World

PARIS — French police arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women at separate stations along Paris Metro Line 3 on Thursday afternoon, prosecutors said, in a spate of attacks that briefly rattled one of the capital’s busiest commuter corridors. The incidents unfolded between 4:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. local time (3:15-3:45 p.m. GMT), with the victims attacked at République and Arts et Métiers — both near the Marais district — and at Opéra, according to RATP, the Paris transit authority. Emergency responders treated the…

LOS ANGELES — California braced for further downpours and high winds after a series of powerful Pacific storms drenched the state, unleashing flash floods, mud and debris flows, and prompting emergency declarations from Los Angeles County to the San Francisco Bay Area. Fueled by an atmospheric river known as the Pineapple Express — a plume that channels deep tropical moisture from near Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast — the storms were forecast to drop roughly a month’s worth of rain on parts of the state, according to the…

HOMS, Syria — A deadly explosion struck the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the predominantly Alawite Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs during Friday prayers, killing six people and wounding 21, Syria’s Interior Ministry said Friday. “A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood of Homs,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state media, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded. Syria’s state news agency, SANA,…

Israel has condemned a joint statement by 14 countries — including Ireland, France and Britain — that denounced its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal under international law, with senior officials calling the criticism discriminatory and vowing to press ahead. “Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said. “The cabinet decision to establish…

Israel says its forces have killed a member of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, identifying the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari and alleging he helped plan attacks from Syria and Lebanon. In a statement, the Israeli military described al-Jawhari as a key operative in the Quds Force’s Unit 840 and said he “operated under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)” in terrorist activities directed by Iran against Israel and its security forces. The military said he was killed in the area of Ansariyeh, without…

Zelensky hails ‘very good’ talks with Trump envoys as Ukraine steps up strikes; Poland scrambles jets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he held “very good” talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff focused on ending Russia’s “brutal” war, as Kyiv intensified long-range strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure and Poland intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. “We discussed certain substantive details of the ongoing work,” Zelensky said in a social…

U.S. strikes Islamic State targets in northwest Nigeria at Abuja’s request, military says The United States carried out an airstrike against suspected Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria, U.S. Africa Command said, in an operation coordinated with Nigerian authorities that killed multiple militants in Sokoto state. Nigeria’s foreign ministry confirmed the action as part of ongoing security cooperation with Washington that includes intelligence sharing and “strategic coordination to target militant groups.” Foreign…

Zelensky outlines U.S.-led peace proposal for Ukraine, seeks Russian feedback KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday detailed a U.S.-led proposal aimed at ending the war, saying negotiators from Kyiv and Washington agreed on a framework that has been sent to Moscow for feedback. He did not publish a draft but described the plan’s provisions point by point in a briefing with journalists. The document envisions a “full and unconditional non-aggression agreement” between Russia and Ukraine, reinforced by a…

Brussels condemned a new round of U.S. visa bans on European figures involved in combating online hate and disinformation, calling the move unjustified and warning the European Union could respond swiftly to defend its regulatory autonomy. France and Germany joined the EU in denouncing the restrictions, which target five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, over alleged efforts to curb free speech and impose burdensome regulation on U.S. tech companies. The decision, announced by the administration of…

Pope Leo XIV is expected to renew his calls for peace on Monday as he delivers his first Christmas blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica, closing a year overshadowed by war but punctuated by fragile hopes for a truce in Gaza. The “Urbi et Orbi” message, scheduled for 11 a.m. Irish time, traditionally surveys global conflicts and urges reconciliation. The pontiff’s appeal for a one-day worldwide cease-fire went unheeded in Ukraine, where fighting continued. On Christmas Eve, Leo celebrated his first Christmas Mass, calling the…