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

Trump appeals for Qatar’s help in persuading Iran to give up its nuclear program

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — President Donald Trump urged Qatar on Wednesday to use its influence over Iran to persuade the country’s leadership to reach an agreement with the U.S. to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Trump, who is visiting the Gulf nation as part of a three-country Mideast swing, made the appeal during a state dinner held in his honor by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Qatar, over the years, has played the role of intermediary between the U.S. and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as its 19-month war with Israel grinds on.

“I hope you can help me with the Iran situation,” Trump said during remarks at the formal dinner. “It’s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing.”

The appeal to Qatar came after Trump told leaders at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting earlier Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that he wants “to make a deal,” but Tehran must end its support of proxy groups throughout the Mideast as part of any potential agreement.

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Rubio and other top NATO diplomats meet in Turkey ahead of possible Ukraine-Russia talks

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his NATO counterparts meet in Turkey on Thursday to prepare a pivotal summit of alliance leaders next month that will set the course for future European security as America focuses on challenges elsewhere.

The meeting in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya comes amid a flurry of negotiations aimed at producing a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, including talks in Istanbul that Rubio and President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff plan to attend Friday. Rubio and Witkoff are coming to Turkey after accompanying Trump on portions of his trip to Gulf Arab countries.

On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met Wednesday with Rubio, who also is having separate talks with new German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of Turkey, whose country is trying to help broker a deal that might end the more than three-year-old war.

Sybiha and Fidan on Wednesday discussed efforts to establish a ceasefire and steps toward securing a lasting peace with Russia, according to the Turkish foreign ministry.

The same day that NATO foreign ministers gather, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. It’s an open question whether Trump or Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate Thursday.

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Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 70 people, including 22 children, health officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes pounded northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children, according to hospitals and health officials, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no way” he would halt Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory before Hamas is defeated.

At least 50 people, including 22 children, were killed in strikes around Jabaliya in northern Gaza alone, according to hospitals and Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The strikes came after Hamas on Monday released an Israeli-American hostage, a gesture that some thought could lay the groundwork for a ceasefire, and as U.S. President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia during a multi-day trip to Gulf countries.

Israel’s military refused to comment on the strikes. It warned Jabaliya residents to evacuate late Tuesday, citing militant infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.

In Jabaliya, rescue workers smashed through collapsed concrete slabs using hand tools, lit by the light of cellphones, to remove children’s bodies.

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South African leader and Trump will meet next week after US took in white South Africans as refugees

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are scheduled to meet at the White House next week following allegations by Trump — and denied by South Africa — that “genocide” is being committed against white farmers in the majority Black country.

The meeting, announced Wednesday by the South African government and set for May 21, also comes after the U.S. welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees this Monday, the start of what the Trump administration said is a larger relocation plan for minority Afrikaner farmers who Trump has claimed are being persecuted in their homeland because of their race. South Africa denies the allegations and says whites in the majority Black country are not being singled out for persecution.

Ramaphosa’s office said he will be in the U.S. from Monday to Thursday of next week, and will meet with Trump on Wednesday at the White House. Ramaphosa’s trip would aim to “reset the strategic relationship between the two countries,” his office said.

The White House had no immediate comment on the meeting, which would be Trump’s first with the leader of a nation in Africa since he returned to office in January.

Trump has criticized South Africa’s Black-led government on multiple fronts and issued an executive order Feb. 7 cutting all U.S. funding to the country as punishment for what he said were its anti-white policies at home and anti-American foreign policy.

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Lawmakers question Kennedy on staffing cuts, funding freezes and policy changes at health department

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and Republicans alike raised concerns on Wednesday about deep staffing cuts, funding freezes and far-reaching policy changes overseen by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers questioned Kennedy’s approach to the job, some saying that he has jeopardized vaccine uptake, cancer research and dental health in just a few short months.

In combative and at times highly personal rejoinders, Kennedy defended the Trump administration’s dramatic effort to reshape the sprawling, $1.7 trillion-a-year agency, saying it would deliver a more efficient department focused on promoting healthier lifestyles among Americans.

