AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

Congressional leaders announce an agreement on spending levels, a key step to averting shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on overall spending levels for the current fiscal year that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month.

The agreement largely hews to spending caps for defense and domestic programs that Congress set as part of a bill to suspend the debt limit until 2025. But it does provide some concessions to House Republicans who viewed the spending restrictions in that agreement as insufficient.

In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday the agreement would secure $16 billion in additional spending cuts from the previous agreement brokered by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and is about $30 billion less than what the Senate was considering.

“This represents the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade,” Johnson writes.

Biden said the agreement “moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities.”

___

Israel says Hezbollah struck sensitive air traffic base in the north and warns of ‘another war’

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah has struck an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday, and warned of “another war” with the Iran-backed militant group.

The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza gave new urgency to U.S. diplomatic efforts as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit Israel on his latest Mideast tour.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator. The escalation of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has complicated a U.S. push to prevent a regional conflict.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fire hit the sensitive air traffic control base on Mount Meron on Saturday but air defenses were not affected because backup systems were in place. It said that no soldiers were hurt and all damage will be repaired.

Nonetheless, it was one of the most serious attacks by Hezbollah in the months of fighting that has accompanied Israel’s war in Gaza and forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate communities near the Lebanese border.

___

Canceled flights are piling up as Alaska and United are stuck without their grounded Boeing jets

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Alaska Airlines and United Airlines grounded all of their Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners again on Sunday while they waited to be told how to inspect the planes to prevent another inflight blowout like the one that damaged an Alaska jet.

Alaska Airlines had returned 18 of its 65 737 Max 9 aircraft to service Saturday, less than 24 hours after part of the fuselage on another plane blew out three miles (4.8 kilometers) above Oregon.

The reprieve was short-lived.

The airline said Sunday that it received a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration that additional work might be needed on those 18 planes.

Alaska said that it had canceled 170 flights — more than one-fifth of its schedule — by mid-afternoon on the West Coast because of the groundings.

___

The Pentagon adds new details about Austin’s secretive hospital stay and the delay in telling Biden

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon released new details Sunday about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s continued hospitalization, saying he had a medical procedure Dec. 22, went home a day later and was admitted to intensive care Jan. 1 when he began experiencing severe pain.

The latest information came as members of both parties in Congress expressed sharp concerns about the secrecy of Austin’s hospital stay and the fact that the president and other senior leaders were kept in the dark about it for days.

The statement, released by Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, did not, however, provide any details about the medical procedure or what actually happened on Monday to require Austin to be in intensive care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Ryan said Austin was placed in the hospital’s intensive care unit “due to his medical needs, but then remained in that location in part due to hospital space considerations and privacy.”

The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization, including to President Joe Biden, the National Security Council and top Pentagon leaders, for days reflects a stunning lack of transparency about his illness, how serious it was and when he may be released. Such secrecy, when the United States is juggling myriad national security crises, runs counter to normal practice with the president and other senior U.S. officials and Cabinet members.

___

‘Poor Things’ upsets ‘Barbie’ to win best comedy at Golden Globes

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” has won best comedy or musical at the 81st Golden Globes, an upset victory over the category favorite, “Barbie.” Emma Stone also won for her performance in “Poor Things.”

Christopher Nolan’s epic American drama “Oppenheimer” was dominating at Sunday’s Globes, where “Succession” and “The Bear” cleaned up in the TV awards.

“Oppenheimer,” perhaps the Academy Awards frontrunner, picked up four big awards including best director for Nolan, best drama actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and for Ludwig Göransson’s score.

“Golden Globes journalists, thank you for changing your game, therefore changing your name,” said Downey.

The Globes were in their 81st year but facing a new and uncertain chapter. After a tumultuous few years and heaps of scandals, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was dissolved, leaving a new Globes, on a new network (CBS), to try to regain its perch as the third biggest award show of the year, after the Oscars and Grammys. Even the menu (sushi from Nobu) was flipped.

___

Iowa’s Christian conservatives follow their faith when voting, and some say it leads them to Trump

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pastor Charles Hundley opened his worship service on a cold Sunday in northeast Des Moines with a prayer that made it clear one endorsement above all will matter in Iowa’s caucuses eight days away.

“We thank you for the upcoming election, Lord — or caucus, as we call it in Iowa,” said Hundley, speaking from the sanctuary of his evangelical Christian church in his slight Texas drawl as his parishioners bowed their heads.

“It doesn’t matter what our opinion is,” he went on. “It’s really what’s your opinion that matters. But you’ve given us the privilege of being able to exercise a beautiful gift. The gift of vote. We thank you for that.”

