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AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

US and China extend trade truce another 90 days, easing tension between world's largest economies

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.” Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause via the official news agency Xinhua.

The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on U.S. exports to China.

The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the U.S. companies doing business with China.

Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that U.S. businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.

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Trump says he's placing Washington police under federal control and activating the National Guard

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he’s taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in the nation’s capital.

The president, flanked by his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director, said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments.

“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared, adding he'd also be “getting rid of the slums.”

For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime.

Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, Trump said, as he also railed against potholes and graffiti in the city and called them “embarrassing.” The president did not provide a timeline for the control of the police department, but he's limited to 30 days under statute unless he gets approval from Congress.

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Republicans, Democrats alike exhort Trump: Keep security pact with Australia and UK alive

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers from both parties are urging the Trump administration to maintain a three-way security partnership designed to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines — a plea that comes as the Pentagon reviews the agreement and considers the questions it has raised about the American industrial infrastructure's shipbuilding capabilities.

Two weeks ago, the Defense Department announced it would review AUKUS, the 4-year-old pact signed by the Biden administration with Australia and the United Kingdom. The announcement means the Republican administration is looking closely at a partnership that many believe is critical to the U.S. strategy to push back China's influence in the Indo-Pacific. The review is expected to be completed in the fall.

“AUKUS is essential to strengthening deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and advancing the undersea capabilities that will be central to ensuring peace and stability," Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan and Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois wrote in a July 22 letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Moolenaar chairs the House panel on China and Krishnamoorthi is its top Democrat.

The review comes as the Trump administration works to rebalance its global security concerns while struggling with a hollowed-out industrial base that has hamstrung U.S. capabilities to build enough warships. The review is being led by Elbridge Colby, the No. 3 Pentagon official, who has expressed skepticism about the partnership.

“If we can produce the attack submarines in sufficient number and sufficient speed, then great. But if we can’t, that becomes a very difficult problem," Colby said during his confirmation hearing in March. “This is getting back to restoring our defense industrial capacity so that we don’t have to face these awful choices but rather can be in a position where we can produce not only for ourselves, but for our allies."

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Trump suggests he'll know if Putin wants a peace deal with Ukraine soon into their meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he expected to determine mere moments into his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week whether it would be possible to work out a deal to halt the war in Ukraine.

“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said at a White House press conference that he called to announce plans for a federal takeover of Washington's police force to help combat crime.

He said he thought Friday's sitdown with Putin in Alaska would be "really a feel-out meeting." Trump added that “it’ll be good, but it might be bad” and predicted he may say, "lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.”

Putin wants to lock in Russia’s gains since invading Ukraine in February 2022 as Trump presses for a ceasefire that has remained out of reach. Trump’s eagerness to reach a deal has raised fears in Ukraine and Europe about such an agreement favoring Russia, without sufficient input from Ukraine. Trump has alternately harshly criticized both leaders after promising — and so far failing — to swiftly end the conflict.

Trump on Monday ducked repeated chances to say that he would push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take part in his discussions with Putin, and was especially dismissive of Zelenskyy and his need to be part of an effort to seek peace.

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Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to widen its coming offensive beyond Gaza City to the last areas not yet under Israeli control, and where most of Gaza's 2 million residents have sought shelter as the territory slides toward famine.

The mobilization of forces is expected to take weeks, and Israel may be using the threat of a wider offensive to try to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages or surrendering after 22 months of war sparked by its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel.

Any expansion of Israeli operations is likely to bring even more death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory, around 75% of which is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel. A wider offensive would also force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid during a severe hunger crisis.

The plans have also sparked controversy in Israel. Families of the remaining hostages fear another military escalation could doom their loved ones, while former senior security officials have said there is little to be gained militarily.

Israel announced last week its plans to take over Gaza City, where it has already carried out major raids and heavy bombardment throughout the war. On Sunday, Netanyahu told a news conference that operations would be expanded into the “central camps" and beyond.

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Explosion at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania leaves 2 dead, 10 injured

CLAIRTON, Pa. (AP) — An explosion at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh left two dead and sent at least 10 to hospitals Monday and heavily damaged the sprawling facility, officials said.

