The Associated Press-AP Afternoon Wire.

"Officials tout a Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel says details still in flux."

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Officials tout a Gaza ceasefire deal and plan to free hostages. Israel says details still in flux Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, multiple officials announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that final details were being ironed out. Read More. Bondi says she won’t play politics as attorney general, doesn’t rule out probes of Trump adversaries Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, sought to reassure Democratic senators Wednesday that her Justice Department would not prosecute anyone for political purposes but also refused to rule out the potential for investigations into adversaries of the Republican president-elect. Read More. FDA bans red dye No. 3 from foods U.S. regulators on Wednesday banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk. Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products, while makers of ingested drugs have until January 2028 to do the same. Read More. Supreme Court seems open to age checks for online porn, though some free-speech questions remain The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed open to a Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing online pornography, though the justices could still send it back to a lower court for more consideration of how the age verification measure affects adults’ free-speech rights. Read More. < Photo essays            |            APNews.com > ADVERTISEMENT How mega-polluters take advantage of billions in green loans In the last several years, banks gave out more than $286 billion in sustainability-linked loans to hundreds of companies in environmentally damaging industries, including fossil fuels, mining and companies linked to significant deforestation, an investigation by The Examination, Toronto Star and Mississippi Today has found. Read More. Israel supplied Iran with centrifuge platforms containing explosives, top official acknowledges The revelation shows the danger still facing Iran after Israel struck the country twice during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip — and threatens to directly target its nuclear sites as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House next week. Read More. Few US adults confident Justice Department and FBI will act fairly under Trump, AP-NORC poll finds Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident that the Department of Justice will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during his second term, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before the beginning of the confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Read More. US recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people The U.S. government clawed back more than $31 million in Social Security payments that improperly went to dead people, a recovery that one official said Wednesday was “just the tip of the iceberg.” Read More. ADVERTISEMENT Trending Now Belgium’s pastoral pastime of pigeon racing faces high anxiety over crime wave The most expensive bird to come out of the top pigeon-racing nation in the world fetched $1.65 million a few years ago. No wonder the sport is grappling with an unprecedented wave of unsolved pigeon pilfering that has hit several of the best birds in the business. Read More. As Los Angeles burns, Hollywood's Oscar season turns into a pledge drive The Oscars remain as scheduled, but it’s certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. Focus has turned, instead, to what the Oscars might symbolize for a traumatized Los Angeles. Read More.