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

How Europe’s regulatory battle with Apple could signal what’s to come for American consumers

LONDON (AP) — It’ll likely take years before the U.S. government’s massive antitrust lawsuit against Apple is resolved — but the iPhone maker’s troubles with European regulators offer a glimpse of what changes American customers may see down the line.

The U.S. lawsuit seeks to stop Apple from undermining technologies that compete with its own apps in areas such as streaming, messaging and digital payments. The Department of Justice also wants to prevent the tech giant from building language into its contracts with developers, accessory makers and consumers that lets it obtain or keep a monopoly.

These are similar to themes that the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, and Apple have been wrangling over for years.

EU antitrust watchdogs have launched multiple antitrust cases accusing Apple of violating the 27-nation bloc’s competition laws, while also imposing tough digital rules aimed at stopping tech companies from cornering digital markets.

Brussels’ efforts will soon start to have an impact on the way the company does business and the experience iPhone users have in Europe. And the changes could signal what’s to come for U.S. Apple users — if the Justice Department has its way, at least.

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Police track down escaped Idaho prison gang member and accomplice, say pair may have killed 2 on run

Police on Thursday arrested two white supremacist gang members — an Idaho prison inmate and the accomplice who helped him escape — following an attack on corrections officers at a Boise hospital, and investigators are looking into whether they killed two people while on the run.

Skylar Meade, the escaped inmate, and Nicholas Umphenour, the man who police say shot two Idaho corrections officers early Wednesday to break Meade out of custody, were arrested after a brief car chase Thursday afternoon in Twin Falls, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) from the hospital.

Authorities said during a news conference Thursday that they were investigating two homicides, in Clearwater County and Nez Perce County, which borders Washington state. Both victims were men. Police found shackles at the scene of one of the killings and “that’s one of the ways we tied them together,” Idaho State Police Lt. Colonel Sheldon Kelley said.

The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office said via Facebook that it received a request for a welfare check Wednesday evening and deputies found a man who had died. The suspects were several hours out of the county when the call came in, according to the office. No further details were released.

Meade, 31, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 for shooting at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase. Umphenour was released from the same prison — the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, south of Boise — in January. The two had at times been housed together, were both members of the Aryan Knights prison gang, and had mutual friends in and out of prison, officials said.

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US calls for vote Friday on UN resolution declaring that immediate Gaza cease-fire is `imperative’

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States called for a vote Friday on a newly revised and tougher U.N. resolution declaring that “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is “imperative” to protect civilians and enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to more than 2 million hungry Palestinians.

In the previous draft, the Security Council did not make such a declaration. Instead, it would have supported international efforts for a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal.

The new draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press “determines” — which is a council order — “the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire,” with no direct link to the release of hostages taken during Hamas’ surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7. But “toward that end” it would unequivocally support diplomatic efforts “to secure such a cease-fire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.”

After the 15 Security Council members met behind closed doors Thursday afternoon to discuss Gaza, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said when asked if the U.S. draft would be adopted: “I am optimistic. That’s why it took us so long, because we worked so hard.”

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pressing for an immediate cease-fire and if the resolution calls for an immediate cease-fire “we will, of course, support it.”

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Appeals court orders judge to probe claims of juror bias in Boston Marathon bomber’s case

BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the judge who oversaw Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial to investigate the defense’s claims of juror bias and determine whether his death sentence should stand.

A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not throw out Tsarnaev’s death sentence. Defense lawyers had pushed for that while claiming bias by two people who sat on the jury that convicted him for his role in the bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds near the marathon’s finish line in 2013.

But the appeals court found that the trial judge did not adequately probe Tsarnaev’s allegations, and sent the case back to the judge for a new investigation. If the judge finds that either juror should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev’s sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine whether Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said.

“And even then, we once again emphasize that the only question in any such proceeding will be whether Tsarnaev will face execution; regardless of the outcome, he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” it said.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts declined to comment Thursday. The Justice Department can either ask the full 1st Circuit to hear the matter or go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawyers for Tsarnaev didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the decision.

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Biden and Trump ask voters if they’re ‘better off’ than they were 4 years ago. It’s complicated

HOUSTON (AP) — “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Rarely have voters’ answers to that question been so complicated.

Former President Donald Trump asked the time-tested question of his supporters in all-caps Monday on his Truth Social platform. President Joe Biden did the same three times over this week during a trio of Texas fundraisers as he closed out a swing through the southwest.

Each candidate is hoping the answer skews in his favor — but the verdict may well hinge on whether people are reflecting back on the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of their pocketbooks or some broader sense of well-being.

