Israel says it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza after an explosive device detonated and wounded two soldiers in the territory’s south.

Shots were fired at Syrian and U.S. forces in central Syria during a visit by American troops to a historic town.

Belarusian authorities have released Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from prison.

Lionel Messi’s much-hyped tour of India has gotten off to a rocky start with angry fans throwing bottles and attempting to vandalize a stadium after many of them failed to get more than just a glimpse of their hero.

A Ukrainian drone attack in southwestern Russia has killed two people.

Fighting is raging along the Thailand-Cambodia border, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's claim of a new ceasefire agreement.

Fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border has forced hundreds of thousands of Thai villagers to flee since Monday.

Iran has introduced a new pricing tier for its subsidized gasoline, marking the first price adjustment since 2019.

Researchers have dated vertebrae from a massive prehistoric shark thought to have ruled the waves off northern Australia back to further in the Cretaceous period than was previously known.

U.N. experts warn that the treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir.

The U.S. has removed Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from its sanctions list.

The commercial boom in artificial intelligence has sparked interest in humanoid robots.

President Donald Trump says Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes.

The Treasury Department is targeting businesses used to send money abroad as President Donald Trump's administration ramps up investigations into fraud within Minnesota's Somali community.

A U.S. Navy admiral who oversees military operations in Latin America has handed off command responsibilities as scrutiny increases over the Trump administration’s deadly strikes on alleged drug boats in the region.

The Atlantic hurricane season may be over.

Japanese journalist Shiori Ito's documentary, “Black Box Diaries,” has finally premiered in Japan after facing legal hurdles.

Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered a significant fresco of Jesus as the "Good Shepherd" from Anatolia's early Christian era.

Iran has arrested Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, according to her supporters.

New footage shows six Israeli hostages celebrating Hanukkah while held captive in Gaza months before they were killed.

A Danish intelligence agency report has warned that the United States is using its economic power to assert its will and threaten military force against both allies and adversaries.

A senior Kremlin official says Russian police and the National Guard will stay on in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if a peace settlement ends the war.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has hosted a U.S. envoy for talks in Minsk, the latest step in the isolated leader’s effort to improve ties with the West.

Russia’s Central Bank says it has filed a lawsuit against Belgian financial institution Euroclear.

Eastern Orthodoxy in the U.S. is experiencing a surge in converts, partly due to online content.

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih is on track to become the next head of the U.N. refugee agency.

An official says Germany has summoned the Russian ambassador following accusations of sabotage, cyberattacks and election interference.

King Charles III says that early diagnosis and treatment will allow doctors to reduce his cancer treatment in the new year.

The European Union has indefinitely frozen Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.

Australian accident investigators have released dramatic images showing a skydiver's parachute entangled on an airplane's tail, leaving him dangling at 15,000 feet.

Chile is heading into a high-stakes presidential runoff defined by sharply contrasting visions of the country’s recent past and visions for its future.

More drops for superstar AI stocks knocked Wall Street off its record heights.

International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors are trying to live and work under the same financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has walked away after a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office after a federal judge ordered that officials could not detain him.

At long last, vindication has arrived for an Oscar-winning composer who sought to prove he was as capable of breathing life into Italy’s grand theaters as into gritty Hollywood films.

Honduras’ governing LIBRE party experienced a spectacular collapse in the presidential election, going from more than 50% of the vote four years ago to less than 20% this time.

Global online forum Reddit has filed a court challenge to Australia’s world-first law that bans Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world’s most popular social media platforms.

China will soon start collecting a value-added tax on contraceptive drugs and products for the first time in over 30 years.

Thailand is preparing for a new election early next year after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved the House of Representatives.

In a story published Dec. 12, 2025, about the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, The Associated Press, relying on information from the Windward maritime intelligence firm, erroneously reported the name of a Windward senior analyst.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has linked the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela to the Trump administration's counterdrug efforts.

Swiss singer Nemo, who won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, has decided to return the winners' trophy.

The U.N.'s cultural agency has listed Switzerland’s long-celebrated yodeling among 67 traditions honored its list of intangible cultural heritage.

Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis has been elected as president of the Eurogroup — a move that would have been unthinkable just 10 years ago, when the country was in the throes of a deep financial crisis that almost saw it tossed out of the eurozone altogether.

Pakistan has urged major social media platforms to crack down on accounts linked to militant groups.

