Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City on Thursday, taking over one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics with a promise to transform government on behalf of the city's striving, struggling working class.

Iranian authorities in Tehran have arrested 30 suspects accused of public order offences, the news agency Tasnim reported Thursday, after days of protests against high prices that have at times turned deadly.

Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City's mayor on Thursday, becoming the city's 112th mayor and making history in the process. The ceremony took place on the steps of City Hall, where hundreds gathered to witness the moment.

President Donald Trump said he's dropping for now his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks held up the effort.

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran's ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic's rural provinces, with at least six people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said.

About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured in a massive fire at a bar in Switzerland's Crans Montana. The blaze ripped through a bar called Le Constellation in the luxury Alpine ski resort town during New Year's celebrations.

The devastated wife of a minority Hindu man, who was attacked with sharp weapons and set afire in Bangladesh, is at a loss for words.

Brazil's Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro's request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published Thursday.

The breakaway region of Somaliland on Thursday denied allegations by the Somali president that it would take resettled Palestinians or host an Israeli military base in exchange for Israel recognising its independence.

Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were seeing in the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region.

Ukraine staged the death of an anti-Kremlin Russian fighter to prevent his killing ordered by Moscow's special forces, Ukrainian military intelligence announced Thursday.

Protesters and security forces clashed in western Iran on Thursday, with three people reported killed, the first deaths since the cost-of-living demonstrations broke out.

An immigration attorney has thrown light on the fact that marrying a US citizen will no longer guarantee a Green Card.

Soon after midnight, a fire ripped through a bar's New Year celebration in a Swiss Alpine resort. Dozens of people are feared dead, and about 100 more are injured, most seriously, police said.

Russia said on Thursday it had extracted and decoded a file from a Ukrainian drone downed earlier this week that it said shows it had been targeting a Russian presidential residence.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he is taking a larger daily dose of aspirin than his doctors recommend.

Khokon Das, another Hindu man, was attacked by a violent group in Bangladesh. The 50-year-old was injured after the attack and set on fire. The incident took place on December 31 in the Shariatpur district of the country.

NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center will close permanently on Jan 2 under the Trump administration's reorganisation plans.

Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, according to an AFP tally, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.

A huge inferno destroyed a 19th-century Amsterdam church Thursday, as the Netherlands endured an unsettled New Year's Eve with two dead from fireworks and "unprecedented" violence against police.