WORLD NEWS

Finland Clears Last Hurdle to Join NATO, Reshaping Balance of Power

In Arrest of US Reporter, Russia Doubles Down on Isolation From West

A photograph released by Russian state media of President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday. The Kremlin left little doubt that Mr. Putin had personally approved the arrest of a Wall Street Journal journalist.

Under the Taliban, Afghanistan Is Trying to Make Due With Less

Amanullah, the pulao master at a popular restaurant in Kabul, preparing to serve the morning’s first customers last month. Since the Taliban took over, what people eat has changed.

Days After Netanyahu Fired Him, Israel’s Defense Minister Is Still on the Job

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, was fired on Sunday but has remained in his post because he did not receive a notification letter.

At Least 35 Are Killed in India When a Temple’s Well Cover Collapses

An accident victim was carried toward an ambulance at the site of the disaster on Thursday in Indore, India.

Vatican Repudiates ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ Used as Justification for Colonization

Pope Francis meeting with Indigenous leaders during his trip in Canada, last year.

Macron, Trying to Move Past Pension Fury, Announces Water Plan

President Emmanuel Macron of France in Savines-le-Lac on Thursday.

Bankers Are Convicted of Allowing a Putin Ally to Deposit Millions in Swiss Accounts

Outside a court in Zurich this month during the Gazprombank case.

Police Missteps Contributed to Canada’s Deadliest Shooting Rampage, Inquiry Says

A memorial service for an officer killed in the line of duty during a mass shooting in April 2020 in rural Nova Scotia. A commission investigating the killings found a litany of missteps that contributed to the death toll.

Russia Detains Wall Street Journal Reporter, Accusing Him of Espionage

Mr. Gershkovich has worked for The Journal in Moscow since January 2022.

Bolsonaro Returns to Brazil, Ending Self-Imposed Exile

Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, waving to supporters outside the Liberal Party’s headquarters in Brasília on Thursday.

Why This Colombian Town Still Celebrates Christmas in February

Dancing during Christmas celebrations in Quinamayó, Colombia, last month.

Pope ‘Gradually Improving’ After First Night in the Hospital

Pope Francis was helped to a car after a weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday. He was later taken to a hospital for treatment for a respiratory infection, the Vatican said.

Ukrainians in a Hidden Command Post See Bakhmut Going Their Way

The military operations of a major Ukrainian battle group defending the city of Bakhmut from an unnamed location in eastern Ukraine.

French Anger at Macron Seeps Into Bordeaux

Trump Indictment Is a First for the U.S. but Not for Other Nations

Former President Donald J. Trump in March. The United States has been an outlier in its reluctance to charge a former leader, until now.

For Ukrainian Convicts, a Strange Odyssey Through Russian Prisons

From left, Anatoly Korin, Ruslan Osadchiy and Aidana Fedosik in Tbilisi, Georgia, last month. Ms. Fedosik helped Mr. Korin and Mr. Osadchiy — who were shipped from a Ukrainian prison to a Russian one, before eventually being released — return to Ukraine.

In Taiwan’s Waters, a Hunt for Tiny, Wriggling ‘Gold’

Fishing for glass eels along the Lanyang River in Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan.

Your Friday Briefing

Donald Trump has created an aura of legal invincibility that the indictment threatens to puncture.

Turkey Approves Finland’s NATO Membership, a Defeat for Putin

President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey met in Ankara earlier this month.

In Berlin, King Charles Lauds Germany’s Support for Ukraine

King Charles III of Britain, front center, after delivering a speech at the Bundestag in Berlin on Thursday.

Five Arrested in Migration Center Fire That Left 39 Dead in Mexico

Asylum-seeking migrants, mostly from Venezuela, crossing the Rio Grande into the United States on Wednesday, two days after at least 39 migrants died in a fire at a detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

6 U.S. Service Members Suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries in Syria Attacks

Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said eight militants were killed in a retaliatory U.S. airstrike in Syria last week.

Your Friday Briefing: Trump Indicted

The indictment kicks off a new and volatile phase in Donald Trump’s post-presidential life.

Kushner Firm Got Hundreds of Millions From 2 Persian Gulf Nations

Jared Kushner attending the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia last year. Mr. Kushner’s private equity firm has received investments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. Puts Sanctions on Man Accused of Working on Russia-North Korea Arms Deal

A.I., Brain Scans and Cameras: The Spread of Police Surveillance Tech

Dubai’s police run next-generation surveillance systems from a headquarters north of the city’s downtown skyscrapers and malls.

