AP-Newswatch

Israeli defense minister vows to fight on in Gaza despite rising international pressure

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister says it will take months to destroy Hamas, predicting a drawn-out war. Yoav Gallant spoke Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. His comments emerged as his country and its top ally, the United States, face increasing international isolation and alarm over the devastation from Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Gallant’s remarks underscored a dynamic that has held between the two allies for weeks. The Biden administration has shown unease over Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties. But the administration continues to offer support for Israel’s campaign with weapons and diplomatic backing. A deadly Hamas ambush on Israeli troops in Gaza City this week showed the group’s resilience.

Hungry, thirsty and humiliated: Israel’s mass arrest campaign sows fear in northern Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians across the northern Gaza Strip, separating families and forcing men to strip to their underwear before trucking some to an undisclosed location. Palestinians freed from detention in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, the Jabaliya refugee camp and Gaza City said they were beaten, blindfolded and bundled into the backs of trucks bound for a detention camp on the beach, where they spent hours, in some cases days, subjected to hunger and cold, nearly naked and with little water. Israel’s military says detainees were “treated according to protocol” and were given enough food and water. The mass detentions have laid bare an emerging tactic in Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.

Trump’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin in March but legal appeals threaten that date

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s looking increasingly unlikely that Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference trial in Washington will start in March. Legal appeals up to the Supreme Court are threatening to delay the case. On Wednesday, the federal judge overseeing the trial put the case on hold while the former president pursues his claim that he’s immune from prosecution. Judge Tanya Chutkan raised the possibility of keeping the March date if the case promptly returns to her court. But it’s possible the appeal could tie up the case for months. Potentially further complicating prosecutors’ effort to get the case to trial as scheduled is a Supreme Court decision to review an obstruction charge used in Trump’s case.

An emboldened, confident Putin says there will be no peace in Ukraine until Russia’s goals are met

MOSCOW (AP) — Emboldened by battlefield gains and flagging Western support for Ukraine, a relaxed and confident President Vladimir Putin says there will be no peace until Moscow achieves its goals, which he says are unchanged after nearly two years of fighting. He spoke Thursday at a year-end news conference that gave him an opportunity to reinforce his authority as he runs for reelection in March after nearly 24 years in power. Giving rare detail on what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists that proved deeply unpopular before. He said there are some 617,000 Russian soldiers currently in Ukraine, including around 244,000 troops called up to fight alongside professional forces.

Big pay raise for troops in defense bill sent to Biden. Conservatives stymied on cultural issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a defense policy bill that authorizes the biggest pay raise for troops in more than two decades. Supporters overcame objections from some conservatives concerned it didn’t do enough on cultural issues, such as restricting the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives and gender-affirming health care for transgender service members. The Senate had already overwhelmingly passed the bill on Wednesday, so now it goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. One of the most divisive aspects of the bill is a short-term extension of a surveillance program aimed at preventing terrorism and catching spies. Opponents of the extension wanted changes designed to boost privacy protections for Americans.

Appeals court again upholds gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting about judge’s staff

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court has again upheld a gag order that bars Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel in his civil fraud trial. A four-judge panel in the state’s mid-level appellate court ruled Thursday that the former president’s lawyers used the wrong legal mechanism to fight the restriction. The appellate judges said Trump’s lawyers erred by suing trial Judge Arthur Engoron, who imposed the gag order in October after Trump disparaged his law clerk. They said Trump’s lawyers should’ve asked Engoron to reverse the gag order and then, if denied, fought that decision in a higher court. The decision came a day after testimony wrapped in the 2½-month trial.

‘Uniquely horrible choice:’ Few US adults want a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, an AP-NORC poll shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Relatively few Americans are excited about a potential rematch of the 2020 election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But more Republicans would be happy to have Trump as their nominee than Democrats would be with Biden. That’s according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Randy Johnson, a Republican from Monett, Missouri, says, “I find it sad for our country that that’s our best choices.” That apathy from voters comes even as both Biden and Trump, at least for now, seem like they’ll easily get their parties’ nominations next year. To independent Andrew Collins from Windham, Maine, “This is probably the most uniquely horrible choice I’ve had in my life.”

Promising new gene therapies for sickle cell are out of reach in countries where they’re needed most

New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease but experts say they are out of reach in places that need them the most. Vast inequities cut much of the world off from gene therapy in general, a whole new class of treatments that aims to eradicate inherited diseases by changing DNA. Such therapies are among the most expensive in the world. They also can be extremely complex to give patients, requiring specialized equipment and long hospital stays. Many parts of the developing world simply don’t have the resources. The sickle cell treatments were recently approved in Britain, Bahrain and the U.S.

Experts at odds over result of UN climate talks in Dubai; ‘Historic,’ ‘pipsqueak’ or something else?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The climate negotiations that just finished in Dubai hit upon the essence of compromise, finding common language that everyone accepted, at times grudgingly. But for an agreement so steeped in compromise, what experts thought of it was as polarizing as can be. More than half of the 23 experts asked by The Associated Press say it was one of the most significant climate talks ever. Yet a smaller but still large chunk dismiss it as awful. Even some of those praising it as most impressive also noted gaping problems they felt they had to highlight.

2023: The year we played with artificial intelligence — and weren’t sure what to do about it

ChatGPT was the catalyst for a year that took artificial intelligence mainstream. For AI, 2023 was a long time coming. Still, the technology has a long way to go before it matches some of the world’s science fiction expectations. But pioneering AI scientist Fei-Fei Li says this year was an inflection point marking profound changes in the technology, as well as the public’s awakening to its possibilities and dangers. Impressive new AI tools forced quick thinking from people around the world — from classroom teachers to policymakers looking to guard democracies from AI-fueled misinformation.