Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza ceasefire proposal but US envoy calls it 'unacceptable'

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas is seeking amendments to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior official with the group told The Associated Press on Saturday, but U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff called the Hamas response “totally unacceptable.”

The latest friction in negotiations comes as the fighting nears 20 months of war, and as desperation grows among hungry Palestinians and relatives of hostages in Gaza.

The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said proposed amendments focused on “the U.S. guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.” There were no details.

A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid. It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released ” in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.” Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead.

Witkoff on social media instead described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died. He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week.

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2 killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine as prospects for talks remain uncertain

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least two people, including a 9-year-old girl, officials said, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul.

Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said.

The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia’s Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

“One house was destroyed. The shockwave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

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Iran has amassed even more near weapons-grade uranium, UN watchdog says

VIENNA (AP) — Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Saturday. In a separate report, the agency called on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with its years-long probe.

The report comes at a sensitive time, as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to reach a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. The two sides have held several rounds of talks, so far without agreement.

The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency — which was seen by The Associated Press — says that as of May 17, Iran has amassed 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%.

That’s an increase of 133.8 kilograms (294.9 pounds) — or almost 50% — since the IAEA’s last report in February. The 60% enriched material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. A report in February put this stockpile level at 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds).

The IAEA report raised a stern warning, saying that Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material" — something the agency said was of "serious concern.”

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The Black hair industry imports products from China. Here's what tariffs mean for braids and wigs

ATLANTA (AP) — Before the oppressive summer heat descends on Atlanta, therapist Brittanee Sims usually gets her thick, curly hair braided at a salon to preserve her healthy mane.

But it’s more expensive this year. So she'll only pay for her teenage daughter and son to get their summer hairdos. Not having braided hair “creates more of a hassle for everything,” said Sims, who counts herself among the tens of millions of women that regularly spend on the Black hair care industry.

Now, she said, she has to “go home and figure out what I’m gonna do to my hair in the morning, after I went to the gym and it’s messed up with sweating and frizz.”

President Donald Trump’s tariffs are driving up prices for products many Black women consider essential, squeezing shoppers and stylists even more as they grapple with inflation and higher rents. Much of the synthetic braiding hair, human hair for extensions, wigs and weaves, styling tools, braiding gel and other products is imported from or has packaging from China, which was subject to a combined 145% tariff in April. India also is a major global source of human hair.

Many Black women have hair types and workplace-favored styles that require careful attention, and they can spend hundreds of dollars at salons each month on extensions, weaves, wigs and braids. The Associated Press spoke with several Black hair industry experts, beauty supply store owners, and wholesale companies, as well as nearly two dozen Black stylists and braiders, some of whom may have to raise prices even as business has slowed.

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Trump fast-tracks Utah uranium mine, but industry revival may wait for higher prices

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In the southeastern Utah desert famous for red rock arches and canyon labyrinths, the long-dormant uranium mining industry is looking to revive under President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of abandoned uranium mines dot the West's arid landscapes, hazardous reminders of the promise and peril of nuclear power during the Cold War. Now, one mine that the Trump administration fast-tracked for regulatory approval could reopen for the first time since the 1980s.

Normally it would have taken months, if not years, for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to review plans to reopen a project like Anfield Energy's Velvet-Wood mine 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Moab. But the bureau's regulators green-lit the project in just 11 days under a “national energy emergency” Trump has declared that allows expedited environmental reviews for energy projects.

More permits and approvals will be needed, plus site work to get the mine operating again. And the price of uranium would have to rise enough to make domestic production financially sustainable. If that happens, it would mean revival — and jobs — to an industry that locally has been moribund since the Ronald Reagan era.

“President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in announcing the fast-tracking policy in April. “These emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both.”

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Death toll reaches 151 in north-central Nigerian town submerged in floods, with thousands displaced

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll from devastating flooding in a market town in Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger rose to at least 151 on Saturday, the local emergency service said, amid efforts to find more victims.

Torrents of predawn rainfall early Thursday unleashed the devastating flood on Mokwa, nearly 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Abuja and a major trading and transportation hub where northern Nigerian farmers sell beans, onions and other food to traders from the south.

