AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Israel says it has received the remains of 4 more deceased hostages as cuts to aid for Gaza loom

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas hastened Tuesday to ease the pressure on a fragile ceasefire in its war with Israel by returning the bodies of more dead hostages. The move came after an Israeli military agency said it would slash aid deliveries to Gaza by half over concerns that the militant group was handing remains over slower than agreed.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office confirmed late Tuesday that authorities received four deceased hostages that the Red Cross handed over to Israeli military authorities inside Gaza. The bodies will be taken to the National Center for Forensic Medicine where they will be identified and the families notified.

This latest transfer of remains comes a day after Israel received the bodies of four other dead hostages. Despite the development, it was unclear if the Israeli military agency known as COGAT will follow through with its decision to allow into Gaza only half of the 600 aid trucks called for under the deal.

The United Nations’ humanitarian office in famine-stricken Gaza received word of the humanitarian aid cuts from the Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory, according to spokesperson Olga Cherevko. U.S. officials were also notified, according to three Associated Press sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern in a social media post that too few of the dead hostages have been returned. He made no mention of Israel halving the flow of aid into the territory.

___

Trump and budget chief Vought are making this a government shutdown unlike any other

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is making this government shutdown unlike any the nation has ever seen, giving his budget office rare authority to pick winners and losers — who gets paid or fired, which programs are cut or survive — in an unprecedented restructuring across the federal workforce.

As the shutdown enters its third week, the Office and Management and Budget said Tuesday it’s preparing to “batten down the hatches” with more reductions in force to come. The president calls budget chief Russ Vought the “grim reaper,” and Vought has seized on the opportunity to fund Trump’s priorities, paying the military while slashing jobs in health, education, the sciences and other areas with actions that have been criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges.

Trump said programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they’re never going to come back, in many cases.”

Speaking during an event at the White House, Trump added, “We’re being able to do things that we were unable to do before.”

With Congress at a standstill — the Republican-led House refusing to return to session and the Senate stuck in a loop of failed votes to reopen government as Democrats demand health care funding — the budget office quickly filled the void.

___

Los Angeles County officials approve emergency declaration over immigration raids

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to declare a state of emergency that gives them power to provide assistance for residents they say have suffered financially from ongoing federal immigration raids.

The move allows the LA County Board of Supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind as a result of the crackdown on immigrants.

The immigration raids that ramped up over the summer have spread fear in immigrant communities, prompting many to limit their outings. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the U.S. from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms. Some U.S. citizens have also been detained.

The local state of emergency can also funnel state money for legal aid and other services.

Funds for rent will be available to people who apply via an online portal that would be launched within two months, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office said. The motion could also be a first step toward an eviction moratorium, but that would require a separate action by the supervisors.

___

Officials airlift evacuees to safety after the remnants of Typhoon Halong devastate Alaska villages

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Officials in Alaska rushed Tuesday to evacuate and find housing for people from tiny coastal villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. But the remote location and severe damage are limiting their options as they race against other impending storms and the onset of winter.

High winds and surging waters battered low-lying, isolated Alaska Native communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwest Alaska, nearly 500 miles (800 km) from Anchorage, over the weekend. The Coast Guard plucked two dozen people from their homes after the structures floated out to sea in high water, three people were missing or dead, and hundreds of people were staying in school shelters — including one with no working toilets, officials said.

The system followed a storm that struck parts of western Alaska days earlier.

Across the region, more than 1,500 people were displaced. Dozens had been flown to a shelter set up in the National Guard armory in the regional hub city of Bethel, a community of 6,000 people, and officials are considering flying evacuees to longer-term shelter or emergency housing in Fairbanks and Anchorage as they run out of room there.

Fuel storage depots intended to support communities in the region had apparently been damaged, threatening pollution that could harm the fish and game the Alaska Native residents rely on for subsistence. Some people in the area may have lost freezers full of food such as salmon and moose intended to get them through the winter.

___

Trump threatens to pull support for Argentina if its politics move leftward

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to pull assistance for Argentina — led by a political kindred spirit whose philosophy is similar to that of the Republican administration — if the nation’s internal politics don’t align with his interests in upcoming elections.

The comments came during a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei, whose country is set to hold midterm elections for its legislative body later this month. U.S. presidents typically do not weigh in on the candidates in other countries’ democratic elections.

