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By Amy Langfield

December 24, 2025

By Amy Langfield

December 24, 2025

 
 

Good afternoon and welcome to your afternoon news update from AP. Today, a baby is born after the rarest of pregnancies; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s open to creating a demilitarized zone; and AP film writers rank the best movies of 2025.

 

Afternoon Wire will be on hiatus tomorrow in observance of the Christmas holiday. Be sure you are signed up for AP News Alerts so you don't miss any major breaking news.

 

UP FIRST

AP Morning Wire

This photo provided by the family shows, from left, Kaila, Suze, Ryu and Andrew Lopez at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles in August 2025. (Lopez family via AP)

‘The best gift ever': Baby is born after the rarest of pregnancies, defying all odds

Suze Lopez holds her baby boy on her lap and marvels at the remarkable way he came into the world. Before little Ryu was born, he developed outside his mom’s womb, hidden by a basketball-sized ovarian cyst — a dangerous situation so rare that his doctors plan to write about the case for a medical journal. Just 1 in 30,000 pregnancies occur in the abdomen instead of the uterus, and those that make it to full term "are essentially unheard of – far, far less than 1 in a million," said Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles where Ryu was born. "I mean, this is really insane." Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • WATCH: Baby is born after defying all odds
 

TOP STORIES

Zelenskyy says he’s open to creating demilitarized zone in Ukraine’s industrial heartland

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end Russia’s war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Explosion in Moscow kills 3 people. Official says Ukrainian intelligence was behind it
  • Pro-Russian hackers claim cyberattack on French postal service
  • Ukraine’s own ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is back on for a special episode with wartime heroes

The best movies of 2025, ranked by AP film writers

The bean counters might say otherwise, but 2025 was a good year for movies. Filmmakers working in and out of the studio system managed to make bold, personal, wildly imaginative and singular works. Some of them even broke through to the mainstream — how extraordinary that “Sinners” is among the highest earning of the year in North America, alongside all those “safe” sequels, reboots and known brands? Most, however, are more likely destined for cult classic status. Read more.

AP's ONLY 4-STAR MOVIE REVIEWS IN 2025 ➤

  • "The Ballad of Wallis Island"
  • "One Battle After Another"
  • "It Was Just an Accident"
  • "Sentimental Value"
  • "Marty Supreme"
  • "No Other Choice"
 

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IN OTHER NEWS

Investigators work around Bristol Health & Rehab Center and surrounding rubble Wednesday after a gas explosion the day prior in Bristol, Pa. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Deadly blast:  Investigators sift through wreckage after a deadly Pennsylvania nursing home explosion

Epstein files: After missing deadline, DOJ says it may need a ‘few more weeks’ to finish releasing files

8 people killed: Turkey recovers black boxes from jet crash that killed top Libyan military officials

West Africa: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger call for joint ‘large-scale operations’ against extremists

Carnival cruise ship: Teen suspect in stepsister’s cruise ship death says he doesn’t remember anything, documents say

Holiday hours: Here’s what stores are open on Christmas 

Christmas quiz: Test your knowledge

WATCH: Remaining students kidnapped in Nigeria are reunited with their families ahead of Christmas

 

TRENDING

People gather at Roemerberg square to attend the city's bell ringing on Christmas Eve in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Photos of Christmas celebrations around the world

From Bethlehem to Beijing, people around the world are celebrating the Christmas season. A polar bear mascot boards an elevator during holiday revelry. Swimmers plunge into frigid waters off Northern Ireland for a charity event. Singers fill a stadium in Indonesia. Associated Press photographers have captured mesmerizing images abounding in