TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge hearing a challenge to a transgender health care ban for minors and restrictions for adults noted Thursday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly spread false information about doctors mutilating children’s genitals even though there’s been no such documented cases.

The law was sold as defending children from mutilation when it is actually about preventing trans children from getting health care, Judge Robert Hinkle said to Mohammad Jazil, a lawyer for the state.

HONG KONG (AP) — China released draft guidelines Friday aimed at curbing excessive spending on online gaming in the latest move by the ruling Communist Party to keep control of the virtual economy.

The proposal caused shares in the biggest Chinese gaming companies, Tencent and NetEase, to plunge in Hong Kong.

WASHINGTON, December 22. /TASS/: The US Treasury Department introduces a ban on imports of Russian salmon, cod, pollock and crab, and products made during their processing.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court on Friday rejected a bid by prominent activist publisher Jimmy Lai to throw out a sedition charge against him, delivering the ruling on the third day of his landmark national security trial.

Lai, 76, was arrested during the city’s crackdown on dissidents following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, acknowledging severe financial strain exacerbated by his pursuit of Donald Trump false 2020 election claims and a jury’s award of $148 million to two former Georgia election workers he defamed.

The former New York City mayor listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including almost $1 million in tax liabilities, money he owes lawyers and many millions of dollars in potential legal judgments in lawsuits against him. He estimated he had assets in the range of $1 million to $10 million.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a toned-down bid to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and called for urgent steps "to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities" after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States.

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/: Russian forces carried out 39 high-precision strikes on Ukrainian military sites this week, the Russian Defense Ministry has said in a daily bulletin of the special military operation.

The military utilized high-precision weapons and drones to inflict the group strikes "on military airfield infrastructure, equipment for navigational support of flights, fuel depots and artillery ammunition, weapons and military equipment storage sites," the ministry said.

PRAGUE (AP) — A student opened fire Thursday at a university in Prague, killing at least 14 people, officials said, and injuring more than 20 in the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting.

The bloodshed took place in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the shooter was a student, Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said. The gunman also died, authorities said. His name has not been released.

AMSTERDAM, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will deliver 18 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help its battle against Russia's invasion, the Dutch government said on Friday.

"Today I informed President Zelenskiy of our government's decision to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter aircraft for delivery to Ukraine," caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a post on social media platform X.

"The delivery of F-16s is one of the most important elements of the agreements made on military support for Ukraine."

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The war in Gaza has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in the Hamas-run territory said Friday, a new reflection of the staggering cost of Israel’s military offensive as pressure grows to scale it back.

The figure, amounting to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population, is just one measure of the devastation wrought by the conflict that over 11 weeks has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s people and leveled wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave.

NEW DELHI, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Opposition parties in India on Friday staged a protest here against the recent record suspension of 146 lawmakers from the two houses of the parliament.

The protest called by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was attended by leaders from Congress, left parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other opposition parties of the coalition.

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Kremlin accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing "pulp fiction" on Friday after it reported that the death of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash had been orchestrated by Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev.

The WSJ reported that Prigozhin's private jet was downed by a small bomb placed under a wing. Its report cited unnamed Western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer.