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CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday made his first big pitch ahead of this year's midterm elections on his administration's economic performance, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.Trump gave a speech in a suburb of Des Moines where he talked up the tax cuts he signed into law last year and took credit for the soaring performance of the stock market, saying that he “made a lot of people rich,” including those "that I don’t even like."The president also slipped into the third person to tell Iowans, who are expected to reflect their feelings on his presidency when they vote in two highly competitive congressional races this year, that, “Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming."“Incomes are rising. Investment is soaring, Inflation has been defeated,” he declared.The trip for the Republican president was part of a White House push to focus more on affordability ahead of elections in November that will determine control of Congress.It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on economic issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.On the ground in Iowa, Trump first made a stop at a local restaurant, where he met some locals and sat for an interview with Fox News Channel — in which he said he was attempting to “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota.The latest effort comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in Iowa's northern neighbor. Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, Trump said he was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.Trump calls Pretti killing 'sad situation'As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about Pretti's killing. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post.Trump, when asked Tuesday if he believed Pretti was an assassin, said, “No.”When asked if he thought Pretti's killing was justified, Trump called it “a very sad situation” and said a “big investigation” was underway."I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said.He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was quick to cast Pretti as a violent instigator, would not be resigning.Later, as he greeted diners at an Iowa restaurant, Trump weighed in further with comments that were likely to exacerbate frustration among some of his backers who are also strong Second Amendment proponents."He certainly shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Trump said of Pretti.He called it a “very, very unfortunate incident but said, "I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”Republicans want to switch the subject to affordabilityTrump was last in Iowa ahead of the July 4 holiday to kick off the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary, which morphed largely into a celebration of his major spending and tax cut package hours after Congress had approved it.Trump, speaking on Tuesday in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines, talked up the wide-ranging tariffs he imposed on nearly all U.S. trading partners. He also promoted the deals he's struck with drug makers to get them to lower costs on some prescription drugs.Republicans are hoping that Trump’s visit to the state on Tuesday draws focus back to that tax bill, which will be a key part of their pitch as they ask voters to keep them in power in November.“I invited President Trump back to Iowa to highlight the real progress we’ve made: delivering tax relief for working families, securing the border, and growing our economy,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said in a statement in advance of his trip. “Now we’ve got to keep that momentum going and pass my affordable housing bill, deliver for Iowa’s energy producers, and bring down costs for working families.”Trump’s affordability tour has taken him to Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as the White House tries to marshal the president’s political power to appeal to voters in key swing states.But Trump's penchant for going off-script has sometimes taken the focus off cost-of-living issues and his administration’s plans for how to combat it. In Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump insisted that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats were using the term affordability as a “hoax” to hurt him. At that event, Trump also griped that immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation.Competitive races in IowaAlthough it was a swing state just a little more than a decade ago, Iowa in recent years has been reliably Republican in national and statewide elections. Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024 against Democrat Kamala Harris.Still, two of Iowa’s four congressional districts have been among the most competitive in the country and are expected to be again in this year’s midterm elections. Trump already has endorsed Republican Reps. Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Democrats, who landed three of Iowa's four House seats in the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, see a prime opportunity to unseat Iowa incumbents.This election will be the first since 1968 with open seats for both governor and U.S. senator at the top of the ticket after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst opted out of reelection bids. The political shake-ups have rippled throughout the state, with Republican Reps. Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson seeking new offices for governor and for U.S. senator, respectively.Democrats hope Rob Sand, the lone Democrat in statewide office who is running for governor, will make the entire state more competitive with his appeal to moderate and conservative voters and his $13 million in cash on hand.___Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Maya Sweedler in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse.Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) late Tuesday into early Wednesday.The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.“This could be the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday.Officials in states afflicted with severe cold reported more than 40 deaths.Three brothers ages 6, 8 and 9 died Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said Tuesday. The boys' mother said she ran into the freezing lake and frantically tried to pull her sons from the water, but the ice kept breaking beneath them.“They were just screaming, telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water. I watched all of them fight.”More than 470,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday evening, with over half the outages in Tennessee and Mississippi. Reconnecting some hard-hit areas could take days. Electric utility Entergy said some of its 6,000 customers in Grenada, Mississippi, might not have power until Sunday.Jean Kirkland used a lighter and paper Tuesday to ignite her gas stovetop. Her neighborhood in Lexington, Mississippi, lost power Sunday, and Kirkland and her daughter have been relying on the stove and a couple of gas-powered heaters to keep warm. Outside, icicles dangling from power lines clattered.“When you’re used to certain things, you miss them when they’re gone,” said Kirkland, who’s been getting by without hot water and lights at night, as well as her TV.Health officials warn against using gas-powered stoves to heat a home. They can give off fumes that increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one carbon monoxide death was reported in Louisiana, according to the state health department.Dozens of Mississippi counties were in need of bottled water, blankets, tarps, fuel and generators, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending trucks loaded with supplies, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.More than 110,000 outages remained in Nashville, Tennessee, and neighboring communities Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service said on social media it had dispatched more than 740 workers to restore power. It didn’t say how long that might take.Nashville officials said nearly 440 people spent Monday night at community centers being used as temporary shelters, while 1,400 more stayed at area homeless shelters. Many residents booked rooms at local hotels.Lisa Patterson had planned to ride out the deep freeze at her family's Nashville home. But she and her husband lost power, trees fell onto their driveway and their wood stove proved no match for the cold. Along with their dog, the couple had to be rescued and taken to a warming shelter.“I’ve been snowed in up there for almost three weeks without being able to get up and down my driveway because of the snow. I’m prepared for that. But this was unprecedented," Patterson said.In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the temperatures could become so frigid that as little as 10 minutes outside “could result in frostbite or hypothermia.”In New York City, officials said 10 people had been found dead outdoors in the cold. More deaths were reported across a dozen states. They included two people hit by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, and two teenagers killed while sledding in Arkansas and Texas.___Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia; Bates from Lexington, Mississippi; and Hall from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.

