AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

Though last week's ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the region-wide war's economic fallout.

Talks aimed at permanently ending the conflict — which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran — failed to produce an agreement last weekend, though Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round in the coming days.

Two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter with the media, said that the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations, said on Monday that discussions were still underway about a new round of talks. They said that the venue, timing and composition of the delegations hadn't been decided, but that talks could happen Thursday.

The Latest: Pakistan proposes new US-Iran talks as Vance and Trump hint at progress

Pakistani officials said Tuesday that Islamabad has proposed a second round of talks to the U.S. and Iran, while U.S. Vice President JD Vance earlier said negotiations with Iran “did make some progress" and U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday “we’ve been called by the other side” and “they want to work a deal.”

The Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the press.

A senior Hezbollah official on Monday said the Lebanese militant group will not abide by any agreements that may result from direct Lebanon-Israel talks set to start Tuesday in Washington.

Lebanese officials hope to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed at least 2,089 people in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he doesn’t want a ceasefire and the goal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began Monday and Iran’s threatened retaliation set up an extraordinary showdown posing serious risks for the global economy and raising the specter of a ceasefire collapse and resumed fighting.

Rep. Eric Swalwell of California says he will resign after sexual misconduct allegations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California announced Monday he will resign from Congress following sexual assault and misconduct allegations that prompted loud bipartisan calls for him to step down.

The decision caps a swift political fall for the seven-term lawmaker, who had been seen as one of the leading candidates in California’s gubernatorial race before dropping out Sunday after the allegations surfaced, claims he has continued to deny.

The San Francisco Chronicle, followed by CNN, first reported allegations that Swalwell had sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him. CNN also reported that three other women alleged various kinds of sexual misconduct by Swalwell — including sending them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said on social media. “I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

The House Ethics Committee had begun an investigation into whether Swalwell engaged in sexual misconduct toward an employee working under his supervision, the panel announced Monday. Other lawmakers were pushing for a quick vote to expel him from Congress.

Pope Leo XIV in Algeria to walk in footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine

ANNABA, Algeria (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is following in the footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine, making a pilgrimage to the archaeological ruins of eastern Algeria where the fifth-century titan of early Christianity lived, died and wrote some of the most important works in Western thought.

Leo’s visit to Annaba, the modern-day Hippo, is a spiritual homecoming for the American pope on his second full day in Algeria. He arrived Monday on the first-ever papal visit, against the backdrop of the war in Iran and his calls for peace that have sparked a feud with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Leo proclaimed himself a “son of St. Augustine” on the night of his election and has cited Augustine prolifically in his first year, making clear that he's the guiding inspiration of Leo's pontificate. For this trip, where he's aiming to press a message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence, he's focusing on Augustine as a bridge-builder.

But the visit is also drawing attention to the North African origins of Augustine, who only spent five years in Italy but is often considered through a Eurocentric lens as one of the greatest Western thinkers of Christianity for his writings on truth, evil, creation and grace.

Leo's Augustinian religious order was founded in Italy in the 13th century, inspired by the saint.

Asian stocks gain and oil falls on hopes of renewed US-Iran talks

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were trading higher, tracking Wall Street gains, and oil fell on Tuesday as expectations rose over a possible second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran on an end to the Iran war.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.4% to 57,877.39. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7% to 5,967.75 after briefly topping 6,000 intraday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7% to 25,832.85, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 1% to 4,026.63. China on Tuesday reported worse-than-expected export growth of 2.5% in March for the first month since the Iran war began, although some analysts believe Chinese exports of goods related to AI and renewable energy will continue to support overall export momentum for the year.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5%, and Taiwan’s Taiex rose 2.4%.

Investors are still hopeful for a lasting de-escalation of the Iran war, which is in its seventh week, as the U.S. and Iran are said to be weighing a second round of talks before a temporary ceasefire agreement expires next week. The U.S. military on Monday began a blockade of Iranian ports as Washington steps up its pressure on Tehran, following ceasefire talks between the two sides over the weekend that ended without an agreement.

