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

The attacks came during a renewed U.S. push to end the war that has raged for nearly four years and talks about a U.S. peace plan. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials for several hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Driscoll, who became part of the U.S. negotiating team less than two weeks ago, is heading up the latest phase of talks involving the terms of a possible peace settlement with Russia.

The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, declined to give details on how long the negotiations would last or what topics were being discussed, but noted that the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting and all sides have indicated they wanted to reach a deal to halt the fighting as quickly as possible.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become doable” after progress was made in Sunday's talks between U.S. and Ukrainian delegates in Geneva. He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with President Donald Trump.

Judge dismisses Comey, James indictments after finding that prosecutor was illegally appointed

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie halt at least for now a pair of prosecutions that had targeted two of the president's most high-profile political opponents and amount to a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration's legal maneuvering to install an inexperienced and loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

The orders do not concern the substance of the allegations against Comey or James but instead deal with the unconventional manner in which the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was named to her position as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Defense lawyers said the Trump administration had no legal authority to make the appointment. In a pair of similar rulings, Currie agreed and said the invalid appointment required the dismissal of the cases.

“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment,” including securing and signing the indictments, “were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” she wrote.

A White House spokeswoman said the rulings will “not be the final word on the matter,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed at an unrelated news conference that the Justice Department would pursue an “immediate appeal.” Prosecutors may also try to refile the changes, a possibility left open by the judge's orders.

Pentagon says it's investigating Sen. Mark Kelly over video urging troops to defy 'illegal orders'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Monday it is investigating Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over possible breaches of military law after the former Navy pilot joined a handful of other lawmakers in a video that called for troops to defy “illegal orders.”

The Pentagon’s statement, posted on social media, cited a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court martial or other measures.

It is extraordinary for the Pentagon, which until President Donald Trump's second term had usually gone out of its way to act and appear apolitical, to directly threaten a sitting member of Congress with investigation. It comes after Trump ramped up the rhetoric by accusing the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days after the video was released last week.

In its statement Monday, the Pentagon suggested that Kelly’s statements in the video interfered with the “loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces” by citing the federal law that prohibits such actions.

“A thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures,” the statement said.

US labels Maduro-tied Cartel de los Soles as a terror organization. It's not a cartel per se

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. But the entity that the U.S. government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se.

The designation, published Monday in the Federal Register, is the latest measure in the Trump administration's escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S. In previewing the step about a week ago, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, of being “responsible for terrorist violence” in the Western Hemisphere.

The move comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which he has not ruled out despite bringing up the possibility of talks with Maduro. Land strikes or other actions would be a major expansion of the monthslong operation that has included a massive military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and striking boats accused of trafficking drugs, killing more than 80 people.

Venezuelans began using the term Cartel de los Soles in the 1990s to refer to high-ranking military officers who had grown rich from drug-running. As corruption expanded nationwide, first under the late President Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, its use loosely expanded to police and government officials as well as activities like illegal mining and fuel trafficking. The “suns” in the name refer to the epaulettes affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking military officers.

The umbrella term was elevated to a Maduro-led drug-trafficking organization in 2020, when the U.S. Justice Department in Trump's first term announced the indictment of Venezuela’s leader and his inner circle on narcoterrorism and other charges.

Trump administration plans to review refugees admitted under Biden, memo obtained by The AP says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans a review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press, in the latest blow against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and persecution into the country.

The review is likely to sow confusion and fear among the nearly 200,000 refugees who came to the United States during that period. It is likely to face legal challenges from advocates, some of whom said the move was part of the administration's “cold-hearted treatment” of people trying to build new lives in the U.S.

The memo, signed by the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, and dated Friday, said that during the Biden years “expediency” and “quantity” were prioritized over “detailed screening and vetting.” The memo said that warranted a comprehensive review and “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.”

The memo indicated that there will be a list of people to re-interview within three months.

Advocates of the refugee program say that refugees are generally some of the most vetted of all people coming to the United States and that they often wait years to be able to come.

Thai woman found alive in coffin after being brought in for cremation

BANGKOK (AP) — A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.

Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.

Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman's brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.

He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.

“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”

Thousands of arrests by Trump's crime-fighting task force in Memphis strain crowded jail and courts

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A task force ordered by President Donald Trump to combat crime in Memphis, Tennessee, has made thousands of arrests, compounding strains on the busy local court system and an already overcrowded jail in ways that concerned officials say will last months or even years as cases play out.

Since late September, hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel tied to the Memphis Safe Task Force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives in the city of about 610,000 people. More than 2,800 people have been arrested and more than 28,000 traffic citations have been issued, data provided by the task force and Memphis police shows.

The task force, which includes National Guard troops, is supported by Republican Gov. Bill Lee and others who hope the surge reduces crime in a city that has grappled with violent crime, including nearly 300 homicides last year and nearly 400 in 2023.

On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi traveled to Memphis to meet with officers and tout the task force's success in taking suspects and illegal guns off the street. Bondi and other law enforcement leaders later served food to officers to thank them for their work.

Asked about the strain on the local criminal justice system, U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said authorities are bringing as many cases as they can in federal court. He said federal officials are open to working with state prosecutors to find ways to speed up prosecutions.

AP and Trump administration argue access case before federal appeals court; no ruling yet

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press and the Trump administration renewed their argument Monday over a president's ability to limit media access to journalists he disagrees with, resuming a courtroom dispute with potential First Amendment implications that began last winter when the president announced that he had renamed the Gulf of Mexico.

President Donald Trump restricted the AP's access to events in smaller spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, leading the news outlet to sue. A lower federal court ruled that Trump improperly retaliated against the outlet because it did not follow and refer to the body of water as the Gulf of America.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington prevented the ruling from taking effect — effectively leaving it up to the White House to determine the AP's access. A three-judge panel from that court, two of them Trump appointees who voted against AP as part of a separate appellate panel last spring, heard arguments Monday on an appeal of the lower court's ruling.

No immediate ruling was issued.

The administration says it is up the White House to determine the makeup of “pools” that cover the president in places where space is limited. And he can reward or punish reporters with access in these cases in the same way he does in granting interviews, Trump's team argued.

Afghanistan says Pakistani airstrikes in east of the country have killed 10 people, mostly children

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday accused Pakistan of launching overnight strikes in three eastern provinces, killing 10 civilians, including nine children, in a sign of worsening tensions between the two neighbors.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, said on X that Pakistan “bombed” the home of a civilian in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman. He said additional strikes were carried out in the provinces of Kunar and Paktika, injuring four other people.

Mujahid described the attacks as “atrocities,” and said the strikes were “a violation of Afghan territory.” Afghanistan, he added in his post on X, “considers the use of its airspace and territory and defense of its people to be its legitimate right, and at the appropriate time, it will give the necessary response.”

Pakistan’s military and government did not immediately comment on the allegation, which comes more than a month after cross-border clashes erupted when the Afghan government claimed Pakistani drone strikes hit Kabul.

However, the ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey between the two sides in October was still holding Tuesday despite the alleged overnight strikes by Pakistan deep inside Afghanistan. There was no immediate comment from Qatar and Turkey.

One of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre's last survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher, dies at age 111

DALLAS (AP) — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child, has died. She was 111.

Her grandson Ike Howard said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

Tulsa was mourning her loss, said Mayor Monroe Nichols, the first Black leader of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. “Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose.”

She was 7 years old when the two-day attack began on Tulsa’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, after a local newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. As a white mob grew outside the courthouse, Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with overwhelming force. Hundreds of people were killed and homes were burned and looted, leaving over 30 city blocks decimated in the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street.

“I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote in her 2023 memoir, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.”