WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US and Ukrainian officials are holding a second straight day of talks in Miami on President Trump's peace plan, Axios reported Friday, citing US and Ukrainian officials. The discussions, which started on Thursday night and lasted approximately two hours, resumed Friday mornin»»»

Esther was sleeping on the streets of Lagos when a woman approached her with the promise of a route out of Nigeria to a job and a home in Europe. She had dreamt of a new life, especially in the UK. Thrown out of a violent and abusive foster home, she had little to stay for. But when she left Lagos »»»

It sounds like a simple merger deal, but it's got all the ingredients of a Hollywood drama: a rich and powerful suitor, political intrigue, and plenty of cliff-hangers. Netflix's deal to buy Warner Brothers Discovery's storied movie studio and popular HBO streaming networks, is a real-life tale of »»»

At a viewing party in Philadelphia, dozens of football fans from around the world took refuge from frigid conditions as they watched the draw for next summer's men's World Cup on dozens of TVs. The glitzy event some 140 miles away at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC was attended by the le»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Thousands of school students took to the streets in major German cities on Friday in a show of protest against a new bill on the modernization of military service, German media reported. The bill was adopted by the federal parliament earlier in the day in a 323-272 vote with one »»»

President Rumen Radev awarded the Presidential Badge of Honour to five firefighters and volunteers for their active participation in combating this year’s large-scale fires and for their significant contribution to national security. The ceremony took place at the Presidency on Friday to mark Volun»»»

1 of 3 | President Donald Trump takes questions during a press briefing after the Supreme Court released their final decisions of their term in June. The court ruled that individual judges cannot grant nationwide injunctions to block executive orders, including on Trump’s effort to eliminate birthr»»»

The Duchess of Sussex has attempted to contact her estranged father, Thomas Markle, who is reported to be seriously ill in hospital in the Philippines. A spokesman for Meghan said: "I can confirm she has reached out to her father." Mr Markle is reported to have had his leg amputated during surgery.»»»

The US is lobbying several EU members to block a plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a €140 billion loan to Ukraine, in hopes of using the funds as leverage for a potential peace deal, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources. Under the EU Commission’s latest proposal, the bloc »»»

Doha: Saudi Arabia became the first team to reach the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2026 quarter-finals on Friday after a 3-1 victory over Comoros in Group B, sealing qualification with one match to spare. In front of over 32,000 spectators at Al Bayt Stadium, Mohamed Kanno and captain Salem Al Dawsari were »»»

KUWAIT, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- 1959 -- Kuwait Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah signed decrees-into-law regarding the Kuwaiti citizenship, passports, and on foreigners' residency. 1963 -- Kuwait Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah signed a law on statistics and census. Accordingly, the Central Sta»»»

Investigations revealed operational weaknesses and how to improve them after separate incidents that damaged the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in February and caused the loss of three aircraft, according to a report released on Thursday. File Photo by MC1 Cody Beam/U.S. Navy/UPI | License Ph»»»

A Copa Airlines sign on Thursday at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, Panama, says that Copa is temporarily suspending flights to and from Caracas, Venezuela, "due to intermittent problems with one of the navigation signals." Photo by Bienvenido Velasco/EPA Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Venezuela is »»»

CAIRO, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- Foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the UAE expressed profound concern over the recent statements by the Israeli occupation authorities that they plan to reopen Rafah border crossing from one direction to force the Palesti»»»

Doha: The Foreign Ministers of the State of Qatar; the Arab Republic of Egypt; the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; the United Arab Emirates; the Republic of Indonesia; the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; the Republic of Turkiye; and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have expressed grave concern regarding stat»»»

The New York Times filed suit against artificial intelligence startup Perplexity for copyright infringement Friday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The New York Times has filed suit against artificial intelligence startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. The T»»»

Strumica, 5 December 2025 (MIA) — The government has donated to four elementary schools and two preschools in Strumica high-efficiency, high-capacity air purifiers that remove at least 99.995% of airborne viruses, bacteria and other pathogens from the air, according to Strumica Mayor Petar Jankov i»»»

Frank Gehry, considered one of the most influential architects of the century, has died aged 96. Gehry is known for his avant garde, experimental style of architecture. His titanium-covered design of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain catapulted him to fame in 1997. He sealed his daring reputati»»»

Doha: Qatar will begin their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign on June 13 against Switzerland after being drawn in Group B alongside the Red Crosses, co-hosts Canada and the winners of the UEFA Path A intercontinental play-off between Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Qatar will»»»

The Bureau of Land Management is offering $1 Christmas tree permits for people to cut down their own tree from federal land this year. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The Bureau of Land Management announced Friday a new "One Dollar, One Tree" holiday savings plan for»»»

Activists and relatives of detainees in Israeli prisons gather for a protest Thursday organized by Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture to condemn Israeli aggression, assassinations and violations of U.N. Resolution 1701 and Lebanese sovereignty, and its continued kidnapping of Lebane»»»

Europe is facing potential “civilizational erasure” as the continent’s policymakers encourage censorship, crack down on political opponents, and turn a blind eye to mass immigration, the new National Security Strategy released by the administration of US President Donald Trump warns. The landmark a»»»

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that illegal crossings along the Big Bend Sector in Texas, which includes part of the Trump border wall pictured in 2021 near the Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, has declined by 74% in the last 12 months. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | L»»»

China-Central Asia Monitor: Nov. 24-30, 2025. Central Asia China’s trade with Central Asian states grew significantly during the first 10 months of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, according to Chinese government statistics. Trade turnover with Kyrgyzstan saw the largest spike, rising f»»»

President Donald Trump speaks to the press in September. A federal appellate court on Friday gave Trump a victory when it ruled positions with the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board are at-will and lack protection against presidential administration firings. File »»»

