At least seven explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the capital of Venezuela early Saturday.

Police with long-armed rifles, a rarity at sporting events in Australia, will patrol the final Ashes cricket test in Sydney starting Sunday as part of heightened security measures following the Bondi Beach terror attack in the city.

Police say the driver in a deadly car crash that injured heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and killed his two friends in Nigeria has been charged.

The FBI says it disrupted a New Year’s Eve attack plot in North Carolina, arresting an 18-year-old who allegedly pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group.

A strong earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico, interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first press briefing of the new year as seismic alarms sounded.

The hospital that initially took in the majority of injured victims from a fire at a Swiss bar is no stranger to emergencies: In the heart of the Alps, it is used to treating winter sports enthusiasts who have accidents on the slopes.

A grandmother and her 5-year-old grandson have burned to death in Gaza when their tent caught fire.

A court in Pakistan’s capital has sentenced seven people to life imprisonment after convicting them of inciting violence.

The United Arab Emirates says it has withdrawn all its troops from Yemen.

A multi-story building under construction in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, collapsed Friday, leaving at least four people believed trapped, according to a government official.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed the head of the country’s military intelligence as his new chief of staff.

U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials have exchanged dueling threats as widening economic protests sweep across parts of the Islamic Republic.

Investigators say they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year’s Eve revelers.

U.S. stocks mostly edged higher on Wall Street in a wobbly start to the new year.

Venezuela is open to reaching an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking, according to President Nicolás Maduro.

The Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has redefined what it means to be a global giant.

British boxer Anthony Joshua is initially staying in Nigeria as he recuperates from injuries sustained after a deadly crash.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff.

About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured, most of them seriously, during a New Year’s celebration in a Swiss Alpine bar, police said.

Demonstrations sparked by Iran's struggling economy have spread into rural provinces, with at least seven people killed.

Nigerian authorities say British boxer Anthony Joshua has been released from hospital.

The U.S. military says it has struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days.

Pope Leo XIV has closed out 2025 with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people young and old.

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 remains a mystery more than a decade later.

China’s People’s Liberation Army says it has “successfully completed” two days of military exercises in the waters off Taiwan.

A deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has begun in the Indian Ocean, reviving efforts to solve one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

From Sydney to Paris to New York City, crowds have rung in the new year with exuberant celebrations filled with thunderous fireworks, while others have taken a more subdued approach.

Russian drones have blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in Ukraine's city of Odesa, injuring six people including three children.

Trains through the Channel Tunnel between Europe and the UK are running again after power malfunctions caused travel chaos.

Hong Kong rang in 2026 without fireworks over Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people.

The old and nuanced art of Peking opera is working hard to flourish in an era of digital entertainment and incessant screens.

By most measures, 2025 was a rough year for those who care about freedom of the press.

Thailand has repatriated 18 Cambodian prisoners of war.

Surveys show that Chinese factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months in December, as orders picked up ahead of holidays and builders rushed to finish projects.

The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels.

Wall Street fell on the final day of trading for 2025, a banner year for markets that was driven by both optimism and uncertainty.

Meta is buying artificial intelligence startup Manus, as the owner of Facebook and Instagram continues a push to amp-up AI offerings across its platforms.

Israel says it will suspend several humanitarian organizations for failing to meet its new rules to vet international organizations working in Gaza.

The year’s first supermoon and meteor shower will compete for dominance in January skies.

Power problems and a stuck train have interrupted rail traffic through the Channel Tunnel connecting the U.K. and continental Europe.

Tributes have been paid after the crash that injured British former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and killed two close associates.

Leaders from Europe and Canada have held talks on U.S.-led peace efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Local authorities in France say Brigitte Bardot’s funeral is set for next week in the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez which she helped make famous.

George and Amal Clooney, along with their twins, have been awarded French citizenship.

Russia’s nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system has entered active service, Russia’s Ministry of Defense says, as negotiators continue to search for a breakthrough in peace talks to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

China’s top diplomat has slammed a record U.S. military sale to Taiwan.

China's People's Liberation Army is conducting large-scale military drills around Taiwan as part of "Justice Mission 2025."

Stocks fell slightly on Wall Street as trading for 2025 nudges closer to the finish line.

Scientists from Mexico’s National Autonomous University have created the first three-dimensional image of the Popocatépetl volcano's interior.

Police say an investigation that extended to the Philippines of two men accused of killing 15 people at a Sydney Jewish festival has found no evidence they were part of a “broader terrorist cell.”.

Saudi Arabia says it bombed Yemen’s port city of Mukalla over a shipment of weapons for a separatist force that arrived from the United Arab Emirates.

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has died at 80, her political party has announced Tuesday.

Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the hottest years ever recorded.

Britons ranging from Hollywood stars Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo to a 102-year-old judo instructor have been named in King Charles III’s New Year’s honors list, an annual tradition that recognizes people for their contributions to U.K. public life.

A group of Peruvian shamans gathered in front of the sea in the Miraflores district of Peru’s capital city to carry out an annual ritual in which they make predictions for the upcoming year.

President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. has “hit” a dock facility along a shore as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says 13 people died and another 98 people were injured when a train derailed on a rail line connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico.

Iran is seeing its biggest protests in three years after the currency plunged to a record low against the dollar.

The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan.

Foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand have convened with their Chinese counterpart to discuss the border dispute between the two Southeast Asian countries.

The United States has announced a $2 billion pledge for U.N. humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump continues to slash U.S. foreign assistance funding.

President Donald Trump is warning Iran against reconstituting its nuclear program.

Stocks slipped on Wall Street, while crude oil prices rose and gold and silver prices pulled back after recent sharp gains.

The Chinese military says it dispatched air, navy and missile units for a second day to conduct joint live-fire drills around Taiwan to warn against what it calls separatist and “external interference” forces.

Winter rain has lashed the Gaza Strip and flooded camps with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by war try to stay dry in fraying tents.

The moon and sun share top billing in 2026.

Protesting university students in Serbia have collected signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election.

Brigitte Bardot, who has died at 91, often said that the hounding she received from the world's press in her years as a sex symbol of the 1960s made her identify with hunted and abused animals.

At least four people have been killed and dozens wounded in clashes on Syria’s coast.

Top diplomats from Thailand and Cambodia have started talks in China to address their border dispute.

French 1960s sex symbol Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91.

The Central African Republic voted on Sunday to elect a new president and federal lawmakers.

Guineans were voting to elect a new president in the country’s first election since a 2021 coup.

President Donald Trump says Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace deal, but he acknowledges that negotiations could still break down and leave the war dragging on for years.

Voters in Myanmar have voted in the first phase of the country’s general election.

Barefoot children played on chilly sand as Gaza’s thousands of displaced people prepared threadbare tents for another round of winter rain.

A Brazilian judge has issued house arrest orders for 10 people involved in a plot to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in power after his 2022 election loss.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered outside a mosque in Homs, Syria, after a bombing killed eight people and wounded 18.

Thailand and Cambodia have signed a ceasefire agreement to end weeks of fighting over border disputes.

Millions of Afghans are struggling as international aid cuts sever a lifeline many relied on for food and heating.

Venezuelan migrants transferred to a prison in El Salvador by the U.S. government are demanding justice.

Perry Archangelo Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboardist for the influential goth band The Cure, has died.

A U.S. airstrike that targeted an alleged camp of the Islamic State group in Nigeria has caused panic in the village of Jabo, close to where the strike hit.

Cambodia says that Thailand hit a site in the country's northwest with an airstrike on Saturday even as the two sides pursue talks to end clashes.

Police say that two people have been killed and at least two more injured in northern Israel in a car-ramming and stabbing attack by a Palestinian man.

A bombing at a mosque in Homs, Syria, during Friday prayers has killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he will meet on Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida.

Separatists in southern Yemen are accusing Saudi Arabia of targeting their forces with airstrikes.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and must pay 13.5 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion) for his role in the 1MDB corruption scandal.

South Korea’s government says it plans to end the waning foreign adoptions of Korean children.

The United States airstrikes targeting militants affiliated with the Islamic State group in northwestern Nigeria are a major escalation of an offensive that Nigeria’s overstretched military has struggled with for years.

Stocks closed slightly lower as investors returned from the Christmas holiday.

Japan’s Cabinet has approved a record defense budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen for the coming year.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. launched a deadly strike against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country's government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.

Mariela Gómez and thousands of Venezuelan immigrants have faced a challenging Christmas after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.

The Kremlin is in talks with French authorities about French scholar Laurent Vinatier, who is serving a three-year sentence in Russia and reportedly faces new espionage charges.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's family says he's underwent double hernia surgery at a hospital in the country's capital.

Pope Leo XIV, during his first Christmas Day message, has urged the faithful to shed indifference toward those who are suffering.

The son of a former Bangladesh prime minister has returned to the country after more than 17 years in exile.

Asian shares are mixed in thin holiday trading, with most markets in the region and elsewhere closed for Christmas.