“There’s so much chaos and disorganization in this department,” Kennedy said on Wednesday during the Senate hearing. “What we’re saying is let’s organize in a way that we can quickly adopt and deploy all these opportunities we have to really deliver high-quality health care to the American people.”

During tense exchanges, lawmakers — in back to back House and Senate hearings — sometimes questioned whether Kennedy was aware of his actions and the structure of his own department after he struggled to provide more details about staffing cuts.

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Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would seek the amendment’s repeal and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape an incest.

The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in November 2026, or sooner, if Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe calls a special election before then.

Republican senators used a series of rare procedural moves to cut off discussion by opposing Democrats before passing the proposed abortion-rights revision by a 21-11 vote. The measure passed the Republican-led House last month.

Immediately after the vote, protestors erupted with chants of “Stop the ban!” and were ushered out of the Senate chamber.

The Senate then blocked further Democratic debate and gave final approval to a separate measure repealing provisions of a voter-approved law guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers and cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage. That measure does not go back to the ballot. It will instead become law when signed by Kehoe, who has expressed his support for it.

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The Menendez brothers case reflects a shifting culture across decades

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez came at a time of cultural obsession with courts, crime and murder, when live televised trials captivated a national audience.

Their resentencing — and the now very real possibility of their freedom — came at another, when true crime documentaries and docudramas have proliferated and brought renewed attention to the family.

A judge made the Menendez brothers eligible for parole Tuesday when he reduced their sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life for the 1989 murder of their father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. The state parole board will now determine whether they can be released.

Their two trials bookended the O.J. Simpson trial, creating a mid-1990s phenomenon where courts subsumed soap operas as riveting daytime television.

“People were not used to having cameras in the courtroom. For the first time we were seeing the drama of justice in real time,” said Vinnie Politan, a Court TV anchor who hosts the nightly “Closing Arguments” on the network. “Everyone was watching cable and everyone had that common experience. Today there’s a true crime bonanza happening, but it’s splintered off into so many different places.”

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Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl rematch in Week 2, Allen-Jackson showdown in Week 1 highlight NFL schedule

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will be featured in at least eight stand-alone games during the upcoming NFL season.

Their Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles won’t be one of them.

The teams will meet Week 2 in Kansas City in the late afternoon game on Fox.

Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles dominated the Chiefs 40-22 to capture their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. Philadelphia is getting seven stand-alone games.

Along with Kansas City, Dallas and Washington also have eight stand-alone games, which is the most in the NFL.

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What’s happened at the Cannes Film Festival so far — and what’s still to come

CANNES, France (AP) — This year’s Cannes Film Festival has barely started, but it’s already been an attention-grabbing affair, from new rules for its red carpets, nerves about potential U.S. tariffs and the return of Tom Cruise.

And that says nothing about the films, expected to be a strong slate as Cannes is seen as increasingly important to the Oscars’ best picture hopefuls.

Even in a normal year, Cannes is a lot to keep up with. Here’s a handy guide of what’s happened so far, what to expect and what it may mean.

Cannes opened Tuesday with a starry tribute to Robert De Niro, 49 years after “Taxi Driver” won the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. De Niro used the platform to assail U.S. President Donald Trump, a frequent target of his criticism.

He also basked in the adoration of some of film’s elite, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Quentin Tarantino.

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Cassie testifies that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped her and threatened to release sex videos

NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie testified Wednesday that Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her when she ended their decade-long relationship, after he locked her in a life of physical abuse by threatening to release degrading sexual videos of her.

Addressing the Manhattan courtroom for a second day in Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial, Cassie said Combs forced his way into her Los Angeles apartment and raped her on the living room floor after she said she was breaking up with him.

Cassie also said she didn’t feel she could refuse Combs’ demands for her to have “hundreds” of encounters with male sex workers — which he watched and controlled for hours and even days — because he would make her “look like a slut” if he made the videos public.

“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” said Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.

Prosecutors showed the jury five still images from the sex videos on Wednesday. Cassie said the images depicted her at various stages of the encounters Combs called “freak-offs.” One juror’s eyes widened. Another shook his head from side to side.