The spokesperson for the Niger State emergency service, Ibrahim Audu Husseini, confirmed the updated fatality count to The Associated Press on Saturday. In addition to the rising death toll, 11 people were injured and more than 3,000 people were displaced, the official added.

At least 500 households across three communities were affected by the sudden and intense flood that built rapidly in about five hours, leaving roofs barely visible and surviving residents waist-deep in water, trying to salvage what they could and rescue others.

Husseini added that two roads were washed away and two bridges collapsed.

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Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy. Gone are specialists who were confronting a measles outbreak in Ohio, workers who drove a van to schools in North Carolina to offer vaccinations and a program that provided free tests to sick people in Tennessee.

State and local health departments responsible for invisible but critical work such as inspecting restaurants, monitoring wastewater for new and harmful germs, responding to outbreaks before they get too big — and a host of other tasks to protect both individuals and communities — are being hollowed out.

“Nobody wants to go swim in a community pool and come out of it with a rash or a disease from it. Nobody wants to walk out their door and take a fresh breath of air and start wheezing," said Lori Tremmel Freeman, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

But local health officials say they now have no choice but to do a lot less of it. The Trump administration is cutting health spending on an unprecedented scale, experts say, including pulling $11 billion of direct federal support because the pandemic is over and eliminating 20,000 jobs at national health agencies that in part assist and support local public health work. It’s proposing billions more be slashed.

Together, public health leaders said, the cuts are reducing the entire system to a shadow of what it once was, threatening to undermine even routine work at a time when the nation faces the deadliest measles outbreak since at least the 1990s, rising whooping cough cases and the risk that bird flu could spread widely among people.

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A growing number of New Orleans fugitives' friends and family arrested for aiding in jail escape

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The 10 men who escaped from a New Orleans jail more than two weeks ago by cutting out a hole behind a toilet received help from at least 15 people, many of them friends and family who provided food, cash, transport and shelter according to court documents.

Records reviewed by The Associated Press show how some of the fugitives received aid before and after their escape — including from a number of people named in police reports but not yet facing charges.

A former jail employee is accused of driving escapee Lenton Vanburen to a relative's home and helping him FaceTime family the day of the escape, while another friend later offered him a hiding place in a vacant apartment he had been hired to repaint.

Others sent money via apps, lied to authorities during interrogation and messaged or called the fugitives, police say. Some are now held on bonds $1 million or higher and most face the felony charge of accessory after the fact.

In a city with an entrenched mistrust of the criminal justice system, authorities on Thursday raised the reward to $50,000 per fugitive. They stressed that friends and family are key to capturing the two remaining escapees, convicted murderer Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey, who faces kidnapping and rape charges.

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Key moments from the third week of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Some of Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ ex-employees took a central role in the third week of his sex trafficking trial, including personal assistants who testified that the hip-hop mogul was capricious, controlling and violent.

The week began with Capricorn Clark, a personal assistant who was later a global brand director for Combs’ company. She recalled witnessing Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, and said he raged about wanting to kill rapper and romantic rival Kid Cudi.

It ended with another ex-assistant, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia," who alleges Combs raped her during a torturous eight-year tenure working for the rap star. She is the second of three women expected to testify that he sexually assaulted them. Combs has pleaded not guilty.

The trial resumes Monday in federal court in Manhattan.

Here are key moments from Week 3:

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Pacers beat Knicks 125-108 in Game 6 to reach NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pascal Siakam scored 31 points, Tyrese Haliburton had 21 points and 13 assists, and the Indiana Pacers pulled away for a 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 6 on Saturday night to reach the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history.

Obi Toppin added 18 points and six rebounds against his former team as the gold-clad crowd gave the starters a roaring ovation when they departed with 47.2 seconds left.

Indiana will visit Oklahoma City for Game 1 on Thursday night.

OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 24 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson added 19 points as the Pacers' relentless ball pressure forced New York into 17 turnovers.

The Knicks still have not reached the Finals since 1999, and they couldn't extend the series in a game that was tough and physical right from the start.

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