AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Vance is optimistic about Gaza ceasefire but notes ‘very hard’ work to come

KIRYAT GAT, Israel (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called progress in Gaza’s fragile ceasefire better than anticipated but acknowledged during an Israel visit the challenges that remain, from disarming Hamas to rebuilding a land devastated by two years of war.

Vance noted flareups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that began on Oct. 10 is going “better than I expected.” The Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added that “we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.”

They visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation as questions remain over the long-term plan for peace, including when and how an international security force will deploy to Gaza and who will govern the territory after the war.

Vance tried to downplay any idea that his visit — his first as vice president — was urgently arranged to keep the ceasefire in place. He said he feels “confident that we’re going to be in a place where this peace lasts,” but warned that if Hamas doesn’t cooperate, it will be “obliterated.”

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of the architects of the ceasefire agreement, noted its complexity: “Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now a peacetime posture.”

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Trump hosts Senate Republicans at renovated White House as the shutdown drags into fourth week

WASHINGTON (AP) — Head Start programs for preschoolers are scrambling for federal funds. The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing its 1,400 employees. Thousands more federal workers are going without paychecks.

But as President Donald Trump welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club — with the boom-boom of construction underway on the new White House ballroom — he portrayed a different vision of America, as a unified GOP refuses to yield to Democratic demands for health care funds, and the government shutdown drags on.

“We have the hottest country anywhere in the world, which tells you about leadership,” Trump said in opening remarks, extolling the renovations underway as senators took their seats in the newly paved over garden-turned-patio.

It was a festive atmosphere under crisp, but sunny autumn skies as senators settled in for cheeseburgers, fries and chocolates, and Trump’s favored songs — “YMCA” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — played over the new sound system.

And while Trump said the shutdown must come to an end — and suggested maybe Smithsonian museums could reopen — he signaled no quick compromise with Democrats over the expiring health care funds.

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Trump doesn’t want ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin as he confirms talks on Ukraine war are off for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was on hold because he doesn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” It was the latest twist in Trump’s stop-and-go effort to resolve the war in Ukraine.

The decision to hold off on the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announced last week, was made following a call Monday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump said. “I don’t want to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what happens.”

Trump’s hesitancy will likely come as a relief to European leaders, who have accused Putin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield. The leaders — including the British prime minister, French president and German chancellor — said they opposed any push to make Ukraine surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace, as Trump most recently has suggested.

They also plan to push forward with plans to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war efforts, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such a step.

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In Chicago, an immense show of force signals a sharp escalation in White House immigration crackdown

CHICAGO (AP) — The music begins low and ominous, with the video showing searchlights skimming along a Chicago apartment building and heavily armed immigration agents storming inside. Guns are drawn. Unmarked cars fill the streets. Agents rappel from a Black Hawk helicopter.

But quickly the soundtrack grows more stirring and the video — edited into a series of dramatic shots and released by the Department of Homeland Security days after the Sept. 30 raid — shows agents leading away shirtless men, their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

Authorities said they were targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but only two of the 37 immigrants arrested were gang members. The others were in the country illegally, they said, including some with criminal histories. One U.S. citizen was arrested on an outstanding narcotics warrant.

But the apartments of dozens of other U.S. citizens were also targeted, residents said, and at least a half-dozen Americans were held for hours.

The immense show of force signaled a sharp escalation in the White House’s immigration crackdown and amplified tensions in a city already on edge.

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Warner Bros. Discovery confirms it has received buyout interest and is considering its options

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery — the home of HBO, CNN and DC Studios — has signaled that it may be open to selling all or parts of its business, just months after announcing plans to split into two companies.

In an announcement Tuesday, the entertainment and media giant said it had initiated a review of “strategic alternatives” in light of “unsolicited interest” it had received from multiple parties, for both the entire company and Warner Bros. specifically.

Warner Bros. Discovery did not specify where that interest was coming from, and a spokesperson said the company couldn’t share additional information when reached by The Associated Press. But its review arrives after growing reports of a potential bidding war — including from Skydance-owned Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger in early August.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Paramount approached Warner Bros. Discovery about a majority-cash offer in late September — but that Warner Chief Executive David Zaslav had rebuffed those first overtures. According to the outlet, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison later considered taking a more aggressive approach, such as going directly to shareholders.

CNBC has also reported that Netflix and Comcast are among other interested parties, citing unnamed sources. Comcast declined to comment Tuesday. Paramount and Netflix did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for statements.

