RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel vowed to keep fighting in Gaza until it crushes Hamas after one of the deadliest single battles of the war for its soldiers, even as it faces mounting international calls for a cease-fire and unease on the part of its closest ally, the United States.

ATLANTA (AP) — The district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia says she has a duty to file charges against anyone who violates the law and that it’s a “silly notion” that the former president’s case should be paused just because he is running for office.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has vowed to keep fighting in Gaza until it crushes Hamas after one of the deadliest single battles of the war for its soldiers, even as it faces mounting international calls for a cease-fire and unease on the part of its closest ally, the United States.

TOKYO, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday ousted all four cabinet ministers of the ruling party's largest faction, as he seeks to control the damage following a political fundraising scandal, local media reported.

DETROIT (AP) — A stranger accused of breaking into the home of a Detroit synagogue leader was charged with her murder Wednesday, nearly two months after her body was found outdoors with multiple stab wounds, authorities said.

There was not a “shred of evidence” that Samantha Woll was killed as a result of antisemitism or any hate crime, prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Thursday said that the U.S. government has continuously expanded its scope of surveillance, meddled in other countries' internal affairs, and interfered in international affairs, which runs counter to international law and the basic norms of international relations. The United States should have a better sense of boundary and less obsession for control.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders struggled at the start of a two-day summit Thursday to keep intact their two most basic promises to Ukraine at war — to give it the money and wherewithal to stave off the Russian invasion and maintain its hope that one day it will be able to join the wealthy bloc.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's (EU) leaders convened here on Thursday and Friday, placing discussions over financial aid for Ukraine, the country's possible accession to the bloc, and the Middle East situation on their top agenda.

"Now is the time for decision-making. I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the Union's interests and values at the forefront of your minds," Charles Michel, president of the European Council, wrote in his invitation letter to the EU leaders.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.

Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.

Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept.

TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A man in his 30s living in Japan's Saitama prefecture near Tokyo has died of mpox disease, the first such death in the country, the health ministry said Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the man suffered from immunodeficiency due to being infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

The man was diagnosed with mpox at a local hospital in September and died two months later, the ministry said, adding that he had no history of overseas travel.

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - He has been impeached twice, tried to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 presidential election, faces scores of charges in multiple criminal cases, and his critics warn he is plotting to rule as an autocrat. Yet, Donald Trump could still return to the White House.

Trump leads his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination by nearly 50 percentage points in national opinion polls, a remarkable comeback for a one-term president who three years ago appeared vanquished and humiliated.

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 7 in 10 Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and only about 1 in 10 believe democracy is working “extremely” or “very” well, according to a new poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.