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

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Israel will send a delegation to Qatar to try to ‘advance’ ceasefire negotiations

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said that it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday “in an effort to advance the negotiations” around the ceasefire in Gaza, while Hamas reported “positive signals” in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on starting negotiations on the truce’s delayed second phase.

The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office gave no details except to say it had “accepted the invitation of U.S.-backed mediators.” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua also gave no details. Talks on the second phase should have started a month ago.

There was no immediate comment from the White House, which on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct U.S. talks with Hamas.

Over the past week, Israel has pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, which ended last weekend, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 34 others.

Israel last weekend cut off all supplies to Gaza and its more than 2 million people as it pressed Hamas to agree. The militant group has said that the move would affect the remaining hostages as well.

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US economic worries mount as Trump implements tariffs, cuts workforce and freezes spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — With his flurry of tariffs, government layoffs and spending freezes, there are growing worries President Donald Trump may be doing more to harm the U.S. economy than to fix it.

The labor market remains healthy with a 4.1% unemployment rate and 151,000 jobs added in February, and Trump likes to point to investment commitments by Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to show that he’s delivering results.

But Friday’s employment report also found that the number of people stuck working part-time because of economic circumstances jumped by 460,000 last month. In the leisure and hospitality sectors that reflect consumers having extra money to spend, 16,000 jobs were lost. And the federal government reduced its payrolls by 10,000 in a potential harbinger of the alarm being sounded by the stock market, consumer confidence and other measures of where the economy is headed.

Since January, the economic policy uncertainty index has spiked 41% to a level, 334.5, that in the past signaled a recession. Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economist and co-developer of the uncertainty index, said it’s unclear how this will play out, but he’s worried.

“I have an increasing fear we will enter into what may become known as the ‘Trump recession,'” he said. “Ongoing policy turbulence and a tariff war could tip the U.S. economy into its first recession in five years.” That last recession occurred under Trump because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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House Republicans unveil bill to avoid shutdown and they’re daring Democrats to oppose it

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans unveiled a spending bill Saturday that would keep federal agencies funded through Sept. 30, pushing ahead with a go-it-alone strategy that seems certain to spark a major confrontation with Democrats over the contours of government spending.

The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming nondefense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That approach is likely to be a nonstarter for most Democrats who have long insisted that defense and nondefense spending move in the same direction.

Congress must act by midnight Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is teeing up the bill for a vote on Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to vote against it and risk a shutdown. He also is betting that Republicans can muscle the legislation through the House largely by themselves.

Normally, when it comes to keeping the government fully open for business, Republicans have had to work with Democrats to craft a bipartisan measure that both sides can support. That’s because Republicans almost always lack the votes to pass spending bills on their own.

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Trump is forcing a generational shift in GOP foreign policy. Here’s how Republicans are responding

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress have long been intent on countering America’s rivals and spreading U.S. influence abroad. But when President Donald Trump spelled out a sharp turn from that approach in his recent address to Congress, lawmakers in his party couldn’t help but stand and applaud.

Moves toward a neutral position on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Tariffs on trading partners and allies. Cuts in foreign military and humanitarian aid.

More is sure to come as Trump sweeps Washington with his “America First” agenda. “We’re going to protect our citizens like never before,” he told Congress.

Those ideas have produced some of the most dramatic moments in the early part of his second term, none more so than the Oval Office clash involving Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Some Republicans who were not shy about countering Trump’s foreign policy ideas during his first term are overwhelmingly standing by him now. It shows not only Trump’s ability to impose his will on his party, but also the extent to which he is ushering in a potentially generational shift in global alliances and power.

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Pope Francis responding well to pneumonia therapy and showing ‘gradual, slight improvement’

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is responding well to the treatment for double pneumonia and has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” in recent days, the Vatican said Saturday. But his doctors have decided to keep his prognosis as guarded, meaning that he’s not out of danger yet.

The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has remained stable, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors reported in a Vatican statement.

The doctors said that such stability “as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy.” It was the first time the doctors had reported that Francis was responding positively to the treatment for the complex lung infection that was diagnosed after he was hospitalized on Feb. 14.

Francis worked and rested during the day on Saturday, as he entered his fourth week at Rome’s Gemelli hospital with his condition stabilized following a few bouts of acute respiratory crises last week.

“In order to record these initial improvements in the coming days as well, his doctors have prudently maintained the prognosis as guarded,” the statement said.

