🇺🇸Trump avoids prison or fine in hush-money case sentencing
A judge has sentenced US President-elect Donald Trump to an "unconditional discharge," bringing to an end the first criminal trial of a former US president.
The sentence in the hush-money payment case means the incoming president has been spared any penalty, including jail time or a fine, but he will still take office as the first US president with a felony conviction.
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🇺🇸Watch: Processions and presidents at Carter's state funeral
US President Joe Biden spoke at former president Jimmy Carter's funeral, urging people to study the 'power of his example'.
The service took place at the Washington National Cathedral and was attended by all five living US presidents, as well as foreign dignitaries and Carter's family.
His body is being transported to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he once worked as a peanut farmer, for burial.
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🇱🇧Army chief elected Lebanon's president after years of deadlock
Lebanon's parliament has elected the country's army chief as president, ending a power vacuum that has lasted more than two years.
Joseph Aoun's candidacy for the mainly ceremonial role - which is reserved for a Maronite Christian under a sectarian power-sharing system - was backed by several key political parties, as well as the US, France and Saudi Arabia.
A rival preferred by Hezbollah, the powerful Shia Muslim militia and political party supported by Iran, withdrew on Wednesday and endorsed the commander.
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🇺🇸'Trump 2.0' looms large over the global economy
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🇺🇸Body of Jimmy Carter to be taken to Washington to lie in state
The body of Jimmy Carter is being taken from his home state of Georgia to Washington DC, where the former US president will lie in state before a large state funeral.
Carter died on 29 December, aged 100, in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
A first funeral service was held for him in Atlanta on Saturday at the Carter Presidential Center, where hundreds of members of the public came to pay their respects.
On Tuesday, Carter's body will depart the centre one last time after a ceremony at 09:30 EST (14:30 GMT).
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🇬🇧UK special forces investigated over Libya operation
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🇫🇷Nicolas Sarkozy to wear tag after losing corruption appeal
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UFC boss to join board of 📱Facebook owner Meta
Meta has announced the appointment of three new board members including the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and close Donald Trump ally, Dana White.
It comes as Meta's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, appears to be making efforts to mend ties with Trump, ahead of the US president-elect's inauguration this month.
Days ago former UK deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg left his job as president of global affairs at the social media giant.
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🇬🇱🇺🇸Trump's eyeing Greenland - but other Arctic investment is frozen
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🇨🇱Chilean president makes historic trip to South Pole
Chile's President Gabriel Boric has become the first leader in the Americas to visit the South Pole, after arriving at a US base there.
The president said his visit to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station reaffirmed Chile's own claim to sovereignty over part of the Antarctic.
"This is a milestone for us," Boric said in footage shown on Chilean television, before adding "it's the first time a Chilean president has come to the South Pole and talked about Chile's Antarctic mission".
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🇺🇦Ukrainians can take up 18-month extension to stay
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🇬🇭Ghana opens up visa-free travel to all Africans
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😱New Orleans attacker did not act alone, FBI believes
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💵Crypto fugitive Do Kwon extradited to US over $40bn crash
A South Korean man accused of being responsible for a cryptocurrency crisis which cost investors $40bn (£31.8bn) has finally been extradited to the United States.
Do Kwon was the boss of Terraform, which operated two cryptocurrencies - TerraUSD and Luna - both of which collapsed in 2022, sparking a wider sell-off in the crypto market.
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🇺🇦Ukraine ends transit of Russian gas to EU
Russian gas supplies to EU states via Ukraine have ended after a five-year deal between Ukraine's gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom expired.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that his country would not allow Russia to "earn additional billions on our blood" and had given the EU a year to prepare.
The European Commission said the continent's gas system was "resilient and flexible" and that it had sufficient capacity to cope with the end of transit via Ukraine.
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🇺🇸Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to halt hush-money case sentencing
The US Supreme Court has rejected President-elect Donald Trump's last-minute bid to halt his sentencing on Friday in the criminal hush-money case.
Trump had urged the top court to consider whether he was entitled to an automatic stay of his sentencing, but the justices rejected the application by 5-4.
Trump was found guilty of falsifying records to disguise reimbursements for a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels as legal expenses in 2016.
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🇬🇧Truss legal threat to PM over claim she crashed economy
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sent a legal "cease and desist" letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she "crashed the economy".