Four years ago, the country was in the throes of a nationwide shutdown due to the coronavirus, with surging joblessness and a cratering stock market. Now the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees are hurtling toward a rematch in which the virus for most Americans is but a traumatic memory, markets are up and unemployment is at or near record lows.

If the handling of the once-in-a-century outbreak defined the 2020 presidential race, it appears that voters have other things on their minds as they consider their choices in 2024.

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New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez says he won’t run in Democratic primary

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said Thursday he won’t run in the Democratic primary as he faces federal corruption charges, but he left open the possibility that he would reenter the race as an independent later this year if he is exonerated at a trial.

Menendez’s announcement comes four days before a state deadline to file to run in the June 4 Democratic primary that’s already being contested by Rep. Andy Kim and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy. The almost 10-minute video shows Menendez speaking about his decades in Congress, pushing for aid for his state, including for Superstorm Sandy recovery and COVID-19 relief.

“The present accusations I am facing of which I am innocent and will prove so will not allow me to have that type of dialogue and debate with political opponents,” he said in a video posted on social media. “You deserve to hear from those who wish to represent you about what they would do for you and your families in the future. Therefore I will not file for the Democratic party this June.”

Menendez said he’s hopeful that he will be exonerated at trial and could run as an “independent Democrat” in the general election.

The decision comes as Menendez fights federal bribery charges, along with his wife, Nadine, and three business associates.

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Congress unveils $1.2 trillion plan to avert federal shutdown and bring budget fight to a close

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers introduced a $1.2 trillion spending package Thursday that sets the stage for avoiding a partial government shutdown for several key federal agencies this weekend and allows Congress, nearly six months into the budget year, to complete its work funding the government through September.

Democrats were able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some wins, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.

This year’s spending bills were divided into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago, just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.

Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, a more than 3% increase from last year’s levels. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.

“Congress must now race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

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No charges to be filed in fight involving Oklahoma nonbinary teen Nex Benedict, prosecutor says

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —

No criminal charges will be filed against the Oklahoma teens involved in a high school bathroom fight with Nex Benedict, the nonbinary 16-year-old whose death following the altercation was ruled a suicide, the county district attorney said Thursday.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement that after reviewing the investigation by the Owasso Police Department, he agreed with an assessment from detectives that the fight between the teen and three girls was an “instance of mutual combat” and that charges were not warranted.

“When I review a report and make a decision to file a charge I must be convinced — as is every prosecutor — that a crime was committed and that I have reasonable belief that a judge or jury would be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed,” Kunzweiler said. “From all the evidence gathered, this fight was an instance of mutual combat.”

Kunzweiler also said Owasso police uncovered a “suicide note” written by Benedict, although he declined to say what the note said. The state medical examiner determined last week that Benedict’s death in February was a suicide caused by a drug overdose.

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Southern Baptists pick a California seminary president to lead its troubled administrative body

A top Southern Baptist administrative body has selected its first permanent leader in nearly two-and-a-half years, a time when it has navigated a tumult of controversies ranging from a sexual abuse scandal to financial struggles — to its own stumbling efforts to find a new president.

Jeff Iorg, the longtime president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s only seminary outside of the denomination’s historic Bible Belt heartland, is the incoming president and CEO of the denomination’s Executive Committee. He was elected unanimously Thursday by committee members meeting near Dallas.

Iorg has been president of Gateway Seminary since 2004. He oversaw a change in name and location for the school in 2016, when the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary relocated its main campus from the San Francisco area to Ontario, California, near Los Angeles. It now has multiple campuses in the West and online. Total full- and part-time enrollment is 1,499, according to data from the Association of Theological Schools.

Iorg had recently announced plans to retire from the seminary but agreed to be considered for the Executive Committee post, which he will start on May 13.

Iorg said he is grateful for the denomination he is serving. In a Thursday news conference, he said he “came to faith in Jesus Christ because of the witness of a Southern Baptist church” and has degrees from a denominational college and seminaries.

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NCAA Tournament Latest: Gohlke lifts Oakland over Kentucky

The Latest on the first full day of the NCAA Tournament:

Jack Gohlke took the first star turn of the NCAA Tournament, pushing Oakland past mighty Kentucky.

Gohlke made 10 3-pointers — one shy of the tourney record — and No. 14 Oakland pulled off the biggest upset of March Madness so far with an 80-76 win over No. 3 Kentucky in the South Region.

Gohlke went 10 for 20 from the arc, finishing just short of the single-game record set by Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer against Michigan in 1990.

Gohlke scored 32 points to send the Grizzlies into Saturday’s second round against Texas Tech or N.C. State.