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2 days of clashes and revenge killings in Syria leave more than 1,000 people dead

BEIRUT (AP) — The death toll from two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 1,000, a war monitoring group said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria’s conflict began 14 years ago.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in addition to 745 civilians killed, mostly in shootings from close distance, 125 government security force members and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Assad were killed. It added that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the city of Latakia.

The clashes, which erupted Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power.

The government has said that they were responding to attacks from remnants of Assad’s forces and blamed “individual actions” for the rampant violence.

The revenge killings that started Friday by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect are a major blow to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that led the overthrow of the former government. Alawites made up a large part of Assad’s support base for decades.

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Russian strikes on Ukraine kill more than 20 as Polish prime minister warns against appeasement

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched heavy aerial attacks on Ukraine for a second night Saturday after the United States stopped sharing satellite images with the Ukrainian government, officials said. At least 22 people have been killed.

The U.S. decision to withhold intelligence and military aid came on the heels of a tempestuous White House visit last week by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. President Donald Trump is trying to pressure Ukraine into accepting a peace deal with Russia.

Without U.S. satellite imagery, Ukraine’s ability to strike inside Russia and defend itself from bombardment is significantly diminished.

“This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X Saturday. “More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine.”

At least 11 people were killed in multiple strikes on a town in Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region late Friday, and another seven people were killed in four towns close to the front where Russian troops have been making steady advances, said regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Three others died when a Russian drone hit a civilian workshop in the northeastern Kharkiv region, emergency service officials reported. One man was killed by shelling in the region.

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Wind-driven brush fire on New York’s Long Island 50 percent contained. Firefighter injured

NEW YORK (AP) — Fast-moving brush fires burned through a large swath of land on New York’s Long Island on Saturday fanned by high winds, spewing thick gray smoke into the sky and prompting the evacuation of a military base and the closure of a major highway.

Officials said three of the four fires were fully contained while the other one, in Westhampton, was 50 percent contained. Two commercial buildings were partially burned, but officials said homes were not in the line of fire. One firefighter was flown to a hospital to be treated for burns to the face.

“Our biggest problem is the wind,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said. “It is driving this fire.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and said state agencies were responding to the fires around the Pine Barrens, a wooded area that is home to commuter towns east of New York City.

“This is still out of control at this moment,” Hochul told Long Island TV station News 12. “We’re seeing people having to be evacuated from the Westhampton area,” she said, adding that more evacuations may be needed.

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Iran’s top leader rejects talks with the US over missile range, regional influence

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he rejects a U.S. push for talks between the two countries because they would be aimed at imposing restrictions on Iranian missile range and its influence in the region.

Speaking to a group of officials on Saturday, Khamenei did not identify the United States by name but said a “bullying government” was being persistent in its push for talks.

“Their talks are not aimed at solving problems, it is for … let’s talk to impose what we want on the other party that is sitting on the opposite side of the table.”

Khamenei’s remarks came a day after President Donald Trump acknowledged sending a letter to Khamenei seeking a new deal with Tehran to restrain its rapidly advancing nuclear program and replace the nuclear deal he withdrew America from during his first term in office.

Khamenei said U.S. demands would be both military and related to the regional influence of Iran.

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Meet Amy Gleason, the DOGE administrator who may — or may not — be wielding extraordinary power

WASHINGTON (AP) — When her daughter was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease in 2010, Amy Gleason attacked the challenge.

She carried binders of medical records to doctors’ appointments across six health systems seeking the best care for juvenile dermatomyositis. She volunteered at a nonprofit searching for a cure. She also started a health care company to create record-sharing software that would make life easier for chronically ill patients and families.

Within five years, President Barack Obama’s White House recognized Gleason as a “Champion of Change” in the industry. When the coronavirus struck in 2020, she was a health care technologist in the first Trump White House who worked grueling hours building data systems to guide the federal response. (And her daughter was a thriving college student.)

Now, her journey has improbably led to President Donald Trump naming her the acting administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service, a position that seems to convey extraordinary power. Except almost no one has heard of her and everyone knows the man the president says is actually leading the unparalleled effort to gut the federal workforce and shutter agencies: Elon Musk.

While Musk has claimed his Department of Government Efficiency is fully transparent, until last week the White House press secretary would not even say Gleason’s name — which does not appear on the DOGE website.