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

Trump upends US policy on Ukraine and says he and Putin have agreed to begin talks on ending the war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap.

Trump said he spent more than an hour on the phone with Putin and “I think we’re on the way to getting peace.” He noted that he later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but he was noncommittal about whether Ukraine would be an equal participant in U.S. negotiations with Russia.

“I think President Putin wants peace and President Zelenskyy wants peace and I want peace,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I just want to see people stop being killed.”

Of his conversation with Putin, Trump said, “People didn’t really know what President Putin’s thoughts were. But I think I can say with great confidence, he wants to see it ended also, so that’s good — and we’re going to work toward getting it ended and as fast as possible.”

Trump noted that he would “probably” meet in person with Putin in the near term, suggesting that could happen in Saudi Arabia.

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Judge removes key legal hurdle for Trump’s plan to trim federal workforce with deferred resignations

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday removed a key legal hurdle stalling President Donald Trump ’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.

The Boston-based judge’s order in the challenge filed by a group of labor unions was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks.

“This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Another group of unions filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. late Wednesday, though its potential impacts were not immediately clear.

About 75,000 federal workers accepted the offer to quit in return for being paid until Sept. 30, according to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management. She said the deferred resignation program “provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures,” and it was now closed to additional workers.

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Senate confirms Gabbard as Trump’s director of national intelligence after Republicans fall in line

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence on Wednesday shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.

Gabbard is an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

A military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard was confirmed on Wednesday by a 52-48 vote, with the Senate’s slim Republican majority beating back Democratic opposition. The only “no’ vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

She is the latest high-ranking nominee to win Senate confirmation as the new administration works to reshape vast portions of the federal government, including the intelligence apparatus.

Staffers at the CIA and other intelligence agencies have received buyout offers, while lawmakers and security experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency accessing databases containing information about intelligence operations.

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US inflation got worse with rising groceries and gasoline prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve’s resolve to delay further interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed, up from 2.9% the previous month. It has increased from a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4% in September.

The new data shows that inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target for roughly the past six months after it fell steadily for about a year and a half. Elevated prices turned into a major political hurdle for former President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump pledged to reduce prices on “Day 1″ if elected, though most economists worry that his many proposed tariffs could at least temporarily increase costs.

The unexpected boost in inflation could dampen some of the business enthusiasm that arose after Trump’s election on promises to reduce regulation and cut taxes. The Dow fell 400 points in mid-day trading Wednesday. Bond yields rose, a sign traders expect inflation and interest rates to remain high.

“We’re really not making progress on inflation right now,” Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “This just extends the Fed’s hold.”

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Eastern storm cuts power to tens of thousands as California braces for flooding

Storms dumped heavy snow and freezing rain on a swath of the U.S. East from Kentucky to the nation’s capital, causing hundreds of traffic accidents, knocking out power in places and threatening to flood waterways as temperatures began rising Wednesday. California, meanwhile, was bracing for an atmospheric river that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.

The storm system, which cut a path from Kentucky to Maryland and points farther north on Tuesday, brought more than 14 inches (37 centimeters) of snow to Iron Gate, a tiny Appalachian town in western Virginia, and 12 inches to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a small city about 65 miles (105 kilometers) to the west, the National Weather Service said.

By Wednesday more than 190,000 customers in Virginia and nearly 16,000 in North Carolina had lost electricity, according to PowerOutage.us. Appalachian Power, which serves a million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said more than 5,700 workers were trying to restore power.

The region’s airports received several inches of snow, according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center.

“After a pretty quiet few seasons here, things have kind of picked back up again,” he said.

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Israel threatens ‘all hell will break loose’ on Hamas in latest Gaza ceasefire crisis

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday vowed that “all hell will break loose” on Hamas if it fails to free hostages this weekend as planned, stepping up threats against the militant group as mediators worked to salvage their ceasefire.

There were signs that the gaps could be bridged. The dispute was sparked when Hamas accused Israel of failing to meet some commitments under the truce, including the delivery of tents and other aid, and said it would delay the next hostage release on Saturday.

Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi told The Associated Press there were “positive signals” the three hostages will be released as planned on Saturday but the group had not yet received a commitment from Israel that it would adhere to the deal.

An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, which went into effect on Jan. 19 and has paused the 16-month war in Gaza, bringing respite to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

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Seoul says North Korea is destroying facility that hosted reunions of war-separated families

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is demolishing a South Korea-built property that had been used to host reunions of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War, the South’s government said Thursday, as it continues to eliminate symbols of engagement between the war-divided rivals.

Relations between the Koreas are at their worst in years, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continuing to flaunt his expanding nuclear weapons program and declaring to abandon long-standing goals of inter-Korean reconciliation, while describing the South as a permanent enemy.

The 12-story building at the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort, which has 206 rooms and banquet facilities for hosting meetings, had been used for family reunions since 2009. The Koreas last held a family reunion in 2018, after Kim initiated diplomacy with Seoul and Washington in an effort to leverage his nuclear program for economic benefits.

Negotiations derailed in 2019 after a failed summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, who was serving his first term, when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for a major release of U.S.-led economic sanctions in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. The North has since suspended virtually all diplomatic activity with the South and ignored U.S. requests to resume talks while accelerating the development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it had confirmed that North Korea was demolishing the building, named the Reunion Center for the Separated Families, and urged the North to suspend the destruction. The North had previously removed a South Korea-built hotel, golf course and other tourist facilities from the Diamond Mountain resort.

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The relationship between the White House and its press corps is time-tested — and can be contentious

This week, the White House barred Associated Press journalists from three media appearances by President Donald Trump — two of them in the Oval Office itself. Some of the reaction said, effectively, this: What right do you have to be there, anyway?

The answer is a combination of tradition, independent reporting and the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press.

The AP, a global news outlet founded in 1846, is a source of fact-based, independent news that reaches billions of people every day. The news cooperative has been a member of the 13-person White House press pool that has reported on the president and held him accountable since its inception more than a century ago.

The pool gets access to the president on the understanding that it distributes his comments and activities to other news outlets, congressional offices and more.

When the Trump administration blocked the AP from three events, it didn’t just bar the outlet from access to the president; it did so after an or-else demand that the news agency change its style from “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America,” per Trump’s presidential order.

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What’s going to win best picture? We rank the Oscar field

NEW YORK (AP) — The inner-Vatican machinations of “Conclave” have nothing on this year’s Oscar race.

Just as Edward Berger’s film juggles various candidates for the papacy, the race for best picture at the Academy Awards has seen one favorite replaced by another, and then another.

While some clarity has lately emerged, with a handful of big wins for Sean Baker’s “Anora,” it seems likely to be a nail biter until a winner is declared at the March 2 Oscars, when white smoke unfurls from the Sistine Chapel, I mean the Dolby Theatre.

As of now, “Anora” is the clear frontrunner thanks to wins with the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild — both prizes with a long history of predicting Oscar winners. Where the Screen Actors Guild and the BAFTAs fall will offer the last major clues.

But unlike years like last year, when “Oppenheimer” was way ahead wire to wire, no lead in this year’s best picture race seems ironclad. So, with that in mind, here are the best picture nominees, ranked in order of least likely to win to most likely to win. It’s telling that at least half of these films, with three weeks to go, still have a chance.

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Baseball welcomes another season, with most pitchers and catchers reporting Wednesday

There’s a new No. 2 in the New York Yankees’ rotation behind Gerrit Cole. A familiar face is getting a fresh start leading the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani & Co. are preparing a title defense.

There was plenty to see as baseball returned Wednesday for most big league clubs, with pitchers and catchers working out at sites across Arizona and Florida. The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers got an early start ahead of their opening series in Tokyo on March 18 and 19, and a few clubs won’t get going until Thursday.

The Yankees welcomed back Cole, the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, after he chose to remain with New York rather than opt out of his contract, which runs through 2028.

“The intention wasn’t to do anything but stay,” Cole said. “I was happy to be where my feet were back in Yankee Stadium.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Cole did not make the offseason contract situation a distraction.