Her lawyers argue the claim made repeatedly by Sir Keir is "false and defamatory", and harmed her politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election.
Truss was the UK's shortest-serving PM, forced to resign after just 49 days in office when borrowing costs soared in the aftermath of her government's mini-budget.
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😱Watch: Fires reach Hollywood with fears iconic sign could be at risk
LA is continuing to be menaced by wildfires with the latest blaze, Sunset Fire, bringing havoc to the Hollywood Hills where the iconic Hollywood sign sits.
Mandatory evacuations were triggered on Wednesday evening causing traffic chaos on Hollywood Boulevard .
It comes as the Palisades and Eaton fires continue to leave a trail of destruction.
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🇨🇳China bets on kitchen appliances to boost economy
The Chinese government has expanded a list of products that people can trade in to get a discount of as much as 20% on new goods as the country tries to boost its flagging economy.
The list now includes items like microwave ovens, dishwashers, rice cookers and water purifiers.
State-backed trade-in schemes already covered televisions, phones, tablets and smart watches as well as electric and hybrid vehicles.
The world's second largest economy has been facing several challenges, including weak consumer demand and a deepening property crisis.
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🇪🇺Europe leaders criticise Musk attacks
Few European leaders have felt the lash of Elon Musk's social media outbursts more than Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The tech-billionaire owner of X has called him an "incompetent fool" and urged him to resign. On Thursday Musk will use his platform to host Alice Weidel, the head of Germany's far-right, anti-immigrant AfD for a lengthy chat.
For many German politicians it smacks of political interference, with the AfD running second in the polls ahead of federal elections on 23 February.
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🇫🇷French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen dies at 96
French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died aged 96.
Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday on Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones", the family said.
Le Pen - who repeatedly played down the Holocaust and was an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration - founded the French far-right National Front party in 1972.
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🇨🇦Watch moment Trudeau announces he will step down
Justin Trudeau has announced he will resign as leader of Canada's governing party after nearly a decade as prime minister.
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🇰🇵N Korea fires first ballistic missile in two months - 🇰🇷Seoul
North Korea has fired what appears to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile towards the sea to its east, South Korea's military said, in what is Pyongyang's first missile launch in two months.
The missile flew 1,100km before falling into the sea, the military said, adding that it "strongly condemns" this "clear act of provocation".
The launch comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Seoul for talks with some of South Korea's key leaders.
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🇬🇧Musk says Farage 'doesn't have what it takes' to be Reform UK leader
Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, just weeks after reports the multi-billionaire was in talks to donate to the party.
In a post on his social media site X, Musk said Farage "doesn't have what it takes" to lead the party - but did not explain his reasoning.
Farage suggested this was due to a disagreement over Musk's support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
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🇦🇹Austria's chancellor to quit as coalition talks collapse
Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer says he will resign in the coming days, both as chancellor and party leader, after talks about forming a coalition government collapsed.
The chancellor said his party - the conservative People's Party (ÖVP) - and the Social Democrats had failed to agree on key issues.
The liberal Neos, another party involved in the talks, also pulled out on Friday.
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🇰🇷A dawn stand-off, a human wall and a failed arrest: South Korea enters uncharted territory
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated - until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
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🇺🇸Johnson re-elected as House Speaker in razor-tight margin
Republican Mike Johnson survived a razor-thin vote to remain House Speaker in a drama-filled, highly-anticipated vote that marked the start of complete Republican control in Washington.
Johnson could only afford to lose two votes because of the tight margin of control Republicans have in Congress. While he came close to losing re-election, he survived the vote after some lobbying.
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🇲🇩Moldova faces energy crisis as flow of Russian gas ends
On New Year's Day, Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukraine.
Kyiv is calling it a "historic" day as its refusal to extend a transit agreement with Russia's Gazprom has halted the return flow of cash to fund the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
But in neighbouring Moldova, the move threatens to cause a crisis.
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🇿🇼Zimbabwe abolishes death penalty
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved a law that abolishes the death penalty in the southern African state with immediate effect.
Rights group Amnesty hailed the decision as a "beacon of hope for the abolitionist movement in the region", but expressed regret that the death penalty could be reinstated during a state of emergency.
Mnangagwa's move comes after Zimbabwe's parliament voted earlier in December to scrap the death penalty.
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🇰🇷Why was there a wall near runway at S Korea plane crash airport?
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