One person was shot and in critical condition Tuesday in a shooting involving the Border Patrol near the U.S.- Mexico border, authorities in Arizona said.The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the FBI had asked it to “lead the use-of-force investigation involving the agent.” It noted that such investigations are standard when a federal agency is involved in a shooting in the county.“We ask the community to remain patient and understanding as this investigation moves forward,” the department said in a statement.In response to an Associated Press request for details of the shooting, the FBI said it was “investigating an alleged assault on a federal officer” near Arivaca, Arizona, a community about 10 miles from the border.An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email and telephone call asking about how the alleged assault was related to the shooting but said the agency would participate in a planned 4 p.m. MT press conference with the sheriff’s department on the shooting.The Santa Rita Fire District said it responded to the shooting and the person who was wounded was in custody.“Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter for rapid transport to a regional trauma center,” the fire district said.One level-one trauma center hospital in Tucson declined to release information, and the AP was waiting on a response from another.The area is a common path for drug smugglers and migrants who illegally cross the border, so agents regularly patrol there.Authorities released no information about the suspect. The shooting comes in a month that has seen three shootings -- two fatal -- by immigration officers involved in the massive Department of Homeland Security enforcement operation in Minnesota.While there were numerous videos of those shootings taken by residents monitoring the enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area, the latest shooting in Arizona happened in a community of about 500 people apparently without any bystander video of the incident.The sheriff department said its involvement in the investigation was the result of “long standing relationships” built over time in the border area to promote transparency.Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, has previously said his agency will not enforce federal immigration law amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown and that he will use his limited resources to focus on local crime and other public safety issues.U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to emails and telephone calls seeking more information.Border Patrol agents fired weapons in eight incidents during the 12-month period through September 2025, 14 times during the year before that and 13 times the year before that.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday a “big investigation” was underway into the killing of protester and ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.“I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” the president said as he left the White House.The comment is the latest marker of Trump’s sudden turnabout on the issue as his administration confronts growing pushback — including from some Republicans and Second Amendment advocates — on federal agents’ tactics in the second fatal shooting from the aggressive immigration operation in Minnesota.A day earlier, the White House made an effort to distance Trump from some early comments by high-ranking administration officials who had branded Pretti as a domestic terrorist despite videos of the encounter contradicting their narrative.Immigration agents were active Tuesday across the Twin Cities region, but it was unclear if officials had changed tactics after the shift in tone from the White House.The Latest:Trump says Pretti ‘shouldn’t have been carrying a gun’As he greeted diners in a Des Moines-area restaurant, Trump again weighed in on the Minnesota shooting.“We view that as a very unfortunate incident, OK?,” he said, adding that everyone “unless you’re a stupid person” viewed it that way.In comments that were likely to further irritate his backers who are also strong Second Amendment supports, he said: “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”Schumer says Noem is ‘incompetent’ and a ‘liar’ and should be firedSenate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is “a liar,” “vicious” and “incompetent” and must be fired after the fatal shootings of two Minneapolis protesters by federal authorities.In opening floor remarks as the Senate returned to Washington, Schumer said that Democrats will not vote for Homeland Security funding as part of a wide-ranging spending bill passed by the House last week. The government will partially shut down if the Senate doesn’t pass the legislation by Friday.Schumer said Republicans should strip the Homeland spending portion out of the bill and should not force a vote on legislation “that everyone knows cannot pass.”“The ball is in Leader Thune’s court,” Schumer said of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.Democrats have criticized Noem and other officials for saying that 37 year-old Alex Pretti “approached” immigration officers with a gun and acted violently when video evidence appears to show otherwise.Schumer stopped short of saying that Noem should be impeached as dozens of Democrats have signed on to an impeachment resolution in the House.Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin supports impeaching Kristi Noem if she’s not firedDemocratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin where Alex Pretti grew up and graduated from high school, said she supports impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.“She has to go,” Baldwin told reporters during an online news conference Tuesday. “She needs to be fired or she should resign. ... If impeachment is the way to do it, I’d support it.”Baldwin also said she would not vote for the DHS funding bill before the Senate without additional accountability measures for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.“ICE is out of control and they are wreaking havoc on American cities, including Minneapolis-St. Paul,” Baldwin said. “The question is are my Republican colleagues just going to look away or are they going to join us in adding accountability measures that rein in ICE?”Minneapolis mayor asks border czar to quickly end immigration enforcement surgeMayor Jacob Frey told President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, that the city will not enforce federal immigration laws, and he asked that the immigration enforcement surge “come to an end as quickly as possible.”Homan met with Frey and Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara Tuesday morning.“Public safety works best when it’s built on community trust — not tactics that create fear or division,” Frey said in a statement released after the meeting. “I shared with Mr. Homan the serious negative impacts this operation has had on Minneapolis and surrounding communities, as well as the strain it has placed on our local police officers.”Frey said the city would “remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe.”Shooting involving Border Patrol leaves 1 in critical condition near US-Mexico borderOne person was shot and in critical condition Tuesday in a shooting involving the Border Patrol near the U.S.- Mexico border, authorities in Arizona said.The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it was working with the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in response to the shooting in Arivaca, Arizona, a community about 10 miles from the border.The shooting involved a Border Patrol agent and a suspect, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told the Arizona Daily Star.U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FBI did not immediately respond to emails and telephone calls seeking more information.The Santa Rita Fire District said it responded to the shooting and the person who was wounded was in custody.“Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter for rapid transport to a regional trauma center,” the fire district said.