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

The sanctions will again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran, and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures. It came via a mechanism known as “snapback,” included in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and comes as Iran's economy already is reeling.

Iran's rial currency sits at a record low, increasing pressure on food prices and making daily life that much more challenging. That includes meat, rice and other staples of the Iranian dinner table.

Meanwhile, people worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel — as well as potentially the United States — as missile sites struck during the 12-day war in June now appear to be being rebuilt.

Activists fear a rising wave of repression within the Islamic Republic, which already has reportedly executed more people this year than over the past three decades.

Trump to meet Monday with top four congressional leaders as government shutdown risk looms

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to meet with the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Monday, one day before the deadline to fund the federal government or face a shutdown.

The meeting involving House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune as well as House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was confirmed Saturday by a White House official and two other people familiar with the planning. They were granted anonymity to discuss a meeting that has not been announced.

“President Trump has once again agreed to a meeting in the Oval Office. As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement on Saturday night. “We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.”

The meeting was first reported by Punchbowl News.

The parties have been in a standoff for days as Democrats, namely in the Senate, have refused to offer the necessary votes to pass a funding measure that would keep the government open beyond Tuesday.

Trump says he will send troops to Portland, Oregon, in latest deployment to US cities

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will send troops to Portland, “authorizing Full Force, if necessary” to handle “domestic terrorists” as he expands his deployments to more American cities.

Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek responded by saying Trump is abusing his authority by ordering troops into a city that she said is doing “just fine” on its own. She was joined by other government, police and business leaders who all said soldiers are not needed and Trump is presenting a patently false picture of the city.

Trump made his announcement on social media, writing that he was directing the Department of Defense to “provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland.” Trump said the decision was necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he alleged are “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for details on Trump’s announcement, such as a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved.

The sparse indictment of Comey by Trump's Justice Department belies a complicated backstory

WASHINGTON (AP) — The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is only two pages and alleges he falsely testified to Congress in 2020 about authorizing someone to be an anonymous source in news stories.

That brevity belies a convoluted and contentious backstory. The events at the heart of the disputed testimony are among the most heavily scrutinized in the bureau's history, generating internal and congressional investigations that have produced thousands of pages of records and transcripts.

Those investigations were focused on how Comey and his agents conducted high-stakes inquiries into whether Russia was helping Republican Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 presidential race against Democrat Hillary Clinton and her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Here are some things to know about that period and how they fit into Comey’s indictment:

The indictment alleges that Comey made a false statement in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The single quote from the indictment appears to be from an interaction with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Trump asks Supreme Court to uphold restrictions he wants to impose on birthright citizenship

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump 's administration is asking the Supreme Court to uphold his birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The appeal, shared with The Associated Press on Saturday, sets in motion a process at the high court that could lead to a definitive ruling from the justices by early summer on whether the citizenship restrictions are constitutional.

Lower-court judges have so far blocked them from taking effect anywhere. The Republican administration is not asking the court to let the restrictions take effect before it rules.

The Justice Department's petition has been shared with lawyers for parties challenging the order, but is not yet docketed at the Supreme Court.

Any decision on whether to take up the case probably is months away and arguments probably would not take place until the late winter or early spring.

Airstrikes and gunfire kill at least 59 people in Gaza as pressure grows for ceasefire, hostage deal

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 59 people across Gaza, health officials said Saturday, as international pressure grows for a ceasefire and hostage return deal while Israel's leader remained defiant about continuing the war.

Among the dead were those hit by two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp — nine from the same family in a house and, later, 15 in the same camp, including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Five others were killed when a strike hit a tent for the displaced, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the dead.

Israel’s army said it was not aware of anyone being killed by gunfire Saturday in southern Gaza, nor of a strike in the Nuseirat area during the time and at the location provided by the hospital.

The director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told The Associated Press that medical teams there were concerned about Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients are being treated.

“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment," Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

Officials place Des Moines schools leader on leave after his arrest by immigration agents

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials put the leader of Iowa's largest school district on administrative leave Saturday, a day after federal immigration agents arrested him because they said he was in the country illegally.

The Des Moines school board voted unanimously to place Superintendent Ian Roberts on paid leave during a three-minute-long special meeting. The board said Roberts was not available to carry out his duties for the 30,000-student district and stated that officials would reassess his status after getting more information.

After the meeting, school board president Jackie Norris read a statement, saying word of Roberts' arrest Friday made for a “jarring day” but noting that board members still didn't have all the facts.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents detained Roberts because he was in the country illegally, didn't have authorization to work and was subject to a final removal order issued in 2024. ICE agents stopped Roberts while he was driving a school-issued vehicle, and the agency said he then fled into a wooded area before being apprehended with help from Iowa State Patrol officers.

He was held in the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, in northwest Iowa, about 150 miles from Des Moines.

Russia tells UN: No intent to attack Europe, but aggression will get a 'decisive response'

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — As new tensions rise between Russia and NATO powers, Moscow's top diplomat insisted to world leaders Saturday that his nation doesn't intend to attack Europe but will mount a “decisive response” to any aggression.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took a notably measured tone toward the United States in the wake of last month's summit between the countries' leaders.

Though they left without a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine, Lavrov said Moscow had “some hopes” to keep talking with Washington, and he suggested his country sees U.S. President Donald Trump's administration as a practical-minded counterpart.

Lavrov spoke at the U.N. General Assembly after weeks in which unauthorized flights into NATO’s airspace — intrusions the alliance blames on Russia — have raised alarm around Europe, particularly after NATO jets downed drones over Poland and Estonia said Russian fighter jets flew into its territory and lingered for 12 minutes.

Russia has denied that its planes entered Estonian airspace and has said the drones didn’t target Poland.

Stampede at a political rally for popular actor Vijay in southern India kills 36, injures 40

NEW DELHI (AP) — A stampede at a rally for a popular Indian actor and politician in the southern state of Tamil Nadu killed at least 36 people and injured 40 others, the state’s health minister said late Saturday.

Ma Subramanian told The Associated Press that the victims were dead by the time they were taken to a hospital and that the injured were stable. The dead included eight children, Subramanian said.

The rally, which officials say was attended by tens of thousands of people, was being addressed by Vijay, one of Tamil Nadu’s most successful actors-turned-politician in the district of Karur.

Indian media reports, quoting local officials, said as Vijay spoke to the surging crowd, a group of his supporters and fans fell while trying to get close to his bus, causing the stampede. Supporters had gathered at the political rally amid intensely hot temperatures and Vijay arrived hours late, officials said.

“There was indiscipline” at the rally, Subramanian said, adding that an investigation had been ordered.

Tropical weather in the Atlantic slams the Caribbean and may hit Southeast US next

MIAMI (AP) — Crews spent Saturday preparing for a weather system that was forecast to become Tropical Storm Imelda late Saturday or early Sunday before approaching the coast of South Carolina as a hurricane early next week.

Meanwhile Hurricane Humberto strengthened into a strong Category 5 storm in the Atlantic and threatened the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster urged people to monitor the weather closely and stay alert. And in North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency in advance of the system currently called Tropical Depression Nine.

Those warnings came a year to the date after Helene devastated parts of the Carolinas.

Forecasters said the system was on track to become a tropical storm overnight or early Sunday and a hurricane by late Monday or Tuesday. It would be named Imelda.