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

Trump said later Friday that he won't apologize for the post: “I didn't make a mistake,” he said.

The Republican president’s Thursday night post was blamed on a staffer after widespread backlash, from civil rights leaders to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady. A rare admission of a misstep by the White House, the deletion came hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed “fake outrage” over the post. After calls for its removal — including by Republicans — the White House said a staffer had posted the video erroneously.

The post was part of a flurry of overnight activity on Trump's Truth Social account that amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and Trump's first-term attorney general finding no evidence of systemic fraud.

Trump has a record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric — from feeding the lie that Obama was not a native-born U.S. citizen to crude generalizations about majority-Black countries.

Zelenskyy says US gave Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach agreement to end war

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal to end the nearly four‑year war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure forced nuclear power plants to cut output on Saturday.

If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, he added.

“The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule,” Zelenskyy said, speaking to reporters on Friday. Zelenskyy’s comments were embargoed until Saturday morning.

“And they say that they want to do everything by June. And they will do everything to end the war. And they want a clear schedule of all events,” he said.

He said the U.S. proposed holding the next round of trilateral talks next week in their country for the first time, likely in Miami, Zelenskyy said. “We confirmed our participation,” he added.

Epstein revelations have toppled top figures in Europe while US fallout is more muted

LONDON (AP) — A prince, an ambassador, senior diplomats, top politicians. All brought down by the Jeffrey Epstein files. And all in Europe, rather than the United States.

The huge trove of Epstein documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice has sent shock waves through Europe’s political, economic and social elites — dominating headlines, ending careers and spurring political and criminal investigations.

Former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was fired and could go to prison. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis over the Mandelson appointment. Senior figures have fallen in Norway, Sweden and Slovakia. And, even before the latest batch of files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, lost his honors, princely title and taxpayer-funded mansion.

Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them faces claims of sexual wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.

“Epstein collected powerful people the way others collect frequent flyer points,” said Mark Stephens, a specialist in international and human rights law at Howard Kennedy in London. “But the receipts are now in public, and some might wish they’d traveled less.”

What to know about Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping and the race to find her

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — It's been a week since “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie 's mother disappeared from her home in Arizona in what authorities say was a kidnapping.

Investigators have been examining ransom notes and looking for evidence but have not named a suspect. On Friday, officers returned to 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie 's home near Tucson and to the surrounding neighborhood to continue their search.

Here’s what to know about the case:

Family members told officials they last saw Guthrie at 9:48 p.m. on Jan. 31 when they dropped her off at home after they ate dinner and played games together. The next day, family learned she didn't attend church. They reported her missing after they went to check on her.

Guthrie has a pacemaker and needs daily medication. Her family and authorities are worried her health could be deteriorating by the day.

Savannah Guthrie's mother may have been kidnapped. How does law enforcement handle negotiations?

Experts say abductions for ransom are rare, despite the prevalence of dramatic hostage crises on television. But the apparent kidnapping of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother has raised questions about how law enforcement handles hostage negotiations in real life, and the risks of media attention for victims.

In the days since Nancy Guthrie, 84, was taken from her home outside Tucson, Arizona, a local television station received two messages that appear to be in connection with the case. One demanded money in exchange for Guthrie's return and contained information about her Apple watch and floodlights on her property.

While law enforcement hasn't named a suspect — or even confirmed definitively that the ransom note is authentic — Guthrie's children have released two videos appealing to her apparent kidnappers, begging for proof that their mother is still alive.

Professional hostage negotiators from around the world say that kidnappings depicted on television — where police shout through a bullhorn at heavily armed hostage-takers inside a bank — often misrepresent the delicate touch required for real-world negotiations.

There are three types of hostage situations, according to Scott Tillema, a retired SWAT hostage negotiator in Illinois. The least common kind in the U.S., he said, are ones that involve kidnapping for ransom.

Immigrant whose skull was broken in eight places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance.

But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain.

He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again.

He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

“They started beating me right away when they arrested me,” the Mexican immigrant recounted this week to The Associated Press, which recently reported on how his case contributed to mounting friction between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis hospital.

Drone attack by paramilitary group in Sudan kills 24, including 8 children, doctors' group says

CAIRO (AP) — A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said, a day after a World Food Program aid convoy was targeted.

Saturday's attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war. The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area, the group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants.

Several others were wounded and taken for treatment in Rahad, which suffers severe medical supplies shortages, like many areas in the Kordofan region, the statement said.

The doctors’ group urged the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.

India and US release a framework for an interim trade agreement to reduce Trump tariffs

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and the United States released a framework for an interim trade agreement to lower tariffs on Indian goods, which Indian opposition accused of favoring Washington.

The joint statement, released Friday, came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his plan last week to reduce import tariffs on the South Asian country, six months after imposing steep taxes to press New Delhi to cut its reliance on cheap Russian crude.

Under the deal, tariffs on goods from India would be lowered to 18%, from 25%, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil, Trump had said.

The two countries called the agreement “reciprocal and mutually beneficial” and expressed commitment to work toward a broader trade deal that “will include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains.” The framework said that more negotiations will be needed to formalize the agreement.

India would also “eliminate or reduce tariffs” on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of food and agricultural products, Friday's statement said.

Health costs are fueling voter stress — and Democratic campaigns

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump ’s second term has presented an array of opportunities for political opponents, from immigration crackdowns and lingering inflation to attacks on independent institutions and friction with overseas allies.

But many Democrats are staying focused on health care, an issue that was once a political liability but has become foundational for the party in recent elections. They insist their strategy will help the party regain control of Congress in midterm elections, and fare better than chasing headlines about the latest outrages out of the White House.

Republicans last year cut around $1 trillion over a decade from Medicaid and declined to extend COVID-era subsidies that had lowered the cost of Affordable Care Act health plans.

In response, Democrats are filming campaign spots outside struggling hospitals, spotlighting Americans facing spiking insurance premiums and sharing their own personal health care stories.

Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, one of the party's most endangered incumbents this year, is expected to highlight health care challenges at a campaign rally Saturday in suburban Atlanta.

Judge orders return of 3 deported families protected by family separation settlement

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A judge says the federal government must return three families hurt by the first Trump administration's policy of separating parents from the children at the border, saying their deportations in recent months relied on “lies, deception and coercion."

The order, issued Thursday, found the deported families should have been allowed to remain in the United States under terms of a legal settlement over the Trump administration's separation of about 6,000 children from their parents at the border in 2018. Each mother had permission to remain in the U.S. until 2027 under humanitarian parole.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego said the administration also had to pay for their return travel costs.

One woman and her three children, including a 6-year-old U.S. citizen, were deported to Honduras in July after being ordered to check in with ICE at least 11 times over two months, which, she said, caused her to lose her job.

Sabraw rejected the government’s argument that the family left the U.S. voluntarily. The woman said ICE officers visited her home and asked her sign a document agreeing to leave but she refused.