Scouts marched under a clear blue sky in Bethlehem on Wednesday, as the Palestinian city emerged from the shadow of the war in Gaza to celebrate its first festive Christmas in more than two years.

On the eve of Christmas, President Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh blast of vitriol at late-night comedy talk shows, saying comedian Stephen Colbert is a "pathetic trainwreck" who should be "put to sleep."

A man was killed on Wednesday evening after a group threw a crude explosive from a flyover in the Mogbazar area of the Bangladeshi capital, police said.

Amid mounting concerns over press freedom in Bangladesh, a fresh intimidation episode has surfaced just days after violent attacks on leading newspaper offices drew international outrage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the country would invest $110 billion over the next 10 years to develop an independent arms industry.

As the ongoing military conflict between the two nations drags on, New Delhi said that such "disrespectful" acts hurt sentiments of followers around the world and "should not take place".

Precious and industrial metals are surging to record highs as the year ends, driven by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, robust industrial demand and, in some cases, tight supply.

Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, imprisoned for attempting a coup, was temporarily released Wednesday to undergo surgery in the capital Brasilia, a source at the clinic told AFP.

As supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) celebrate the return of Tarique Rahman to the country after 17 years, attention has shifted to the policies the party is likely to pursue under his leadership.

A Pentagon report submitted to the US Congress has flagged China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh as part of its stated "core interests". The document states that China is not open to negotiation or compromise on these interests.

Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station, as major powers rush to explore the earth's only natural satellite.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has recounted a sequence of events that placed him in close proximity to one of the Middle East's most high-profile assassinations in recent years -- the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

As the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia drags on, a Cambodian official has accused Bangkok of destroying a statue of Lord Vishnu in a disputed border area.

The Department of Justice on Tuesday said that the handwritten letter by Jeffrey Epstein, addressed to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, that was released as a part of the Epstein files, is "fake".

A video posted online captures the moment a small, fast-moving Ukrainian interceptor drone closes in on -- and destroys -- a Russian jet-powered Shahed suicide drone at altitude.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed details of the latest US-led plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying it had been agreed between negotiators from Kyiv and Washington and sent to Moscow for feedback.

Viraansh Bhanushali, a Mumbai-born law student at Oxford University, has recently gone viral for his hard-hitting address at a high-profile debate on India-Pakistan relations at Britain's prestigious Oxford Union.

For the present idea of Bangladeshi nationalism, a Hindu factory worker claiming that God is one and the same for everyone, despite different names, is an inconvenience. It hasn't been a new inconvenience, though.

A small airplane landed safely on its own, using a special autopilot system called Garmin Autoland, after an in-flight emergency in Colorado, US.

In a significant H-1B visa policy overhaul, the Trump administration in the United States is replacing the random lottery system that selected beneficiaries with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills and who are better paid.