MOSCOW (AP) — Three astronauts returned to Earth Thursday after more than six months aboard the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz capsule with NASA’s Serena Aunon-Chancellor, Russian Sergey Prokopyev and German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency landed on the snow-covered steppes in Kazakhstan, about 140 kilometers (87 miles) southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan. They touched down a minute ahead of schedule at 11:02 a.m. local time (0502 GMT; 12:02 a.m. EST).

ANKARA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will continue to stand by Iran despite the "unjust" sanctions that the U.S. imposed on the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Erdogan made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in the capital Ankara.

"Turkey does not support the U.S. sanctions which put regional stability and security into danger," Erdogan said.

He vowed that Turkey and Iran will join their efforts to end clashes and ensure regional security.

Mumbai, Dec 20 (PTI) The Bombay High Court Thursday upheld a trial court verdict awarding the death penalty to a man convicted of raping and killing a 23-year-old woman techie from Andhra Pradesh here in 2014, describing him as a "menace to the society".

The convict, 30-year-old Chandrabhan Sanap, was pronounced guilty by a special court in 2015 and awarded the death sentence.

A bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre dismissed an appeal filed by Sanap (30) challenging the trial court verdict.

Mumbai, Dec 20 (PTI) British politician and economist Meghnad Desai, a self-confessed Narendra Modi admirer till some time back, has accused the prime minister of not being a team player and predicted that the "disappointed" electorate will not vote him back with a majority.

Modi "over promised" and was wrong in believing that he could run the whole country with the help of a few bureaucrats and not with a strong cabinet, as he did in Gujarat when he was the chief minister, Desai said.

20 Dec 2018; AFP: Kim Jong Un, a smoking pistol in his hand, looks down at the dead body of Donald Trump, sprawled on a red carpet next to a metal bag overflowing with US dollars.

Behind the North Korean leader glows a neon slogan saying "The show must go on!"

The scene is part of an installation art exhibition in Seoul -- a satire of the diplomacy over the Korean peninsula that has become "a big political show featuring two of the world's biggest showmen."

New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) After completion of six months of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday, the state will come under President's rule from midnight paving the way for the union cabinet to take all policy decisions related to the militancy-hit state.

President Ram Nath Kovind signed the proclamation for imposition of central rule in the state, which plunged into a political crisis in June after the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the 25-member BJP in the state.

Raipur, Dec 19 (PTI) As many as 11 Naxals were arrested from two districts in Bastar division of Chhattisgrh on Wednesday, police said.

While seven Naxals were apprehended from Bijapur district, four others held in Narayanpur district, a senior police official told PTI.

"In Bijapur, a joint team of CRPF's 168th battalion, District Reserve Guard (DRG) and local police had launched a search operation in the forest of Basaguda police station area to trace some Naxals wanted in separate cases, following inputs about their movements," he said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Alexander Salazar, following an allegation of sexual misconduct with a child in the 1990s, officials said Wednesday.

The Vatican announced the resignation in a one-line statement. It was the latest in a string of misconduct allegations against bishops to come to light this year, following the scandal of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington that exposed how bishops have largely avoided punishment for improper behavior.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock prices plunged Thursday, following Wall Street down after the Federal Reserve raised U.S. interest rates.

KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, France’s CAC 40 index fell 1.4 percent to 4,709.13 points and Germany’s DAX lost 1.3 percent to 10,620,79. London’s FTSE 100 retreated 1.2 percent to 6,682.26. On Wednesday, the FTSE 100 rose 1 percent, the DAX added 0.2 percent and the CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent. On Wall Street, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index both fell 0.6 percent.

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Using a smartphone puts one’s privacy and security at risk and this poses a great danger particularly to any high-profile leader, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel, adding that this was the reason why Russian President Vladimir Putin does not use a cell phone.

When asked whether the head of state owned a smartphone, Peskov said: "not as far as I know, he does not have a phone."

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Wednesday issued a blistering report about clergy sexual abuse, saying that Catholic dioceses in Illinois has not released the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children.

New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the city police to provide protection to social activist Swami Agnivesh who had registered two police complaints against members of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for allegedly attacking him here and in Pakur district of Jharkhand.

Justice Najmi Wajiri sought response of the Centre, Delhi government and Delhi police on Agnivesh's plea seeking transfer of the case from police to the CBI or any other central independent investigating agency.