The Denver Broncos have been a complete disaster this season under Sean Payton. The team must make a few trades to set up long-term success.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Armando Bacot’s 22-point, 20-rebound effort and RJ Davis’ 22 points led No. 19 North Carolina to a 90-68 win over Lehigh on Sunday.

Pope Francis has opened the door for the first time to blessing same-sex unions in a cautious step away from the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards gay couples. Maintaining that the Church would crucially not recognise gay marriage, the Pope made his opinion known in answer to doctrinal questions from five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm teaching on homosexuality. His statement comes ahead of major Vatican meeting where LGBT+ Catholics are on the agenda, and at a time when several progressive priests in a number of countries have begun blessing same-sex couples in defiance of conservative archbishops. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality “intrinsically disordered” and the Pope has long opposed gay marriage, claiming marriage can only happen between a man and woman. However, his remarks could signal a change in trajectory with the potential for blessings of unions distinct from marriage. In a letter, published yesterday, he said: “We cannot be judges who only deny, push back, exclude.” Pope Francis was sent the set of formal questions known as “dubia“ or doubts ahead of the Vatican synod, which will begin on Wednesday to decide the future direction of the Church and the inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics. The Vatican subsequently published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on 11 July, where he suggested that such blessings could be considered if they didn’t confuse the blessing with marriage. Francis in his seven-point response said the Church was very clear that marriages could be only between a man and a woman and that the Church should avoid any other ritual that contradicted his teaching. He said "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes", adding that "we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude". "For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage," he wrote. "Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better." He noted that there are situations that are objectively "not morally acceptable". The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful but homosexual acts are. The pope's response marks a reversal from the Vatican's current official position. In 2021 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the Church couldn't bless gay unions because "God cannot bless sin". New Ways Ministry, which advocates LGBT+ Catholics, said the letter "significantly advances" efforts to make the community welcomed in the Church and is "one big straw towards breaking the camel's back". Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the ministry, in a statement, said the pope's words implied "that the church does indeed recognise that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God". With agency inputs Read More Catholic priests have held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting Women's voices and votes loom large as pope opens Vatican meeting on church's future Things to know about the Vatican's big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church Clergy abuse survivors propose new 'zero tolerance' law following outcry over Vatican appointment 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting

A strike vote Thursday by IATSE, the union representing 1,500 stagehands and other backstage workers, could shut down Broadway shows as soon as Friday, according to the union.

A notorious Italian mafia boss has died while receiving medical treatment after being arrested early this year, according to media reports. Matteo Messina Denaro was known as the last “godfather” of the Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian mafia. He was arrested in January after being on the run since 1993 and was suffering from colon cancer at the time of his arrest. He is believed to have ordered dozens of Mafia-related murders for the Cosa Nostra. Messina Denaro’s condition worsened in recent weeks and he was transferred to the San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila from a maximum-security prison in central Italy. He had requested no aggressive medical treatment, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday. The medics had stopped feeding him after he was declared to be in an irreversible coma. A fugitive for the past 30 years, Messina Denaro was arrested at a private hospital in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer under a false name. He was sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He also faced a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people the following year. Messina Denaro was accused of helping organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old, Giuseppe Di Matteo, to try to dissuade the boy’s father from giving evidence against the mafia as well. The boy was held for two years, then murdered. Nicknamed “Diabolik”, he was once considered a candidate to be the Sicilian mafia’s “boss of bosses”, after the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore “Toto” Riina in 2017. According to medical records leaked to the Italian media, he underwent surgery for colon cancer in 2020 and 2022 under the false name “Andrea Buonafede”. A doctor at the Palermo clinic told the La Repubblica newspaper that Messina Denaro’s health had worsened significantly in the months leading up to his capture. Messina Denaro, who had a power base in the Sicilian port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, was considered Sicily’s Cosa Nostra top boss even while he was a fugitive. Police said in September 2022 that he was still able to issue commands relating to the way the mafia was run in the area around Trapani, his regional stronghold, despite his long disappearance. The son of a mafioso, Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962. He followed his father into the mob and was already carrying a gun at 15 years of age. Police said he carried out his first killing when he was 18. The Castelvetrano clan was allied to the Corleonesi, led by Salvatore “The Beast” Riina, who became the undisputed “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mob, thanks to his ruthless pursuit of power. Nicknamed “U Siccu” (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro became his protege and showed he could be just as pitiless as his master, picking up 20 life prison terms in trials held in absentia for his role in an array of mob murders. He himself once claimed to have murdered enough people to fill a cemetery. He went into hiding in 1993 as a growing number of turncoats started providing details of his role in the mob, but investigators believe he rarely wandered far from Sicily. Police said he spent much of 2022 hiding in Campobello di Mazara, a town of about 11,000, a short drive from his mother’s house in western Sicily. He communicated with other mafiosi via “pizzini”, small pieces of paper, sometimes written in code and distributed by messengers, some of which were intercepted by police. He never married, but was known to have had a number of lovers. He wrote he had a daughter, but had never met her. Despite his notoriety, prosecutors have always doubted Messina Denaro became the Mafia “boss of bosses”, saying it was more likely that he was simply the head of Cosa Nostra in western Sicily. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Matteo Messina Denaro: The last ‘godfather’ of the Cosa Nostra arrested after 30 years on the run Watch moment Italy’s most infamous mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is arrested Italian police announce arrest of most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro Pope blames weapons industry for Russia-Ukraine war and 'martyrdom' of Ukrainian people Giorgio Napolitano, former Italian president, 1st ex-Communist in that post, has died, at 98 Sabato De Sarno makes much anticipated debut at Gucci under the gaze of stars like Julia Roberts

Fox News has sent a "cease and desist" letter to former news host Tucker Carlson as he ramps

Tens of thousands of protesters formed a ring around Serbia’s government headquarters in downtown Belgrade on Friday, demanding the resignation of the country’s populist president, top security officials and the “liberation” of pro-state TV stations that they say promote violence, all in the wake of two mass shootings that stunned the nation

The U.S. Department of Justice will be funneling more resources toward addressing the alarming rate of disappearances and killings among Native Americans

Ukraine has claimed "partial success" at a village along the southern front, as Kyiv's counteroffensive continues to struggle to make significant progress.

This is the 11th time Commander has bitten a guard at the White House or the Biden family home.

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden showed support for Sweden's entry into NATO in talks with Prime

JuJu Watkins scored 35 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and No. 10 Southern California routed Le Moyne 93-42