While Hundley stops short of suggesting to his parishioners which candidate divine guidance should lead them to support, he is among more than 300 pastors and other faith leaders who’ve been described as supporters by former President Donald Trump’s campaign. It’s a message that some members of Hundley’s First Church of God have taken to heart, saying their faith informs their intention to caucus for Trump.

The former president and his rivals for the Republican nomination in 2024 have for months been heavily courting social conservatives and white evangelical Christians, long seen as the most influential group in Iowa’s Republican caucuses.

___

Explainer: Missing door ‘plug’ may hold vital clues to how a gaping hole blew open on a jetliner

Investigators were searching Sunday for the piece of fuselage that blew off a Boeing airliner over Oregon on Friday, hoping to gain physical evidence of what went wrong.

The gaping hole in the side of the Alaska Airlines jet opened up where aircraft maker Boeing fits a “plug” to cover an emergency exit that the airline does not use.

The plugs are on most Boeing 737 Max 9 jets. The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily grounded those planes until they undergo inspections of the area around the door plug.

WHY THE PLUG IS THERE

Some larger Boeing 737s have emergency exits on fuselages behind the wings to meet a federal requirement that planes be designed so passengers can evacuate within 90 seconds even if half the exits are blocked.

___

Thousands forced from homes by quake face stress and exhaustion as Japan mourns at least 161 deaths

WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after a powerful earthquake caused at least 161 deaths and left dozens missing.

The rescue effort since magnitude 7.6 New Year’s Day quake has drawn thousands of troops, firefighters and police who picked through collapsed buildings Monday hoping to find survivors.

Authorities warned of the danger of landslides throughout the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, where the quakes were centered. The risks were worsened by snowfall, which grew heavier over the weekend and continued into the new week.

Fluffy white blanketed a landscape telling the story of the quake — dark crumbled houses, ashen blocks of a city, highways with gaping holes and cracks.

Of the deaths, 70 were in Wajima, 70 in Suzu 11 in Anamizu and the rest in smaller numbers spread among four towns. At least 103 people were still unaccounted for, 565 people were listed as injured, and 1,390 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged.

___

Tyre Nichols’ family gathers for vigil 1 year after police brutally beat him

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — One year ago, Tyre Nichols was driving home to have dinner with his family when he was pulled over by Memphis police who claimed the Black man was driving recklessly and yanked him out of his car.

Officers hit him with a stun gun and pepper sprayed him, but he managed to get away and tried to run home. Five officers caught up with him just steps from his house, and, as he called out for his mother, they kicked him, punched him and hit him with a police baton. The attack was captured on the officers’ body cameras and a stationary police pole camera.

Nichols died in a hospital of his injuries three days later on Jan. 10, 2023. His death shook Memphis to its core and led to impassioned protests throughout the U.S. On Sunday night, Nichols’ family members and their supporters gathered at the site of the beating to remember the life of the father, FedEx employee, skateboarding aficionado and amateur photographer who was taken from them at the age of 29.

More than 100 people held candles that flickered in the chilly Memphis air as they heard Nichols’ mother, stepfather and three siblings talk about how difficult the past year has been for them. His mother, RowVaughn Wells, recalled how her stomach began hurting the night of the traffic stop, not knowing that her son was being beaten just steps from her house.

Wearing Converse sneakers her son gave her last Christmas, Wells cried as she talked about missing her son.

___

Golden Globes fashion: Taylor Swift stuns in shimmery green and Margot Robbie goes full Barbie

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift stunned in shimmery, liquid acid green custom Gucci at the newfangled Golden Globes, Sandra Hüller swept onto the red carpet in goddess green and Margot Robbie went full Barbie in pink custom Armani Privé at Sunday’s start of the rush-rush awards season.

Colman Domingo honored the man he portrays in “Rustin” — activist Bayard Rustin — in a Nehru tuxedo adorned with pins, while Lily Gladstone, a star of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and a red carpet newcomer, wore Valentino, a white gown with a black overcoat. She had a Bulgari diamond choker around her neck.

Fashion risk-taker Timothée Chalamet, the latest “Wonka,” donned a bedazzled black jacket with black skinny trousers and a low-buttoned black shirt. His designer: Celine Homme.

Swift’s stunner by Gucci’s Sabato De Sarno included three straps at the back. Robbie, the star and a producer of the blockbuster and heavily nominated “Barbie” film, wore a hot pink sequined Armani gown with a pink tulle boa. Her look was modeled on Superstar Barbie from 1977.

“Taylor Swift wearing Gucci was an absolute coup for Sabato De Sarno. With only one season at the iconic house under his belt, he’s already dressing one of the most famous pop icons in the world,” said Madeline Hirsch, news director for InStyle. “The look felt very Taylor. She loves sparkle, but with its bright color and slinky silhouette, it was definitely one of her more interesting looks in recent memory. If this is any indication, the new Gucci era will have star power to spare.”