NYT

The fighters who ousted Bashar al-Assad are aiming to transform their revolutionary movement and assert control over the country.

Russia’s state aviation authority said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been trying to make an emergency landing. The Kazakh authorities said that at least 29 people survived.

Pope Francis’ Christmas message was a plea for reconciliation, peace and care for others.

A civilian team at a base in Maryland disposed of Syrian toxins a decade ago after hundreds of people were killed in a nerve agent attack.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a vehement critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, didn’t want to be part of a prisoner exchange. But he says more exchanges are needed.

Moscow again struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, part of an effort to wear down the country. “In the trenches, there are no holidays,” one man said.

The British monarch recorded his annual holiday address from the chapel of a former hospital, rather than from a palace.

Hundreds of buildings were damaged or looted, including schools and hospitals, in a wave of unrest after Daniel Chapo was confirmed as the winner of the presidential election.

Around the world, people found ways to show their holiday spirit.

In southern Mexico, a city dazzles with a celebration of its rich culture and history through a radish-carving competition, a cherished tradition upheld by generations of families.

In the ruins left by Cyclone Chido, people from Mayotte, off the eastern coast of Africa, are calling to deport the undocumented immigrants who had settled there from neighboring islands.

As the rebels who ousted Syria’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, transition from insurgents to administrators, maintaining order in the streets of the capital has become a top priority.

Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, Flaco the escaped eagle-owl, Charlotte the maybe-pregnant stingray — they distracted us from the messy human world but were also clear reflections of it.

Celebrating cherished traditions on a special day.

The ancient Christian community in the coastal city of Tyre has little cause for celebration this year, with many mourning their dead and still rattled by months of Israeli bombardment.

A ruling on Monday confirming that Daniel Chapo had won a disputed election has sparked protests and violence.

Two journalists and a police officer died and at least seven others were wounded in the shooting before the reopening of a hospital wing in Port-au-Prince.

Lithuania’s national opera house had stopped showing Tchaikovsky’s 1892 masterpiece in solidarity with Ukraine over the war with Russia. Then a new minister expressed fondness for the Russian composer, igniting a furor.

The protests in Damascus broke out after footage circulated online of an artificial Christmas tree on fire in a mostly Christian town as masked men stand around it.

Israel said it had repelled an attack, which came hours after Israel’s defense minister vowed to “behead” the Yemeni group’s leadership.