As the first light of dawn trickles in through the hospital window, 19-year-old Mohammed Ali learns that his two-year-old cousin has died of hunger. But he has to remain strong for his little brother Mohannad, who could be next.

He holds his brother's hand as the five-year-old struggles to breathe, his skin stretched tight over tiny ribs. "I have already lost a cousin to malnutrition today, I can't lose my little brother," he says.

His last presidential vacation behind him, Barack Obama is entering the closing stretch of his term, an eleventh-hour push to tie up loose ends and put finishing touches on his legacy before handing the reins to President-elect Donald Trump.

Obama returns to Washington at midday Monday from Hawaii with less than three weeks remaining in his presidency. His final days in office will largely be consumed by a bid to protect his endangered health care law, a major farewell speech and the ongoing handover of power to Trump.

Beijing and other cities across northern and central China are shrouded in thick smog, prompting authorities to delay dozens of flights and close highways.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau on Monday extended an "orange alert" for heavy air pollution for three more days. Beijing's smog had initially been forecast to lift by Monday.

Her diligence and face cream cleaned Nimrud's most famous ivory. She captured the archaeological dig on celluloid and Kodak film, developing the prints in water painstakingly filtered from the nearby Tigris River.

And every day, after she balanced the books and arranged for the next day's meals, Agatha Christie sat down to write.

The giant winged bulls that once stood sentry at the nearly 3,000-year-old palace at Nimrud have been hacked to pieces. The fantastical human-headed creatures were believed to guard the king from evil, but now their stone remains are piled in the dirt, victims of the Islamic State group's fervor to erase history.

The militants' fanaticism devastated one of the most important archaeological sites in the Middle East. But more than a month after the militants were driven out, Nimrud is still being ravaged, its treasures disappearing, piece by piece, imperiling any chance of eventually rebuilding it, an Associated Press team found after multiple visits in the past month.

A thick fog has shrouded downtown Dubai ahead of a New Year's Eve fireworks display at the world's tallest building.

The seasonal fog, which has struck around the United Arab Emirates this week, hid the Burj Khalifa from view Saturday morning.

One police officer and two suspected militants have been killed in a shootout in Russia's volatile North Caucasus.

Fatina Ubaydatova, spokeswoman in Russia's republic of Dagestan, said on Friday a police squad was trying to stop a car with suspected militants outside the city of Khasavyurt late on Thursday when people in that car opened fire on them. Police identified the two men as local militants who attacked policemen earlier this week in the regional capital, Makhachkala.

German authorities say more than 54,000 migrants, including failed asylum-seekers, received approval for government funding to return to their homeland this year, paving the way for a significant increase in voluntary departures.

Germany is keen to increase the number of rejected would-be refugees leaving the country after last year's influx of 890,000 migrants.

American officials say U.S.-Russian talks on their separate fights against the Islamic State group are improving and becoming more frequent, with each side trading information and even outlining some of their strategic objectives.

Such progress would dispel the notion that ties between the former Cold War foes are "frozen."

After the killing incident of army Corporal Ali al-Qaq on Monday, the Lebanese Army Airborne Regiment stormed several homes at dawn on Tuesday in the border town of al-Qasr in northeast of the Hermel district in search for the culprits, the National News Agency reported.

The army said the homes stormed in al-Qasr were of people suspected of involvement in the death of Qaq, who was gunned down while on vacation in Syria.