AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Biden declares Israel and Ukraine support is vital for US security, will ask Congress for billions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring that U.S. leadership “holds the world together,” President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars.

Acknowledging that “these conflicts can seem far away,” Biden insisted in a rare Oval Office address that they remain “vital for America’s national security” as he prepared to ask Congress for billions of dollars in military assistance for both countries.

“History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.”

Biden’s speech reflected an expansive view of U.S. obligations overseas at a time when he faces political resistance at home to additional funding. He’s expected to ask for $105 billion on Friday, including $60 billion for Ukraine, much of which would replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles provided earlier.

There’s also $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion for unspecified humanitarian efforts, $14 billion for managing the U.S.-Mexico border and fighting fentanyl trafficking and $7 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, which includes Taiwan. The proposal was described by three people familiar with the details who insisted on anonymity before the official announcement.

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As Israel readies troops for ground assault, Gaza awaits urgently needed aid from Egypt

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Thursday, including in the south where Palestinians were told to take refuge, as the Israeli defense minister ordered ground troops to prepare to see Gaza “from the inside”, though he didn’t indicate when the ground assault would begin.

Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals tried to stretch out ebbing medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities worked out logistics for a desperately needed aid delivery from Egypt. Doctors in darkened wards across Gaza performed surgeries by the light of mobile phones and used vinegar to treat infected wounds.

Amid the violence, President Joe Biden pledged unwavering support for Israel’s security, “today and always,” while adding that the world “can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians” in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In an address Thursday night from the Oval office, hours after returning to Washington from an urgent visit to Israel, Biden drew a distinction between ordinary Palestinians and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. He linked the current war in Gaza to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin “both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”

Biden said he was sending an “urgent budget request” to Congress on Friday, to cover emergency military aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

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‘Drop in the ocean’: UN-backed aid could soon enter Gaza from Egypt, but only at a trickle for now

CAIRO (AP) — President Joe Biden says he struck a deal with his Egyptian counterpart to allow a first run of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, which Israel sealed off after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Israel says it’s now ready to honor Biden’s request to let in limited humanitarian aid.

The Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies and the United Nations are expected to help oversee the operation, in part to ensure the supplies from the convoy through the Rafah Crossing on Egypt’s border with Gaza reaches civilians — not combatants.

Officials at the U.N. health agency say they’re “praying” the first tranche will go in on Friday.

Here’s a look at what could be expected to go in, and how.

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GOP’s Jordan says he’s still running for House gavel, but plan for a temporary speaker falls flat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Refusing to give up, Rep. Jim Jordan told GOP colleagues Thursday he was still running for the House gavel — leaving Republicans few viable options after his hardline backers resisted a plan to expand the temporary speaker’s powers to re-open the House.

The combative Jordan delivered the message at a fiery closed-door meeting at the Capitol as the Republican majority considered an extraordinary plan to give the interim speaker pro tempore more powers for the next several months to bring the House back into session and conduct crucial business, according to Republicans familiar with the private meeting who insisted on anonymity to discuss it.

But neither option seemed immediately workable. GOP moderates who have twice rejected Jordan are unwilling to support him now, especially after some report harassing pressures and even death threats from his supporters. At the same time, Jordan’s hard-right allies are refusing to allow a temporary speaker to gain more power.

The prolonged stalemate risks keeping the House intractably shut down for the foreseeable future after the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker,

“I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race,” said Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman and founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.

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Army private who fled to North Korea charged with desertion, held by US military, officials tell AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army private who fled to North Korea before being returned home to the United States earlier this month has been detained by the U.S. military, two officials said Thursday night, and is facing charges including desertion and possessing sexual images of a child.

The eight counts against Pvt. Travis King are detailed in a charging document seen by The Associated Press. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the charges have not been publicly announced.

King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said in a statement that her son should be “afforded the presumption of innocence.” She said, “A mother knows her son, and I believe something happened to mine while he was deployed.”

Desertion is a very serious charge and can result in imprisonment for as much as three years.

King, 23, ran across the heavily fortified border from South Korea in July and became the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years.

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Sidney Powell pleads guilty over efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia and agrees to cooperate

ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors.

Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.

As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also recorded a statement for prosecutors and agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.

Powell was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Prosecutors say she also participated in an unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office.

