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

Trump also delayed a deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz for shipping or see its power stations targeted by airstrikes, briefly driving down oil prices and boosting stocks.

The delay offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over the weekend of strikes that could have cut electricity to millions in Iran and around the Gulf and knocked out desalination plants that provide many desert nations with drinking water, while raising fears of possible catastrophe if nuclear plants were hit.

But any information on the talks described by Trump remains in dispute with Iran, which denied any talks had been held.

“No negotiations have been held with the US,” Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X, adding that “fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets.”

Iran's parliament speaker is floated as a possible US contact in talks as war rages

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long before he became Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf went on a charm offensive for almost two decades, portraying himself as a hard-liner the West could do business with in the Islamic Republic.

“I would like the West to change its attitude to Iran and trust Iran, and rest assured that there’s an attitude in Iran to advance issues through dialogue,” he told The Times newspaper of London in 2008.

With the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran in its fourth week, the 64-year-old pilot and former Revolutionary Guard commander has denied there have been talks with the United States amid reports that he was floated as Washington's negotiating partner in talks.

Questions also remain as to what power Qalibaf has within Iran's theocracy, shattered after the Feb. 28 Israeli airstrike that killed 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, now Iran's new supreme leader, has backed Qalibaf through his repeated and failed presidential campaigns. Still, multiple centers of power within Iran's theocracy now likely vie for control of the Islamic Republic — and uncertainties remain over Mojtaba Khamenei's status as he has yet to be seen after reportedly being wounded.

Stories of survival emerge from deadly New York airport collision as officials investigate its cause

NEW YORK (AP) — Moments after an Air Canada jet collided at high speed with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing the pilots and hurling a flight attendant from the aircraft, the passengers took their escape into their own hands.

With the smell of fuel in the air and debris dangling from the obliterated cockpit, passengers tore open emergency exit doors, jumped off the plane's wings and then turned around to catch others coming up behind them, some bleeding or with head wounds.

“Strangely enough, I wasn’t scared or panicked. On the contrary, I think most of us were pretty aware of what happened,” said passenger Clément Lelièvre. “So we all went outside; we got other people out.”

About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montreal, and two people from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals. Some suffered serious injuries, but by Monday morning, most had been released, and others walked away without needing treatment.

As investigators continued delving Tuesday into what caused the catastrophic wreck, stories of survival also emerged — including that of the flight attendant, found injured but alive outside the aircraft.

Senators consider deal to fund Homeland Security but not ICE enforcement as airport lines snarl

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration airport workers going without pay, but excluding ICE's enforcement and removal operations that have been core to the dispute.

The potential breakthrough came after a group of Republican senators headed to the White House late Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. Senators said they expected the negotiators to work through the night hammering out the details and present written proposals for both parties to discuss Tuesday at their weekly caucus lunches.

“All I can say is that the discussions have been very positive and productive, and hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters late in the evening: “Both sides are working in a serious way.”

The sudden shift in the monthlong standoff comes as U.S. airports are jammed with long lines after routine Homeland Security funding was halted, leaving TSA understaffed during the spring travel season. Democrats are refusing to fund Homeland Security without restraints on Trump's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the deaths of two U.S. citizens during ICE protests in Minneapolis.

Senate confirms Markwayne Mullin to lead Homeland Security as TSA standoff deepens

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary late Monday, approving President Donald Trump's nominee to take over the embattled department after the firing of Kristi Noem during a public backlash over the administration's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations.

Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma known for his close friendship with Trump, has tried to present himself as a steady hand, saying his goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news. He takes over at a difficult time as Trump has ordered ICE agents to bolster airport security during a budget standoff in Congress. And he tangled with the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who questioned Mullin's character and temperament during last week's combative confirmation hearing.

Senators confirmed him on a largely party-line vote, 54-45.

Routine funding for the Department of Homeland Security has lapsed since Feb. 14, leading to long waits at U.S. airports as Transportation Security Administration agents call out rather than work without pay. Democrats are demanding the Trump administration make changes in immigration enforcement operations following the deaths of two U.S. citizens during protests this year in Minneapolis. Trump has refused the latest proposal, and talks have stalled.

While the senator comes to the position after more than a dozen years in Congress, and with the management experience of running an expanding family plumbing business in Oklahoma, he has not been seen as a key force in immigration issues.

Denmark votes in an early election that follows a crisis over US designs on Greenland

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish voters went to the polls Tuesday in a general election, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seeking a third term at the helm of the Scandinavian country after a standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump over the future of the kingdom’s semiautonomous territory of Greenland.