The Trump and Leo chronicles: A president and a pope square off over Iran and its aftermath

Pope Leo XIV, a studious and soft-spoken cleric, and Donald Trump, an unapologetically bellicose and pugilistic politician, have long been on a rhetorical collision course. Now their disagreement over the war in Iran has escalated in spectacular fashion, and their comments show how differently each see the conflict and its impact.

On social media, Trump said Leo was “Weak” and captive to the “Radical Left,” even suggesting that Leo somehow owed his position to Trump. The pope has declared Trump’s threats toward Iran “truly unacceptable" and pointed his flock to Biblical text and church doctrine on war and peace, explaining that his purpose is not about Trump at all.

“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration,” Leo said Monday on the way to Africa, “or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”

It's an unusual spectacle involving the world's two biggest megaphones, both held by Americans for the first time. Here is how they got to this point.

WHAT HE SAID: When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the future pope was a bishop in Peru. He did not shy away from assigning clear blame to Moscow. On a Peruvian show “Weekly Expression,” Prevost described an “imperialist invasion in which Russia wants to conquer territory for reasons of power given Ukraine’s strategic location.”

Race for California governor moves on after dramatic downfall of Rep. Eric Swalwell

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After the dramatic downfall of Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, the race for California governor is moving on.

Once a leading candidate to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, Swalwell suspended his campaign — then announced he would resign from Congress — following allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman. A lengthy lineup of remaining candidates is scheduled to gather Tuesday in Sacramento, their first public appearance together since Swalwell's departure reshaped the wide-open contest.

Meanwhile, lawyers said a woman would detail new allegations of misconduct against Swalwell on Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

In a crowded race with no clear leader in the heavily Democratic state, Swalwell's exit presents an opportunity for his one-time rivals to pick off former supporters just weeks before mail ballots go to voters in early May. The outcome of the June 2 primary election featuring more than 50 candidates is unpredictable.

Democrats have feared for months that the large field of candidates dividing the vote could result in the party being locked out of the November election, with only Republicans appearing on the general election ballot under a quirk in the state's election rules.

Afghanistan's capital is in the grip of a water crisis

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The woman was furious. Standing in the muddy lane sloping up the hill in one of the Afghan capital’s poorer neighborhoods, she pulled her headscarf aside to reveal thick grey-white hair.

“You see this hair? Even I with my white hair, I have to carry water,” said Marofa, 52, a resident of Kabul’s Deh Mazang neighborhood who, like many Afghans, goes by one name. “These containers are heavy. We have no strength left in our backs, no strength left in our legs.”

A mosque down the hill has its own well that provides free water, but it is undrinkable — yellow and brackish — and has to be carried. Potable water is trucked into the neighborhood on three-wheeled motorcycles and sold. For many, the price is too steep.

“We have no money for food. How can we get water?” said Wali Mohammad, 90, another local resident who didn’t hide his rage.

Both said that a few months after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, the new authorities cut pipes some residents had laid to siphon water from a communal well to their homes.

Judge dismisses Trump’s $10B lawsuit against WSJ, Murdoch over reporting on ties to Epstein

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday over a story on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Florida wrote in the order that Trump had failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious, but gave the president a chance to file an amended complaint.

In a social media post several hours after the ruling, Trump said the decision “is not a termination” but rather a “suggested re-filing” of his “powerful case,” which Trump said would be done “on or before April 27th.”

Trump filed the lawsuit in July, following up on a promise to sue the paper almost immediately after it put a new spotlight on his well-documented relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

The letter was subsequently released publicly by Congress, which subpoenaed the records from Epstein’s estate. Trump denied writing it, calling the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”

Florida teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing stepsister Anna Kepner on cruise ship

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.

Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10. But the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted Friday, weeks after U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government.

Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November with her family. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with two other teens, including the younger stepbrother.

The cause of Kepner's Nov. 6 death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.

Kepner's father, Christopher Kepner, released a statement, saying the family was placing “trust in the justice system to pursue the truth with care and integrity.”