The plea deal makes Powell the most prominent known person to be working with prosecutors investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Her cooperation in the case and participation in strategy talks threaten to expose the former president and offer insight on what he was saying and doing in the critical period after the election.

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At Donald Trump’s civil trial, appraiser recalls Eric Trump’s ‘lofty’ views on property value

NEW YORK (AP) — The spotlight at former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial turned Thursday to his son Eric, with testimony and documents suggesting the scion envisioned a “lofty” value for a suburban golf course and was actively involved in appraisals he has said he doesn’t remember.

The trial stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ claims that Donald Trump, his company and executives, including Eric Trump, fraudulently inflated asset values on financial statements given to lenders, insurers and others. The defendants deny the allegations, and the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner says the values actually were underestimated.

About a decade ago, Trump’s companies sought appraisals of two of their properties in New York’s suburban Westchester County — the Trump National Golf Club and an estate known as Seven Springs, according to documents and testimony Thursday.

At the time, the companies were considering what are known as conservation easements on the properties, according to David McArdle, an appraiser with the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. A conservation easement is essentially an agreement to forgo development in exchange for a tax break.

McArdle said he was asked in 2013 to figure out what the golf course would be worth if 71 high-end townhomes were built there, and he got substantial input from Eric Trump, who’s an executive vice president at the Trump Organization.

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Feds OK natural gas pipeline expansion in Pacific Northwest over environmentalist protests

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal regulators on Thursday approved the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in the Pacific Northwest over the protest of environmental groups and top officials in West Coast states, who said it goes against the region’s plans to address climate change and could pose a wildfire risk.

The project, known as GTN Xpress, aims to expand the capacity of the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline, which runs through Idaho, Washington and Oregon, by about 150 million cubic feet (4.2 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave it the green light in a vote on Thursday.

TC Energy plans to modify three compressor stations along the pipeline — in Kootenai County, Idaho; Walla Walla County, Washington; and Sherman County, Oregon. Compressor stations help maintain the pressure and flow of gas over long distances in a pipeline.

Environmental groups criticized the decision.

In a statement, Audrey Leonard, staff attorney for environmental nonprofit Columbia Riverkeeper, said it represented a “rubber stamp of unnecessary fracked gas in the Northwest” and accused the energy agency of failing to listen to U.S. senators, governors, state attorneys general, tribes and members of the public.

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Joran van der Sloot’s confession in Natalee Holloway case provides long-sought answers, mother says

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Beth Holloway was after one thing for 18 years: answers about what happened to her missing daughter.

She said she got them Wednesday when Joran van der Sloot, long considered the chief suspect in her daughter’s 2005 disappearance in Aruba, admitted in submitted court filings to bludgeoning Natalee Holloway to death on a beach and dragging her body out to sea.

Van der Sloot, 36, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal charges of attempting to extort money from Beth Holloway in 2010 in exchange for information about the location of her daughter’s body. The plea agreement included an unusual provision for van der Sloot to “provide all information and evidence” about what happened to Natalee Holloway and to let her family hear him in “real time” give his account to federal investigators.

Beth Holloway said in an interview with The Associated Press that the family made the decision to allow the plea agreement to “finally get the answers we’ve been searching for for all these years.”

Natalee Holloway, 18, went missing during a high school graduation trip to Aruba with classmates. She was last seen May 30, 2005, leaving a bar with van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen and student at an international school on the Caribbean island where he grew up.

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Marte hits walk-off single in ninth, D-backs beat Phillies 2-1 and close to 2-1 in NLCS

PHOENIX (AP) — More than 15 minutes after the game, Ketel Marte stood at his clubhouse locker, gulping water while trying to finally catch his breath after delivering the Arizona Diamondbacks’ latest clutch postseason moment.

“After my hit, I sprinted so hard,” Marte said, shaking his head.

Marte capped a three-hit afternoon with a walk-off single in the ninth, rookie Brandon Pfaadt pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Diamondbacks closed to 2-1 in the NL Championship Series by rallying to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Thursday.

On the verge of falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven matchup, Arizona tied the score on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI double in the seventh.

Gurriel opened the ninth with a leadoff walk against Craig Kimbrel, stole second and took third on Pavin Smith’s infield single.