World News

Stocks are closing modestly higher on Wall Street, keeping major indexes at or near record highs. The S&P 500 added 0.

SAO PAULO — Representatives for soccer superstar Neymar are trying to distance him from claims he has flouted pandemic warnings with a huge, multiday New Year's bash at or near his home in Brazil while on break from his French club team.

BATON ROUGE, La. — The death of a newly elected U.S. representative from Louisiana of complications related to COVID-19 stunned the state's political circles Wednesday and became the latest brutal reminder of how dangerous the coronavirus can be.

MOSCOW — A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.

MOJIANG, China — Deep in the lush valleys of southern China lies the entrance to a mine shaft that once harboured bats with the closest known relative to COVID-19.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A mob led by members of Pakistan's radical Islamist party demolished a Hindu temple Wednesday after setting it on fire in a deeply conservative northwestern town, a senior police official said.

LONDON — Britain became the first country to authorize AstraZeneca’s inexpensive, easy-to-handle COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, gaining another weapon against the virus amid a resurgence so severe that the government extended lockdowns to three-quarters

NEW YORK — Renée Zellweger is known for acting but you could easily write a thesis about her love for music.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s 1966 and a thunderstorm illuminates the night sky in Memphis, Tennessee.

DAMASCUS, Syria — An attack on a passenger bus in southern Syria on Wednesday killed 28 civilians and injured others, according to the Syrian state news agency.