▶ Read more about shooting involving Border PatrolFormer federal prosecutor lays out roadmap for prosecuting officersThere’s a potential path forward for Minnesota prosecutors to charge the federal officers who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a former federal prosecutor said Tuesday.State officials have complained about a lack of cooperation from federal authorities.But former federal prosecutor Anders Folk laid out a potential roadmap on social media Tuesday. He said there first needs to be a fair, impartial investigation.If state charges are then filed, Folk said, the case would likely get moved to federal court. He said a federal judge would then decide whether the officer was shielded by the Supremacy Clause. He said that immunity is not absolute, and whether the case can go forward will depend on the facts.“Let’s get caught trying to do the right thing and ensure people are held accountable for these unlawful killings,” said Folk, who is running for the job of Hennepin County’s top prosecutor.House Democratic leader says Noem must go — or face impeachment proceedings“The country is disgusted by what the Department of Homeland Security has done,” said Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a statement.The Democrat is the latest in a growing number of voices — from party leaders to advocacy groups to the most centrist of lawmakers in Congress — insisting on dramatic changes in the aftermath of the shooting deaths in Minnesota.“Kristi Noem should be fired immediately or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House,” said Jeffries, whose party would need GOP support on any legislation to launch such an effort.“The violence unleased on the American people by the Department of Homeland Security must end.”Trump disputes staff and says slain Alex Pretti was not an ‘assassin’Trump was asked if the killed Minneapolis protester was an “assassin” as a key aide has claimed and the president answered “no.”The president added, however, that protesters “can’t have guns” as Pretti did and “it’s just a very unfortunate incident.” Trump has said he wants the death investigated.On Saturday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post on X as well.Trump says he’s going to be ‘watching over’ investigation into Pretti’s killing, which he calls ‘very sad’The president was asked as he left the White House on Tuesday whether he thought Pretti’s killing was justified and he responded by saying that a “big investigation” was underway.“I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said.He was also asked about Pretti’s family and said in response, he said: “I love everybody. I love all of our people. I love his family. And it’s a very sad situation.”Trump says Noem isn’t going to resignAsked by reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday for a trip to Iowa whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is going to step down, Trump had a one-word answer: “No.”He did not elaborate further.Democrats in Congress have called for Noem’s exit after federal agents fatally shot two people in Minneapolis protesting immigration enforcement actions.Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis and said on Tuesday that Homan was meeting with both the mayor and Minnesota governor.Minnesota resident says ‘world-changing events’ so close to home have been ‘overwhelming’Christina Leeson, who lives in the Minneapolis suburb Edina and was at Pretti’s vigil Tuesday morning, said Bovino’s leave is encouraging, though she’s hesitant to believe things are over since Tom Homan is coming in.“It’s just overwhelming, the amount of world-changing events that have happened within a 3-mile radius,” she said, referring to the death of Renee Good earlier in January, and George Floyd in 2020.“I feel like this is usually the time of year where I think we all kind of question why we live in Minnesota when it’s, you now, negative zero or below zero for weeks on end,” she said.Leeson said the way the community has come together in recent weeks has been a reminder of “the community, and how much we care for our neighbors and look out for each other, and are going to come out, and stand for what we believe is right no matter what.”Walz has made his priorities clear to Homan, governor’s office says“Governor Walz met with Tom Homan this morning and reiterated Minnesota’s priorities: impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, a swift, significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota,” the governor’s office announced.“The Governor and Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals, which the President also agreed to yesterday. The Governor tasked the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as the primary liaison to Homan to ensure these goals are met,” the statement said.Immigration agents still active across the Twin CitiesIf they’ve changed tactics with the shift in tone from the White House, it wasn’t immediately clear in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.The streets appeared largely quiet Tuesday morning in South Minneapolis neighborhoods where unmarked convoys of immigration agents have been regular sights in recent weeks, including the neighborhoods where two people were killed by federal agents.But Associated Press staff saw carloads of agents in northeast Minneapolis and in the suburb of Little Canada.Every living former Democratic president has now addressed Pretti’s killingFormer President Joe Biden said on social media on Tuesday that the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis “betrays our most basic values as Americans.”Former President Barack Obama said Sunday that the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by a U.S. Border Patrol officer should be a “wake-up call to every American” and warned that “our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”Former President Bill Clinton’s statement Sunday said that “over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come.”“This is one of them,” Clinton said. “If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back.”Civil rights leaders to meet with Minnesota attorney generalNAACP president Derrick Johnson and League of United Latin American Citizens president Roman Palomares will hold community events in Minneapolis on Tuesday before meeting with Ellison.The events include a visit to the site where Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration officers for a “moment of reflection,” according to a press release from LULAC, and a “Community Conversation” held at NAACP’s Minneapolis headquarters.Trump immigration crackdown contributes to drop in US population growth rateTrump’s crackdown on immigration contributed to a year-to-year drop in the nation’s growth rate as the U.S. population reached nearly 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The 0.5% growth rate was a sharp drop from 2024’s immigration-fueled rate of almost 1%, which grew the population to an estimated 340 million.Births outnumbered deaths last year by 519,000 people last year and 1.3 million people immigrated, compared with 2.8 million immigrants in 2024.In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was during the coronavirus pandemic, when the population grew by just 0.16% in 2021. Before that, the lowest rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 during the Spanish flu.▶ Read more about how Trump policies are affecting U.S. population numbersMinnesota attorney general wants more than talk from Trump administrationKeith Ellison said he hopes Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge” will end immediately. Asked on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday if Trump’s newly conciliatory posture has led to more federal cooperation with state and local officials in Minneapolis, Ellison said “not that I’ve seen so far.”“You should understand, Minnesota is abiding by the law as written. We, under the 10th Amendment, the federal government doesn’t have the authority to convert us into its deputies,” Ellison said. “And what the federal government has done is said, ‘well, if you don’t do it our way, we’re going to saturate your state with 4,000 ICE agents until you cry uncle and obey.’ And that’s unconstitutional and illegal.”“It’s a good thing” Trump talked with Minnesota’s governor and Minneapolis’ mayor, Ellison said. “But we need to see some results ... they’ve got to show, not just say.”Brandi Carlile donating to defense of Minnesota ICE detaineesDescribing herself as “heartbroken and angry for Minnesota,” the singer-songwriter says her foundation will grant $25,000 to a Minnesota organization that provides legal defense to people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.“Over the past month, the community there has continued to set an incredible example for the rest of us, demonstrating the power of uniting to protect our neighbors and defend what is right,” she posted on Instagram Monday. “Now, more than ever, it is vital that we continue to hold each other and take action to stop the hate that is spreading through our country.”Carlile said the Looking Out Foundation is granting the money to help The Advocates for Human Rights provide free legal assistance to detainees.Fetterman calls on Trump to fire NoemPennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is calling on Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after federal agents fatally shot two protesters in Minneapolis.“Americans have died,” Fetterman said in a direct appeal to Trump. “She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy.”Fetterman, a Democrat who has increasingly voted with Republicans, said Trump should “NOT make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary.”Fetterman voted with Democrats in April 2024 to dismiss a trial against Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, after he was impeached by the Republican-led House.What to know about Gregory BovinoThe field commander of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis is leaving the city after federal agents fatally shot two people.Bovino had been the go-to architect for the large-scale immigration crackdowns ordered by Trump and the public face of his administration’s city-by-city sweeps. The Border Patrol chief led agents in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans before he headed to Minnesota in December for what the Department of Homeland Security called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.“We’re going to turn and burn to that next target and the next and the next and the next, and we’re not going to stop,” Bovino said in an interview.▶ Read more about Bovino’s career, methods and approachMelania Trump, on morning show, calls for unityFirst lady Melania Trump said in a Fox News interview Tuesday that Americans needed to come together as protests continue in Minneapolis.“I’m against the violence. So, if — please, if you protest, protest in peace. And we need to unify in these times,” she said.Melania Trump’s comments went beyond her husband’s in calling for calm, though he has softened his rhetoric in recent days while continuing to blame Democrats for the violence.She also echoed the president’s previous statements that he had a “great call” Monday with Walz and Frey, adding they were working together to ensure protests were “without riots.”The interview with Ainsley Earnhardt on “Fox & Friends” was pegged to the upcoming release of a new documentary about the first lady.—-This item has been corrected. Melania Trump said “if you protest,” not “if we protest.”Trump says his calls with Minnesota Democratic leaders were ‘great’In a display of reducing tensions, Trump said in a radio interview broadcast Tuesday that he had “great calls” with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Jacob Frey on Monday, after federal immigration officers killed a protester for the second time in two weeks.The Trump White House has tried to blame Democratic leaders for the protests. But after videos suggest his administration wrongly labeled Alex Pretti an active threat to ICE agents, the administration is trying to recalibrate its crackdown, putting White House border czar Tom Homan in charge of its Minnesota immigration operations among other moves.“Actually, they were both great conversations,” the president said on the show “Sid & Friends In The Morning” on 77 WABC in New York City. “So let’s hope that turns out to be so.”ICE chief must appear in court to explain why detainees have been denied due processThe chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants. He’s ordered Todd Lyons, Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz wrote in the order dated Monday.Messages were sent Tuesday to ICE and a DHS spokesperson seeking a response.ICE agents will have a security role at Milan Cortina OlympicsU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to information shared with local media by sources at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The Associated Press independently confirmed the information with two sources at the embassy.The sources who confirmed ICE participation on Tuesday said that federal ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations.During previous Olympics, several federal agencies have supported security for U.S. diplomats, including the investigative component of ICE called Homeland Security Investigations, the sources said. They could not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting most ice sports during the Feb. 6-22 Winter Games.▶ Read more about the ICE agents' planned role in Milan—- By Trisha Thomas and David BillerBovino is set to leave Minneapolis as Trump reshuffles the leadership of his immigration crackdownBorder Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration reshuffles leadership of its immigration enforcement operation and scales back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by federal officers.Trump said he was placing his border czar, Tom Homan, in charge of the mission, with Homan reporting directly to the White House, after Bovino drew condemnation for claiming the man who was killed, Alex Pretti, had been planning to “massacre” law enforcement officers, a characterization that authorities had not substantiated.Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Bovino is among the federal agents leaving Minneapolis. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.▶ Read more about Trump's ICE enforcement leadership reshuffleTrump administration’s trust and credibility tested in wake of Pretti’s death in MinneapolisTrust is one of a president’s most valuable currencies, especially in a time of crisis. During his second term, Trump has persistently undermined the trust and credibility of major universities, national law firms and media and taken punitive actions against them. His supporters largely either endorsed those actions or stayed mum.Now the credibility question is aimed at his administration. While the criticism is not directly aimed at the president by his supporters, it is a sign that trust is eroding over some of his most important policies.The White House seemed to try to ease the conflict Monday. Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke and both suggested their conversation was productive. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who has been at the center of the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement surge nationwide, is expected to soon leave Minneapolis.Still, lawmakers from both parties — including many Republicans — called for independent investigations and, perhaps most importantly, trust after administration officials gave one account of the shooting in Minneapolis, while contemporaneous video provided a decidedly different one.