Atmospheric rivers are long and relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky.

Banksy appears to confirm a new mural in London is his latest work.

President Donald Trump is gathering with top national security officials.

Chris Rea, the singer-songwriter best known for “Driving Home for Christmas,” has died at 74.

U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Clashes have erupted between Syrian security forces and Kurdish fighters in the city of Aleppo.

A suspected cyberattack has knocked France’s national postal service and its banking arm offline during the busy Christmas season.

China has announced provisional tariffs of up to 42.7% on dairy products imported from the European Union.

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland are insisting that the U.S. won’t take over Greenland after President Donald Trump announced the appointment of a special envoy to the semi-autonomous territory.

A car bomb has killed a Russian general.

India and New Zealand say they have reached a free trade deal to deepen economic ties amid global trade uncertainties.

NATO-nation intelligence services believe Russia is developing a weapon to target Starlink satellites.

A former Wall Street Journal reporter in Hong Kong has begun testifying against the newspaper.

Stocks are rising on Wall Street at the start of what’s expected to be a quiet holiday week.

Ukraine is rapidly deploying low-cost interceptor drones to counter Russia’s evolving aerial attacks on cities and power infrastructure.

President Donald Trump has announced he is appointing Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to serve as the U.S. special envoy to Greenland, the vast, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark that Trump has said the U.S. needs to take over.

Thailand’s foreign minister says Thailand and Cambodia will resume talks to work toward a more durable ceasefire along their border.

Australian police documents reveal that a man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach conducted firearms training with his father.

Dickson Ngome's farm at Lake Naivasha in Kenya's Rift Valley has been submerged due to rising water levels.

The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities.

The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea.

Dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians say there were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while stymying wind and solar.

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been drawn back into the foreign policy fold like he was during Trump's first term.

Prince William and his son, Prince George, have helped make Christmas lunch at a homeless shelter.

Thousands of people have gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the winter solstice.

Israel’s far-right finance minister says the Cabinet has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Three men are set to stand trial next year after a silver steward at the French president's residence was arrested for stealing silverware worth thousands of euros.

Authorities report that nine people have died and at least 10 others are injured after a shooting at a South African pub.

A White House envoy says he held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

Thousands of mourners have gathered at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to mark a week since two gunmen targeted a Jewish festival, killing 15 people.

U.S. forces have stopped a second oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in international waters.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon says the U.S. lifting 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.

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.

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.

EU leaders are working into the night to reassure Belgium about protection from Russian retaliation if it supports a major loan for Ukraine.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

A congressional report says China exploits partnerships with U.S. researchers to give the Chinese 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 immigration authorities have raided a United States refugee processing center in Johannesburg and seven Kenyans working there illegally were arrested and given deportation orders.

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.