BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand on Wednesday released 18 Cambodian prisoners of war held for five months, fulfilling the terms of a ceasefire agreement the two countries signed to end bitter fighting along their border.

BANGKOK (AP) – Chinese factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months in December, as orders picked up ahead of holidays and builders rushed to finish projects, according to surveys released Wednesday.

A surge of Arctic air brought strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and Northeast on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreling across the Midwest left tens of thousands of customers without power.

More artists have canceled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center following the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the facility, with jazz supergroup The Cookers pulling out of a planned New Year’s Eve concert, and the institution’s president saying the cancellations belie the artists’ unwillingness to see their music as crossing lines of political disparity.

MARGRATEN, Netherlands (AP) – Ever since a U.S. military cemetery in the southern Netherlands removed two displays recognizing Black troops who helped to liberate Europe from the Nazis, visitors have filled the guestbook with objections.

BEIJING (AP) – As China staged live-fire military drills around Taiwan featuring aircraft, warships and rocket launches, the Chinese foreign minister reiterated Beijing’s aim to achieve ” complete reunification ” with the island it claims as its own.

PARIS (AP) – Call them Monsieur and Madame Clooney.  France’s government says that George Clooney, his wife Amal and their twins Ella and Alexander have been awarded French citizenship. The naturalizations of the Kentucky-born star of the “Ocean’s” series of heist movies and his family were announced last weekend in the Journal Officiel.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Greg Abel faces the challenge of taking over Berkshire Hathaway from the legendary Warren Buffett later this week. Many regard Buffett as the world’s greatest investor after he grew Berkshire from a struggling New England textile mill that he starting buying up for $7.60 a share in 1962, to the massive conglomerate it is today.