More than 4.3 million people are eligible to have their say in the vote for the new Folketing, or parliament, in Copenhagen, which is elected for a four-year term.

Frederiksen called the election in February, several months before she had to in apparent hopes that her resolute image in the crisis over Greenland would help her with voters in the European Union and NATO member country.

In her second term, her support had waned as the cost of living rose — something that, along with pensions and a potential wealth tax, has been a prominent campaign issue.

The 48-year-old center-left Social Democrat is known for strong support of Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion and for a restrictive approach to migration — continuing a tradition in Danish politics that now goes back two decades.

Some state officials say shifting mail ballot deadline will complicate plans for November elections

As he left the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices had just heard arguments Monday over whether to prevent states from counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar texted his staff 3,000 miles away.

His directive: Get ready to plan how to run November's midterm elections if the high court changes the rules when it issues its decision in June.

“The challenge is educating voters shortly before the election how the election is going to work,” Aguilar, a Democrat, said. “That doesn't happen overnight. The election planning happens long before.”

Election officials in Nevada and 13 other states that allow regular mail ballots sent by Election Day but arrive some period of days afterward to be counted had their attention trained on Monday's arguments, where conservative justices appeared skeptical of such grace periods. Fifteen other states have grace periods specifically for military and overseas voters.

Mail ballots, also called absentee ballots, have been the source of conspiracy theories from President Donald Trump, who groundlessly blames them for his loss in the 2020 election. The Republican National Committee and Libertarian Party sued to overturn Mississippi's law permitting the counting of mail ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive up to five days later, the case the high court is now considering.

Workers' job market gloom has increased dramatically over the past few years, Gallup survey finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' outlook on the job market has turned increasingly pessimistic, a surprisingly negative shift given the low unemployment rate but one that likely reflects an ongoing hiring drought.

Just 28% of workers in a quarterly Gallup survey conducted late last year said now is a “good time” to find a quality job, with 72% saying it is a bad time. Those figures are a sharp reversal from just a few years ago, in mid-2022, when 70% said it was a good time.

Americans have quickly gotten more pessimistic: As recently as late 2024, just under half of workers still said it was a good time to search for a job. The current survey was conducted during the final three months of 2025, long before the Iran war that has sent oil and gas prices soaring and threatens to slow the economy as Americans redirect more of their dollars to filling gas tanks and away from other spending.

The figures help explain other surveys that show Americans have a largely bleak view of the economy, even as many headline measures suggest it has been growing and job losses are low.

Job pessimism is especially pronounced among college graduates. The shift is likely because hiring in many white-collar professions has been unusually weak for the past two years, in areas such as software, customer service and advertising.

Global shares mostly rebound after Trump hints at a possible end to the Iran war

TOKYO (AP) — Global benchmarks mostly rebounded Tuesday, in a mood of cautious relief after President Donald Trump said the United States has talked with Iran about a possible end to their war.

France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% in early trading to 7,759.97, while the German DAX edged up 0.2% to 22,695.54. Britain's FTSE 100 inched up less than 0.1% to 9,899.12. U.S. shares were set to be little changed, with Dow futures up less than 0.1% at 46,536.00. S&P 500 futures were also virtually unchanged, declining less than 0.1% to 6,634.50.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.4% to finish at 52,252.28, recovering some of the losses it suffered the previous day.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s stock price gained 0.6% after it announced overnight that it was investing $1 billion in its Kentucky and Indiana auto plants. That's part of a plan to invest up to $10 billion in the U.S. over the next five years that the Japanese automaker announced in November. Japanese manufacturers have been eager to show their contribution to American jobs and economic growth.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,379.40. South Korea's Kospi edged up 2.7% to 5,553.92. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.8% to 25,063.71, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.8% to 3,881.28.

Large oil refinery explosion near Texas coast forces residents to shelter in place

A large explosion at an oil refinery near the Texas coast on Monday shot plumes of smoke into the air and forced nearby residents to shelter in place, officials said.

No one was injured in the explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Houston, Mayor Charlotte M. Moses said. She urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put, saying firefighters had arrived.

“There's been an explosion, yes, but we're OK; everybody's OK," she said. "They're trying to put the fire out as quickly as possible.”

The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.

The refinery has about 770 employees and can process about 435,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Valero’s website. The plant refines heavy sour crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.