WORLD

Brasília, Brazil | AFP | Brazil entered a new chapter in its history on Tuesday, embracing a far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose determination to break with decades of centrist rule has raised both hopes and fears. The former paratrooper and longtime lawmaker was starting his four-year mandate on January 1 …

Tampa, United States | AFP | NASA rang in the New Year on Tuesday with a historic flyby of the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever explored by humankind — a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule — in the hopes of learning more about how planets …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Nuclear-armed North Korea wants good relations with the US but could consider a change of approach if Washington maintains its sanctions, leader Kim Jong Un warned in his New Year speech Tuesday after 12 months of diplomatic rapprochement. At a summit with US President …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he would not resign if prosecutors moved to indict him on corruption charges, as authorities probe several cases involving him ahead of April polls. Netanyahu said he would not step down in the event of being summoned for …

Buenos Aires, Argentina | AFP | Diego Maradona has given his backing to Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly after the Senegalese international was subjected to racist abuse by Inter Milan supporters last week. Argentina great Maradona, who won the Serie A title with Napoli in 1987 and 1990, posted a picture …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Floyd Mayweather beat Japanese kickboxing phenomenon Tenshin Nasukawa by a technical knockout on Monday in the first round of a New Year’s Eve “exhibition” bout that brought the US boxing superstar out of retirement. Mayweather floored Nasukawa, a kickboxer less than half his age, three …

Washington, United States | AFP | A US judge who ruled earlier this month that Obamacare is unconstitutional has said the health care law can stand while his decision is appealed. In a stay order issued Sunday, Texas-based Judge Reed O’Connor said that while he was confident his ruling would …

Tampa, United States | AFP | A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. The US space agency will ring in the New Year …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As 2018 comes to an end, extreme poverty is at the lowest level in recorded history but is expected to become increasingly concentrated in one region. A record number of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, and an influential new report confirms we’re …

Washington, United States | AFP | A senior Republican senator said Sunday that President Donald Trump had promised to stay in Syria to finish the job of destroying the Islamic State group — just days after announcing he would be withdrawing troops immediately. “The president understands the need to finish …