AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

UN approves US plan authorizing an international stabilization force in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a U.S. plan for Gaza that authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in the devastated territory and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

Russia, which had circulated a rival resolution, abstained along with China on the 13-0 vote. The U.S. and other countries had hoped Moscow would not use its veto power on the United Nations’ most powerful body to block the resolution’s adoption.

The vote was a crucial next step for the fragile ceasefire and efforts to outline Gaza’s future following two years of war between Israel and Hamas. Arab and other Muslim countries that expressed interest in providing troops for an international force had signaled that Security Council authorization was essential for their participation.

The U.S. resolution endorses President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan, which calls for a yet-to-be-established Board of Peace as a transitional authority that Trump would head. It also authorizes the stabilization force and gives it a wide mandate, including overseeing the borders, providing security and demilitarizing the territory. Authorization for the board and force expire at the end of 2027.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz called the resolution “historic and constructive,” saying it starts a new course in the Middle East.

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Judge scolds Justice Department for ‘profound investigative missteps’ in Comey case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.

Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”

The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.

The Comey case and a separate prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James have hastened concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of Trump’s political opponents. Both defendants have filed multiple motions to dismiss the cases against them before trial, arguing that the prosecutions are improperly vindictive and that the prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed.

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What’s next for the Epstein files after Trump’s social media posts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is heading toward a vote Tuesday on a bill to force the Justice Department to release the case files it has collected on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, pushing past a monthslong effort by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders to stymie the effort.

The push for more disclosure in the years-old sex trafficking investigation into Epstein has come roaring back since the House returned to Washington after a nearly two-month absence during the government shutdown. As lawmakers returned last week, they were greeted by new details from a tranche of Epstein’s emails, including claims that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim and that he “knew about the girls.”

The new revelations and the coming vote showed one of the rare instances where Trump has not been able to exhibit almost total control over his party. Bowing to the growing momentum behind the bill, Trump indicated Monday he would sign the bill if it passes both chambers of Congress.

The sex trafficking case into Epstein has only grown in political influence since Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019. He faced charges that he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls, and since then many more have said they were abused by the well-connected financier.

Now, many lawmakers say that the Justice Department also needs to release its case files on Epstein, arguing that it could show that other people were aware of or complicit in Epstein’s sexual abuse. House Democrats, joined by a few key Republicans, have been able to force a vote on the bill to do that by using a rarely successful measure called a discharge petition.

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FEMA acting chief David Richardson departs after six months on the job

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency left his job Monday after just six months, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the latest disruption in a year of mass staff departures, program cuts and policy upheaval at the agency charged with managing federal disaster response.

David Richardson, who in his brief term remained largely out of public sight, is leaving the post after he faced a wave of criticism for his handling of the deadly Texas floods earlier this year. He replaced previous acting head Cameron Hamilton in May.

DHS did not comment on the details of Richardson’s departure, but a FEMA employee familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Richardson resigned. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the changes with the media.

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security extend their sincere appreciation to the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator, David Richardson, for his dedicated service and wish him continued success in his return to the private sector,” a DHS spokesperson told The Associated Press.

The Washington Post first reported the news about Richardson’s resignation.

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More than 130 arrested in North Carolina as governor says immigration crackdown is ‘stoking fear’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — U.S. immigration agents arrested more than 130 people in a weekend sweep through North Carolina’s largest city, a federal official said Monday, as the governor warned that the crackdown is simply “stoking fear.”

The Trump administration has made Charlotte, a Democratic city of about 950,000 people, its latest focus for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and declining crime rates. City residents reported encounters with immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores.

“We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks,” Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said in a video statement late Sunday. “This is not making us safer. It’s stoking fear and dividing our community.”

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Border Patrol officers had arrested “over 130 illegal aliens who have all broken” immigration laws. The agency said the records of those arrested included gang membership, aggravated assault, shoplifting and other crimes, but it did not say how many cases had resulted in convictions, how many people had been facing charges or any other details.

Stein acknowledged that it was a stressful time, but he called on residents to stay peaceful. If people see something they feel is wrong, he said they should record it and report it to local law enforcement.

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Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair won’t serve prison time, judge rules

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit will serve no prison time, a federal judge ruled Monday, bringing an end to a case that drew attention to the need for more mental health support for pilots.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to credit for time served and supervised release for three years at a hearing in Portland, Oregon. Federal prosecutors had asked for one year in prison, while his attorneys had sought probation.

