AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT
US cuts short Gaza ceasefire talks and accuses Hamas of lacking ‘good faith’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiating team home from Qatar to discuss next steps after Hamas’ latest response “shows a lack of desire” to reach a truce, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday.
“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff said in a statement. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott would not offer details on what “alternative options” the U.S. is considering to free hostages held by the militant group.
Hamas said in a statement that it was surprised by Witkoff’s “negative remarks” and said it has shown responsibility and flexibility in the negotiating track. It added that it was “keen to reach an agreement that ends the aggression and the suffering of our people in Gaza.”
A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas following 21 months of war has eluded the Trump administration as humanitarian conditions worsen in Gaza. Thursday’s move is the latest setback as Trump has tried to position himself as peacemaker and vowed to broker agreements in conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza.
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Dozens of kids and adults in Gaza have starved to death in July as hunger surges
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Five starving children at a Gaza City hospital were wasting away, and nothing the doctors tried was working. The basic treatments for malnourishment that could save them had run out under Israel’s blockade. The alternatives were ineffective. One after another, the babies and toddlers died over four days.
In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed up by hunger are overwhelming the Patient’s Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza.
The deaths last weekend also marked a change: the first seen by the center in children who had no preexisting conditions. Symptoms are getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, said Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist. In past months, most improved, despite supply shortages, but now patients stay longer and don’t get better, she said.
“There are no words in the face of the disaster we are in. Kids are dying before the world … There is no uglier and more horrible phase than this,” said Soboh, who works with the U.S.-based aid organization Medglobal, which supports the hospital.
This month, the hunger that has been building among Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians passed a tipping point into accelerating death, aid workers and health staff say. Not only children — usually the most vulnerable — are falling victim under Israel’s blockade since March, but also adults.
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Zelenskyy moves to restore independence of Ukraine anti-graft agencies after protests, EU criticism
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday submitted a new bill that would restore the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies in an effort to defuse tensions following his approval earlier this week of a controversial law that weakened their autonomy.
The previous bill was seen as undermining the agencies’ independence and sparked a public outcry and protests, the first major demonstrations since the war began, as well as sharp criticism from the European Union.
Zelenskyy said parliament would review the new bill, which “guarantees real strengthening of Ukraine’s law enforcement system, the independence of anti-corruption bodies, and reliable protection of the legal system from any Russian interference.”
Ukraine’s two main anti-graft agencies — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office — quickly welcomed Zelenskyy’s new proposal, saying it restores all their procedural powers and guarantees their independence.
The agencies said they helped draft the new bill, and urged lawmakers to adopt it “as soon as possible” to prevent threats to ongoing criminal cases.
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Trump and Powell bicker over Fed building renovations as president ratchets up pressure campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of criticizing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump took the fight to the Fed’s front door on Thursday, publicly scorning the central bank chief over the ballooning costs of a long-planned building project. Powell pushed back, challenging the president’s latest price tag as incorrect.
Wearing hard hats and grim faces, standing in the middle of the construction project, Trump and Powell addressed the assembled TV cameras. Trump charged that the renovation would cost $3.1 billion, much higher than the Fed’s $2.5 billion figure. Powell, standing next to him, shook his head.
The Fed chair, after looking at a paper presented to him by Trump, said the president was including the cost of renovating a separate Fed building, known as the Martin building, that was finished five years ago.
The visit represented a significant ratcheting up of the president’s pressure on Powell to lower borrowing costs, which Trump says would accelerate economic growth and reduce the government’s interest payments. Presidents rarely visit the Fed’s offices, though they are just a few blocks from the White House, an example of the central bank’s independence from day-to-day politics.
“We have to get the interest rates down,” Trump said later after a short tour, addressing the cameras this time without Powell. “People are pretty much unable to buy houses.”
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Justice Dept. official meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s No. 2 official met Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he worked to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump’s base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation.
“Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, where Maxwell met with Blanche.
In a social media post Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump “has told us to release all credible evidence” and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the Justice Department “will hear what she has to say.”
Markus said his team was “thankful” the deputy attorney general came to question Maxwell, calling it a “good day.”
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Trump’s onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is well-known — and also documented in records
WASHINGTON (AP) — The revelation that Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files has focused fresh attention on the president’s relationship with the wealthy financier and the Justice Department’s announcement this month that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the case.
But at least some of the information in the briefing to Trump, which The Wall Street Journal said took place in May, should not have been a surprise.
The president’s association with Epstein is well-established and his name was included in records that his own Justice Department released back in February as part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from the sex-trafficking investigation.
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone’s name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise. Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, also had many prominent friends in political and celebrity circles besides Trump.
It should have been no shock to Trump that his name would be found in records related to Epstein.
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Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing, bicep-busting icon of professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and stretched his influence into TV, pop culture and conservative politics during a long and scandal-plagued second act, died Thursday in Florida at age 71.
Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics in Clearwater arrived at his home to answer a morning call about a cardiac arrest, police said.
“There were no signs of foul play or suspicious activity,” Maj. Nate Burnside told reporters.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.
But outside the the ring, Hogan also found trouble. WWE in 2015 cut ties with him for three years, even removing him from its Hall of Fame, after it was reported that he was recorded using racial slurs about Blacks. He apologized and said his words were “unacceptable.”
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Federal regulators approve Paramount’s $8 billion deal with Skydance, capping months of turmoil
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators on Thursday approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, clearing the way to close a deal that combined Hollywood glitz with political intrigue.
The stamp of approval from the Federal Communications Commission comes after months of turmoil revolving around President Donald Trump’s legal battle with “60 Minutes,” the crown jewel of Paramount-owned broadcast network CBS. With the specter of the Trump administration potentially blocking the hard-fought deal with Skydance, Paramount earlier this month agreed to pay a $16 million settlement with the president.
Critics of the settlement lambasted it as a veiled bribe to appease Trump, amid rising alarm over editorial independence overall. Further outrage also emerged after CBS said it was canceling Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” just days after the comedian sharply criticized the parent company’s settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives.
In a statement accompanying the deal’s approval, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr hailed the merger as an opportunity to bring more balance to “once-storied” CBS.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” Carr said.
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UnitedHealth says it is under a federal investigation and cooperating
UnitedHealth Group says it is cooperating with federal criminal and civil investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business.
The health care giant said Thursday that it had contacted the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain elements of its business.
“(UnitedHealth) has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance,” the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the government’s Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over.
The company’s UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nation’s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts.
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Thailand launches airstrikes on Cambodia as border clashes leave at least 14 dead
SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Thai and Cambodian soldiers have clashed along the border between their countries in a major escalation that left at least 14 people dead, mostly civilians. The two sides fired small arms, artillery and rockets, and Thailand also launched airstrikes.
Fighting took place in at least six areas on Thursday, according to Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri, a day after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers and led Bangkok to withdraw its ambassador from Cambodia and expel Cambodia’s envoy to Thailand.
On Friday, Cambodia’s chief official in Oddar Meanchey province, Gen. Khov Ly, said clashes resumed early in the morning near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple. Associated Press reporters near the border could hear sounds of artillery from early morning hours.
The official also said that at least four civilians were wounded in Thursday’s fighting there and that more than 4,000 people have been displaced from their villages along the border to evacuation centers. It was the first account of any casualties from the Cambodian side.
The escalation represents a rare instance of military conflict between member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, though Thailand has tangled with Cambodia before over the border and has had sporadic skirmishes with western neighbor Myanmar.
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