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

Trump downplays the need to check AI development and says he doesn’t want to cede edge to China

DUBLIN (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday played down the need for his administration to check the development of artificial intelligence, saying he worried about ceding America’s edge over China in a global competition and that winning would help address the risks from the advancing technology.

While acknowledging the need for some regulation, Trump provided no specifics about potential rules and attributed warnings about the technology moving too quickly and with little oversight to “negative forces” he did not identify, though industry pioneers have raised such concerns.

“We can put guardrails, we can do this and that, but I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that … shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen,” Trump told reporters during a weekend trip to Ireland. “But whoever wins with AI wins.”

Asked later Sunday if he was trying to minimize the risks from AI, Trump said, “I’m not downplaying,” adding that artificial intelligence is “going to be more good than bad, but by a lot.” Speaking with reporters during the flight back to Washington, he repeated his earlier comment regarding the stakes for “whoever wins AI.”

The Republican president spoke a day after Dario Amodei, CEO of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, said the industry should put the brakes on its fast-moving development to give safety measures time to catch up. Other tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, publicly agreed with Amodei.

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Trump says he’s lifting a 10% tariff on Irish whiskey because ‘everybody’s been bugging me’ about it

DOONBEG, Ireland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday at the close of a golf tournament in Ireland that he plans to remove a 10% tariff on Irish whiskey.

Trump said during the trophy ceremony for the Irish Open that he had been asked about the issue by everyone, including Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin and even some of the golfers. Irish Open winner Shane Lowry was among them, Trump said.

“Everybody’s been bugging me” to do it, the Republican president said. “And I said, ‘On behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off'” of Irish whiskey.

Irish whiskey currently faces the standard tariff imposed by Trump on most imports from the European Union, which was reduced from 15% to 10% in July.

Trump announced in April that he was lifting certain tariffs on U.K. whiskey, which includes Scotch and spirits made in Northern Ireland, creating an imbalance with Ireland.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump’s $5,000 ‘dividend’ needs congressional approval

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $5,000 to every American adult if his Republican Party maintains control of the House and Senate in the November election needs congressional approval, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday, while pledging to try to make it happen.

Trump made the unusual pitch at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas last week, promising a “Trump Dividend” if voters keep the GOP in power on Capitol Hill. The president later told CBS News Texas that he did not think Congress would need to authorize the payments, though he did not specify how he could spend more than $1 trillion without lawmakers’ authorization.

But Johnson, R-La., said congressional approval is needed. “I would assume, yes, he’d need Congress to act, and that’s a creative idea,” he said.

A few hours later, Trump said he would deliver on his promise. “The 5,000’s going to happen, 100%,” he told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Ireland, where he attended a pro golf tournament at his resort.

Johnson, meanwhile, said he would work to get Trump’s proposal through Congress despite a small Republican margin.

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Iranian cargo ship is struck, and talks between Tehran and its neighbors are postponed

CAIRO (AP) — An Iranian cargo vessel was struck early Sunday off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said, and Tehran postponed a plan to brief neighboring countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping in the strait.

The attack drew attention back to the strait after threats to shipping in the Red Sea intensified last week. Iran-backed Houthi rebels battling government forces in Yemen captured an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Qeshm governor as blaming a “terrorist enemy” for Sunday’s attack, which it said killed one and wounded four.

There was no immediate comment by the U.S. military, which has struck Iranian-flagged vessels during its blockade of Iranian ports and faces a new threat from Iranian ballistic missiles launched at its warships.

Qeshm Island, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the port city of Bandar Abbas, is key to Iran asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz.

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Alexander Zverev beats Ben Shelton to win the US Open title and extend a drought by American men

NEW YORK (AP) — Alexander Zverev knew what he was up against, playing a U.S. Open final in a stadium full of people desperate to at last see another American champion.

He tuned out the screams for Ben Shelton for so long that he didn’t even realize when he won, not hearing the chair umpire’s announcement that the match was over.

“In that moment I was in the zone, a lot,” Zverev said. “I didn’t hear noise at all. I was in this kind of tunnel where I just didn’t hear anything.”

Zverev used that focus to win a second major championship and prevent a first Grand Slam title by an American man since 2003, beating Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 on Sunday.

Zverev finally broke through in the majors by winning this year’s French Open and followed up by adding the title in New York that he so painfully let slip away in 2020.

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Fighting in Yemen intensifies, and Houthis launch more attacks on Saudi Arabia

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.

The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast and one official conceded a “painful” defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The escalation – especially Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea – adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States.

As Yemen risks descending into another civil war, the United Nations estimated that more than 80,000 people in the impoverished country have been displaced by the fighting since the start of September.

One woman said a mortar shell fell nearby as she fled in the middle of the night from the town of Khawkha in Hodeida province along the Red Sea, shortly before it was captured by Houthis.

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Trump calls on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel fuel, citing a global shortage

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average.

Ukraine has for months been targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry with long-range strikes, prompting fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow to ban diesel exports in July, removing supplies from the already tight global market.

But the global crunch also came after the war on Iran curtailed oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fuel prices are weighing on Americans as they prepare to vote in midterm elections in November.

Trump was asked by a reporter if he had spoken with Zelenskyy following his recent conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He responded by calling on Zelenskyy to halt strikes against Russia.

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GOP congressman from Wisconsin tearfully recounts surviving emergency plane landing in lake

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, wiped away tears and laughed while sharing how thankful he was Sunday to survive a harrowing late-night emergency landing into a lake of the small plane he was riding in.

The pilot “said we are going down,” Tiffany, a Republican, told reporters at a downtown Wausau firehouse. “’Pull your seat belt tight.’ I gave it a yank and pulled it good and tight. It was probably about 10 seconds later … we hit the water.”

Tiffany said he and the pilot, Leonard Boltz, remained on top of the plane in Lake Wausau until it began sinking before deciding to try and swim to shore. He said they swam about 100 to 150 feet (30 to 45 meters) until they reached water shallow enough to stand in.

“We’re really fortunate that God was looking after us last night,” said the 68-year-old Tiffany.

The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the emergency landing happened just before 9 p.m. Saturday. Boltz called 911 after the pair got out of the plane. They were rescued by emergency responders in a fire department airboat just after 9 p.m.

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Indonesia continues search for at least 129 missing after ferry capsizes, 6 bodies recovered

BANJARMASIN, Indonesia (AP) — The search is continuing for at least 129 people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia ‘s Java Sea on Sunday.

At least 108 people were rescued and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded around the vessel’s last known position.

The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, officials said.

The captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned.

The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

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Celine Dion thrills fans with emotional comeback concert after overcoming rare illness

NANTERRE, France (AP) — She hit the high F, held it, then blew out a breath and turned to look back at the band — a quick, disbelieving glance toward her musical director. Some 30,000 people read it before they had finished screaming: Celine Dion did it.

It was “All By Myself,” the song the Quebec superstar’s voice has been measured against since 1996, saved for the encore of her first full concert in more than six years — her first since stiff person syndrome, a rare, progressive neurological disease, attacked her muscles, including those of the throat.

Few doubted she could still sing. What nobody knew was whether she could get through a whole show, and then get up and do it again a few nights later.

Dion gave the crowd three words: “Je vais bien.” (“I’m doing fine.”)

“When she hit that note, I grabbed my friend’s arm. I’d been holding my breath without realizing. Then I started crying. ‘She’s back. She’s really back,‘” said Élodie Marchand, 42, a primary schoolteacher from Nantes.