DUBAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber urged countries on Friday to get out of their comfort zones and work together to reach agreement before the two-week summit ends.

"Let's please get this job done," he said, opening a plenary session as the summit entered its toughest phase of negotiations. "I need you to step up and I need you to come out of your comfort zones," he said.

With five days left before the conference's scheduled end on Dec. 12, country ministers are joining the deliberations on Friday.

7 December 2023; MEMO: Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip will end with the surrender of Hamas leaders and the return of hostages, an Israeli spokesman said on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The war in Gaza can end on the condition that Hamas leaders surrender themselves to the Israeli army and the prisoners are returned,” Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters.

7 December 2023; MEMO: The Israeli occupation government has approved the construction of 1,738 settlement units in the southeast of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli rights group Peace Now has said.

LONDON (AP) — Russia’s intelligence services have targeted high-profile British politicians, civil servants and journalists with cyberespionage as part of years-long attempts to interfere in U.K. politics, Britain’s government said Thursday.

The Foreign Office said Russia’s FSB agency was responsible for a range of sustained cyberespionage operations in the U.K., including targeting British lawmakers from multiple parties from at least 2015 through to this year and selectively leaking and amplifying sensitive information to serve Russian interests.

NEW YORK (AP) — He’s been a frustrated observer, a confrontational witness and a heated commentator outside the courtroom door. Now former President Donald Trump is poised to return to his civil business fraud trial again, first to watch and then to serve as star witness for his own defense.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House members voted again Thursday to punish one of their own, targeting Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in a U.S. Capitol office building when the chamber was in session.

The Republican censure resolution passed with a few Democratic votes, but most of the party stood by Bowman in opposition of an effort they said lacked credibility and integrity. The prominent progressive now becomes the third Democratic House member to be admonished this year through the censure process, which is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The dangerous bacteria that sparked powdered formula recalls and shortages last year has infected two babies this year, killing a Kentucky child and causing brain damage in a Missouri infant.

Federal health officials confirmed Thursday that two cases of invasive infections caused by cronobacter sakazakii have been reported in 2023, both in infants who consumed powdered infant formula made by Abbott Nutrition, the company at the center of the 2022 crisis.

Tuscaloosa, Ala(AP) —With the Iowa caucuses rapidly approaching, a shrinking field of Republican White House hopefuls gathered Wednesday in Alabama for the fourth presidential debate.

As usual, former President Donald Trump, who is dominating the GOP primary, didn’t appear. Instead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie continued their effort to gain a sliver of the spotlight in the race.

Here are some takeaways from the final primary debate of 2023.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has offered strong support to Israel in its war against the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. But the allies are increasingly at odds over what will happen to Gaza once the war winds down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is appealing a ruling that found he is not immune from criminal prosecution as he runs out of time to delay or even derail an upcoming trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

NEW YORK (AP) — An internal Amazon memo has provided a stark look at the company’s carefully laid out plans to grow its influence in Southern California through a plethora of efforts that include burnishing its reputation through charity work and pushing back against “labor agitation” from the Teamsters and other groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic views on how President Joe Biden is handling the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians have rebounded slightly, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The shift occurred during a time in which Biden and top U.S. officials expressed increased concern about civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, emphasized the need for a future independent Palestinian state and helped secure the release of hostages held by Hamas during a temporary truce.