AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

US Vice President JD Vance arrives in Israel to shore up the fragile ceasefire in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace.

Also Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end the two-year war.

Vance, whose visit comes after the arrival of two top White House envoys, is expected to be in the region until Thursday. Accompanied by his wife Usha Vance, the vice president will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He is to hold a news conference Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being held in Gaza and the living hostages released by the militants last week.

Israel confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border. The 42-year-old was a fourth-generation resident of the kibbutz and part of its emergency response team. He had four children, including one born after the attack.

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US appeals court says Trump can take command of Oregon troops though deployment blocked for now

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An appeals court on Monday put on hold a lower-court ruling that kept President Donald Trump from taking command of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. However, Trump is still barred from actually deploying those troops, at least for now.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued two temporary restraining orders early this month — one that prohibited Trump from calling up the troops so he could send them to Portland, and another that prohibited him from sending any National Guard members to Oregon at all, after the president tried to evade the first order by deploying California troops instead.

The Justice Department appealed the first order, and in a 2-1 ruling Monday, a panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the administration. The majority said the president was likely to succeed on his claim that he had the authority to federalize the troops based on a determination he was unable to enforce the laws without them.

However, Immergut’s second order remains in effect, so no troops may immediately be deployed.

The administration has said that because the legal reasoning underpinning both temporary restraining orders was the same, the second one was also invalid, and the majority opinion also said the two TROs “rise or fall together.”

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Massive Amazon cloud outage has been resolved after disrupting internet use worldwide

LONDON (AP) — Amazon says a massive outage of its cloud computing service has been resolved as of Monday evening, after a problem disrupted internet use around the world, taking down a broad range of online services, including social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming and financial platforms.

The all-day disruption and the ensuing exasperation it caused served as the latest reminder that 21st century society is increasingly dependent on just a handful of companies for much of its internet technology, which seems to work reliably until it suddenly breaks down.

About three hours after the outage began early Monday morning, Amazon Web Services said it was starting to recover, but it wasn’t until 6 p.m. Eastern that “services returned to normal operations,” Amazon said on its AWS health website, where it tracks outages.

AWS provides behind-the-scenes cloud computing infrastructure to some of the world’s biggest organizations. Its customers include government departments, universities and businesses, including The Associated Press.

Cybersecurity expert Mike Chapple said “a slow and bumpy recovery process” is “entirely normal.”

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Former French President Sarkozy begins a 5-year prison sentence for campaign finance conspiracy

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at a prison in Paris on Tuesday to begin serving a 5-year sentence for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya — a historic moment that makes him the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned.

Sarkozy, 70, was greeted by hundreds of supporters when he walked out of his Paris home hand-in-hand with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. He embraced her before getting into a police car.

On his way to prison, Sarkozy released a statement on social media declaring that “an innocent man” was being locked up.

Minutes later, the vehicle passed through the gates of the notorious La Santé prison — where Sarkozy will now serve his sentence in solitary confinement.

Sarkozy was convicted last month for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

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US and Australia sign critical-minerals agreement as a way to counter China

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U.S. eyes the continent’s rich rare-earth resources at a time when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad.

The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months.

“In about a year from now we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won’t know what to do with them,” said Trump, a Republican, boasting about the deal. “They’ll be worth $2.”

Albanese added that the agreement takes the U.S.-Australia relationship “to the next level.”

Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese technology. The Trump administration says this gives China broad power over the global economy by controlling the tech supply chain.

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Senate Republicans head to White House amid stalemate on shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Senate Republicans are headed to the White House on Tuesday — not for urgent talks on how to end it, but for a display of unity with President Donald Trump as they refuse to negotiate on any Democratic demands.

Senate Democrats, too, are confident in their strategy to keep voting against a House-passed bill that would reopen the government until Republicans, including Trump, engage them on extending health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year.

With both sides showing no signs of movement, it’s unclear how long the stalemate will last — even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers will miss another paycheck in the coming days and states are sounding warnings that key federal programs will soon lapse completely. And the meeting at the White House appears unlikely, for now, to lead to a bipartisan resolution as Senate Republicans are dug in and Trump has followed their lead.

“I think the president’s ready to get involved on having the discussion” about extending the subsidies, said Senate Republican leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Monday. “But I don’t think they are prepared to do that until (Democrats) open up the government.”

While Capitol Hill remains at a standstill, the effects of the shutdown are worsening. Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about when they might eventually get paid. Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families are facing potential cutoffs in funding. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing 1,400 federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air controller shortages and flight delays in cities across the United States.

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Supreme Court will consider whether people who regularly smoke pot can legally own guns

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns, the latest firearm case to come before the court since its 2022 decision expanding gun rights.

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the justices to revive a case against a Texas man charged with a felony because he allegedly had a gun in his home and acknowledged being a regular pot user. The Justice Department appealed after a lower court largely struck down a law that bars people who use any illegal drugs from having guns.

Last year, a jury convicted Hunter Biden of violating the law, among other charges. His father, then-President Joe Biden, later pardoned him.

Arguments probably will take place early in 2026, with a decision likely by early summer.

The Republican administration favors Second Amendment rights, but government attorneys argued that this ban is a justifiable restriction.

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Blue Jays in World Series for first time since before Ohtani was born, while Dodgers seek to repeat

NEW YORK (AP) — When slugger Joe Carter hit the last World Series pitch thrown in Canada over the left-field wall to win the Toronto Blue Jays’ second consecutive title, it was 8 1/2 months before Shohei Ohtani was born.

The Blue Jays are back in baseball’s championship round for the first time since 1993 and will host Ohtani and the Dodgers in Friday night’s opener as Los Angeles tries to become the first repeat winner in a quarter century.

The previous time the World Series was played north of the border, the Steroids Era was just starting, advanced analytics were science fiction and complete games were thrown about twice a month.

While the Dodgers may be the favorite, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays have an entire country behind them after rallying to win the American League Championship Series with a 4-3 victory over Seattle in Game 7 on Monday night.

Until now, Toronto’s only World Series appearances resulted in back-to-back titles in 1992 and ’93.

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Thick, hazardous smog blankets New Delhi after Diwali fireworks

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thick smog blanketed India’s capital Tuesday, a day after millions celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali with fireworks that sent air pollution levels soaring to hazardous levels.

Revelers in New Delhi burst firecrackers late into Monday night, filling the air with smoke and fine particles that mixed with seasonal pollution and stagnant weather conditions. By Tuesday morning, the city’s Air Quality Index had climbed above 350 in several neighborhoods, a level considered “severe” and dangerous to breathe, according to the World Health Organization’s daily recommended maximum exposure.

Visibility also dropped in some parts of the city as a gray haze enveloped streets, high-rises and historical monuments.

“I have never seen anything like this before. We can’t see anything here because of pollution,” said Vedant Pachkande, a tourist visiting New Delhi.

India’s top court last week eased a blanket ban on firecrackers in New Delhi during Diwali, allowing limited use of “green firecrackers” that emit fewer pollutants. Developed by federal research institutes, they are designed to cut particulate and gas emissions by about 30%. The court had said they could be used during specific hours from Saturday to Tuesday, but like past years the rule was mostly flouted.

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Japan’s parliament elects Sanae Takaichi as nation’s first female prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister Tuesday, a day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right.

Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July.

Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.

Takaichi won 237 votes — four more than a majority — compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister. Even though her coalition was two seats short of a majority, Takaichi received enough votes to win in the first round. She likely received votes from lawmakers in fringe minority parties from whom she has sought cooperation.

As the results were announced, Takaichi stood up and bowed deeply.