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

Thames Valley Police, an agency that covers areas west of London, including Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, said it was “assessing” reports that the former Prince Andrew sent trade reports to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2010. The assessment followed the release of millions of pages of documents connected to a U.S. investigation of Epstein.

The police force did not name Mountbatten-Windsor, as is normal under U.K. law. But when asked if he had been arrested, the force pointed to a statement saying that they had arrested a man in his 60s. Mountbatten-Windsor is 66.

“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,’’ the statement said. “We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.

8 backcountry skiers found dead and 1 still missing after California avalanche

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — Crews found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers near California's Lake Tahoe and were searching for one more after they were caught in an avalanche, the nation's deadliest in nearly half a century, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities said the skiers had little time to react.

“Someone saw the avalanche, yelled ‘Avalanche!’ and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell “Rusty” Greene, of the Nevada County sheriff’s office.

Six were rescued six hours after the avalanche hit Tuesday morning as they were concluding a three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada during a monster winter storm. The tour included four guides, three of whom are presumed dead, authorities said.

The group was a mix of women and men between the ages of 30 and 55, authorities said. Some of the people killed were members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community, a private boarding school and ski and snowboard club on Donner Summit, according to the academy. School officials did not release the names of those killed or describe their connection to the academy.

Snow drought helped set the stage for deadly California avalanche, leading to unstable conditions

A weekslong “snow drought” in Northern California's Sierra Nevada helped set the stage for Tuesday's deadly avalanche, after several feet of new snow fell on an earlier layer that had hardened, making it unstable and easily triggered, experts said.

The new snow did not have time to bond to the earlier layer before the avalanche near Lake Tahoe killed at least eight backcountry skiers, said Craig Clements, a meteorology professor at San Jose State University, who has conducted avalanche research. Six skiers survived and rescuers were still searching for another one who was still missing on Wednesday.

The group was on a three-day backcountry trek in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday morning when they were trapped by the avalanche as a winter storm pummeled the West Coast.

The dangers generally are highest in the first 24 to 48 hours after a very large snowfall, Clements said, and authorities had issued avalanche warnings.

Here's what to know.

Governors arrive in Washington eager to push past Trump's partisan grip

WASHINGTON (AP) — In another era, the scene would have been unremarkable. But in President Donald Trump's Washington, it's become increasingly rare.

Sitting side by side on stage were Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat. They traded jokes and compliments instead of insults and accusations, a brief interlude of cordiality in a cacophony of conflict.

Stitt and Moore are the leaders of the National Governors Association, one of a vanishing few bipartisan institutions left in American politics. But it may be hard for the organization, which is holding its annual conference this week, to maintain its reputation as a refuge from polarization.

Trump has broken with custom by declining to invite all governors to the traditional White House meeting and dinner. He has called Stitt, the NGA’s chair, a “RINO,” short for Republican in name only, and continued to feud with Moore, the group’s vice chair, by blaming him for a sewage spill involving a federally regulated pipeline.

The break with tradition reflects Trump’s broader approach to his second term. He has taken a confrontational stance toward some states, withholding federal funds or deploying troops over the objections of local officials.

As political pressure prompts exodus of Minnesota prosecutors, some defendants catch a break

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The federal prosecutor’s office in Minnesota has been gutted by a wave of career officials resigning or retiring over objections to Trump administration directives. Because of the turmoil, 12-time convicted felon Cory Allen McKay caught a break.

With a three-decade record of violent crime that includes strangling a pregnant woman and firing a shotgun under a person's chin, McKay was scheduled to stand trial next month on methamphetamine trafficking charges that could have locked him up for 25 years. Instead, he walked free after the prosecutor on his case retired.

The Trump administration says its aggressive immigration enforcement in Minnesota has improved public safety. Left in its wake, though, is a greatly weakened U.S. Attorney’s Office, where many prosecutors resented the way Trump’s political appointees at the Justice Department managed them.

Offices in other states, from New York to Virginia, have also been hit by resignations as prosecutors object to what they see as the politicization of decision-making under Trump. But Minnesota has been hit especially hard.

A growing number of defendants like McKay are beginning to escape accountability, as the remaining prosecutors are forced to dismiss some cases, kill others before charges are filed and seek plea agreements and delays.