▶ Read more about how Trump's credibility is increasingly being questionedTrump will visit Iowa in a bid to focus on affordability during fallout from Minneapolis shootingTrump is headed to Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House’s midterm-year pivot toward affordability while his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Alex Pretti, the White House said Monday that Trump was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.While in Iowa, the Republican president will make a stop at a local business and then deliver a speech on affordability, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The remarks will be at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.The trip will also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.Minnesota killing produces backlash against Trump administration from Second Amendment advocatesProminent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterization of Alex Prettibas responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.The death produced no clear shifts in U.S. gun politics or policies, even Trump shuffles the lieutenants in charge of his militarized immigration crackdown. But important voices in Trump’s coalition have called for a thorough investigation of Pretti’s death while also criticizing inconsistencies in some Republicans’ Second Amendment stances.If the dynamic persists, it could give Republicans problems as Trump heads into a midterm election year with voters already growing skeptical of his overall immigration approach. The concern is acute enough that Trump’s top spokeswoman sought Monday to reassert his brand as a staunch gun rights supporter.“The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.Leavitt qualified that “when you are bearing arms and confronted by law enforcement, you are raising … the risk of force being used against you.”▶ Read more about the backlash among gun rights advocates

LONDON (AP) — Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged action thriller “One Battle After Another” leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, securing 14 nominations Tuesday including acting nods for five of its cast.Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” is close behind with 13 nominations for Britain's equivalent of the Oscars, while Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean family tragedy “Hamnet” and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong odyssey “Marty Supreme” have 11 apiece.Guillermo del Toro's reimagining of “Frankenstein” and Norwegian family drama “ Sentimental Value” each got eight nominations, rounding out a six-pack of leading contenders for both the British and Hollywood Academy Awards.The best film nominees are “One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “Sinners” and “Sentimental Value.”BAFTA Chief Executive Jane Millichip said the nominations recognized “films like ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners,’ tackling really big societal issues — the moral ambiguity of activism, Black identity,” alongside films exploring “the most intimate side of family relationships.”“They're all doing it in quite different ways: Strong flavors, really bold storytelling," she said.Hollywood heavyweights and rising starsBest leading actor contenders are Timothée Chalamet for “Marty Supreme,” Leonardo DiCaprio for “One Battle After Another,” Ethan Hawke for Broadway biopic “Blue Moon,” Michael B. Jordan for “Sinners” and Jesse Plemons for “Bugonia” and British actor Robert Aramayo for playing a man with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama “I Swear.”Aramayo said it was “really crazy” to be nominated alongside Hollywood heavyweights.“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. "I admire each and every one of them so much.”The leading actress category includes awards-season favorite Jessie Buckley for her performance as Agnes Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, in “Hamnet.” She's up against Rose Byrne for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Kate Hudson for “Song Sung Blue,” Chase Infiniti for “One Battle After Another,” Renate Reinsve for “Sentimental Value” and Emma Stone for dystopian tragicomedy “Bugonia.”“One Battle” actors Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn are all nominated for supporting performances.The Associated Press was recognized in the best documentary category with a nomination for Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing Ukraine war portrait “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” co-produced by the AP and PBS Frontline.The winners will be announced at a Feb. 22 ceremony in London hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The U.K. prizes — officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards — often provide clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, held this year on March 15.This year, unusually, Oscar nominations were announced first, with “Sinners” securing a record 16 nominations, followed by 13 for “One Battle After Another.”The British academy has recognized several performers overlooked by the Oscars, including supporting actor nominees Paul Mescal for “Hamnet” and Odessa A’zion for “Marty Supreme.”The BAFTAs also have a distinctly British accent, with a separate category of best British film. Its 10 nominees include “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” “Pillion,” “I Swear” and “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”Tom Basden, co-writer and star of “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” the story of a musical duo reluctantly reunited by a superfan, said it was gratifying to receive three nominations for a movie filmed on a tiny budget in 18 days. Carey Mulligan, who spent 10 days on set, is nominated for best supporting actress.“Sort of against the odds, we managed to create something in those conditions that we’re really proud of and that’s really hit home with people,” Basden said. “So it’s a lovely kind of underdog story in many ways.”In search of diversityMost BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one – the Rising Star Award – selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year’s rising star contenders are Infiniti, Aramayo, “Sinners” star Miles Caton and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.Like other major movie awards, Britain’s film academy has introduced changes in recent years to increase diversity, including the addition of a longlist round before the final nominees are selected. Diversity has improved since 2020, when no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running, and all 20 of the main acting nominees were white.Still, Zhao is the only female nominee in the best director category, alongside Anderson, Safdie, Cooger, Yorgos Lanthimos for “Bugonia” and Joachim Trier for “Sentimental Value.” Across all categories including documentaries and shorts, 25% of the directing nominees are women.___Associated Press writer Hilary Fox contributed to this story.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has killed at least 6,159 people while many others still are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East to lead any American military response to the crisis. Iran's currency, the rial, meanwhile fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1.The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyers accompanying it provide the U.S. the ability to strike Iran, particularly as Gulf Arab states have signaled they want to stay out of any attack despite hosting American military personnel.Two Iranian-backed militias in the Mideast have signaled their willingness to launch new attacks, likely trying to back Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or Tehran launching mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.Iran has repeatedly threatened to drag the entire Mideast into a war, though its air defenses and military are still reeling after the June war launched by Israel against the country. But the pressure on its economy may spark new unrest as everyday goods slowly go out of reach of its people — particularly if Trump chooses to attack.Ambrey, a private security firm, issued a notice Tuesday saying it assessed that the U.S. “has positioned sufficient military capability to conduct kinetic operations against Iran while maintaining the ability to defend itself and regional allies from reciprocal action.”