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

Sen. Cassidy knocked out of Louisiana Republican primary as Trump-backed Letlow, Fleming make runoff

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow advanced to a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary Saturday, capitalizing on the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in another attempt to purge his party of people he views as disloyal. State Treasurer John Fleming came in second to join her in the next round of voting.

Trump supported Letlow over incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict him during his second impeachment trial over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a doctor, has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, though he provided crucial support to help Kennedy get confirmed.

“I want to say thank you to a very special man who you all know, the best president this country has ever had, President Donald Trump,” Letlow told supporters in the evening, flanked by her two young children.

Asked about Cassidy’s vote during the impeachment trial, Letlow called it “a sign that he had turned his back on the Louisiana voters.”

Trump unloaded on Cassidy the morning of the election, calling him “a disloyal disaster” and “a terrible guy” on social media. Later that night the senator made a thinly veiled reference to the president when speaking to supporters.

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Trump says Islamic State group leader was killed in a joint US-Nigerian mission

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria in a mission carried out Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

Trump announced the joint operation in Africa’s most populous country in a late-night social media post. He said Abu Bakr al-Mainuki was second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally and “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”

Al-Mainuki was viewed as the key figure in IS organizing and finance, and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share sensitive information.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said Al-Mainuki was killed alongside “several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.”

The joint operation is the latest by both countries since their new security partnership that kicked off last year after Trump claimed Christians were being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis and threatened U.S. military intervention. Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

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Bulgaria wins the 70th Eurovision Song Contest with upbeat party anthem ‘Bangaranga’

VIENNA (AP) — Bulgarian singer Dara won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with her infectious party anthem “Bangaranga,” giving the southeast European country its first-ever victory in the competition.

Israeli competitor Noam Bettan came second after a contest in Vienna clouded by protests and a boycott over the country’s participation.

Dara beat 24 other competitors during Saturday’s grand final of the sequin-drenched pop music competition. The song’s infectious beats and tightly choreographed dance routine proved a hit with both national juries in participating countries and viewers around the world, whose votes together decide the winner.

“This is unbelievable,” Dara said at a post-show news conference early Sunday. “I don’t even know what’s going on.”

She thanked “everyone who felt the bangaranga and felt connected to the force.”

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Brass bands in Beijing make way for sticker shock at home as Trump returns to escalating inflation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned from the spectacle of a Chinese state visit to a less than welcoming U.S. economy — with the military band and garden tour in Beijing giving way to pressure over how to fix America’s escalating inflation rate.

Consumer inflation in the United States increased to 3.8% annually in April, higher than what he inherited as the Iran war and the Republican president’s own tariffs have pushed up prices. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains and effectively making workers poorer. The Cleveland Federal Reserve estimates that annual inflation could reach 4.2% in May as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.

Trump’s time with Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears unlikely to help the U.S. economy much, despite Trump’s claims of coming trade deals. The trip occurred as many people are voting in primaries leading into the November general election while having to absorb the rising costs of gasoline, groceries, utility bills, jewelry, women’s clothing, airplane tickets and delivery services. Democrats see the moment as a political opportunity.

“He’s returning to a dumpster fire,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal think tank focused on economic issues. “The president will not have the faith and confidence of the American people — the economy is their top issue and the president is saying, ‘You’re on your own.’”

The president’s trip to Beijing and his recent comments that indicated a tone-deafness to voters’ concerns about rising prices have suggested his focus is not on the American public and have undermined Republicans who had intended to campaign on last year’s tax cuts as helping families.

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Trump’s description of Taiwan as a ‘good negotiating chip’ with China raises anxieties

Recent comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that arms sales to Taiwan are a “very good negotiating chip” in the United States’ dealings with China are heightening anxieties on the island democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

Trump made the comment in a Fox News interview with Bret Baier that aired right after the U.S. president wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China on Friday.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, to be retaken by force if necessary. The U.S., like all countries that have formal ties with Beijing, doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a country but has been the island’s strongest backer and arms supplier.

Trump is now suggesting that is open to negotiation.

Asked if he would approve a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan that has been held up for months, Trump said that’s up to China.

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North America’s largest commuter rail system shuts down as workers strike

NEW YORK (AP) — The Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, was shut down Saturday after unionized workers went on strike for the first time in three decades.

