BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The Bosnian Serbs’ separatist leader vowed to carry on weakening his war-scarred country to the point where it will tear apart, despite a pledge by the United States to prevent such an outcome.

“I am not irrational, I know that America’s response will be to use force … but I have no reason to be frightened by that into sacrificing (Serb) national interests,” Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-run part, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More than 700,000 immigrants living illegally in California will gain access to free health care starting Monday under one of the state’s most ambitious coverage expansions in a decade.

It’s an effort that will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year and inches California closer to Democrats’ goal of providing universal health care to its roughly 39 million residents.

NEW YORK (AP) — A second trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on charges not in the cryptocurrency fraud case presented to a jury that convicted him in November is not necessary, prosecutors told a judge Friday.

Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in a letter that evidence at a second trial would duplicate evidence already shown to a jury. They also said it would ignore the “strong public interest in a prompt resolution” of the case, particularly because victims would not benefit from forfeiture or restitution orders if sentencing is delayed.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon weekly newspaper has had to lay off its entire staff and halt print after 40 years because its funds were embezzled by a former employee, its editor said, in a devastating blow to a publication that serves as an important source of information in a community that, like many others nationwide, is struggling with growing gaps in local news coverage.

LONDON (AP) — Eurostar services to and from London were canceled Saturday after a tunnel under the River Thames became flooded, disrupting festive travel plans.

Hundreds of travelers trying to get across the English Channel were stranded at London’s St. Pancras International station and the Gare du Nord station in Paris. Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, said it canceled at least 29 trains Saturday and is not expected to run any services for the rest of the day because of the flooding.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s defense forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile.

“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from allies” in NATO, said Poland’s armed forces chief, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła.

BRASILIA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Brazil expressed concern on Friday after Venezuela complained about the deployment of a British warship off the Guyana coast, raising tensions in a border dispute over the oil-rich Esequibo region of the former British colony.

"The Brazilian government believes that military demonstrations of support for any party must be avoided, so that the ongoing dialogue process can produce results," the Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement. It urged all parties to "contain themselves" and resume talks.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Reuters) - McDonald's Malaysia has sued a movement promoting boycotts against Israel for "false and defamatory statements" that it says hurt its business, seeking damages amounting to 6 million ringgit ($1.31 million).

Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians, and some Western fast-food brands in the country, as in some other Muslim nations, have been targeted by boycott campaigns over Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

KYIV, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The death toll from Russia's largest air attack on Ukraine rose to 39 on Saturday as rescuers continued to clear debris and rubble from the bombardment, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Russia launched 158 missiles and drones on cities and towns across Ukraine on Friday in what Ukrainian officials described as the worst aerial bombardment since the start of the war in February 2022.

BEIRUT, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli forces launched five airstrikes and heavy artillery targeting southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing four Hezbollah fighters and wounding two civilians, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli warplanes and drones targeted the town of Marwahin and the villages of Aita al-Shaab and Rmeish in the central sector of southern Lebanon, while the Israeli heavy artillery shelled several villages in both the eastern and western parts of southern Lebanon.

UNITED NATIONS, December 30. /TASS/: Russia has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council later on Saturday following Ukraine’s shelling attack on Belgorod, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said.

"We have requested an UNSC meeting on Belgorod at 3:00 p.m. New York time (8:00 p.m. GMT) today, December 30. We also demanded that the Czech permanent representative be present to explain his country’s supplies of weapons, which are used to kill civilians," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s presidential candidates expressed desire for peaceful relations with Beijing, which has described Jan. 13 elections on the self-ruled island as a choice between war and peace and stepped up harassment of the territory it claims as own.

William Lai, the frontrunner and currently Taiwan’s vice president from the ruling Democratic People’s Party, said in a televised debate Saturday that he was open to communicating with the government in Beijing, which has refused to talk to him or President Tsai Ing-wen.