Sixteen environmental activists who were jailed for actions including stopping traffic, blocking an oil facility and splashing a van Gogh painting with soup went to a London court Wednesday to challenge their sentences.

The Just Stop Oil protesters say they received unduly harsh prison terms –- between 15 months and five years –- for disruptive but peaceful actions.

After a frantic last round of action Wednesday, the inaugural 36-team league phase in Champions League history is over.

Here's a look at some of the numbers that tell the story of how the first season in the new-look format has gone:

Neymar's move from Al-Hilal to Brazilian club Santos means the Saudi Pro League has lost one of its most high-profile players.

The Brazilian attacker was among the global stars who transferred to Saudi clubs in 2023 when Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr and Karim Benzema left Real Madrid for Al-Ittihad.

The American economy ended 2024 on a solid note with consumer spending continuing to drive growth.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the economy's output of goods and services — expanded at a 2.3% annual rate from October through December.

Israel on Thursday formally banned the main United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory despite heavy diplomatic backlash, a move that humanitarian officials warn could have a disastrous impact on aid delivery and jeopardize regional stability in the long term.

The order against the agency, known as UNRWA, went into effect at midnight on Thursday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. But hours later, there was no change on the ground except in the most cosmetic sense — right-wing activists clambered up the high stone walls of UNRWA's headquarters compound in east Jerusalem, yanked down the blue-and-white U.N. flag, hoisting up Israel's blue-and-white instead.

President Donald Trump has launched his second bid to oust all transgender troops from the military, and once again it will be headed to the courts to sort it out.

Although the new order will affect only a tiny fraction of America's 2.1 million service members, it has taken on oversized importance to Trump and his administration, who see transgender forces as a sign the military is "woke" or not focused on training and winning wars.

Rihanna appeared for the first time at the trial of her longtime partner A$AP Rocky, on the day of its most important testimony — the description by a former friend of the moment Rocky allegedly fired a gun at him.

The singer superstar, who has two toddler sons with the rapper Rocky, sat out of view of the courtroom's cameras, between Rocky's mother and sister, in the downtown Los Angeles criminal courthouse. Security brought her in surreptitiously to avoid crowds Wednesday morning.

A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before. The pristine, snow-capped dormant volcano is the second highest on New Zealand's North Island at 2,518 meters (8,261 feet) and a popular spot for tourism, hiking and snow sports.

Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday.

The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were mingling with water almost right from the start.

Europe's economy stagnated at the end of last year as its former growth engine, Germany, finished a second straight year of shrinking output, officials said Thursday.

Gross domestic product was flat with a zero increase in the final quarter of 2024 in the 20-nation eurozone, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said.