One worker was found alive in the wreckage hours after the explosion sent black smoke spiraling into the midday sky in the Mon Valley, a region of the state synonymous with steel for more than a century. Allegheny County Emergency Services said a fire at the plant started around 10:51 a.m.

The explosion, followed by several smaller blasts, could be felt in the nearby community and prompted county officials to warn residents to stay away from the scene so emergency workers could respond.

“It felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, a construction worker near the scene, told WTAE-TV. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, and shook the building, and then when we saw the dark smoke coming up from the steel mill and put two and two together, and it’s like something bad happened.”

At a news conference, Scott Buckiso, U.S. Steel’s chief manufacturing officer, did not give details about the damage or casualties, and said they were still trying to determine what happened. U.S. Steel employees “did a great job” of going in and rescuing workers, shutting down gases and making sure the site was stable.

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Judge won’t release grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend’s Ghislaine Maxwell case

NEW YORK (AP) — Transcripts of grand jury testimony that led to sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell shouldn’t be released, a judge ruled Monday in a stinging decision suggesting the Trump administration’s real motive for wanting them unsealed was to fool the public with an “illusion” of transparency.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in a written decision that federal law almost never allows for the release of grand jury materials and that making the documents public casually was a bad idea.

The judge also belittled the Justice Department's argument that releasing grand jury materials might reveal new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, calling that premise "demonstrably false.”

The decision was a blow to President Donald Trump, who had called for the release of transcripts as he seeks to dispel rumors and quell criticism about his long ago involvement with Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019. Trump campaigned on a promise to release files related to Epstein, but was met with criticism — including from many of his own supporters — when the small number of records released by his Justice Department lacked any real bombshells.

In his ruling, Engelmayer wrote that after privately reviewing the grand jury transcripts, anyone familiar with the evidence from Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking trial would “learn next to nothing new” and “would come away feeling disappointed and misled.”

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Shooter kills 3 in a Target parking lot in Austin, Texas, before being captured, police say

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman opened fire Monday in the parking lot of a Target store in Texas' capital, killing two adults and a child before stealing two cars during a getaway that ended with police using a Taser to detain him on the other side of the city, authorities said.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the suspect is a man in his 30s with “a mental health history.” Police said they were still working to determine a motive.

The suspect fled the scene in a stolen car, wrecked that car and then stole another from a dealership, Davis said. He was captured about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, in south Austin, where he was taken into custody, she said during a news conference.

Davis said officers responding to a call at about 2:15 p.m. found three people shot in the Target parking lot. Davis said they believe one of the people who was shot was the owner of the car stolen from the store's parking lot.

An adult and child were pronounced dead at the scene, while another adult died after being taken to the hospital, according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. EMS officials said a fourth person was treated for a minor medical complaint not related to traumatic injuries.

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Man fired 180 shots, breaking 150 windows, in CDC attack

NEW YORK (AP) — The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing “blast-resistant” windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency.

It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said.

A Georgia man who had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal opened fire late Friday, killing a police officer. No one at CDC was injured.

The shooter was stopped by CDC security guards before driving to a nearby pharmacy and opening fire late Friday afternoon, a law enforcement official has told the AP. The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The 30-year-old man, Patrick Joseph White, later died, but authorities haven’t said whether he was killed by police or killed himself.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the CDC campus on Monday. CDC security pointed out broken windows across multiple buildings, including the main guard booth, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statement.

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Texas is No. 1 in preseason AP Top 25 for first time, edging Penn St, Ohio St; 10 SEC teams ranked

For the first time, Texas will open a college football season ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25.

The Longhorns hardly have a mandate in the poll released Monday: They edged out Penn State by just five points in the closest preseason vote since 1998.

Texas received 25 first-place votes and 1,552 points to give the Southeastern Conference the preseason No. 1 team for a record fifth straight year. The Nittany Lions got 23 first-place votes and 1,547 points for their highest preseason ranking since they were No. 1 to open the 1997 season.

The Longhorns face a major test right away. Their Aug. 30 opener at defending champion and third-ranked Ohio State is a rematch of last season’s College Football Playoff semifinal, a 28-14 Buckeyes win in the Cotton Bowl.

The Buckeyes received 11 first-place votes from the panel of 65 media members who cover college football. No. 4 Clemson got four first-place votes and No. 5 Georgia got one.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025
The Associated Press

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