“Supporting or avenging Iranian protesters in punitive strikes is assessed as insufficient justification for sustained military conflict,” Ambrey wrote. “However, alternative objectives, such as the degradation of Iranian military capabilities, may increase the likelihood of limited U.S. intervention.”Activists offer new death tollTuesday's new figures came from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest in Iran. The group verifies each death with a network of activists on the ground in Iran.It said the 6,159 dead included at least 5,804 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 92 children and 49 civilians who weren't demonstrating. The crackdown has seen over 42,200 arrests, it added.The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll given authorities cutting off the internet and disrupting calls into the Islamic Republic.Iran’s government has put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.The protests in Iran began on Dec. 28, sparked by the fall of the Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, the scale of which is only starting to become clear as the country has faced more than two weeks of internet blackout — the most comprehensive in its history.Iran’s U.N. ambassador told a U.N. Security Council meeting late Monday that Trump’s repeated threats to use military force against the country “are neither ambiguous nor misinterpreted.” Amir Saeid Iravani also repeated allegations that the U.S. leader incited violence by “armed terrorist groups” supported by the United States and Israel, but gave no evidence to support his claims.Iranian state media has tried to accuse forces abroad for the protests as the theocracy remains broadly unable to address the country's ailing economy, which is still squeezed by international sanctions, particularly over its nuclear program.On Tuesday, exchange shops offered the record-low rial-to-dollar rate in Tehran. Traders declined to speak publicly on the matter, with several responding angrily to the situation.Already, Iran has vastly limited its subsidized currency rates to cut down on corruption. It also has offered the equivalent of $7 a month to most people in the country to cover rising costs. However, Iran's people have seen the rial fall from a rate of 32,000 to $1 just a decade ago — which has devoured the value of their savings.Some Iranian-backed militias suggest willingness to fightIran projected its power across the Mideast through the “Axis of Resistance,” a network of proxy militant groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and other places. It was also seen as a defensive buffer, intended to keep conflict away from Iranian borders. But it has collapsed after Israel targeted Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and others during the Gaza war. Meanwhile, rebels in 2024 overthrew Syria’s Bashar Assad after a yearslong, bloody war in which Iran backed his rule.Yemen's Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have repeatedly warned they could resume fire if needed on shipping in the Red Sea, releasing old footage of a previous attack Monday. Ahmad “Abu Hussein” al-Hamidawi, the leader of Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah militia, warned "the enemies that the war on the (Islamic) Republic will not be a picnic; rather, you will taste the bitterest forms of death, and nothing will remain of you in our region.”The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, one of Iran’s staunchest allies, refused to say how it planned to react in the case of a possible attack.“During the past two months, several parties have asked me a clear and frank question: If Israel and America go to war against Iran, will Hezbollah intervene or not?” Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said in a video address.He said the group is preparing for “possible aggression and is determined to defend” against it. But as to how it would act, he said, “these details will be determined by the battle and we will determine them according to the interests that are present.”___Associated Press writers Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After two weeks of intense political and legal scrutiny, the Federal Reserve will seek to make this week's meeting about interest rates as straightforward and uneventful as possible, though President Donald Trump probably still won't like the result.The central bank's interest rate-setting committee is almost certain to keep its key short-term rate unchanged at about 3.6%, after three straight quarter-point cuts last year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after December's meeting that they were “well positioned to wait to see how the economy evolves” before making any further moves.When the Fed lowers its short-term rate, it can over time influence other borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans and business borrowing, though those rates are also affected by market forces.This week's meeting — one of eight the Fed holds each year — will be overshadowed by the bombshell revelation earlier this month that the Justice Department has subpoenaed the Fed as part of a criminal investigation into testimony Powell gave last June about a $2.5 billion building renovation. It's the first time a sitting Fed chair has been investigated, and prompted an unusually public rebuke from Powell.Now, Powell will have to shift from a dispute with the White House to emphasizing that the Fed's decisions around interest rates are driven by economic concerns, not politics. Powell said Jan. 11 that the subpoenas were “pretexts” to punish the Fed for not cutting rates as sharply as Trump wants.Powell will be "under even more pressure to underscore, ‘everything we’re doing here ... is all about the economics,’” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed economist and chief economist at New Century Advisors. "'We didn’t think about the politics.'”Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley and also a former Fed staffer, said that despite the scrutiny, the Fed can be expected to consider its interest rate policies like it always does.“The meetings have a regular flow to them,” he said. "There are presentations that are made, there are discussions that have to be had. ... Some of these other broader-based attacks on the Fed don't really come up."Not long after the Justice Department's subpoenas, the Supreme Court last week considered whether Trump can fire Fed governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies. No president has fired a governor in the Fed's 112-year history. During an oral argument, the justices appeared to be leaning toward allowing her to stay in her job until the case is resolved.Other Fed officials have also signaled the central bank is likely to keep rates unchanged at their two-day meeting that ends Wednesday. The Fed's three rate cuts last year were intended to bolster the economy after hiring slowed sharply over the summer and fall in the wake of Trump's April tariffs on dozens of countries.Yet the unemployment rate ticked lower in December, after picking up for much of last year, and there are other signs the job market may be stabilizing. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits has stayed historically low, a sign layoffs haven't spiked.Meanwhile, inflation remains elevated and actually ticked higher last year, according to the Fed's preferred measure. Prices rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, the latest data available. That is up from 2.6% in November 2024.Unless businesses start cutting jobs or the unemployment rate rises, the Fed is unlikely to cut rates again for at least a few months, economists say. If inflation slowly declines this year, as economists expect, the Fed may cut again in the spring or summer. Wall Street investors expect just two quarter-point rate reductions this year, according to futures prices.Many economists expect growth could pick up in the coming months, which would be another reason to forego rate cuts. Gapen estimates that tax refunds could be about 20% higher this spring than last year as the Trump administration's tax cuts take effect. Refunds could average $3,500, Gapen said.The economy expanded at a 4.4% annual rate in last year's July-September quarter and may have grown at a similarly healthy pace in the final three months of last year. If such solid growth continues, Fed officials will likely wait to see if hiring picks up as well, further reducing the need for more rate cuts.