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum plans to open a new branch in Eindhoven.

A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction.

The European Union has handed Ukraine a list of reforms needed to join the bloc.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the Trump administration's immigration policies during a contentious House committee hearing.

Bulgaria’s government has resigned as mass protests gripped the country just weeks before it’s due to join the eurozone.

The Senate has rejected two partisan health bills on expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.

Storm Byron has hit Gaza and worsened the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

U.S. strategic bombers joined Japanese fighter jets in a joint military exercise around Japan's airspace.

More than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group escalated its offensive in eastern Congo, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says negotiators are tackling territorial issues in U.S.-led peace talks with Russia.

The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death.

A strike called by Portugal’s two main trade union confederations has caused severe travel disruption and forced the cancellation of many medical appointments and school classes.

Thai officials have announced four civilian deaths as heavy combat flares along the border with Cambodia.

Wall Street rose to more records even as a sell-off for Oracle and worries about a potential bubble in artificial-intelligence technology weighed on the market.

Onetime cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a $40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud.

Verona's ancient Roman Arena is getting a modern facelift for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

The “Architects of AI” were named Time magazine’s person of the year for 2025.

Australian authorities are demanding major social media platforms report on account deactivations since a ban on users under 16 became law.

The Trump administration may have softened its language on China to maintain a truce in their trade war, but Congress is pushing for more restrictions on Beijing.

Ocean temperatures warmed by human-caused climate change fed the intense rainfall that triggered deadly floods and landslides across Asia in recent weeks, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

The Trump administration is adding another militarized zone to the southern U.S. border to support border security operations — this time in California.

Bolivian law enforcement officials have arrested former President Luis Arce as part of a corruption investigation, opening an uncertain new chapter in Bolivia’s politics just a month after the inauguration of conservative President Rodrigo Paz ended 20 years of socialist rule.

President Donald Trump says the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Travelers who are now able to come to the United States without a visa might soon need to provide social media, email, and family history details to the Department of Homeland Security.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was absent from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway on Wednesday.

Composer Jake Heggie is set to premiere his opera “The Judgment of Paris,” inspired by the famous 1976 wine tasting where California wines triumphed over French selections.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman.

Archaeologists in Britain say they have found the earliest known evidence of deliberate fire-making, dating to around 400,000 years ago.

Charli XCX is heading to the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026.

Iceland's national broadcaster has announced it will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest due to discord over Israel's participation.

Compas, a beloved Haitian music and dance genre inspired by merengue and infused with percussion, has made UNESCO’s cultural heritage list.

Few authors made readers laugh harder than did author Sophie Kinsella.

Brazil's lower house of Congress has approved a bill that could reduce former President Jair Bolsonaro's prison time.

Three years ago, Arden Cho was ready to walk away from acting.

Five people who became stars in 2025 have been named The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year.

Writer Sophie Kinsella, known for her rom-com "Confessions of a Shopaholic," has died at 55.

Aid deliveries into Gaza are falling short of the amount agreed upon in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid mounting tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 says it has taken control of the strategic city of Uvira in eastern Congo.

The American playwright and actor Jeremy O.

European nations have agreed to consider changes that rights advocates say would weaken migrant protections that have underpinned European law since World War II.

Dozens of people have been killed in a drone strike against Sudan’s largest oil processing facility carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he and European leaders have discussed proposals to end the war in Ukraine, adding that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on a peace plan.

Scottish artist Nnena Kalu has won the Turner Prize for her vivid abstract drawings and sculptures.

An Associated Press story first published on Dec. 10, 2025 about UN recognition of Italian cuisine as cultural heritage attributed comments to a professor at Rome’s La Sapienza University.

Two four-story buildings collapsed overnight in Morocco's city of Fez, killing 22 people.

Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia is showing no signs of stopping.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has appeared in public for the first time in 11 months.

Egypt and Iran, two Middle East nations that target gays and lesbians, have complained to FIFA over the scheduling of a World Cup soccer match in Seattle that’s expected to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride.

Paramount Skydance says that the Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings withdrew from its bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery to avert a national security review.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy describes his time behind bars in a book released Wednesday.

Rain has finally fallen in Iran's capital after months of drought.

A woman from Syria's Alawite minority has spoken about her harrowing experience of being kidnapped and raped by gunmen.

Most of Bhavani Thekkada’s competitors grew up on skis.