun wrote.

The recent cyberattack on global learning management platform Canvas has not compromised any sensitive information from students at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

In a statement addressing the matter, a spokesperson for the university told AsiaOne on Saturday (May 9) that it is aware of the data breach.

NUS was among multiple educational institutions affected by the cyberattack on May 7, which blocked access to the platform. Access was restored on May 8 . Cyberextortion group ShinyHunters claimed to be behind the incident.

Other local universities in the list of affected institutions include the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and the Singapore Institute of Management.