LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will seek a fourth term in office, his party said Wednesday, noting he would be its consensus candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections and the office of the prime minister.

Sharif, who has served as prime minister three times, returned to Pakistan in October after four years of self-exile in London to avoid serving prison sentences on corruption charges.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has hit more than 70 sites allegedly linked to Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq during airstrikes launched this week in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq, the defense minister said Wednesday.

At least 59 Kurdish militants were killed in the strikes as well as in land clashes, Yasar Guler said in a video message to top military officials which was posted on X, formerly Twitter.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Sweden edged closer toward joining NATO on Tuesday after the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee greenlighted a protocol for the Nordic country’s membership in the military alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his objection to Sweden’s membership during a NATO summit in July, but it took him several months to send the bill to parliament for ratification and weeks for the parliamentary committee to give its consent.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel launched a plan on Wednesday to enhance the integration of young Arab-Israelis into the country's job market, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality.

The plan, named Gap Year, was initiated by the ministry in collaboration with the humanitarian organization Joint to address unemployment and narrow gaps.

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has convened a key meeting of its ruling party to review state policies this year and prepare for the coming year, the country's state news agency said Wednesday.

The 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) started Tuesday in Pyongyang, with WPK general secretary Kim Jong Un in attendance, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Russia and India have made tangible progress in talks on plans to jointly produce military equipment, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, after talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow.

Speaking at a news conference, Lavrov said such cooperation was of a strategic nature and was in both countries' interests and would help ensure security on the Eurasian continent.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands as the senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.

Kaag will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify aid consignments to the embattled enclave, in line with a recent UN Security Council resolution. She will also establish a UN mechanism to accelerate humanitarian relief shipments through states that are not party to the conflict.

Kaag is expected to take up the assignment on Jan. 8.

BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - China warned that remnants of a rocket would hit an area in the South China Sea on Tuesday, following the sixth deployment of its most powerful launch vehicle eleven days ago.

Rocket debris, which generally burns up in the atmosphere on re-entry, is expected to fall off the coast of China's island province of Hainan between 11:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) and noon (0400 GMT), said the China Maritime Safety Administration.

PHOENIX (AP) — Some voted for Donald Trump, others for Joe Biden. A few had never wanted anything to do with politics before they heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a podcast or YouTube video.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new coronavirus subvariant JN.1 is spreading fast in the United States, and is now accounting for nearly half of the latest COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

JN.1 is currently the fastest growing variant and the dominant one in the country. It is responsible for over 44 percent of new infections across the country, up from the previously reported 21.4 percent, according to the CDC.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday expanded their ground offensive into urban refugee camps in central Gaza after bombarding the crowded Palestinian communities and ordering residents to evacuate. Gaza’s main telecom provider announced another “complete interruption” of services in the besieged territory.

VIENNA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Iran has reversed a months-long slowdown in the rate at which it is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.

Many diplomats believed the slowdown, which had begun by June, was the result of secret talks between the United States and Iran that led to the release of U.S. citizens held in Iran earlier this year.