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.

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.

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.

The Trump administration has announced an expansion of travel restrictions to include 20 more countries.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released shortlists for 12 Oscar categories Tuesday, including best song, score, and the new casting prize.

The European Union is moving to dial back its total ban on cars with gas or diesel engines by 2035.

Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to recover from torrential rains that have battered the enclave for days, flooding camps for the displaced, collapsing buildings already badly damaged in the two-year war and leaving at least 12 dead, including a two-week-old baby.

FIFA slashed the price of some World Cup tickets for teams’ most loyal fans following a global backlash and some will get $60 seats for the final instead of being asked to pay $4,185.

A wildlife photographer has discovered one of the oldest and largest collections of dinosaur footprints in an Italian national park.

The family of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi says she was taken to a hospital emergency room twice after her arrest last week by Iranian security forces.

Fans of Jane Austen are celebrating the author's 250th birthday with events in Britain and beyond.

Rome has opened two subway stations.

In an underwater nursery just off the Dominican Republic coast, tiny corals born in a laboratory are slowly growing under the eye of conservationists.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have announced they will withdrawal from Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo following U.S. pressure.

A driver who injured more than 130 people when he plowed his car into a crowd of soccer fans celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League championship has been sentenced to over 21 years in prison.

President Donald Trump’s top Cabinet officials overseeing national security are back on Capitol Hill as questions mount over the swift escalation of U.S. military force and deadly boat strikes in international waters near Venezuela.

France's first lady has defended her use of a sexist slur against feminist protesters.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean.

European Union envoys are fine-tuning a plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a massive loan to support Ukraine over the next two years.

Police say suspected militants have opened fire on a police officer guarding a team of polio workers in northwestern Pakistan, killing the officer and a passerby.

China says it will begin imposing anti-dumping duties of up to 19.8% on imports of pork products from the European Union, after a review that could have resulted in tariffs of up to 62.4%.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says peace proposals for U.S. officials to present to Russia could be finalized within days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and about 30 other countries are expected to approve plans to create a compensation body for damages caused by the Russian invasion.

The victims of a mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach range from a 10-year-old girl with a gentle soul to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.

European Union leaders are gathering this week at the end of political year dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The U.S. stock market drifted through a mixed day of trading after reports on the economy did little to clear uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading.

Australia is preparing for the funerals of some of the victims of an antisemitic mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

The U.S. military says it has attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people.

President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.

England and Australia players will wear black armbands and flags at Adelaide Oval will be flown at half-staff on Wednesday in an Ashes tribute to the victims of the Bondi beach shootings.

Chile has become the latest country in Latin America to veer toward the right, electing a deeply conservative veteran politician who has long attracted comparisons to Donald Trump.

Pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai would devote himself to God and his family rather than political activism if he were released.

Silk Eyes races past Mr. Thunder at the top of the stretch, thrilling the crowd at a racetrack in Venezuela’s capital.

The Colombian government’s delegation in peace talks with the National Liberation Army or ELN has rejected an “armed strike” that the Marxist rebel group is conducting this week in response to the U.S. military’s naval buildup in the Caribbean.

Leading Jewish groups in the United States are urging all Jewish organizations to ratchet up security at public events following the weekend's mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration on a beach in Australia.

Western and Arab diplomats have toured Lebanon's border with Israel, where Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers are working to end Hezbollah's armed presence.

The two Iowa National Guard members killed in a weekend attack that the U.S. military blamed on the Islamic State group in Syria have been identified.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago says it will allow the U.S. military access to its airports in upcoming weeks as tensions between the United States and Venezuela remain high.