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

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon. Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Iran prepared for the mass funeral of 100 security force members killed in the demonstrations as people remained fearful in the streets. Plainclothes security forces still milled around some neighborhoods, though anti-riot police and members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force appeared to have been sent back to their barracks.

“We are very frightened because of these sounds (of gunfire) and protests,” said one mother of two children shopping for fruits and vegetables Wednesday, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “We have heard many are killed and many are injured. Now peace has been restored but schools are closed and I’m scared to send my children to school again.”

Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington as locals say Greenland is not for sale

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Greenland's capital, international journalists and camera crews stop passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark's prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as U.S. President Donald Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital Nuuk say it is not for sale. Trump said he wants to control Greenland at any cost and the White House has not ruled out taking the island by force.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance will meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Arctic island, which is a semiautonomous territory of the United States’ NATO ally Denmark.

Ahead of the meeting, France’s foreign minister denounced what he described as U.S. “blackmail” over Greenland in the latest sign of irritation among America's allies.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off."

Luxury retailer Saks Global files for bankruptcy as it prepares to restructure

Luxury retailer Saks Global has filed for bankruptcy, preparing to reposition itself in the increasingly competitive upscale market after obtaining about $1.75 billion in financing commitments.

The New York-based private company that owns retailers Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus said in a release Wednesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas.

The company’s top executive, Marc Metrick, stepped down earlier this month as the firm struggled with debt it took on for its $2.65 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in 2024. He was succeeded as CEO by executive chairman Richard Baker, who quit both roles earlier this week and was replaced as chief execute by Geoffroy van Raemdonck.

The company is also facing increasing competition as it tries to winnow down its heavy debt load, while its customers have balked against extravagant price hikes.

The company said it was “evaluating its operational footprint to invest resources where it has the greatest long-term potential.”

Senate readies vote on Venezuela war powers as Trump pressures GOP defectors

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump to vote down a war powers resolution Wednesday that is aimed at limiting the president's ability to carry out further military action against Venezuela.

Five GOP senators joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week, but Trump has lashed out at the defectors as he tries to head off passage of the bill. Democrats are forcing the vote after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid earlier this month.

“Here we have one of the most successful attacks ever and they find a way to be against it. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s a shame," Trump said at a speech in Michigan Tuesday. He also hurled insults at several of the Republicans who advanced the legislation, calling Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky a “stone cold loser” and Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine “disasters.”

Trump's latest comments followed earlier phone calls with the senators, which they described as terse. The fury being directed their way from the president underscored how the war powers vote has taken on new political significance as Trump expands his foreign policy ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

The legislation, even if passed by the Senate, has virtually no chance of becoming law because it would eventually need to be signed by Trump himself. But it represented both a test of GOP loyalty to the president and a marker for how much leeway the Republican-controlled Senate is willing to give Trump to use the military abroad.

Minnesota protesters, agents repeatedly square off while prosecutors quit after Renee Good's death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal officers dropped tear gas and sprayed eye irritant at activists Tuesday during another day of confrontations in Minneapolis, while students miles away walked out of a suburban school to protest the Trump administration's bold immigration sweeps.

Meanwhile, the fallout from the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an immigration agent reached the local U.S. Attorney's Office: At least five prosecutors have resigned amid controversy over how the U.S. Justice Department is handling the investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Separately, a Justice Department official said Wednesday there's no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation. An FBI probe of Renee Good's death is ongoing.

Strife between federal agents and the public continues to boil, six days since Good was shot in the head while driving off in her Honda Pilot. At one scene, gas clouds filled a Minneapolis street near where she died. A man scrubbed his eyes with snow and screamed for help after agents in a Jeep sprayed an orange irritant and drove off.

It’s common for people to boo, taunt and blow orange whistles when they spot heavily armed immigration agents passing through in unmarked vehicles or walking the streets, all part of a grassroots effort to warn the neighborhood and remind the government that they’re watching.

Hundreds more in Venezuela say their loved ones are 'political prisoners'

GUANARE, Venezuela (AP) — Freedom came too late for Edilson Torres.

