An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including four children, and wounded 16 other people on Friday afternoon, health officials said. Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian casualties and the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation's capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Chinese national was arrested Thursday on charges of acting as an illegal agent for Beijing when serving as the campaign manager for an unnamed politician elected to a city council in Southern California two years ago.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean investigators on Friday again sought to question impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, summoning him for questioning on Christmas Day despite his repeated refusal to cooperate.

HARARE (AP) - Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday launched a new policy that will allow beneficiaries of land taken from white people under contentious land reforms to sell it and to be able to borrow from banks using it as collateral.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Biden administration is canceling federal student loans for another 55,000 workers through an existing program known as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Lawmakers clashed in Taiwan’s legislature Friday when members of a leading political party who had broken into the building overnight to occupy the speaker’s chair tussled with members of another major party who forced their way in to evict them.

MIRERENI, Mayotte (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron faced widespread frustration and anger from residents of Mayotte during his visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is still reeling from the damage of the strongest cyclone to hit the region in nearly a century.