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

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” the former Democratic president said in an opening statement he shared on social media. The closed-door deposition ended after more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers who said he answered every question posed to him.

The deposition in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York, marked the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. It came a day after Clinton's wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition.

Bill Clinton has also not been accused of any wrongdoing, and Republican members of the House Oversight Committee did not immediately level any accusations against the Clintons as they departed Chappaqua. They planned to review the depositions but said their attention was mostly shifting to other individuals.

Lawmakers are grappling with what accountability in the United States looks like at a time when men around the world have been toppled from their high-powered posts for maintaining their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Trump says he is 'not happy' with the Iran nuclear talks but indicates he'll give them more time

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he's “not happy” with the latest talks over Iran's nuclear program but indicated he would give negotiators more time to reach a deal to avert another war in the Middle East.

He spoke a day after U.S. envoys held another inconclusive round of indirect talks with Iran in Geneva. As American forces gather in the region, Trump has threatened military action if Iran does not agree to a far-reaching deal on its nuclear program, while Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have. I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens. We’re talking later,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Friday. “We’re not exactly happy with the way they’re negotiating. They cannot have nuclear weapons."

Despite Trump's negative assessment, one of the mediators of the talks later Friday appeared to issue a public plea to let the negotiations continue. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has been mediating the talks, said on CBS's Face the Nation that he felt a deal was within reach if the process could play out.

“If I was President Trump, my only advice is just to give those negotiators enough room, enough space to really close these remaining areas that we need to discuss and agree upon,” he said.

Trump's 'pretty much' decided whom to endorse in Texas' Senate primary but isn't yet saying a name

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump — who has long seemed like he just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary — says he's “pretty much” decided whom to endorse in the critical March 3 contest.

But as the showman president is wont to do, he left the public — and the candidates themselves — hanging, as he declined on Friday to name who he'll actually support. Instead, during his remarks in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump made sure to acknowledge each of the three Republicans fighting for the nomination.

“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where's Ken? Hi, Ken,” Trump said. He continued, “And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi, John.”

Noting that they're in a “little bit of a race,” Trump added: ‘It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They're both great people.”

Trump mentioned the third candidate, Rep. Wesley Hunt, after running through the long list of Texas lawmakers present: “Another friend of mine who is doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Wesley Hunt, what a good job.”

Trump raises the possibility of a ‘friendly takeover of Cuba’ coming out of talks with Havana

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. is in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba” without offering any details on what he meant.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House as he left for a trip to Texas, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in discussions with Cuban leaders “at a very high level.”

“The Cuban government is talking with us,” the president said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

He added: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Trump didn't clarify his comments but seemed to indicate that the situation with Cuba, a communist-run island that has been among Washington’s bitterest adversaries for decades, was coming to a critical point. The White House did not respond to requests for more information Friday.

Pakistan is in 'open war' with Afghanistan after latest strikes, defense minister says

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged cross-border attacks overnight in a dramatic escalation of tensions that led Pakistan’s defense minister to say on Friday that the two countries are in a state of “open war.”

Afghanistan launched an attack on Pakistan late Thursday, saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday. Pakistan then carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday, saying it targeted military installations.

Tensions have been high for months. Border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks against it and also of allying with its archrival India.

A Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the intense fighting in October, but several rounds of peace talks in Turkey in November failed to produce a lasting agreement. The two sides have occasionally traded fire since then.

Qatar once again appears to be mediating. Its minister of state, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, spoke Friday with the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to de-escalate tensions, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X.

Pentagon and Scouting America reach deal to keep ties after Hegseth's anti-DEI push

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has made a deal with Scouting America that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday would maintain their century-old partnership but refocus the organization away from diversity initiatives and other “woke” policies he accused it of embracing in recent years.

Hegseth put heavy emphasis on Scouting America’s acceptance of transgender youth, saying the organization will require members to use their “biological sex at birth and not gender identity.” But Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, said the agreement does not change existing policies regarding transgender youth and that they are welcome.

“We have transgender people in our program and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone told The Associated Press.

Several of the negotiated changes mirror what the organization suggested to the Pentagon in January, including discontinuing its Citizenship in Society merit badge, introducing a Military Service merit badge and waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel.

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has taken aim at the military’s partnership with Scouting America, decrying its historic rebrand in 2024 and other changes in recent years that he sees as part of “woke culture” efforts that he wants to root out.

Attorney general announces indictment against 30 more people who protested at a Minnesota church

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced federal charges Friday against 30 more people who are accused of civil rights violations in a January protest inside a Minnesota church where a pastor works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Bondi said on social media that 25 people were in custody and more arrests would follow. The new indictment comes a month after independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong were charged for their alleged roles in a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul.

Bondi accused the group of attacking a house of worship.

"If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you,” she wrote on social media.

A livestreamed video posted on Facebook shows people interrupting services at Cities Church on Jan. 18 by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” a reference to the woman who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

NASA revamps Artemis moon landing program by modeling it after speedy Apollo

NASA said Friday it's revamping its Artemis moon exploration program to make it more like the fast-paced Apollo program half a century ago, adding an extra practice flight before attempting a high-risk lunar landing with a crew in two years.

The overhaul in the flight lineup came just two days after NASA’s new moon rocket returned to its hangar for more repairs, and a safety panel warned the space agency to scale back its overly ambitious goals for humanity’s first lunar landing since 1972.

Artemis II, a lunar fly-around by four astronauts, is off until at least April because of rocket problems.

The follow-up mission, Artemis III, had been targeting a landing near the moon’s south pole by another pair of astronauts in about three years. But with long gaps between flights and concern growing over the readiness of a lunar lander and moonwalking suits, NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman announced that mission would instead focus on launching a lunar lander into orbit around Earth in 2027 for docking practice by astronauts flying in an Orion capsule.

The new plan calls for a moon landing — potentially even two moon landings — by astronauts in 2028.

The end of Hollywood or a brighter future? What a Paramount-owned Warner Bros. means for the movies

Two of Hollywood’s oldest studios may be consolidating into one. In a shocking twist after a monthslong bidding war, Paramount has emerged as the apparent victor in the fight to acquire Warner Bros.

Netflix, who backed away from the deal Thursday, had hoped to win the movie studio and its vast film library. Paramount wants it all: Movies, cable networks and news.

Almost 10 years ago, Hollywood's big six became the big five when Disney bought most of 20th Century Fox. Now the big five looks like it's destined to become the big four, including Universal and Sony, and the business of Hollywood moviemaking is one again in a time of profound transition.

Here’s what we know, what we don’t and some burning questions.

Simply put, it was no longer “financially attractive,” the company said.

US stocks sink and oil prices rise as worries about AI, inflation and possible war hit Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks sank Friday as Wall Street kept punishing companies that could become losers in the artificial-intelligence revolution. A surprisingly discouraging update on inflation also hurt the market, while oil prices climbed with worries about tensions between the United States and Iran.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% and staggered to the finish of just its second losing month in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 521 points, or 1.1%, the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%.

The losses came as investors returned to knocking down software companies and other businesses they suspect could get supplanted by AI-powered competitors.

Block, the company behind Cash App, Square and other businesses, gave a potential signal of what AI could do after Chair Jack Dorsey said it’s cutting its workforce by nearly half. That’s even though he said 2025 was a strong year for the company, which is sending more cash to shareholders through stock buybacks.

“Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Dorsey said in a letter to investors while announcing Block’s latest profit results. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better.”