AP News Digest 6 p.m.

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. Find the AP’s top photos of the day in Today’s Photo Collection. For up-to-the-minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan in AP Newsroom.

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NEW/DEVELOPING

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SCHOOL SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-THE LATEST; CANADA-FREELAND RESIGNS; BOLIVIA-MORALES ARREST; TIK TOK LAWSUIT;

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TOP STORIES

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SCHOOL SHOOTING-WISCONSIN — A teenage student opened fire Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and teen, as well as wounding several others at Abundant Life School in Madison, a week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said. A law enforcement official said the shooter was a 17-year-old female student. Police said the shooter apparently was dead by suicide when officers arrived. The nondenominational school has about 390 students, from kindergarten to high school. SENT: 210 words, photos. Live video available. Also SENT: SCHOOL SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-THE LATEST and SCHOOL SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-THINGS TO KNOW.

MIDEAST WARS-GAZA — More than 45,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, Palestinian health officials said Monday, as negotiations again appeared to be gaining ground. Qatar, Egypt and the United States have renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire deal in recent days, and mediators have said there appears to be more willingness from both sides after 14 months of war. By Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy. SENT: 700 words, photos. Also SENT: MIDEAST WARS-IN

MIDEAST-WARS-THE-LATEST — Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack. EUROPE-SYRIA — EU seeks assurances about a peaceful future from Syria’s new leaders as condition for lifting sanctions. SENT.

CYCLONE-CHIDO — France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescue workers and supplies to its tiny Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Monday after the island group was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died when Cyclone Chido hit the island on Saturday. By Gerald Imray. SENT: 1,110 words, photos, videos, audio.

CANADA-FREELAND RESIGNS — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing the biggest test of his political career following the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers. Monday’s move raised questions about how much longer the prime minister of nearly 10 years can stay on as his administration scrambles to deal with incoming President-elect Donald Trump. SENT: 960 words, photos, audio.

SOUTH KOREA-MARTIAL-LAW — South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol dodged requests by investigative agencies to appear for questioning over his short-lived martial law decree, as the Constitutional Court began its first meeting Monday on Yoon’s case to determine whether to formally unseat or reinstate him. By Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung. SENT: 850 words, photos, videos, audio.

MEDIA-FEARING-TRUMP — When Donald Trump takes office as president for a second time, many journalists anticipate a hostile climate toward them and their work. This is, after all, a man who once labeled journalists as enemies and has talked about retribution toward enemies. Former Washington Post editor Martin Baron says he expects Trump to come after the press with every tool in his toolbox, “and there are a lot of tools.” By David Bauder. SENT: 1,290 words, photos.

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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

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HONDURAS-DEPORTATIONS-TRUMP — As President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January with a promise of carrying out mass deportations, nations like Honduras where people have migrated north for generations are bracing themselves for a potential crush of vulnerable people they’re ill-prepared to receive. If Trump fulfills his campaign promise, countries like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador could be among the first and most affected by mass deportations. By Megan Janetsky. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — Ukraine’s military intelligence agency is claiming that around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded in fighting with the Ukrainian army over the weekend in Russia’s Kursk border region. SENT: 330 words, photo.

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MORE NEWS

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SCI-SATURN'S RINGS — New research suggests that Saturn’s rings may be older than they look — possibly as old as the planet. SENT: 300 words, photos.

ITALY-CAVE-RESCUE — Rescuers in Italy working to free a cave explorer trapped underground. SENT: 170 words.

ITALY-WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE STREET — Milan’s Via MonteNapoleone usurps New York’s Fifth Avenue as world’s most upscale shopping street. SENT: 580 words, photos.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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TIK TOK LAWSUIT — TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the federal law that would ban the popular platform in the United States unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it. SENT: 610 words,

HUNTER-BIDEN-INFORMANT-CHARGES — A former FBI informant pleaded guilty on Monday to lying about a phony bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter that became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. Alexander Smirnov entered his plea in Los Angeles to a felony charge in connection with the bogus story, along with a tax evasion charge stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of concealing millions of dollars of income, according to court papers. SENT: 450 words, photos.

