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

FBI says it’s unaware of Savannah Guthrie talking with her mom’s suspected kidnappers

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The FBI is not aware of ongoing communication between Savannah Guthrie’s family and any suspected kidnappers more than a week after the “Today” show host’s mom went missing, the agency said Monday.

The FBI has also not identified any suspects or persons of interest in the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, Connor Hagan, a spokesperson for the FBI, said in a statement. The agency is operating a 24-hour command post equipped with investigative teams and crisis management experts while asking for help from the public.

“Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home,” he said.

In a video released Monday, Savannah Guthrie said the family was “at an hour of desperation” but that they continue to believe her mother is out there and hearing everyone’s prayers.

“She was taken and we don’t know where, and we need your help,” Guthrie said in the video posted on Instagram, urging people nationwide to be on the lookout “no matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, if you hear anything.”

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Ghislaine Maxwell appeals for clemency from Trump as she declines to answer questions from lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, declined to answer questions from House lawmakers in a deposition Monday, but indicated that if President Donald Trump ended her prison sentence, she was willing to testify that neither he nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.

The House Oversight Committee had wanted Maxwell to answer questions during a video call to the federal prison camp in Texas where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, but she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would be self-incriminating. She’s come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.

Amid a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse that has spilled into the highest levels of businesses and governments around the globe, lawmakers are searching for anyone who was connected to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. So far, the revelations have shown how both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they have not been credibly accused of wrongdoing.

Dressed in a brown, prison-issued shirt and sitting at a conference table with a bottle of water, Maxwell repeatedly said she was invoking “my Fifth Amendment right to silence,” video later released by the committee showed.

During the closed-door deposition, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement to the committee that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

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Palace says King Charles III will support police assessing former Prince Andrew’s Epstein links

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III is ready to “support’’ UK police examining claims that the former Prince Andrew gave confidential information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.

The statement came after Thames Valley Police said Monday that they were“assessing” reports that the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010. The department, which serves an area west of London that includes Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, previously said it was evaluating allegations that Epstein flew a young woman to Britain to have sex with Andrew, also in 2010.

“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,’’ the palace said in a statement. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.’’

The statement is just the latest effort by the palace to distance the royal family from Mountbatten-Windsor as the U.S. Justice Department’s release of more than 3 million pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein reveal more embarrassing details about the relationship between the two men. Earlier in the day, Prince William and Princess Catherine released their own statement saying they have been “deeply concerned” by recent revelations.

The palace also reiterated Charles and Queen Camilla’s concern for the victims of Epstein’s abuse.

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Democrats and White House trade offers as shutdown of Homeland Security looms

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders said late Monday that a proposal from the White House is “incomplete and insufficient” as they are demanding new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown just days before funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that a White House counterproposal to the list of demands they transmitted over the weekend “included neither details nor legislative text” and does not address “the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.” The White House proposal was not released publicly.

The Democrats’ statement comes as time is running short, with another partial government shutdown threatening to begin Saturday. Among the Democrats’ demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and a stop to racial profiling. They say such changes are necessary after two protesters were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.

Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., expressed optimism about the rare negotiations between Democrats and the White House, saying there was “forward progress.”

Thune said it was a good sign that the two sides were trading papers, and “hopefully they can find some common ground here.”

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Landmark trial accusing social media companies of addicting children to their platforms begins

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements in one such trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court began on Monday.

Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums.

Jurors got their first glimpse into what will be a lengthy trial characterized by dueling narratives from the plaintiffs and the two remaining social media companies named as defendants.

Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt spoke of the disagreement within the scientific community over social media addiction, with some believing it doesn’t exist or that addiction is not the most appropriate way to describe heavy social media use.

Mark Lanier delivered the opening statement for the plaintiffs first, in a lively display where he said the case is as “easy as ABC,” which he said stands for “addicting the brains of children.” He called Meta and Google “two of the richest corporations in history” that have “engineered addiction in children’s brains.”

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Navy leader wants to move faster and leaner instead of turning to aircraft carriers in crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy’s top uniformed officer wants to convince commanders to use smaller, newer ships and other assets for missions instead of consistently turning to huge aircraft carriers — as seen now in the American military buildups off Venezuela and Iran.

Adm. Daryl Caudle’s vision — what he calls his “Fighting Instructions” — calls for the Navy to deploy more tailored groups of ships and equipment that would offer the sea service more flexibility to respond to crises as they develop.

Caudle spoke to The Associated Press before the rollout of the new strategy, which comes as the Trump administration has moved aircraft carriers and other ships to regions around the world to address emerging concerns. This has disrupted standing deployment plans, scrambled ships to sail thousands of miles and put increasing strain on vessels and equipment that are already facing mounting maintenance issues.

The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was redirected late last year from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean Sea, where the crew ultimately supported last month’s operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. And two weeks ago, the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East as tensions with Iran rise, having been pulled from the South China Sea.

In an interview, Caudle said his strategy would make the Navy’s presence in regions like the Caribbean much leaner and better tailored to meet actual threats.

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Officials deny seeking quick end to asylum claims for the Minneapolis family of 5-year-old

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told The New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.”

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal,” Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding “there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

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NYC nurses reach a deal to end a strike at 2 major hospitals while walkout continues at another

NEW YORK (AP) — Nurses and two major hospital systems in New York City have reached a deal to end a nearly monthlong strike over staffing levels, workplace safety, health insurance and other issues.

The tentative agreement announced Monday by the nurses’ union involves the Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospital systems. Nurses remain on strike at NewYork-Presbyterian.

The walkout began Jan. 12, prompting the hospitals to scramble to hire legions of temporary nurses to fill in during a demanding flu season.

The three-year proposal affects roughly 10,500 of the some 15,000 nurses on strike at some of the city’s biggest private, nonprofit hospitals.

The union said nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospitals will vote to ratify their contracts starting Monday. If the tentative deals are ratified, nurses will return to work Saturday.

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Hong Kong fire victims long for home as Lunar New Year stirs painful memories

HONG KONG (AP) — When Hong Kong was hit by its deadliest fire in decades last year, it left thousands of residents without some of their friends, family or the place they called home.

More than two months later, the occupants of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex are waiting not just for answers about what happened, but also a new place to live.

Authorities are yet to unveil plans for long-term resettlement after surveying the residents’ preferences. The Lunar New Year on Feb. 17, meanwhile, is stirring recent memories of celebrating the festival in what is now a largely burnt-out residential complex in the suburban district of Tai Po.

The massive blaze engulfed seven apartment buildings and killed 168 people on Nov. 26, 2025, shattering a close-knit community. Authorities blamed substandard scaffold netting and foam boards used in a maintenance project for rapidly spreading the fire. Although some arrests were made, an independent committee is still investigating the cause.

The Associated Press talked to four families who lived in the complex or lost loved ones there. Here’s what they said:

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Lindsey Vonn’s father tells the AP he wants her to retire after her Olympic crash

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn’s father said Monday that the American superstar will no longer race if he has any influence over her decision and that she will not return to the Winter Olympics after breaking her left leg in the downhill over the weekend.

“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”

Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family — a brother and two sisters — have been with Vonn while she is being treated at a hospital in Treviso following her fall and helicopter evacuation from the course in Cortina on Sunday.

Vonn said late Monday on Instagram that she had sustained a “complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.”

Kildow declined to comment on the injuries, but he did address how Vonn was doing emotionally.