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

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, cautiously welcomed the U.S. plan to end Moscow’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine, which contains many of the Kremlin’s longstanding demands while offering limited security guarantees to Ukraine. Putin said it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement," while accusing Ukraine of opposing the plan and being unrealistic.

The plan foresees Ukraine handing over territory to Russia — something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out — while reducing the size of its army and blocking its coveted path to NATO membership.

Zelenskyy, in his address hours earlier, did not reject the plan outright, but insisted on fair treatment while pledging to “work calmly” with Washington and other partners in what he called “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.” He said he spoke for almost an hour Friday with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll about the peace proposal.

“Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest,” Zelenskyy said in the recorded speech. “Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump loyalist, says she is resigning from Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a loyal supporter-turned-critic of President Donald Trump who faced his political retribution if she sought reelection, said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.

Greene, in a more than 10-minute video posted online, explained her decision and said she didn’t want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for,” she said.

Greene’s resignation followed a public falling-out with Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.

Trump branded her a “traitor” and “wacky” and said he would endorse a challenger against her when she ran for reelection next year.

She said her last day would be Jan. 5, 2026.

Trump and Mamdani go from adversaries to allies after White House meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday met the man who had proudly proclaimed himself “Donald Trump's worst nightmare,” but he seemed to find the opposite.

The Republican president and New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani were warm and friendly, speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help Trump's hometown rather than their combustible differences.

Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a "100% Communist Lunatic" and a “total nut job," spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian.”

“I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually," Trump said of the democratic socialist as Mamdani stood next to him in the Oval Office.

The meeting offered political opportunities for both men. For Mamdani, a sit-down offered the state lawmaker — who until recently was relatively unknown — the chance to go head-to-head with the most powerful person in the world.

Brazil's former President Bolsonaro arrested days before starting his 27-year prison sentence

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro preemptively on Saturday, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, officials said.

A close aide said the embattled former leader was taken to the police force headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, from his house arrest.

The force said in a short statement, which did not name Bolsonaro, that it acted on the request of Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Neither Brazil’s federal police nor the Supreme Court provided more details.

Bolsonaro’s aide Andriely Cirino confirmed to The Associated Press that the arrest took place around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

Supreme Court blocks order that found Texas congressional map is likely racially biased

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.

The court’s conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.

The order came about an hour after the state called on the high court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.

The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas.

Washington state resident believed to be the first to die from a rare strain of bird flu

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state resident is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said Friday the risk to the public is low.

The person, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.

The person from Grays Harbor County, about 78 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of Seattle, had a backyard flock of domestic poultry that had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said.

“The risk to the public remains low," the statement from state health officials said. “No other people involved have tested positive for avian influenza.”

Health officials said they will monitor anyone who came in close contact with the person, but “there is no evidence of transmission of this virus between people."

Torrential rains return to Southern California, prompting flash flood warnings before moving east

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The third storm in just over a week drenched Southern California on Friday and prompted some local flooding but caused no major widespread damage before heading east into the mountains and south toward Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula.

The series of storms put Southern California on track for near-record November rainfall, the National Weather Service said. The region has received copious amounts of rain since Nov. 13, more than four times the normal amount that typically falls during the month in downtown Los Angeles, according to weather service reports.

Residents were warned before dawn Friday of flash flooding of streets, creeks and streams and possible mudslides in parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Some vehicles were stuck in floodwaters near Culver City before dawn, the weather service reported.

In coastal Huntington Beach, rainwater rushed through streets like a stream, and one neighborhood flooded after a local pond overflowed, spilling water into the streets and trapping parked cars.

By midday Friday, there was a mix of clouds and sun along the coast as the storm moved east over the mountains, dropping about 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow in the resort community of Big Bear with the potential for more into Saturday, said Sebastian Westerink, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego.

Gunmen abduct more than 200 schoolchildren and 12 teachers in attack on Nigerian Catholic school

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a Catholic boarding school in a western region of Nigeria and abducted more than 200 schoolchildren Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria said, in the latest in a spate of abductions in Africa’s most populous country.

The attack and abductions took place at St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in the Agwara local government’s Papiri community. Attackers seized 215 pupils and students as well as 12 teachers, said Daniel Atori, a spokesperson for the Niger state chapter of CAN.

“I just got back to the village tonight after I visited the school where I also met with parents,” Atori said in a statement, quoting the Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa, the CAN chairman in Niger. The statement added that the association is working "to ensure our children’s safe return.”

The Niger State Police Command said the abductions took place in the early hours, and that military and security forces have since been deployed to the community. It described St. Mary’s as a secondary school, which in Nigeria would serve children between the ages of 12 and 17.

A satellite image shows that the school compound is attached to an adjoining primary school, with more than 50 classroom and dormitory buildings. It's located near a major road linking the towns of Yelwa and Mokwa.

Khashoggi's widow and Democrats demand release of call transcript with Trump and Saudi crown prince

WASHINGTON (AP) — The widow of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi called Friday for the release of the transcript of a 2019 phone call that President Donald Trump had with Mohammed bin Salman, joining Democratic lawmakers who are raising questions about whether Trump personally benefitted from his embrace of the Saudi crown prince.

Hanan Elatr Khashoggi appeared on Capitol Hill on Friday morning on the heels of Trump's dismissal of U.S. intelligence findings that Prince Mohammed most likely had culpability in the October 2018 slaying of her husband. Trump also lavished the Saudi ruler this week with some of Washington's highest honors for a foreign dignitary, deepening the business and military relationship between the two nations.

Saudi intelligence officials and a forensic doctor killed and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

“There is no justification to kidnap him, torture him, to kill him and to cut him to pieces,” Hanan Elatr Khashoggi said Friday during an emotional news conference. “This is a terrorist act.”

The demand in Congress for the Trump administration to release the call transcripts is being led Rep. Eugene Vindman, a freshman Democrat from Virginia who was deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council during Trump’s first term.

Officer acquitted in death of Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother accused of shoplifting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio police officer who shot and killed Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother who had been accused of shoplifting, was acquitted on all counts Friday, including murder.

Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb had faced up to life in prison if convicted. Young’s grandmother collapsed into sobs at the decision, shouting “It’s not right! This is not right!” The judge then told Grubb he was free to go.

Sean Walton, an attorney for the Young family, called it “an American tragedy,” the outcome of a dual system of justice in the U.S. He vowed to keep pursuing a lawsuit against the township and police chief, while Ta'Kiya's grandmother Nadine Young raises her great-grandsons, now 8 and 5.

“It's also heartbreaking because what it does is it normalizes the behavior like that Connor Grubb exhibited that day, and that is not normal,” Walton said. “If you look at these recent police killings in Columbus, you have officers who have an irrational fear with no weapons involved or folks doing very minimal behavior that they escalate into a murder.”

Defense attorney Mark Collins said Grubb and his family are relieved, but that it's wrong to suggest the officer was untouched by the death of Young and her unborn daughter.