Three men will stand trial next year after a silver steward employed at the official residence of the French president was arrested this week for the theft of items of silverware and table service worth thousands of euros, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The Élysée Palace’s head steward reported the disappearance, with the estimated loss ranging between 15,000 and 40,000 euros (($17,500-$47,000). The Sèvres Manufactory — which supplied most of the furnishings — identified several of the missing items on online auction websites. Questioning of Élysée staff led investigators to suspect one of the silver stewards, whose inventory records gave...

The chair of Fenerbahce, one of Turkey’s leading sports clubs, was called to give testimony Saturday as part of an ongoing drug investigation involving high-profile entertainment and media figures. Sadettin Saran, who holds dual Turkish and U.S. citizenship, gave a statement in Istanbul after returning from abroad before being sent to a forensic medical facility to have hair and blood samples taken, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. More than a dozen people have been detained since the start of December as part of an investigation overseen by Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office. TV news anchors, journalists, singers, actors and social...

 The only official document human rights advocate Uladzimir Labkovich had with him when he was suddenly released from a Belarus prison, blindfolded and driven to neighboring Ukraine was a piece of paper with his name and mugshot on it. “After four and half years of abuse in prison, I was thrown out of my own country without a passport or valid documents,” Labkovich told The Associated Press by phone from Ukraine on Wednesday. “This is yet another dirty trick by the Belarusian authorities, who continue to make our lives difficult.” Labkovich, 47, was one of 123 prisoners released by Belarus on...

 Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been serving a 27-year prison sentence for an attempted coup since November, was granted permission on Friday to leave prison for a hernia surgery. The date of the surgery has not been announced. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes gave the far-right leader the go-ahead after federal police doctors confirmed he needs the procedure. Doctors say Bolsonaro’s hernia affects both of his groins and causes him pain. The former Brazilian president, in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign...

A Malaysian court Monday rejected former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his graft sentence under house arrest. The High Court ruled that a rare royal order issued by the nation’s former king was not valid as it wasn’t made in accordance with constitutional requirements. Najib’s lawyer told the court they plan to appeal the verdict. The 72-year-old former prime minister will serve the remainder of his term in prison, scheduled to end in August 2028 after the Pardons Board cut the 12-year sentence by half last year. Najib is serving time after being convicted in...

The final group of 115 students abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic Private Primary and Secondary School in Papiri community, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, have been freed, bringing the total number of rescued children to approximately 265. According to Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser Information and Strategy to President Tinubu in a Sunday post on X: “The remaining 130 schoolchildren abducted by terrorists at St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, on November 21, have now been released. They are expected to arrive in Minna on Monday and rejoin their parents for the Christmas celebration. “One hundred...