BIDEN-NATIONAL MONUMENT — President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation establishing a national monument honoring the late FDR-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. Perkins was the first woman appointed to serve in a presidential Cabinet and a driving force behind the New Deal, according to the White House. SENT: 400 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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TRUMP-TRANSITION — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday said in a far-ranging news conference that ihe would consider pardoning embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams. Separately he called on the Biden administration to stop selling off unused portions of border wall that were purchased but not installed during his first administration. SENT: 500 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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BOLIVIA-MORALES ARREST — Prosecutors in Bolivia are seeking the arrest of former President Evo Morales in connection to a sexual abuse investigation involving his alleged fathering of a child with a 15-year-old girl. The arrest warrant was issued after Morales defied an order to testify in the case. Morales is alleged to have had a child with a teenage girl in 2016 in a sexual relationship that would have constituted statutory rape under Bolivian law. SENT: 190 words

GERMANY-POLITICS — Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a confidence vote in the German parliament that he’s expected to lose, which would pave the way for the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy to hold an early election in February. SENT: 620 words, photos, audio.

BRITAIN-CHURCH-OF-ENGLAND — The archbishop who is due to take temporary charge of the Church of England is facing calls to resign over his handling of the case of a priest accused of sexual misconduct. SENT: 410 words, photo.

CAMBODIA-US-NAVAL-VISIT — A U.S. Navy warship has arrived in Cambodia, the first such visit in eight years to a nation that is China’s close ally in Southeast Asia. SENT: 590 words, photos.

FIJI-FOREIGNERS-HOSPITALIZED — Seven foreign tourists were hospitalized in Fiji after drinking cocktails at a resort bar, Fijian authorities said. The cause of their illness was not known and officials said it was too soon to know if tainted alcohol was involved. SENT: 420 words.

INDONESIA-PHILIPPINES-PRISONER-TRANSFER — A Filipino woman who was on death row in Indonesia will be flown back to her home country after Indonesia and the Philippines signed a deal on Dec. 6, after a decade of pleading from Manila. SENT: 720 words, photos, video.

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EDUCATION

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EDUCATION-SCHOOL-RIDESHARES — Reliance on school buses has been waning for years as districts struggle to find drivers and more students attend schools far outside their neighborhoods. As responsibility for transportation shifts to families, the question of how to replace the traditional yellow bus has become an urgent problem for some families, and a spark for innovation. Several startup companies have begun working with school systems to provide ride-share services. SENT: 1,090 words, photos, video.

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BUSINESS

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TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the federal law that would ban the popular platform in the United States unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it.

Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the justices to step in before the law’s Jan. 19 deadline. A similar plea was filed by content creators who rely on the platform for income and some of TikTok’s more than 170 million users in the U.S.

TRUMP-SOFTBANK — President-elect Donald Trump joined SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son to announce plans by theJapanese company to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. SENT: 540 words, photos.

FEDERAL-RESERVE — Americans hoping for lower borrowing costs for homes, credit cards and cars may be disappointed after this week’s Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed’s policymakers are likely to signal fewer interest rate cuts next year than were previously expected. SENT: 870 words, photo.

XGR-CRYPTOCURRENCY-STATES — The new year will usher in the bitcoin-friendly administration of President-elect Donald Trump and an expanding lobbying effort in statehouses that, together, could push states to become more crypto-friendly and more public pension funds and treasuries to buy the cryptocurrency. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.

CHINA-ECONOMY — Chinese retail sales slowed in November and housing prices fell, with demand still lackluster despite a flurry of stimulus measures over the past few months. SENT: 690 words, photos. With FINANCIAL-MARKETS — World shares fall as China reports lackluster data, while bitcoin hits new highs.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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OZY EXECUTIVE ARREST — Former talk show host Carlos Watson has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison in the federal financial conspiracy case surrounding his once-buzzy Ozy Media. The 55-year-old Watson was sentenced Monday. Watson was convicted last summer of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges. He denied the allegations and has challenged his conviction. Prosecutors accused the former cable news commentator and host of playing a leading role in a scheme to deceive Ozy investors and lenders by inflating revenue numbers and flashing other false indications of Ozy’s success. SENT: 650 words, photos, photo.

PUBLIC-DOMAIN-2025 — Popeye the Sailor and the Belgian boy reporter Tintin lead the class of characters and works of art becoming public domain in 2025. On Jan. 1, 2025, the U.S. copyright expires on creations from 1929. SENT: 1,000 words, photo.