The police officer was buried Tuesday in his humble, rural hometown following his death in a Venezuelan prison, where he was held incommunicado since being detained in December on what his family said were politically motivated accusations.

Torres, 51, died of a heart attack Saturday, just as his family awaited the government's promised release of prisoners following the U.S. capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. The loss left his family reeling.

Now scores of families — who once hesitated to approach advocacy groups — are coming forward to register their loved ones as “political prisoners" in the hope that they might have a more optimistic future than Torres.

Foro Penal, which tracks and advocates for Venezuelan prisoners, has received a “flood of messages” from families since last week, said Alfredo Romero, director of the nongovernmental organization.

Proposed billionaires' tax in California rattles Silicon Valley, entangles Gov. Newsom

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A proposed billionaires' tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears will lead to an exodus of wealth.

A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates. Nearly half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly $350 billion budget, comes from the top 1% of earners.

A large health care union is attempting to place a proposal before voters in November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires — including stocks, art, businesses, collectibles and intellectual property — to backfill federal funding cuts to health services for lower-income people that were signed by President Donald Trump last year.

In a state with a vast gap between rich and poor, the plan has resulted in a tangle of competing interests at a time when both Democrats and Republicans are struggling to respond to economic anxiety driven by rising costs ahead of this year's midterm elections.

An online war of words has tech leaders pondering a hollowing out of Silicon Valley, and millions of dollars are flowing to political committees engaged in the fight. That includes $3 million from billionaire Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, to a committee tied to a business group opposing the tax.

A construction crane falls onto a moving train in Thailand, killing at least 29 people

BANGKOK (AP) — A construction crane fell onto a moving passenger train, causing a fiery derailment that killed at least 29 people Wednesday in northeastern Thailand. Another 64 people were injured and rescuers were still searching the wreckage and giving first aid.

The derailment occurred on part of an ambitious planned high-speed rail project that will eventually connect China with much of Southeast Asia.

The crane, which was being used to build an elevated part of the railway, fell as the train was traveling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province, according to the public relations office for Nakhon Ratchasima province, where the accident took place.

Photos published in Thai media showed plumes of white then dark smoke above the scene, and construction equipment hanging down from between two concrete support pillars.

Rescue workers stood on top of overturned railways carriages, some of them with gaping holes torn on their sides, video from public broadcaster ThaiPBS showed. What appeared to be sections of the crane were scattered along the track. Meanwhile, paramedics gave first aid to injured passengers.

'West Wing' actor Timothy Busfield turns himself in to face child sex abuse charges in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Emmy Award-winning actor Timothy Busfield turned himself in to authorities Tuesday and vowed to fight charges of child sex abuse stemming from allegations that he inappropriately touched a minor on the set of a TV series he was directing in New Mexico.

His apprehension comes after authorities in Albuquerque issued a warrant for his arrest on Friday on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. A criminal complaint alleges the acts occurred on the set of the series “The Cleaning Lady,” which was filmed in Albuquerque.

Busfield, who is married to actor Melissa Gilbert, is known for appearances in “The West Wing,” “Field of Dreams” and “Thirtysomething,” the latter of which won him an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 1991.

“Tim voluntarily appeared before New Mexico authorities after traveling across the country to confront these false and deeply troubling allegations,” said Stanton Stein, an attorney for Busfield. “He is innocent and is determined to clear his name.”

Busfield was booked by Albuquerque police on the charges, said Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for the city police department. A first appearance in court was scheduled for Wednesday.

See the dates and ticket plans for the BTS tour that starts in April

NEW YORK (AP) — The BTS comeback is upon us.

The K-pop septet has announced a 2026 - 2027 world tour, kicking off in South Korea in April and running through March 2027 with over 70 dates across Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Europe.

They mark the group's first headline performances since their 2021–22 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.

A presale will take place Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 for ARMY Membership holders who register on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by BTS management company HYBE. A general sale for all regions will follow on Jan. 24.

The news arrives a few weeks after the entertainment company BigHit Music revealed that BTS will make their return to music on March 20, following a nearly four-year hiatus. That's because all seven members of BTS — RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope — had to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service.