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

Trump says US and Iranian officials will talk next week as ceasefire holds

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and Iran seemed to honor the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace.

Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he was not particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack.

“We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump said. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.”

Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of U.S.-Iran negotiations was scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was canceled after Israel attacked Iran.

Earlier, Trump said the ceasefire was going “very well,” and added that Iran was “not going to have a bomb, and they’re not going to enrich.”

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A 12-day war followed by a sudden ceasefire. Some Iranians now wonder what comes next

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — For many Iranians it was a lightning sequence of events: A 12-day war with Israel and a sudden, U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Now, as they return to their neighborhoods deeply shaken by Israeli air assaults, fears mount over what the country’s theocracy may do next.

Human rights advocates have already warned that Iran’s government is ramping up executions of dissidents and political prisoners. Since Israel launched strikes on June 13, targeting Iran’s nuclear program and top military officials, Tehran has said that six people were executed on charges of spying for Israel — three of them on Wednesday alone.

Four Iranians recounted to The Associated Press that they believe only a minority in the Islamic Republic still firmly supports its leadership. They said they are concerned the fallout from Israel’s attack will derail any momentum for change in the country’s clerical rule, in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The four spoke on condition of anonymity or agreeing that only their first names be used over fears of reprisals.

“We don’t know what will happen,” said Shirin, a 49-year-old living in northern Tehran, the Iranian capital. She speculated that the authorities could “take out all of their anger” at the losses in the war on ordinary Iranians.

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Trump grapples for upper hand in debate over damage caused by US strikes on Iran

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected an early intelligence assessment that U.S. strikes inflicted only a marginal setback on Iran’s nuclear program, insisting that his country’s spies did not have the full picture and defending his own swift conclusion that American bombs and missiles delivered a crushing blow.

“This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop,” Trump said as his administration scrambled to support his claims, made only hours after the attack, that Iranian nuclear facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.”

Trump said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military officials would hold an “interesting and irrefutable” news conference Thursday morning to “fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots” who carried out the mission.

He wrote on social media that “these Patriots were very upset” by “Fake News” reports about the limited impact of the strikes.

The issue dominated Trump’s attendance at NATO’s annual summit in the Netherlands, which was otherwise focused on European security. The White House highlighted an Israeli statement that Iran’s nuclear efforts were delayed by years, much longer than the few months determined by American intelligence. A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry also said the facilities have suffered significant damage.

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NATO leaders agree to hike military spending and restate ‘ironclad commitment’ to collective defense

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO leaders agreed on a massive hike in defense spending Wednesday after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and expressed their “ironclad commitment” to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.”

The show of unity vindicated NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s billing of the summit as “transformational,” even though it papered over divisions.

Trump called the spending boost “something that no one really thought possible. And they said, ‘You did it, sir. You did it.’ Well, I don’t know if I did it, but I think I did.”

Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations, but the investment pledge includes a review of spending in 2029 — after the next U.S. presidential elections — to monitor progress and reassess the security threat posed by Russia.

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Mississippi executes the longest-serving man on the state’s death row for 1976 killing

PARCHMAN, Miss. (AP) — The longest-serving man on Mississippi’s death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.

Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder whose final appeals were denied without comment by the U.S. Supreme Court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter. He died by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

The execution began at 6 p.m., according to prison officials. Jordan lay on the gurney with his mouth slightly ajar and took several deep breaths before becoming still. The time of death was given as 6:16 p.m.

Jordan was one of several on the state’s death row who sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, claiming it is inhumane.

When given an opportunity to make a final statement Wednesday, he said, “First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this. I want to apologize to the victim’s family.”

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Who is Zohran Mamdani? State lawmaker seeks to become NYC’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor

NEW YORK (AP) — When he announced his run for mayor back in October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most New York City residents.

On Tuesday evening, the 33-year-old marked his stunning political ascension when he declared victory in the Democratic primary from a Queens rooftop bar after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded.

While the race’s ultimate outcome has yet to be confirmed by a ranked choice count scheduled for July 1, here’s a look at the one-time rapper seeking to become the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor, and its youngest mayor in generations.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating college.

He lived with his family briefly in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City when he was 7.

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Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain in jail while attorneys spar whether he’ll be swiftly deported

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in jail for at least a few more days while attorneys in the federal smuggling case against him spar over whether prosecutors have the ability to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he is released to await trial.

The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling.

A federal Judge has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released and even set specific conditions during a court hearing on Wednesday for him to live with his brother. But Abrego Garcia’s attorneys expressed concern that it would lead to his immediate detention and possible deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes also expressed doubts during the hearing about her own power to require anything more than prosecutors using their best efforts to secure the cooperation of ICE.

“I have no reservations about my ability to direct the local U.S. Attorney’s office,” the judge said. “I don’t think I have any authority over ICE.”

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One more sizzling hot day for the eastern US before temperatures plunge 30 degrees

NEW YORK (AP) — A record-smashing heat wave broiled the U.S. East for another day Wednesday, even as thermometers were forecast to soon plunge by as many as 30 degrees in the same areas.

The day’s heat wasn’t expected to be as intense as Tuesday, when at least 50 heat records were matched or broken and 21 places hit triple-digit temperatures. About 127 million Americans remained under National Weather Service heat advisories, down from the previous day. Sizzling temperatures sent utilities scrambling to keep the air conditioning and lights on amid massive demand for power.

“It’s still going to be, I think, pretty bad across the East,” meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday morning. ”I think today is probably the last day of widespread record potential. It might not be quite as hot as yesterday by a few degrees. But still, high temperatures are expected in the upper 90s across a good section of the East.”

The weather service warned of “extreme heat” for a stretch of the country from North Carolina to New York and west to West Virginia. Highs could approach triple digits from New York to Richmond, Oravec said. Temperatures again broke 100 on Wednesday at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and in Newark and Baltimore.

Temperatures Wednesday morning were “a little bit warmer than expected” because of northwesterly winds bringing “warm leftovers from yesterday,” said former NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist. Nantucket, Massachusetts, was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) when its forecast high was 82.

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Kennedy’s new vaccine panel alarms pediatricians with inquiries into long-settled questions

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers alarmed pediatricians Wednesday by announcing inquiries into some long-settled questions about children’s shots.

Opening the first meeting of Kennedy’s handpicked seven-member panel, committee chairman Martin Kulldorff said he was appointing a work group to evaluate the “cumulative effect” of the children’s vaccine schedule — the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.

Also to be evaluated, he said, is how two other shots are administered — one that guards against liver-destroying hepatitis B and another that combines chickenpox protection with MMR, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

It was an early sign of how the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is being reshaped by Kennedy, a leading antivaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official. He fired the entire 17-member panel this month and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.

“Vaccines are not all good or bad,” Kulldorff said. “We are learning more about vaccines over time” and must “keep up to date.”

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Cooper Flagg the new Maine man for the Mavericks as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft

NEW YORK (AP) — Cooper Flagg is the new Maine man in Dallas.

The Mavericks took the Duke forward with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday night, hoping they have found their next franchise superstar less than five months after trading one away.

Mavericks fans were furious when Dallas traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 1, some immediately threatening to end their support of the team.

But the ones who stuck around may quickly love Flagg, the college player of the year who averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while leading Duke to the Final Four. The Mavericks quickly announced that Flagg would wear No. 32 in Dallas, where fellow Duke products Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II are on the roster.

“I’m really excited. I think I keep saying I’m excited to be a sponge, to get down there and just learn, be surrounded by Hall of Fame-caliber guys and just to be able to learn from them,” Flagg said. “It’s going to be an incredible experience.”