Netanyahu decries release of wrong body as a ceasefire violation. Hamas pledges to investigate

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge Friday for what he described as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement after authorities determined that a body released by Hamas was not an Israeli mother of two small boys, as the militant group had promised.

The incident raised new doubts about the future of the fragile ceasefire deal, which has paused over 15 months of war but is nearing the end of its first phase. In the short term, though, there were indications that the deal's next step — the release of six living Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — would proceed as planned.

Hamas suggested in a statement Friday that a mix-up of remains might have occurred after Israel bombed the area where both the Israeli hostages and Palestinians were present. The group said it would “conduct a thorough review.”

Later on Friday, the Red Cross said in a short statement it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities. The remains were expected to be taken to Israel’s national forensics lab for testing. It was not immediately known how long it would take to confirm identification.

Speaking during a phone interview with Al Araby, a Qatar-based television network, Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi confirmed the militants handed over the body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.

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AP sues 3 Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech

The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists. “We’ll see them in court,” the White House press secretary said in response.

The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 10 days after the White House began restricting access to the news agency. It was assigned to U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee.

The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case not changing its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP said in its lawsuit, which names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the news agency said. “This court should remedy it immediately.” The Constitution's First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, speech and religion and bars the government from obstructing any of them.

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Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two other military officers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led by his defense secretary to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.

The ouster of Brown, only the second Black general to serve as chairman, is sure to send shock waves through the Pentagon. His 16 months in the job had been consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East.

“I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family,” Trump posted on social media.

Brown’s public support of Black Lives Matter after the police killing of George Floyd had made him fodder for the administration's wars against “wokeism” in the military. His ouster is the latest upheaval at the Pentagon, which plans to cut 5,400 civilian probationary workers starting next week and identify $50 billion in programs that could be cut next year to redirect those savings to fund Trump’s priorities.

Trump said he's nominating retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman. Caine is a career F-16 pilot who served on active duty and in the National Guard, and was most recently the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, according to his military biography.

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US envoy praises Zelenskyy after Trump's censure of the Ukrainian leader

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia said on Friday that he had held “extensive and positive discussions” with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the three-year war with Russia and praised the Ukrainian leader as an “embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war.”

Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg — who traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday and whose planned news conference with Zelenskyy on Thursday was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity — struck a positive tone after what he said on the social platform X was “a long and intense day” of talks with Ukraine’s senior leadership.

His comments marked a departure from recent rebukes of Zelenskyy by Trump and other senior U.S. officials that appeared to indicate an abrupt deterioration of relations. Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” and warned him that he'd “ better move fast ” to negotiate an end to the war or risk not having a nation to lead.

The possibility that vital U.S. military aid for Ukraine was in doubt darkened the mood in Kyiv as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russia’s bigger army on the battlefield.

European governments, uneasy about being sidelined so far in talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials, have jumped to shore up Zelenskyy and at the same time avoid a breakdown in transatlantic relations.

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The Latest: Trump signals he’s open to multiple budget bills instead of just one

Hours after the Senate approved a spending framework, President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview that he’s open to approving the spending plan in multiple bills “as long as we get to the same point.”

Here's the latest:

Maine Gov. Janet Mills says Trump does not have the right to withhold funding appropriated by Congress and paid for by taxpayers “in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will.”

The Democratic governor made the statement Friday after the U.S. Department of Education told Maine’s Department of Education that it had been instructed to begin an investigation into the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete.

Trump has threatened to cut the state’s federal funding unless it backs down.

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Pope Francis isn't out of danger but his condition isn't life-threatening, medical team says

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ complex respiratory infection isn't life-threatening but he's not out of danger, his medical team said Friday, as the 88-year-old pontiff marked his first week in the hospital battling pneumonia in both lungs — along with bacterial, viral and fungal infections on top of his chronic bronchitis.

Francis’ doctors delivered their first in-person update on the pope's condition, saying he will remain at Rome's Gemelli hospital at least through next week. The pope is receiving occasional supplements of oxygen when he needs it and is responding to the drug therapy that was strengthened after the multiple infections were diagnosed, they said.

Gemelli hospital Dr. Sergio Alfieri and Francis’ personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said Francis remains in good spirits and humor. Alfieri said that when he entered Francis' suite to greet him on Friday morning as “Holy Father,” the pope replied by referring to Alfieri as “Holy Son.”

“To the question ‘is the pope out of danger?’ No, the pope is not out of danger,” Alfieri said. “If you then ask if in this moment the pope is in a life-threatening situation, the answer is also no.”

“Just now he went from his room to the chapel to pray for 20 minutes,” he said. “This is the situation. He is the pope, but he is also a man.”

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LA mayor dismisses fire chief over response to most destructive wildfire in city history last month

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six weeks after the start of the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the fire chief Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential blaze and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.

Bass, a first-term Democrat, said she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately. “Los Angeles needs to move forward. This is a new day,” she told reporters at City Hall.

While Bass initially praised Crowley in the early hours of firefighting, she said she later learned an additional 1,000 firefighters could have been deployed the day the blaze ignited. Additionally, she said Crowley rebuffed a request to prepare a report on the fires that is a critical part of investigations into what happened and why.

“One thousand firefighters who could have been on the job fighting the fires were sent home" on Crowley's watch, Bass said.

The Palisades Fire began during heavy winds Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the affluent LA neighborhood. Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

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Judge largely blocks Trump’s executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday largely blocked sweeping executive orders from President Donald Trump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related.

Abelson found that the orders likely carry constitutional violations, including against free-speech rights.

Trump signed an order his first day in office directing federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts. He signed a follow-up order requiring federal contractors to certify that they don’t promote DEI.

The White House didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment Friday evening.

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Woman accused of drugging and robbing older men in a deadly romance scheme

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A woman used online dating apps to lure at least four older men to meet her in person, then drugged them with sedatives and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “sinister” romance scheme, FBI officials in Las Vegas said Friday.

Three of the men died, authorities said, and she has been charged in one of their deaths.

Aurora Phelps, 43, who is in custody in Mexico, faces 21 counts including wire fraud, identity theft and one count of kidnapping resulting in death, Sue Fahami, the acting United States attorney for the District of Nevada, said at a news conference.

“This is a romance scam on steroids,” said Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas division. One of the four victims, who were targeted in 2021 and 2022, awoke from a coma after Phelps gave him prescription sedatives over the course of a week, Evans added.

In one instance Phelps is alleged to have kidnapped a victim by heavily sedating him and taking him across the U.S.-Mexico border in a wheelchair and then to a Mexico City hotel room, where he was later found dead.

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After 30 years in prison for murder, new DNA evidence frees Hawaii man who maintained innocence

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii man who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he long denied committing declared the day “Freedom Friday” and said he was eager to visit his mother after a judge ordered him released because of new DNA evidence.

There were gasps and cries in the courtroom when Judge Kirstin Hamman said, “And the judgement and sentence is vacated and the defendant is ordered to be released from custody,” before a Zoom feed broadcasting the hearing suddenly turned off.

She ruled that new evidence, including DNA test results, would likely change the outcome of another trial against Gordon Cordeiro.

The case involves the 1994 killing of Timothy Blaisdell during a drug deal robbery on the island of Maui.

Cordeiro's first trial ended in a hung jury, with only one juror voting to convict him. But he was later found guilty of murder, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

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