A new Minnesota website lays out evidence to counter what officials have called federal misinformation after immigration agents fatally shot two residents during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, deepening an unprecedented divide, experts said Monday.Minnesota also went to court to preserve evidence from the Saturday shooting of Alex Pretti after its own investigators were blocked from the scene by federal authorities.Experts say the line being drawn between Minnesota and the U.S. government goes against years of cooperation between local and federal agencies on law enforcement missions.But they also said the state’s hand has been forced by an administration that has acted against decades of practice — from declining to allow state officials access to evidence gathered by federal authorities to barring its own Civil Rights division from probing the shootings of Pretti and Renee Good, who was shot to death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7.Former federal prosecutors under Republican and Democratic presidential administrations said the divide was deeply troubling, though a call Monday between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and President Donald Trump may signal a way forward after both expressed that progress was made.An unusual website launchThe Minnesota Department of Corrections launched a website its leaders said was dedicated to combatting Department of Homeland Security misinformation after Pretti was killed. The site includes examples where Minnesota officials honored federal requests to hold people under deportation orders to refute the Trump administration claim that those people are routinely allowed to go free.Department officials also published videos showing peaceful transfers of custody from prison to federal authorities of several individuals the Trump administration had claimed were arrested by immigration agents as part of the ongoing immigration enforcement action.The department also issued a news release trying to dispel federal claims about the criminal records of people sought by federal agents, including the person at the center of an operation Saturday near where Pretti was shot. The release said the department never had custody of the man and could only find decade-old misdemeanor traffic-related violations. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino had said at a news conference Saturday that the man had a significant criminal history.Jimmy Gurulé, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said he saw turf battles and other disagreements when he was a federal prosecutor working with local authorities on task forces in Los Angeles, and again when he was an undersecretary at the U.S. Treasury Department overseeing law enforcement operations under George W. Bush. But, he said, the situation in Minnesota is “unprecedented” in his experience.“The disagreements were always handled behind the scenes. There were never any public statements criticizing other agencies,” Gurulé said.“It's not even a question of collaboration at this point. It's such a broken relationship," he said. "How did it get to this point, where state and local law enforcement have such little trust in the federal agencies they feel they need to go to court?"Seeking relief in courtThe Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office filed a lawsuit in federal court after the shooting Saturday seeking to preserve evidence collected by federal officials from the Pretti shooting. A federal judge granted a motion blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence.”Federal officials called the lawsuit and claims the federal government would destroy evidence “ridiculous.”But state officials are not alone in having concern over a departure from decades of standard practice, which has been the Department of Justice and its Civil Rights Division investigating the constitutionality of an officer's use of force, especially when fatal. DHS officials have instead said their own department would investigate the two Minneapolis shootings.“What you would expect in normal times is the Justice Department would open an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting,” said Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor in Connecticut under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “They have been the independent body that would investigate it. But it would seem that this Justice Department and this Civil Rights division have zero interest in enforcing constitutional rights for citizens in the immigration context.”Mattei, now a partner at the Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder law firm that represents several former FBI employees in lawsuits over their terminations, said under Trump it appears the justice department doesn't want to change the wide latitude agents have been given to conduct immigration enforcement.“These are career investigators,” he said. “They may have different opinions on how to pursue an investigation or how certain evidence should be handled. But usually in my experience they have the same objective to conduct a credible investigation."Gurulé called the state lawsuit, specifically the motion over preserving evidence, “shocking.”“The implication was they are not just keeping evidence from them but possibly destroying it,” he said. “Clearly the state attorney general and the Minneapolis police have grave distrust with ICE and DHS. Clearly there are strong disagreements with the tactics that ICE has used.”Signs reconciliation might be possibleWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt Monday moved to distance President Trump from statements made by deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller characterizing Pretti as an assassin, saying the situation had moved quickly since Saturday and noting Trump had never used those words.Gurulé said statements like that erode the public's confidence that investigations are impartial.“You don’t express your conclusion before an investigation and make it public. That is unheard of and upside down,” he said.In his call with Trump, Walz's office said the governor made the case for an impartial investigation of the shootings and that Trump had agreed to talk to DHS about ensuring state investigators would be able to conduct an independent investigation.Trump and Walz also discussed working in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement. The governor's office reiterated the state would continue honoring requests to hold incarcerated individuals who are not U.S. citizens until federal authorities can take them into custody.___This story has been updated to correct that the lawsuit to preserve evidence was filed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. The story incorrectly reported that the Minnesota Attorney General was a plaintiff.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel brought home the remains of the last hostage in Gaza on Monday, closing a painful chapter for the country and clearing the way for the next and more challenging phase of its ceasefire with Hamas.The next step is likely to be the reopening of Gaza’s border with Egypt, enabling Palestinians to travel in both directions and eventually allowing more aid to enter the territory devastated by two years of war. The ceasefire’s second phase also calls for deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas, pulling back Israeli soldiers and rebuilding Gaza.The remains of police officer Ran Gvili were found in a cemetery in northern Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “an incredible achievement” for Israel and its soldiers. He said Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war, was among the first to be taken into Gaza.Dozens of people, including relatives, military officials and friends from Gvili’s police unit, received his coffin at an army post on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza.Many more Israelis lined nearby roads to pay their respects as a convoy carrying the coffin made its way to Tel Aviv, where it arrived Monday night.“You should see the honor you’re receiving here,” Gvili’s father, Itzik, said, kissing his son’s coffin, which was draped in an Israeli flag. “The entire police is here with you, the entire army is with you, the entire people. I’m proud of you.”The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, had been a key part of the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase. Hamas said it now has met those terms.Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that once the search for Gvili was finished, Israel would open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Palestinians see as their lifeline to the world. It has been largely shut since May 2024, except for a short period early last year.The ceasefire’s next phase will confront thornier issues, including transitioning to a new governance structure in Gaza and disarming Hamas, which has ruled the territory for nearly two decades.“The next phase is disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. The next phase is not reconstruction,” Netanyahu said Monday while addressing the Israeli parliament.Palestinians react to recovery of last hostage’s remainsPalestinians in Gaza were optimistic that opening the Rafah crossing will allow travel to and from the enclave along with the evacuation of people needing medical care.“We hope this will close off Israel’s pretexts and open the crossing,” said Abdel-Rahman Radwan, a Gaza City resident whose mother has cancer and requires treatment outside Gaza.Ahmed Ruqab, a father who lives with his family of six in a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, called for mediators and the U.S. to pressure Israel to allow more aid.