ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan has banned New Year's Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people to instead "observe simplicity." In an evening televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said because...
Kyiv, Ukraine - Russia launched drone and missile strikes across Ukraine Friday, killing at least 18 people and wounding over a hundred in one of the most massive air attacks of the war. Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and blocks of flats were among the buildings hit in the...
PARIS, France - The French government said on Friday it will deploy more than 95,000 police and military personnel for New Year Eve's celebrations, adding that a heightened "terrorist threat" required tight security. Paris alone, where up to one million revellers are expected on the...
GENEVA, Switzerland - UN human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the deadly wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine on Friday and urged Moscow to cease the attacks "immediately." Russia launched drone and missile strikes, killing more than 18 people and wounding more than a hundred in one of...
BEIJING, China - A former vice-chairman of China's banking regulator has been sentenced to life imprisonment, state media reported Friday, the latest target in a crackdown on corruption in the second-largest economy's finance sector. Beijing launched a sprawling campaign to counter graft in...
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in a "defensive" exercise near the border with Guyana, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area. This handout picture released by the Venezuelan Presidency...
HONG KONG, China - Hong Kong democracy activist Tony Chung, who once called for the city's independence and was the youngest person to be jailed under its national security law, said on Friday he would seek asylum in the United Kingdom. This photo taken on December 15, 2023 shows veteran politician...
WASHINGTON, United States - The US state of Maine on Thursday blocked former president Donald Trump from its Republican presidential primary ballot, becoming the second state to disqualify him over his role in the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol. Former US President Donald Trump speaks to...
MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that visiting US officials had agreed to keep legal border crossings open, following discussions aimed at addressing surging migration. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (C) attends a meeting with US...
BOBIGNY, France - A 33-year-old French man who admitted to killing his wife and their four children claimed he "heard voices" telling him to "cause harm", a prosecutor said on Thursday. French police on Tuesday arrested a man with a history of psychiatric illness on suspicion of murdering his...
LONDON, United Kingdom - Three people died on Thursday after their car fell into a river in northern England, local police said, as Storm Gerrit battered much of the UK. Police officials can be seen in this picture standing in London. — AFP/File Emergency services headed to the River Esk...
WASHINGTON, United States - An American warship shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the US military said. In this 2008 image released by the US Navy Visual News Service the guided-missile destroyer USS Mason osteams through the...