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SPORTS

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LAKERS-JAMES — LeBron James returned to the Los Angeles Lakers in a 116-10 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies after a two-game break. James is fighting a left foot injury and was away from the team most of last week because of personal reasons. SENT: 480 words, photos. With GRIZZLIES-LAKERS — Anthony Davis scores 40 points, LeBron James has 18 in return to help the Lakers beat the Grizzlies, 116-110 — SENT.

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HOW TO REACH US

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Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) is brought down by Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback James Pierre (42) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

People walk through foam during a Santa Run event in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A Syrian Christians woman cries, as she attends the first Sunday Mass since Syrian President Bashar Assad's ouster, at Mariamiya Orthodox Church in old Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Syrian fighters detain men suspects of looting at a residential complex of former Bashar Assad's military officers at the village of Husseiniyeh, in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. A rebel force deployed to the village in southeastern Damascus to stop looters who swarmed a residential complex in the area and set some apartments on fire. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians, wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, receive treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A child carries Christmas donations from the SOMOS social movement, a non-governmental organization working to fight hunger, in the Jardim Gramacho favela, in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro state, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull, as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s push to acquire the technology.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which the leader has called a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy. The North has indicated it plans to arm the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a “strategic guided missile submarine” or a “strategic nuclear attack submarine.”

During the visit, Kim described South Korea’s efforts to acquire its own nuclear-powered submarine, which have been backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, as an “offensive act” that severely violates the North’s security and maritime sovereignty.

He said that the South Korean plan further underscores the need to advance and nuclear-arm North Korea’s navy, and claimed that the completion of his nuclear-powered submarine would be an “epoch-making” change in strengthening its nuclear war deterrent against what he called enemy threats.

The agency did not specify when Kim visited the shipyard but released photos showing him inspecting a huge, burgundy-colored vessel, coated with what appears to be anti-corrosion paint, under construction inside an assembly hall with senior officials and his daughter. It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel.

It was not immediately clear how close North Korea is to completing the vessel. But because submarines are typically built from the inside out, the release of what appears to be a largely completed hull suggests that many core components, including the engine and possibly the reactor, are already in place, said Moon Keun-sik, a submarine expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University.

“Showing the entire vessel now seems to indicate that most of the equipment has already been installed and it is just about ready to be launched into the water,” said Moon, a former submarine officer in the South Korean navy, who believes the North Korean submarine could possibly be tested at sea within months.

A nuclear-powered submarine was one item on a long wish list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim announced during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called growing U.S.-led military threats. Other weapons were solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles.

North Korea has conducted a series of tests to develop some of those systems and recently unveiled a new naval destroyer, which Kim hailed as a major step toward expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of the country’s nuclear forces.

If North Korea obtains a submarine capable of operating stealthily for extended periods and launching missiles from underwater, it would be a worrying development for its neighbors, as such launches would be difficult to detect in advance. But there have been questions about whether North Korea, a heavily sanctioned and impoverished country, could get resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.

Some experts say North Korea’s recent alignment with Russia — including sending thousands of troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — may have helped it to receive crucial technologies in return.

While some analysts suspect North Korea may have sought a reactor from Russia, possibly from a retired Russian submarine, Moon said it's more likely that North Korea designed its own reactor, while possibly receiving some technological assistance from Russia.

During a summit with Trump in November, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for U.S. support for South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, while reaffirming a commitment to increase defense spending to ease the burden on the United States.

Trump later said that the United States is open to sharing closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, but it’s not immediately clear where and when the vessel would be built and how Seoul would get the nuclear fuel and reactor technology required.

In a separate report, KCNA said Kim on Wednesday supervised a test of a new, long-range anti-air missile that was fired toward its eastern sea. South Korea’s Defense Ministry didn’t immediately comment on the launch.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim accelerated his military nuclear program and deepened alignment with Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His government has repeatedly dismissed calls by Washington and Seoul to revive negotiations aimed at winding down his nuclear and missile programs, which derailed in 2019 following a collapsed summit with Trump during the American president’s first term.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a test of a long-range anti-air missile is launched towards its eastern sea, as seen from an undisclosed location in North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, with his daughter, inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, third left, visits a shipyard as he inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)