“We need to turn this page and restart,” he said over the phone.An official with the United Nation’s children’s agency said Monday that there is backlog of supplies in Egypt ready to move into Gaza whenever the crossing opens to aid traffic.The next phase needs to include bringing not only more humanitarian and commercial supplies but also permanent shelter materials and items to repair infrastructure, said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s deputy executive director.Gvili’s relatives last week repeated calls for Israel’s government and U.S. President Donald Trump to ensure the release of his remains.“Most thought of it as an impossible thing to do,” Trump posted on social media.Gvili’s mother, Talik, thanked the Israeli government and security forces as well as Trump for allowing the family to “achieve closure.”Israel had repeatedly accused Hamas of dragging its feet in the search while Hamas said it had provided all the information it had, accusing Israel of obstructing the efforts.How the remains of last hostage were foundGvili’s remains were found right along the “yellow line” dividing Gaza just on the Israeli side, according to a military official, speaking anonymously under army protocol.The October 2023 attack on Israel that launched the war killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas militants.On a call with reporters Monday, two U.S. officials credited Egypt, Qatar and Turkey with helping to get Hamas to release Gvili’s body, and said Hamas was very cooperative in making it happen.The officials, who insisted on anonymity per the rules of a call setup by the White House, said they now expect Israel to help both sides move forward into phase two of the ceasefire and they want Hamas to disarm in accordance with the agreement and believe they will.Before Gvili’s remains were recovered, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others had been returned to Israel since the ceasefire, most recently in early December.Israel has released roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal, many who were seized by Israeli troops during the two-year war and held without charge. It also has released the bodies of more than 300 Palestinians back to Gaza, where officials have struggled to identify them.In a symbolic act, Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday removed a yellow pin worn by many to show solidarity with the hostages and their families.Hundreds of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the ceasefirePalestinians in Gaza who spoke to The Associated Press in recent weeks questioned whether the ceasefire’s next steps will improve conditions, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and challenges securing basic necessities.Israeli forces on Monday fatally shot two people in Gaza, according to hospitals that received the bodies. One man was close to the area where the military was searching for Gvili, according to Shifa Hospital.Israel’s offensive has killed at least 71,660 Palestinians since 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry — with more than 480 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the latest ceasefire began. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.Israel’s top court considers petition to open Gaza for international journalistsThe Foreign Press Association on Monday asked Israel’s Supreme Court to allow journalists to enter Gaza freely and independently.The FPA represents dozens of global news organizations and has been pushing for independent media access to Gaza. Israel has barred reporters from entering Gaza independently since the 2023 attacks by Hamas, saying entry could put journalists and soldiers at risk.FPA lawyers told the court that the restrictions are not justified and that with aid workers moving in and out of Gaza, journalists should be allowed in. They said tightly controlled visits under strict military supervision are no substitute for independent access. The judges are expected to rule soon.___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporters Josef Federman, Natalie Melzer and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Will Weissert in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.___Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

A massive winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic. Tree branches and power lines snapped under the weight of ice, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast were left without electricity.The ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” for days, the National Weather Service said.Heavy snow was falling from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in a phone interview. “It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000-mile spread.”President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had rescue teams and supplies in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.In New York, communities near the Canadian border saw record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown registering minus 34 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 degrees Celsius) and Copenhagen minus 49 F (minus 45 C), Gov. Kathy Hochul said.Coping with the stormFreezing rain that slickened roads and brought trees and branches down on roads and power lines were the main peril in the South. In Corinth, Mississippi, heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar told employees at its remanufacturing site to stay home Monday and Tuesday.“May God have mercy on Corinth, MS! ... The sound of the trees snapping, exploding & falling through the night have been unnerving to say the least,” resident Kathy Ragan wrote on Facebook.In Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sanford Johnson said enough snow and sleet fell that few motorists ventured out.“I had to break it to my youngest daughter that the play date she scheduled likely won’t happen today. We have no plans on driving,” Johnson said.It already was Mississippi's worst ice storm since 1994 with its biggest-ever deployment of ice-melting chemicals — 200,000 gallons (750,000 liters) — plus salt and sand on roads, Gov. Tate Reeves said at a news conference.He urged people not to drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary. “Do please reach out to friends and family," Reeves added.In Nashville, Tennessee, Jami Joe, 41, feared her electricity might not last as ice-heavy limbs from oak and pecan trees continued to crash around her house. “It’s only a matter of time if a limb strikes a power line,” she said.Because of icy roads, Josh Martin figured he and his wife, Misti, were “locked in” for a while at their home on a steep hill in Columbia, Tennessee.“Getting in and out of the neighborhood is not an option,” Martin said. “I can get down because gravity will take me, but I could not get back up.”Elsewhere, deep snow — over a foot (30 centimeters) in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic and canceled flights.On Manhattan's Upper East Side, January Cotrel enjoyed the fresh snow on a block that always closes during snowstorms for residents to sled, throw snowballs and make snowmen.“I pray for two feet every time we get a snowstorm. I want as much as we can get,” she said. “Let the city just shut down for a day and it’s beautiful, and then we can get back to life.”Storm knocks out power and snarls flightsAs of Sunday morning, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning, Santorelli said. Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power according to poweroutage.us, with Tennessee and Mississippi hit especially hard.Some 12,000 flights were canceled Sunday and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.Bitter cold makes things worseThe danger will continue after the ice and snow, Santorelli warned.“Behind the storm it’s just going to get bitterly cold across basically the entirety of the eastern two-thirds of the nation, east of the Rockies,” she said. That means ice and snow won’t melt as fast, which could hinder efforts to restore power.In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at least five people who died were found outside as temperatures plunged Saturday, though the cause of their deaths remained under investigation. He urged people to stay inside and off the roads: “We want every single New Yorker to make it through this storm.”Two men died of hypothermia related to the storm in Caddo Parish in Louisiana, according to the state health department.Across the affected areas, schools and universities announced that classes would be canceled or held remotely Monday.Recovery could take timeIn Oxford, Mississippi, police appealed for residents to stay home. Utility crews were also pulled from their jobs during the overnight hours.“Due to life-threatening conditions, Oxford Utilities has made the difficult decision to pull our crews off the road for the night,” the utility company posted on Facebook early Sunday. “Trees are actively snapping and falling around our linemen while they are in the bucket trucks."Oxford city officials posted dramatic photos on social media of slick roads and ice-coated trees sagging or breaking under the added weight.In Tennessee, emergency officials urged motorists to give crews space to treat roads as drivers have been crashing into them.Icy roads also made travel dangerous in north Georgia, where the Cherokee County Sheriff’s office posted on Facebook, “You know it’s bad when Waffle House is closed!!!” along with a photo of a shuttered restaurant. Whether the chain’s restaurants are open — known as the Waffle House Index — has become an informal way to gauge the severity of weather disasters across the South.___Brumback reported from Atlanta. Walker reported from New York. Kristin Hall and Jonathan Mattise Nashville, Philip Marcelo in New York, Ed White in Detroit, Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia, and Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed reporting.