The railroad, which serves New York City and its eastern suburbs, ceased operations just after midnight after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job.

The unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the public agency that runs the railroad, have been negotiating for months on a new contract, with talks stalled over the question of workers’ salaries and healthcare premiums. President Donald Trump’s administration tried to broker a deal, but the unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m.

Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said no new negotiations have been scheduled.

“We’re far apart at this point,” Sexton said early Saturday. “We are truly sorry that we are in this situation.”

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Venezuela says it deported a close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap.

The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s “bag man,” may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.

The Venezuelan immigration authority in a short statement Saturday did not explicitly say where it had sent Saab but said the decision was made based on several ongoing criminal investigations in the U.S. The statement’s reference to Saab only as a “Colombian citizen” appeared to be a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Following his last arrest, Venezuela’s government submitted a copy of what it said was Saab’s Venezuelan passport to a U.S. court, with then Vice President Delcy Rodríguez — now acting President — claiming he was an “innocent Venezuelan diplomat” who had been illegally “kidnapped” while on a humanitarian mission to Iran to circumvent the “immoral, imperial blockade” imposed by the United States.

Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country’s new leadership that took power following Maduro’s ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodríguez demoted Saab, firing him from her Cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela. For months conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest.

His removal to the United States is likely to deepen divisions inside Rodríguez’s fragile ruling coalition of Chavistas, named for the movement started by the late Hugo Chávez.

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Israeli strike kills Hamas’ military wing leader, who Israel says was an architect of Oct 7 attacks

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed the leader of Hamas’ military wing who was one of the last surviving architects of the attacks that triggered the war in late 2023, the Israeli military said Saturday. Hamas confirmed the death.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed on Friday, Israel’s army said, describing him as one of the senior Hamas military commanders who directed the planning and execution of the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw more than 250 taken hostage.

A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, confirmed the killing on social media.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, and the top diplomat overseeing it says it has stalled because of the deadlock over disarming Hamas. Both sides have traded accusations of violations. Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli fire with more than 850 people killed in the Palestinian territory since the ceasefire went into effect in October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community. The ministry overall says Israel’s retaliatory strikes in the war have devastated the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 72,700 people.

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Driver plows into pedestrians in Modena, 8 injured as driver detained after attempted escape

ROME (AP) — A driver plowed into pedestrians in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring eight people, four of them critically, before trying to flee and being detained by police, local authorities said. They said the man was known to officials for having mental disorders.

Authorities identified the driver as Salim El Koudri, a 31-year-old second-generation Italian born in Bergamo and living in the province of Modena. El Koudri, who holds a degree in economics, is unemployed, authorities said. He was detained and questioned at police headquarters in Modena as investigators tried to determine whether he acted deliberately.

Investigators said at a press conference Saturday evening there was no immediate indication the man was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. His home was searched as part of the investigation.

Modena Prefect Fabrizia Triolo said el Koudri had been known to local mental health services for schizoid disorders, while officials stressed that early findings pointed to possible mental instability but required further verification. No links to extremist groups emerged.

Mayor Massimo Mezzetti said no one was killed in the dramatic crash but four victims were in serious condition. He said a woman was pinned against a shop window and required the amputation of both legs.

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Napoleon Solo holds off Iron Honor by 1 1/4 lengths to win the Preakness at Laurel Park

LAUREL, Md. (AP) — Napoleon Solo reemerged as a colt to watch with a victory in the Preakness Stakes.

Now trainer Chad Summers wants a shot at Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo, whose absence left an underwhelming field at Laurel Park this weekend.

“We wish he was here in the Preakness. We were rooting for them when they were thinking about it,” Summers said. “Unfortunately they didn’t make it here. That’s fine. Hopefully we can see him down the road somewhere.”

Napoleon Solo held off Iron Honor down the stretch on Saturday, rebounding from a pair of fifth-place showings for his first victory of the year. Golden Tempo was held out of the race, leaving a wide-open field of 14 horses to contest the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, which was held at Laurel Park this year because Pimlico in Baltimore is being rebuilt.

Taj Mahal was the top choice at 9-2 — the longest odds for a Preakness favorite since the race moved to its current distance of 1 3/16 miles in 1925. Iron Honor had been the morning line favorite at 9-2, but he was an 8-1 shot by the time the horses entered the starting gate.