Studies Link Common Childhood Viruses to Rare Hepatitis Cases

Sailboat Crew Rescued After Hitting Whale in Pacific Ocean

A Mexican Grandmother Finds the Right Recipe for Culinary Stardom

Bradley Coss and his mother, Cruz Ortiz, watch Doña Ángela’s YouTube cooking videos from their home in El Paso. “You can see in my mom the genuine joy it brings her to watch those videos.” Mr. Coss said.

The Biggest Battle in Ukraine

Ukrainian military on the street of Bakhmut in December 2022.

Ukraine Goes Dark: NASA Images Drive Home a Nation’s Anguish

Your Thursday Briefing

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the plant yesterday.

Philippines Ferry Fire Kills at Least 28

A Philippine Coast Guard vessel was deployed to fight the fire on Wednesday night.

Mexico Investigates Migrant Center Fire Deaths as Homicide Case

Migrants spent the night outside of a detention center where at least 38 people died in a fire this week in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Biden’s Confrontation With Netanyahu Had Been Brewing for Years

Proposed changes to Israel’s judiciary have divided the country and ignited huge protests.

Soldiers Massing Near Ukrainian Nuclear Plant, U.N. Official Warns

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as seen from the city of Nikopol in 2022.

Supreme Court Considers a Mercenary’s Confession and the Confrontation Clause

Justices of the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case stemming from a murder for hire in the Philippines in 2012.

Your Thursday Briefing: How Modi Wields Power

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that those who had accused him of subverting India’s institutions were engaged in a “conspiracy” intended to “finish off the credibility” of those institutions.

Putin’s top security adviser holds talks with India’s prime minister as Moscow seeks closer ties.

Modi Tightens Grip on India’s Democracy, Wielding the Judiciary

The Congress party leader, Rahul Gandhi, in New Delhi on Saturday after his disqualification as a member of Parliament.

Amsterdam Has a Message for Male British Tourists: ‘Stay Away’

A campaign from Amsterdam is aimed at “nuisance tourists” who are planning to “go nuts,” according to the city’s announcement.

Israeli Crisis Shows How Protests Can, and Can’t, Force Change

A protest against the Israeli government’s proposed judicial overhaul outside Parliament on Monday.

How Anti-Israel Protests Cost Indonesia a FIFA Soccer Championship

Banners for the Indonesia 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup football tournament in Jakarta on Thursday.

AstraZeneca’s Covid Vaccine May Have Posed a Higher Heart Risk for Young Women, Study Shows

Preparing a dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at a temporary site in the City Hall of Hull in northeast England.

Yang Bing-yi, Founder of Dumpling Empire Din Tai Fung, Dies at 96

Pope Francis Hospitalized for Respiratory Infection

Pope Francis blessing guests during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday morning.

Even as U.S. Beckons, European Leaders Head to Beijing

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, fourth chair on the right side, met with China’s premier, Li Keqiang, fifth chair on the left, in November in Beijing.

Vanuatu Strikes a Blow for Climate Justice

Damage from cyclone Kevin in Port Villa, Vanuatu, this month, in an image taken from social media video.

DNA Confirms Oral History of Swahili People

The ruins of Gede, a medieval Swahili coastal settlement in Kenya where researchers are now searching for the remains of less well-to-do Swahili people.

King Charles Arrives in Germany for First State Visit as Monarch

King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, standing with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, at the Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday.

Ukraine Says It Will Use Legal Means to Evict Orthodox Pro-Russia Monks

Priests and monks loaded cars and trucks before a threatened government eviction at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery on Tuesday.

Obamacare Keeps Winning

Governor Roy Cooper during a bill signing to expand Medicaid coverage in Raleigh on Monday.

How Ukraine’s Battered Steel Industry Galvanized Its War Effort

The Yankees Cap Goes Viral in Brazil: ‘Is It Basketball?’

A large selection of counterfeit Yankees caps on display at a stand in Rio de Janeiro.

The Incredible Challenge of Counting Every Global Birth and Death

Dr. Diana Hidalgo, left, and Dr. Paola Rosero delivering a newborn girl in Mocoa, Colombia.

U.S.-Israel Tensions Over Judicial Overhaul Burst Into Open

Amid tensions with Israel, President Biden told reporters that he was “very concerned” about the events there.

Taiwan’s President Heads to the U.S., Bracing for China’s Retaliation

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. She has sought to promote Taiwan’s position as a thriving democracy in Asia and shore up its security and economic ties with the United States.

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog arrives at Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhzhia plant.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, after visiting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in September.