COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The number of candidates on stage is shrinking, but the fundamentals of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate may be familiar to anyone who has watched the previous three meetings.

MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed command posts of two Ukrainian army brigades over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Command posts of the 31st mechanized brigade and the 12th special operations brigade, a UAV control post of the Ukrainian army’s 109th mechanized brigade, ammunition and fuel depots were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

GWADAR, Pakistan, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The China-donated seawater desalination plant will resolve the water shortage in Gwadar district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, which has been the biggest problem in the area for many years, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has said.

The water shortage has been the largest hurdle in the development of Gwadar district, the prime minister said on Monday while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the China-aided desalination project and upgrade of the Pak-China Friendship Hospital in Gwadar.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, the outside world viewed those Russians known as “oligarchs” as men who whose vast wealth, ruthlessly amassed, made them almost shadow rulers. A “government of the few,” in the word’s etymology.

The term has persisted well into Putin’s rule, broadening in popular usage to refer to almost any Russian with a substantial fortune.

How much political power any of Russia’s uber-rich now wield, however, is doubtful.

5 December 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian telecommunications company (PalTel), on Monday, said that all communication and internet services in the Gaza Strip have been completely cut off, Anadolu  Agency reports.

In a statement, the company said the telecom service was cut due to the disconnection of the main elements of the network in light of the ongoing Israeli shelling across Gaza.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare punitive move against Israel, the State Department said Tuesday it will impose travel bans on extremist Jewish settlers implicated in a rash of recent attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the step after warning Israel last week that President Joe Biden’s administration would be taking action over the attacks. Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but officials said those would be coming this week and could affect dozens of settlers and their families.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors pushed back Monday against Hunter Biden’s move to subpoena documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials in the firearms case filed against the president’s son.

They argued that Hunter Biden doesn’t have enough evidence to support his claims of potential political interference in the criminal investigation against him and urged a judge to reject the subpoena requests.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a Belgian involved in procuring electronics for the Russian military, his companies and a group of Belarusian firms and people tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted a network led by Belgium-based Hans De Geetere, which included nine entities and five people across Russia, Belgium, Cyprus, Sweden, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. They are accused of being involved with procuring military-grade equipment for Russia.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world this year pumped 1.1% more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air than last year because of increased pollution from China and India, a team of scientists reported.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case surrounding a Maine hotel that could have made it harder for people with disabilities to learn in advance whether a hotel’s accommodations meet their needs.

Hotels and other business interests had urged the justices to limit the ability of so-called testers to file lawsuits against hotels that fail to disclose accessibility information on their websites and through other reservation services.

BOSTON (AP) — A lawyer for JetBlue Airways said Tuesday that the biggest U.S. airlines are using their size to cement their dominance in a post-pandemic world, making it critical that a federal judge allow JetBlue to buy Spirit Airlines.

The lawyer, Ryan Shores, said JetBlue needs Spirit to be a “viable challenger” to the four airlines that control most of the domestic air-travel market.