“Pilots are not perfect. They are human,” she said. “They are people and all people need help sometimes.”

Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, while he was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

After his arrest, Emerson told police he was despondent over a friend’s recent death, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier, and hadn’t slept in over 40 hours. He has said he believed he was dreaming at the time and that he was trying to wake himself up by grabbing two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.

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Man charged with murder in shooting of Oakland football coach and ‘Last Chance U’ star John Beam

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot in the head on the junior college campus in Oakland where he worked.

Cedric Irving faces 50 years to life if convicted, said Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson at a Monday press conference. Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.

Beam, 66, was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.

“He really is the best of Oakland — was the best of Oakland,” Jones Dickson said. “His spirit is still here.”

The district attorney said Irving had no criminal record. He is being held without bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.

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Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged. A prison guard describes rampant abuse

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The number of Palestinians dying in Israeli custody surged to nearly 100 people since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a report published Monday by a human rights group that says systematic violence and denial of medical care at prisons and detention centers contributed to many of the deaths it examined.

The picture that emerges from the report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is consistent with findings by The Associated Press, which interviewed more than a dozen people about prison abuses, medical neglect and deaths, analyzed available data, and reviewed reports of autopsies. AP spoke with a former guard and a former nurse at one prison, an Israeli doctor who treated malnourished prisoners brought to his hospital, former detainees and their relatives, and lawyers representing them and rights groups.

The former guard at a military prison notorious for its harsh treatment of Palestinians told the AP detainees were routinely shackled with chains and kicked and hit with batons, and that the facility had been dubbed a “graveyard” because so many prisoners were dying there. He agreed to talk to AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Of the 98 prisoner deaths PHRI documented since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, 27 occurred in 2023, 50 in 2024 and 21 this year, the most recent on Nov. 2. PHRI says the actual death toll over this timeframe is “likely significantly higher,” noting that Israel has refused to provide information about hundreds of Palestinians detained during the war.

Fewer than 30 Palestinians died in Israeli custody in the 10 years preceding the war, PHRI says. But since the war, the prison population more than doubled to 11,000 as people were rounded up, mainly from Gaza and the West Bank. The number of prisoners dying grew at an even faster rate over that period, PHRI data shows.

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Foreign enrollment at US colleges holds steady, for now, despite Trump’s visa crackdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign students enrolled at U.S. colleges in strong numbers this fall despite fears that a Trump administration crackdown would trigger a nosedive, yet there are signs of turbulence as fewer new, first-time students arrived from other countries, according to a new report.

Overall, U.S. campuses saw a 1% decrease in international enrollment this fall compared with last year, according to a survey from the Institute of International Education. But that figure is propped up by large numbers of students who stayed in the U.S. for temporary work after graduating. The number of new students entering the United States for the first time fell by 17%, the sharpest decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some universities are seeing backslides that have punched big holes in tuition revenue, but overall the falloff is less severe than some industry groups had forecast. Researchers credit colleges for helping students navigate visa issues through the summer.

“I think colleges and universities did absolutely everything in their power to advocate to get these students to the United States,” said Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation and learning for the institute.

At DePaul University, a Catholic university in Chicago, the number of international graduate students fell by almost 62% this fall, a driving factor in recent spending cuts. The university president blamed student visa troubles and declining interest to study in the U.S., calling it a “massive” disruption.

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Purdue reclaims No. 1 from Houston in AP Top 25, Louisville and Illinois jump into top 10

Purdue moved back to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll Monday ahead of Houston, which spent a single week there after leapfrogging the Boilermakers.

It’s hardly a two-team race for the top, though. UConn, Arizona and Duke also got No. 1 votes from the 61-member media panel in a poll that also saw No. 6 Louisville and No. 8 Illinois jump into the top 10.

The Boilermakers got 44 first-place votes after an impressive week that included a road win over then-No. 8 Alabama and a victory over Akron. Houston lost six of its No. 1 votes but still had 12 after beating Oakland and edging No. 22 Auburn in a matchup of Final Four teams from last season.

“We have a great group of guys,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter, who also picked up his 500th career win last weekend, “and just trying to go from one game to the other I think is really hard after you have such an emotional, big win on the road like we had.”

UConn remained No. 3 with three first-place votes after beating then-No. 7 BYU 86-84 on Saturday. That started a tough road for the Huskies that includes games against No. 4 Arizona on Wednesday and Illinois and No. 24 Kansas down the road.