The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing a ban on public displays of Islamic State group flags and extremist symbols.

Jordan confirms its air force joined U.S. strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.

Originally a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas has evolved into a global cultural event.

Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for meetings to help him govern the church, marking the unofficial start of his pontificate.

A Pakistani court has convicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, sentencing them to 17 years in prison.

The U.N. Security Council has urged Rwanda to withdraw its forces from eastern Congo and extended the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo for a year.

A Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa has killed eight people and wounded 27, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.

The Trump administration has restricted visas for two leftist Honduran election officials, citing interference in the Central American country’s special vote count.

Taiwanese authorities says the suspect who killed three people and injured 11 others in knife and smoke-grenade attacks in the island’s capital had planned the assaults and set fires at other locations earlier in the day.

Even though Belarus has released dozens of prisoners, those who've been freed say the authoritarian government often delivers one final act of repression by confiscating their passports before deporting them.

A local Gaza hospital says Israeli troops have fired over the ceasefire line in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least five Palestinians, including a baby.

The Trump administration has awarded a $1.6 million, no-bid contract a Danish university to study hepatitis B vaccinations on newborns in Africa.

It’s been a grim week at the end of a tough year for the United Nations: Six U.N. peacekeepers were killed in a drone attack in Sudan.

Ecuadorian police have arrested two suspects in the killing of soccer player Mario Pineida, who was shot in an attack this week that also killed his partner and wounded his mother, underscoring the rising violence in the Andean nation.

A doctor in Gaza says a fragile newborn boy became the second baby to die of hypothermia in recent days at Nasser Hospital.

Tourists visiting the Trevi Fountain are now going to pay more than just the legendary coin toss over their shoulder.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded many questions at his annual news conference.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hopeful but clear about the challenges facing the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts.

Bolivia's largest cities La Paz and Santa Cruz have been brought to a standstill as public transportation workers strike against a 100% fuel price increase ordered by the new government.

Sony is taking control of the beloved comic strip Peanuts.

European Union leaders have agreed to provide Ukraine with a massive interest-free loan to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

The Brazilian film “The Secret Agent” is opening nationwide in U.S. theaters.

The Department of Justice has released some of its records related to its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein.

Animals that navigate extreme conditions and environments have evolved to sleep in extreme ways.

Pope Leo XIV has made another high-profile appointment that signals a generational shift in the English-speaking Catholic hierarchy.

Taiwan's national news agency and the city government say a man with a knife and smoke grenades attacked crowds indiscriminately in Taiwan’s capital.

The world’s leading authority on food crises says the spread of famine’s been averted in the Gaza Strip.

The Ukrainian and Polish presidents have met in Warsaw to emphasize unity against Russia and progress on historical reconciliation.

President Vladimir Putin has emphasized that Moscow’s troops are advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine and has voiced confidence that the Kremlin will achieve its goals militarily if Kyiv doesn't agree to Russia’s conditions in peace talks.

Thousands of people have returned to Australia's Bondi Beach in the first full day of opening since a mass shooting killed 15 people.

Stocks gained ground on Wall Street as AI stocks like Nvidia turned higher again.

The U.S. military says that it conducted two more strikes Thursday against boats it said were smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people.

Reusing, recycling and repurposing batteries can reduce dependence on hard to obtain critical minerals and create a $9 billion industry, according to energy analysts.

European Union leaders have agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

President Donald Trump’s “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast is raising new concerns about the legality of his military campaign in Latin America.

A British baker's critique of Mexican bread has sparked outrage on social media, leading to a public apology.

The U.S. military has amassed an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off the coast of Venezuela since this summer, when the Trump administration first began to shift assets to the region as part of its anti-drug trafficking operations.

Angry protesters have stormed the offices of Bangladesh’s two leading newspapers after news reached the country from Singapore of the death of a prominent activist in last year’s political uprising, who was shot by an assailant a week ago.

President Donald Trump’s key peace envoy will host new Gaza talks with Arab and Muslim officials on Friday in Miami, a State Department official tells the AP.

Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets of the capital and other major cities in Bulgaria calling for fair elections and an independent judiciary able to effectively fight widespread corruption.

A court in Romania has sentenced American rapper Wiz Khalifa to nine months in jail on drug possession charges.

Three governments that were central in South Sudan’s peace process have urged leaders to end renewed fighting and focus on implementing the peace agreement that ended a deadly conflict.

President Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions on two more International Criminal Court judges over their role in investigating Israeli officials for possible war crimes.

Belarus’ authoritarian president says that Russia had deployed its latest nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system to the country, a move that comes as talks to end the war in Ukraine have entered a crucial phase.

A core question for European Union leaders discussing whether to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine is whether the idea is legally sound.

A U.S. official says a Kremlin envoy will travel to Florida to discuss a U.S.-proposed plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Thailand has conducted more airstrikes on Cambodia, targeting a warehouse storing rockets.

