East Coast fishermen are turning a wary eye toward an emerging upstart: the offshore wind industry.

In New Bedford, Massachusetts, the onetime whaling capital made famous in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," fishermen dread the possibility of navigating a forest of turbines as they make their way to the fishing grounds that have made it the nation's most lucrative fishing port for 17 years running.

Cheap, electric bicycles have made life a lot easier for New York City's legions of restaurant delivery workers, but the party may be over in the New Year.

City officials are promising a crackdown on e-bikes, which may be loved by environmentalists and the largely poor, immigrant workforce that relies on them, but are loathed by many drivers and pedestrians who think they are a menace.

Lamenting "the winds of war" blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Monday called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula.

The pope took particular aim at areas of global tension where President Donald Trump is playing a critical role. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has ignited fresh violence in the Middle East, while confrontation with North Korea over its nuclear tests has escalated tensions in Asia.

The war in Syria seems to be winding down nearly seven years into the conflict, largely because of Russian-backed government victories and local cease-fires aimed at freezing the lines of conflict.

Underscoring this perception is the fact that President Bashar Assad — however battered and bruised — has survived the war, sitting more comfortably now than at any time since the rebellion against his rule erupted in March 2011.

For six hours he hid in an upstairs room, listening to the crackle of gunfire and the screams of people being slaughtered outside his Myanmar home.

With every footstep that drew near, every cry that pierced the air, 52-year-old Bodru Duza braced for the soldiers to find him, to kill him like all the others who had fled to his compound that morning seeking a safe place to shelter. They were being blindfolded and bound, marched away in small groups, then butchered and shot as they begged for their lives.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq warned on Wednesday against using Uber after a driver for the ride-hailing service was arrested in connection with the murder of a British woman who worked at the U.K. Embassy.

Mashnouq said the driver had a criminal record, without elaborating, but said that should have been an alarm for anyone seeking to hire him. Mashnouq urged Lebanese to use "traditional" taxis, saying Uber is a "virtual" entity that has no physical representation.

A lawyer for a Lebanese inmate who disappeared 20 years ago from a federal prison in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania says his client intends to plead guilty to an escape charge.

Public defender Thomas Livingston spoke to a U.S. news website about Ghassan Saleh's plans after the 66-year-old man was arraigned Tuesday. But he didn't say when the plea would be entered.

Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia and his Saudi counterpart are caught in what appears to be a diplomatic tussle over representation, with each country delaying accreditation of the other's diplomat, though both were named months ago.

The delay highlights tension between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon following the bizarre, now-reversed resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri from Riyadh.

As President Bashar Assad seeks to reassert his authority in Idlib, the only remaining province in Syria where his forces have almost no presence, he may be aided there by deep fractures within al-Qaeda, the militant group that dominates the region.

A recent wave of detentions and a spate of violence within al-Qaeda have also raised fears of an all-out war between insurgents in the heavily populated province near Turkey as Assad's forces make their push.

An estimated 258 million people have left their birth countries and are now living in other nations — an increase of 49 percent since 2000, says a U.N. report on international migration released Monday.

The biennial report released on International Migrants Day said the percentage of the world's people who are international migrants has increased modestly from 2.8 percent in 2000 to 3.4 percent this year.