A Brazilian former police chief, who fled the country after he was convicted as an accomplice in the attempted coup by Brazil's far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested in Paraguay, according to the country's immigration agency. Silvinei Vasques was arrested on Friday at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, the Paraguayan National Migration Directorate (DNM) said in a statement posted on its website.
"I am fundraising to help cover legal fees in the Dominican Republic in an effort to seek justice for my sister-in-law, Claire Cullen. Claire was tragically killed in a hit and run incident while on holiday to attend her brothers wedding. She died instantly, and the driver fled the scene without offering any help to Claire or her family," she wrote.
This was Donald Trump's warning to Islamic State after the US attacked what it said were IS bases in Nigeria. It was arguably the most stark seasonal message ever delivered by a US president. How it may serve his ambition to receive a Nobel Peace Prize is not clear. The nation is a multi-ethnic country split between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
Cambodian and Thai officials were in their third day of talks at a border checkpoint on Friday, with defence ministers from both countries scheduled to meet on Saturday. However, Cambodia's defence ministry said Thailand's military carried out a heavy bombardment of disputed border areas in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday morning. From 6.08am to 7.15am, the Thai military deployed F-16 fighter jets to drop as many as 40 bombs, to intensify its bombardment in the area of Chok Chey village, it said in a statement.
January 20 was a turning point for the entire world: The day that Donald Trump moved back into the White House marked a significant change in the course of global politics. Within a few months, Trump had introduced punitive tariffs and restrictive visa policies, had withdrawn the US from major international structures such as the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO), and had dismantled most of the work of US development agency, USAID.
Saar said the agreement followed a year of extensive dialogue between the two governments and was based on a joint decision by Netanyahu and Abdullahi. We will work together to promote the relations between our countries and nations, regional stability and economic prosperity, Saar wrote on social media, adding that he had instructed his ministry to immediately institutionalise ties across a wide range of fields.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he plans to meet with US President Donald Trump this Sunday in Florida. Zelenskyy earlier posted to social media that a meeting would take place in the coming days (see below). But Ukrainian media and others earlier reported a meeting between the two leaders was likely going to take place on Sunday, at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Trump is spending his Christmas break there.
In 2025, the continent's top Facebook markets reveal where the largest user bases are and how gender shapes social media engagement. Despite increasing competition from short-form video platforms such as TikTok and X, Facebook's combination of low data consumption, wide smartphone compatibility, and deep integration with WhatsApp has preserved its dominance in Africa's digital ecosystem. Based on 2025 data from World Population Review, the African countries with the largest Facebook user bases are:
On Friday a group of UN experts including Gina Romero, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, issued a statement expressing alarm at the group's treatment. Hunger strike is often a measure of last resort by people who believe that their rights to protest and effective remedy have been exhausted. The state's duty of care toward hunger strikers is heightened, not diminished, the experts said.
A cohort of 168 Palestinian doctors have received their advanced medical certifications in Gaza amid the rubble of what was once the Palestinian territory's largest hospital. The graduation took place in front of the destroyed facade of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City on Thursday. It was a symbolic act of resilience as the doctors, calling themselves the Humanity Cohort, completed their Palestinian Board certifications under extraordinary circumstances after two years of Israel's war.
The draft defence budget for the next fiscal year approved on Friday is more than 9tn ($58bn) and 9.4% bigger than the previous budget, which will end in April. The increase comes in the fourth year of Japan's five-year program to double its annual arms spending to 2% of GDP. The budget plan focuses on fortifying strike-back capability and coastal defences with surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned arsenals.
In Beijing's view, Washington's escalation which includes seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, striking alleged drug-smuggling boats and imposing a blockade off the Venezuelan coast is a textbook example of American unilateralism, infringing on another country's sovereignty and violating the United Nations Charter. During a December 17 call with his Venezuelan counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced opposition to US unilateral bullying and expressed his support for Venezuela's right to defend its sovereignty and national dignity.
In New York, Titan Mining Corp. has mined a limited amount of ore from a deposit in snowy woods about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Canadian border, aiming for commercial sales by 2028. Company officials believe the geopolitical winds are at their backs to sell graphite concentrate for high-tech, industrial, and military uses. That could include heat-resistant coatings in factories, anodes in large lithium-ion batteries connected to electrical grids, and lubricants for military vehicles, according to the company.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