Former South Korean President Yoon receives life sentence for imposing martial law

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in a dramatic culmination to the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Yoon was ousted from office after a baffling attempt to overcome an opposition-controlled legislature by declaring martial law and sending troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, 2024.

Judge Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of rebellion for mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the liberal-led Assembly, arrest politicians and establish unchecked power for a “considerable” time.

Yoon’s martial law imposition, the first of its kind in more than four decades, harkened back to South Korea’s past military-backed governments when authorities occasionally proclaimed emergency decrees that allowed them to station soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles on streets or at public places such as schools to prevent anti-government demonstrations.

As lawmakers rushed to the National Assembly, Yoon’s martial law command issued a proclamation declaring sweeping powers, including suspending political activities, controlling the media and publications, and allowing arrests without warrants.

World shares are mixed, while US futures advance following a Wall St rally led by Nvidia

European shares opened lower and Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday after a rally on Wall Street that was led by computer chip giant Nvidia.

Oil prices rose as media reports said the likelihood was rising of U.S. conflict with Iran.

President Donald Trump has been weighing whether to take military action against Iran as his administration surges military resources to the region while holding indirect talks with Tehran over its nuclear program. That is raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 94 cents to $65.99 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 98 cents to $71.33.

Germany's DAX lost 0.5% to 25,157.56, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.6% to 8,379.90.

A judge weighs extending protections for refugees in Minnesota facing arrest and deportation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether he should extend an order that protects Minnesota refugees who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim blocked the government from targeting these refugees last month, saying the plaintiffs in the case were likely to prevail on their claims “that their arrest and detention, and the policy that purports to justify them, are unlawful.” His Jan. 28 temporary restraining order will expire Feb. 25 unless he grants a more permanent preliminary injunction.

Refugee rights groups sued the federal government in January after the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in mid-December launched Operation PARRIS, an acronym for Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening.

It was billed as a “sweeping initiative” to reexamine the cases of 5,600 Minnesota refugees who had not yet been granted permanent resident status, also known as green cards. The agencies cited fraud in public programs in Minnesota as justification.

Operation PARRIS was part of the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown that targeted Minnesota, including the surge of thousands of federal officers into the state. Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. It also sparked mass protests after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. White House border czar Tom Homan announced last week the surge was ending, though a small federal presence would remain.

Genealogical sites have helped solve major crimes. Police in Nancy Guthrie's case might turn to them

Authorities trying to solve the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie say they might tap DNA genealogy databases, the same step that police took to unravel a decades-old series of murders in California and the fatal stabbings of four college students in Idaho.

The strategy could be fruitful: If unidentified DNA evidence can be connected to someone — even a distant relative — in a common genealogical database, it would give investigators more information and possibly lead to a suspect in Guthrie’s kidnapping in Arizona.

“It’s a fantastic tool,” said Ruth Ballard, a geneticist in California who specializes in DNA and has testified in hundreds of court cases. “If it’s a good quality sample and they’re able to get a profile, they could find a hit on that fairly quickly.”

The sheriff's department in Pima County, Arizona, said DNA collected so far in the investigation has not turned up any matches in a national criminal justice database known as CODIS, which has DNA profiles from convicted criminals and, in some states, people arrested for certain crimes.

“Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches. CODIS is one option of many databases that are available,” the sheriff's department said Tuesday.

UN experts say destruction by Sudan's rebels in el-Fasher in October bears 'hallmarks of genocide'

GENEVA (AP) — A "campaign of destruction" in October by Sudanese rebels against non-Arab communities in and near a city in Sudan's western region of Darfur shows “hallmarks of genocide,” U.N.-backed human rights experts reported Thursday, a dramatic finding in the country's devastating war.

The Rapid Support Forces carried out mass killings and other atrocities in el-Fasher after an 18-month siege during which they imposed conditions “calculated to bring about the physical destruction" of non-Arab communities, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur communities, the independent fact-finding mission on Sudan reported.

U.N. officials say several thousand civilians were killed in the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese army’s only remaining stronghold in the Darfur. Only 40% of the city’s 260,000 residents managed to flee the onslaught alive, thousands of whom were wounded, the officials said. The fate of the rest remains unknown.

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including Darfur.

The devastating war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to U.N. figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher.