News

By ASHOK SHARMA and WASBIR HUSSAIN Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — A rebel group that fought for decades to free India’s northeastern state of Assam from New Delhi’s rule has signed a peace accord with the government pledging to end the insurgency in the region. The United Liberation Front of Asom, or ULFA, led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, concluded

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s armed forces said Friday an unknown object entered the country’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine and subsequently vanished off radars. The Operational Command of the Armed Forces said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that the unidentified object was observed by radars of Poland’s air defense system from

BERLIN (AP) — Police say one person is dead after a truck struck several people in southern Germany. Police say the 63-year old driver struck a group of five people close to the railway station in downtown Passau. A 37-year old woman died at the site and the other four pedestrians were severely injured, including

BEIJING (AP) — China has appointed a new defense minister after months of uncertainty following the firing of his predecessor for reasons that have yet to be explained. The official Xinhua News Agency announced Friday that former navy commander Dong Jun will serve in the largely ceremonial role, but offered no comment on the reasons

PARIS (AP) — French officials say security will be tight across the country on New Year’s Eve, with 90,000 law enforcement officers set to be deployed. Of those, 6,000 will be in Paris. The interior minister says over 1.5 million people are expected to attend celebrations on the Champs-Elysees. The minister cited in part a

MOSCOW (AP) — An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to nine years in prison, the latest move in a relentless Kremlin crackdown on dissent. Ksenia Fadeyeva, a regional legislator who headed a local branch of Navalny’s organization in the Siberian city of Tomsk, was convicted and sentenced on Friday

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed into an already crowded town at the southernmost end of Gaza in recent days, fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the center of the strip, as a senior U.N. official on Friday criticized Israel for continuing

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Wonsik has said that a light-water reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear complex will likely be formally operational by next summer. Shin told local reporters that his country had also spotted similar cooling system-related activities associated with the reactor last

By ILLIA NOVIKOV and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 27 civilians across the country in what an air force official called the biggest aerial barrage of the war. At least 144 people were injured and

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — European shares opened higher on Friday after a mixed session in Asia on the last trading day of the year for most markets. Germany’s DAX rose 0.3% to 16,745.67 and the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.4% to 7,566.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher to

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says security forces have detained 32 people suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group. The suspects were allegedly planning to carry out attacks on synagogues and churches as well as the Iraqi Embassy in Turkey. Anadolu Agency said the suspects were detained in raids carried

PARIS (AP) — French authorities say an avalanche on Mont Blanc swept two skiers to their deaths and left another injured. A hiker was killed on another slope in the French Alps. The local administration says the avalanche Thursday swept through an off-piste area of the Saint-Gervais-les-Bains ski resort at an altitude of 2,300 meters.