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The Louvre’s crown jewel heist is now a race against time for authorities — and the brazen thieves

PARIS (AP) — The glittering sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds that once adorned France’s royals could well be gone forever, experts said Tuesday after a brazen, four-minute heist in broad daylight left the nation stunned and the government struggling to explain a new debacle at the Louvre.

Each stolen piece — an emerald necklace and earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace and a single earring — represents the pinnacle of 19th century “haute joaillerie,” or fine jewelry. But for the royals, they were more than decoration. The pieces were political statements of France’s wealth, power and cultural import. And they are so significant that they were among the treasures saved from the government’s 1887 auction of most royal jewels.

Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor whose office is leading the investigation, said Tuesday that in monetary terms, the stolen jewelry is worth an estimated $102 million (88 million euros) but also noted that the estimate doesn’t include historical value. About 100 investigators are now involved in the police hunt for the suspects and the gems, she said.

The theft of the crown jewels left the French government scrambling — again — to explain the latest embarrassment at the Louvre, which is plagued by overcrowding and outdated facilities. Activists in 2024 threw a can of soup at the Mona Lisa. And in June, the museum was brought to a halt by its own striking staff, who complained about mass tourism. President Emmanuel Macron has announced that the Mona Lisa, stolen by a former museum worker in 1911 and recovered two years later, will get its own room under a major renovation.

Now the sparkling jewels, artifacts of a French culture of long ago, are likely being secretly dismantled and sold off in a rush as individual pieces that may or may not be identifiable as part of the French crown jewels, experts said.

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Things to know about Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s new prison inmate who used to be president

PARIS (AP) — Once the most powerful person in France, Nicolas Sarkozy is now behind bars.

Being locked up in Paris’ La Santé prison for criminal conspiracy is the latest twist in the uncommon life of the 70-year-old former president.

Proudly tough on crime when he was in government, Sarkozy now has to adjust to the strict constraints of hours and days governed by penitentiary rules. He is appealing his conviction and maintains his innocence.

In sentencing Sarkozy to five years in prison for plotting to finance his 2007 campaign with funds from Libya, judges took a swing at privilege and impunity in France and signaled that all people are equal before the law.

But the newest of more than 80,000 inmates in French prisons is the only one who used to command the country’s nuclear arsenal.

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Appeals court overturns conviction of Colombian ex-President Uribe for bribery and witness tampering

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Colombian former President Álvaro Uribe for bribery and witness tampering for which he had been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest.

Uribe, 73, has denied any wrongdoing. He was sentenced in August following a nearly six-month trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he attempted to influence witnesses who accused the law-and-order leader of having links to a paramilitary group in the 1990s.

The court on Tuesday said the conviction had “structural deficiencies,” used vague premises and lacked comprehensive analysis. Two of the three judges on the panel voted to overturn the conviction; the third thought it should be upheld.

Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010, has called his conviction political persecution, claiming that the judge was biased against him. In the appeal, his lawyers questioned the validity of the evidence and argued that the former president’s responsibility was not “unequivocally” proven.

Prosecutors and victims can appeal Tuesday’s ruling to Colombia’s Supreme Court. The former president, who was free pending his appeal, watched the proceedings remotely via video link.

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American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies at 29

Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster who started as a child prodigy and quickly became one of the most influential American voices in the sport, died Monday. He was 29.

The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on social media, calling him “a talented chess player, educator, and beloved member of the chess community.”

“Let us remember Daniel for his passion and love for the game of chess, and for the joy and inspiration he brought to us all every day,” his family said in a statement shared by the center.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Naroditsky became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from World Chess Champion, at the age of 18.

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Los Angeles Angels hire former catcher Kurt Suzuki as their next manager

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels hired former major league catcher Kurt Suzuki as their next manager on Tuesday.

Suzuki has spent the past three seasons as a special assistant to Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who didn’t have to look far to find the fifth person to serve as the Halos’ manager during Minasian’s five years in charge.

Suzuki played 16 seasons in the major leagues for five teams, earning an All-Star selection with Minnesota in 2014 and winning a World Series with Washington in 2019.

Suzuki finished his career with two years in Anaheim, retiring after the 2022 season. Suzuki also won the College World Series while playing for Cal State Fullerton, located a few miles from Angel Stadium.

The 42-year-old Suzuki replaces Ron Washington, who wasn’t brought back to the Angels’ dugout after two losing seasons. Washington missed the second half of the current season after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery, with Ray Montgomery filling in while Los Angeles finished in last place in the AL West.