KUWAIT, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Minister of Social Affairs, Family, and Childhood Affairs Dr. Amthal Al-Huwailah affirmed on Friday that volunteer work Kuwait is an integral part of the national identity and a deeply rooted tradition in the society, on the International Volunteer Day, observed ann»»»

Hamas was taken by surprise by news of the killing of Yasser Abu Shabab, the self-styled leader of armed groups operating east of Rafah in southern Gaza. The movement stayed silent until his men confirmed he had been shot dead, while Israel’s account of the incident continued to stir questions amid»»»

The US Supreme court has agreed to hear a case on whether the century-old constitutional right of guaranteed citizenship for those born in the US will remain. On his first day in office in January, President Donald Trump signed an order to end birthright citizenship, but the move was blocked by low»»»

New York: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced Friday that the number of Palestinians injured this year in 1,600 attacks and assaults carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has risen to 733, double the number recorded last year. »»»

Homeless people congregate in Buenos Aires in March. Poverty in 2024 had climbed to the highest level recorded since the series began in 2005, while it now stands at its lowest point since 2018. File Photo by Juan Roncoroni/EPA BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Income-based poverty in Argentina fell to»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The tone of Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff was constructively friendly, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Friday. "The tone, I would say, was constructive and friendly. Putin knows Witkoff well, he has already met with him six times. T»»»

America's allies are up in arms over the new US National Security Strategy outlining a desire for peace with Russia, rejecting further NATO expansion, and calling on Europe to share the burden of achieving strategic stability on the continent. Sputnik asked renowned veteran US military and foreign »»»

1 of 2 | The Department of Transportation announced it has selected a company to oversee upgrades to the federal air traffic control system and keep it on an ambitious three-year timetable. Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The Department of Transportation announced it selected an integ»»»

Most of Bolivia’s gold is held in banks in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States rather than in domestic vaults. File Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The new president of the Central Bank of Bolivia, David Espinoza, said six tons of the country's international gold reserves are»»»

A picture is beginning to emerge about the suspect accused of planting two pipe bombs next to Democratic and Republican headquarters on the eve of the 2021 Capitol riot, following his arrest on Thursday. Neighbors and family members described Brian Cole Jr, 30, as "naive" and a "quiet guy" who ofte»»»

A Russian-flagged tanker, identified as the KAIROS, has run aground near the Bulgarian coast close to Ahtopol following a drone attack by Ukraine in the Black Sea. The incident prompted an immediate response from Bulgarian authorities, including the Maritime Administration Agency, the Border Police»»»

A South Carolina man bought himself a scratch-off lottery ticket as a birthday gift in Myrtle Beach and scored a bonus present of $500,000. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A South Carolina man bought himself a scratch-off lottery ticket as a birthday gift and scored»»»

Pedestrians walk through snow-covered streets in Chicago in 2011. This weekend, the next surge of Arctic air is expected to advance from the northern Plains on Saturday. Accompanying the waves of Arctic air is likely to be patches of steady snow and episodes of flurries, snow showers and heavier sn»»»

By mid-2014, after the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in Donbas, an industry emerged that would become the pillar of Ukrainian national defence, driving innovations that would influence modern warfare. What began as a story of resilience and voluntary creativity evolved into a flouris»»»

A woman accused of being one of the world's most wanted traffickers of tiger body parts has been arrested in India, officials have said. Yangchen Lachungpa, who was detained earlier this week, is accused of playing a critical role in building trafficking corridors leading out of the country to smug»»»

IndiGo, India's most popular airline, has canceled more than 1,000 flights accross the country. File Photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA Dec. 5 (UPI) -- More than 1,000 flights in India have been canceled Friday by IndiGo, the country's most popular local airline, after the company struggled to follow n»»»

Some of Europe's biggest Nato members are moving to strengthen their professional armies through voluntary national service schemes. Large conscripted armies were a feature of Nato states during the Cold War but they dwindled in size after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, Russia's full-sc»»»

Kazakhstan and its oil major partners could annually take a $27bn hit if Ukraine keeps up its attacks on the Central Asian country’s main crude export terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Moscow, on the other hand, might lose only around $0.6–0.65bn annually. That’s the warning from Sergei Vakulen»»»

A CDC panel voted on Friday to end a universal recommendation for newborns to receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, instead recommending shared decision-making to determine when or if a baby will start the three-shot series. File Photo by BIll Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo Dec.»»»

Kazakhstan and its oil major partners could annually take a $27bn hit if Ukraine keeps up its attacks on the Central Asian country’s main crude export terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Moscow, on the other hand, might lose only around $0.6–0.65bn annually. That’s the warning from Sergei Vakulen»»»

Billionaire ex-prime minister and leader of the Czech populist party ANO, which won the October general election, Andrej Babiš announced he is to dispose of his food and agro-chemical conglomerate Agrofert in order to solve his conflict of interests. ANO signed a coalition agreement with far right »»»

Shoppers pictured March 2020 waiting in long lines at a grocery store in Medina, Ohio. New data by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.2% for September with a 2.8% annual rate -- a key inflation measure. File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI |»»»

Former loyalists to Bashar al-Assad who fled Syria after the dictator’s fall are funneling millions of dollars to tens of thousands of potential fighters, hoping to stir uprisings against the new government and reclaim some of their lost influence, a Reuters investigation has found. Assad, who esca»»»

The 2025 US National Security Strategy (NSS), released quietly on the White House website on December 5 outlining Donald Trump’s foreign policy, sets out in unambiguous terms America’s intent to maintain the unipolar world. That puts him in direct conflict with the multipolar world view that both R»»»

Civil unrest risks across the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia region (CEECA) have risen sharply over the past year, led by mounting political instability, simmering corruption allegations and inflation-linked discontent in the Balkans and Central Asia, according to a new report from ris»»»