The U.N. Human Rights Office says in a new report that more than 1,000 civilians were killed in a three-day attack by the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces on Sudan's largest displacement camp.

Thailand has helped launch a global effort to fight the spread of online scams that include criminal enterprises based largely in Southeast Asia.

India’s Parliament has approved new legislation to open the civil nuclear power sector to private companies.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled a series of regulatory actions designed to effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors.

The parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform announced Thursday it is merging with a fusion power company, an unusual pairing of the Trump name with a futuristic clean energy venture that aims to power the next wave of artificial intelligence.

The United States has announced it will resume nuclear testing if other countries do the same.

The U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon says the U.S. lifting of sanctions on Syria could encourage more refugees to return.

The Bank of England has cut its key interest rate for the first time in four months as stubbornly high inflation that has plagued British consumers and businesses starts to ease.

Pope Leo XIV has made a significant U.S. appointment by naming Bishop Ronald Hicks as the next archbishop of New York.

Israel has carried out airstrikes on southern and northeastern Lebanon.

Burkina Faso has released 11 Nigerian Air Force personnel detained after an emergency landing.

The European Central Bank is leaving interest rates unchanged for the fourth meeting in a row as the economy in the 20 countries that use the euro increasingly looks strong enough to get by without the stimulus of lower borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

Rainfall this week on Iran's Hormuz Island has briefly transformed the coastline of the famed Red Beach into a striking natural scene.

The European Commission says the European Union is delaying a massive free-trade deal with South American countries after fiery protests by farmers and last-minute opposition by France and Italy.

U.S. stocks rose following an encouraging report on inflation that could help the Federal Reserve keep cutting interest rates next year.

Arab female film directors are reshaping Arab cinema by telling untold stories and claiming space in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

India has signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Oman.

The past year wasn't all doom and gloom; there was plenty to smile about, too.

Bushfires are deadly, they can break out in the blink of an eye and last for days in the vast desert of Mauritania.

European Union leaders have stalled in talks about providing a massive loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Sydney for the funeral of a 10-year-old girl killed in an antisemitic massacre during a Hanukkah celebration.

President Donald Trump's administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion, including medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones.

India’s air-quality crisis is deepened by unreliable data.

The U.S. military says it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett, who traveled the world covering wars from Vietnam to Iraq, has died.

Ecuadorian police said Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old Barcelona de Guayaquil defender, was shot dead in an apparent attack as violence escalates in the Andean nation.

President Donald Trump is demanding Venezuela pay for assets that Trump says were stolen from U.S. companies when the South American country nationalized its oil industry years ago.

Jamaica has held a tribute to honor reggae giant Jimmy Cliff, with officials asking that people celebrate him and not turn the ceremony into a sad event.

Missouri’s top prosecutor says China is suing after the state pressed federal officials for help collecting on a roughly $25 billion court judgment related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa has been the hardest hit by the Trump administration's expanded travel ban that includes 20 more countries.

Some oil vessels are diverting away from Venezuela after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the South American country.

The House has rejected a pair of resolutions that would put a check on President Donald Trump’s power to use military force against drug cartels and the nation of Venezuela.

A federal judge has blocked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from revoking an easement that allows Enbridge to run an oil pipeline through a Great Lakes channel.

U.S. President Donald Trump's announced blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan oil could lead to shortages of food, fuel, and other basic goods in the Latin American nation.

A Second Amendment clash has erupted between the federal government and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Israel’s military says troops fired a mortar shell into a Palestinian residential area in the Gaza Strip, in the latest incident to rock the tenuous ceasefire with Hamas.

Italy has signaled it might not support a major trade deal between the EU and South American countries.

French authorities are investigating a suspected cyberattack plot targeting an international passenger ferry.

Police have intensified their search for a suspect in the killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Nuno F.

The British government says it has given Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich a final chance to hand over 2.5 billion pounds or $3.25 billion to the victims of Russia's war in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump has delivered a speech where he discussed his achievements and touched on some of his agenda for next year and beyond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning that Moscow will extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin's demands in peace talks.

European Union leaders are about to attempt something unprecedented.

A congressional report says China exploits partnerships with U.S. researchers to give its military access to nuclear technology and other innovations with economic and national security applications.

Spanish police have evicted orders to clear an abandoned school building where around 400 migrants were living in a squat north of Barcelona.

South African authorities say a center processing applications for the United States refugee program was raided by immigration and law enforcement officers and seven Kenyan nationals were arrested for working there illegally.

Employees at the Louvre Museum have voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum.

In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking that he would make an ideal model for St. Peter if he ever needed to paint the first pope.

More drops for AI stocks dragged the U.S. market to its worst day in nearly a month.

An accused gunman in Sydney’s Bondi Beach massacre has been charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.

President Donald Trump says he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian tobacco shop owner, has become a national hero in Australia, with an online fundraiser for him raising millions of dollars.

The Trump administration has designated another Latin American drug cartel as a foreign terrorist group, increasing financial pressure on its members and opening the door to potential military action against them.