Referring to an opponent who was “extremely far-left” and encompassed a “philosophy that got Argentina into this problem in the first place,” Trump warned that the United States wouldn’t “waste our time” with largesse toward Buenos Aires if Milei does not prevail. In addition to the midterms that will be a referendum on his policies, Milei himself is up for reelection in 2027.

“We’re not going to let somebody get into office and squander the taxpayer money from this country. I’m not gonna let it happen,” Trump said from the Cabinet Room as he prepared to eat lunch with Milei. “If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina.”

Even so, Trump insisted that the $20 billion assistance to Argentina, which administration officials strenuously deny is a bailout, was about helping “our neighbors” rather than any ties to the upcoming midterms.

___

US kills 6 people in strike on boat accused of carrying drugs near Venezuela, Trump says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no U.S. forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It’s the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the strike Tuesday morning, said Trump, who released a video of it as he has in the past. Hegseth later shared the video in a post on X.

The black-and-white video showed a small boat that appeared stationary on the water. Seconds into the video, it is struck by a projectile from overhead and explodes. The boat is then seen floating aflame for several seconds.

Trump said the strike was conducted in international waters and “intelligence” confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with “narcoterrorist networks” and was on a known drug trafficking route.

___

Pennsylvania man pleads guilty in arson attack at governor’s mansion while Shapiro’s family slept

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man who scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to ignite the occupied Pennsylvania governor’s mansion pleaded guilty Tuesday to the attempted murder of Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Cody Balmer also entered pleas to terrorism, 22 counts of arson, aggravated arson, burglary, aggravated assault, 21 counts of reckless endangerment and loitering in the April 13 attack that caused millions of dollars in damage to the state-owned brick building.

Under a plea deal, Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison, far less than he could have faced if the case went to trial. He declined to address the judge about the crime, answering questions with short, simple answers.

Defense attorney Bryan Walk said Balmer “is taking full responsibility” and paying “a hefty price for a man who’s 38 years old.”

Shapiro said afterward that he and his family support the plea deal, and that it provides real accountability.

___

News organizations, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox, reject new Pentagon reporting rules

Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon.

Fox signed on to a statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN saying they would not agree to Hegseth’s new rules, saying “the policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.” So far, only the conservative One America News Network has said its reporters would follow the new regulations.

Hegseth has said that outlets who don’t agree to the new rules by the end of Tuesday, which restrict reporting on news not specifically approved by his team, will be evicted from the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The Associated Press says it will not agree to the rules.

The Pentagon has said the rules establish “common sense media procedures” and want news outlets to sign a statement acknowledging them, even if they don’t agree with them. The news outlets have said that they are concerned, however, that their reporters will be subject to expulsion if they simply try to report news not approved by Hegseth.

___

US revokes visas for 6 foreigners over Charlie Kirk-related speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has revoked the visas of six foreigners deemed by U.S. officials to have made derisive comments or made light of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.

The State Department said Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on Sept. 10.

The announcement came as President Donald Trump was posthumously awarding him America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At Kirk’s funeral in September, Trump called him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom.

The administration and its supporters have targeted people for their comments about Kirk, leading to firings or other discipline of journalists, teachers and others, and raising free speech concerns.

The six foreigners who had their visas revoked were from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa. They were not identified.

___

Instagram says it’s safeguarding teens by limiting them to PG-13 content

Teenagers on Instagram will be restricted to seeing PG-13 content by default and won’t be able to change their settings without a parent’s permission, Meta announced on Tuesday.

This means kids using teen-specific accounts will see photos and videos on Instagram that are similar to what they would see in a PG-13 movie — no sex, drugs or dangerous stunts, among others.

“This includes hiding or not recommending posts with strong language, certain risky stunts, and additional content that could encourage potentially harmful behaviors, such as posts showing marijuana paraphernalia,” Meta said in a blog post Tuesday, calling the update the most significant since it introduced teen accounts last year.

Anyone under 18 who signs up for Instagram is automatically placed into restrictive teen accounts unless a parent or guardian gives them permission to opt out. The teen accounts are private by default, have usage restrictions on them and already filter out more “sensitive” content — such as those promoting cosmetic procedures. But kids often lie about their ages when they sign up for social media, and while Meta has began using artificial intelligence to find such accounts, the company declined to say how many adult accounts it has determined to be minors since rolling out the feature earlier this year.

The company is also adding an even stricter setting that parents can set up for their children.