CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA telescope has captured the biggest solar flare in years, which temporarily knocked out radio communication on Earth.

The sun spit out the huge flare along with a massive radio burst on Thursday, causing two hours of radio interference in parts of the U.S. and other sunlit parts of the world. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was the biggest flare since 2017, and the radio burst was extensive, affecting even the higher frequencies.

NEW YORK (AP) — After hearing from 40 witnesses over 2½ months, Judge Arthur Engoron sounded almost wistful as he presided over the last day of testimony in former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial.

“In a strange way, I’m gonna miss this trial,” he said Wednesday.

Things aren’t over yet in the case, in which New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of inflating his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has been increasingly pressuring Congress to pass stalled legislation to support Ukraine’s war against Russia, saying that funding has run out.

On Tuesday, however, President Joe Biden touted a new military aid package worth $200 million for Ukraine.

Money is dwindling. But the announcement of more weapons being sent to Kyiv just underscores the complexity of the funding. So has the money run out? Or are there still a few billion dollars floating around?

It’s complicated.

ROME, Dec 16 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Italian police arrested more than 40 people on Friday during an operation against youth gangs in the country’s 14 cities, according to a press release.

A police report posted on the Genova24 website this Friday stated that a quarter of them were minors, accused of drug trafficking, assaults, and other crimes.

The cities affected by those criminal groups are Arezzo, Bari, Catania, Genoa, Milan, Modena, Naples, Palermo, Padua, Pescara, Reggio Emilia, Rovigo, Salerno, and Verona.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark is holding two people in custody and four others are the target of a terrorism investigation, a prosecutor said Friday, in a case that coincided with an arrest in the Netherlands and several in Germany of alleged Hamas members.

Authorities in Germany said three people arrested there were suspected of preparing for attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe. Danish authorities said that one person was arrested in the Netherlands, but it wasn’t clear if there were any ties to the Hamas investigation in Germany.

JERUSALEM Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Israeli military mistakenly killed three hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas during an incident which is "under review", a military spokesperson said on Friday.

The military said the hostages were killed during combat with militants in Gaza and expressed its condolences to the families while saying there would be "full transparency" in the investigation into the incident.

LE PECQ, France (AP) — The vehicle’s headlights silhouetted the exhausted teenager walking alone in the rain in deepest rural France, with a skateboard tucked under his arm.

“I said to myself, ‘That’s strange. It’s 3 am in the morning, it’s raining, he’s all by himself on the road between two villages,” delivery driver Fabien Accidini recounted.

From there, the story gets stranger still. The youngster, it turned out, was Alex Batty, a 17-year-old from Britain who had been missing since 2017.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.

The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.

CAIRO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A cameraman for Al Jazeera was killed by a drone strike on Friday while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, the Arabic broadcaster said.

Cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was unable to get to safety or medical treatment after being injured in the strike on the Farhana School in Khan Younis and died of his wounds before ambulances were allowed in the area, Al Jazeera said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Michigan man described by prosecutors as a self-professed militia leader was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for attacking law enforcement officers with a stolen police baton during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Matthew Thomas Krol, 65, of Linden, Michigan, assaulted at least three officers, injuring one of them, with the baton that he took from police. A prosecutor said Krol was one of the worst instigators of violence that ultimately forced officers to retreat from the mob of rioters who stormed the Capitol’s West Plaza.

TUNIS, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Traditional Chinese Medicine Center was unveiled on Friday in the Tunisian capital Tunis.

A ceremony was held to mark the establishment of the center, which is located in Mongi Slim Hospital.

The event was attended by the Tunis governorate's Regional Health Director Tarek Ben Nasr, and a Chinese delegation headed by Gong Jianping, director of the Health Commission of China's Jiangxi Province.

NAIROBI, Dec 16 (NNN-KBC) — Kenya has reached an agreement to send workers to Saudi Arabia, the country’s President William Ruto says.

Under the deal reached on Thursday, nurses and other skilled workers will go to the Middle Eastern country from Kenya, with 2,500 workers planned for the first deployment.

“Previously, we only sent domestic workers, but now we can export skilled labour to Saudi Arabia and other countries,” President Ruto said on Friday, adding that the workers will receive a monthly salary of 200,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,300; £1,000).