AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Trump said in a social media post that negotiations are “proceeding nicely” but tied any eventual agreement to expanded participation in the 2020 accords.

The proposal came as the emerging Iran deal faced criticism from fellow Republicans who favor a harder line on Iran, and it could add new diplomatic complications to the negotiations.

Trump pointed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar as countries that should “immediately” sign on, alongside Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to join in 2020.

He wrote that “after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”

What we know and don't know about the emerging deal to end the Iran war

CAIRO (AP) — The United States and Iran appear to be closing in on a deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations are “proceeding nicely,” while reiterating his warning that fighting would resume if no deal is reached.

It is not clear when or how the deal might be finalized and when its various parts will take effect. Details come from two regional officials and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

An Iranian delegation led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf traveled to Qatar on Monday as part of talks, though it wasn’t immediately clear what would be discussed. Qalibaf led historic face-to-face talks with Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan last month.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said that while understandings have been reached on “a large portion of the issues,” there was still work to be done. “To say that this means an agreement is on the verge of being signed is not something anyone can claim,” he told reporters.

Here’s what we know and don’t know:

The risk of a catastrophic chemical tank explosion in California has been eliminated, officials say

A crack has relieved some pressure in a damaged chemical tank and the temperature of the highly flammable gas inside is continuing to fall, leading authorities to say Monday they believe the risk of a catastrophic explosion has been eliminated.

Nevertheless, an evacuation order remains in place for some 50,000 residents of nearby Garden Grove, just south of Los Angeles.

An overnight evaluation of the tank containing 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate produced “incredibly positive news,” Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said, although the risk to public safety is “ongoing.” The crack in the tank at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant was discovered Sunday. Authorities have detected no hazardous chemical levels as of Monday.

Officials said they needed to cool the tank to prevent a toxic leak or explosion. The tank’s interior had cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier.

The tank might eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination.

Cornyn and Paxton flood Texas airwaves in final day of GOP Senate runoff

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) — Voters in Texas will see little of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate on Monday. But that's only if they stay away from screens.

There were no public campaign events scheduled for Sen. John Cornyn nor state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the final day of their more than yearlong quest for the GOP nomination. Instead, their fight for Tuesday's runoff continues as it has for months — intense and unabated — through advertising that has topped $109 million, heavily from Cornyn's side.

Cornyn is scheduled to host an annual, non-campaign event in San Antonio to recognize high school graduates attending the nation's service academies. The senator seeking a fifth term held his last public campaign event in Corpus Christi on Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s voting.

Paxton headlined his last events Thursday in the Austin area and in San Antonio, content to let his campaign and a super PAC carry his primary message: that President Donald Trump endorsed him on May 19.

Trump's announcement and accompanying dismissal of Cornyn, who has had an awkward public relationship with the president, came on the second day of early voting, which ended Friday.

The origins of Memorial Day and how it has evolved

Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday that is officially about mourning the nation's fallen service members, but it has come to signal the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of travel, as well as discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.

This year, the occasion comes amid the U.S. war in Iran and heightened gas prices that affect travel, but families around the country are still paying their respects at ceremonies, attending parades and enjoying the outdoors. Red, white and blue colors decorate storefronts, porches and public spaces as Americans mark the both the holiday and the beginning of warm weather.

Here is a look at the holiday and how it has evolved:

It falls on the last Monday of May. This year, it is May 25.

It’s a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Israel's military says it's striking Hezbollah sites as Netanyahu vows to 'increase the blows'

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel’s air force targeted sites belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon, including in the country's eastern Bekaa Valley, late on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to intensify attacks on the Lebanese militant group.

Netanyahu's warning came as Hezbollah has been firing fiber optic drones — a weapon used widely in the war in Ukraine — at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and northern Israel in recent weeks.

“We will hit them. It’s true that they are shooting drones at us, fiber optic drones. We have a special team working on that and we will solve that too,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media. “What this requires of us now is to increase the blows, to increase the intensity. We will smite them hip and thigh.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that after Netanyahu's post, some residents started leaving Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah has large presence. The agency also said several airstrikes hit the eastern town of Mashghara in the Bekaa region on Monday night.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said that it carried out eight attacks earlier in the day, including a drone attack on Israeli troops in Misgav Am in northern Israel.

Democrats feud over stock trading as they sharpen anti-corruption case against Trump

DALLAS (AP) — After three terms in the U.S. House and two unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate, Colin Allred said he’s heard plenty about voters’ suspicions that politicians are just trying to make a buck in Washington.

“'What about the stock trading in Congress? What about people getting rich in Congress?’” Allred said they ask him regularly. “And I have to say to them, you’re absolutely right about that, too. We need to be better.”

He's challenging Rep. Julie Johnson in the Democratic runoff for a Dallas-area House seat on Tuesday, and he's one of several candidates trying to harness populist anger over congressional stock trading. Allred has denounced Johnson for trades involving companies like Palantir, a data analytics firm with ties to President Donald Trump's administration.

Johnson said her trades were handled by a financial manager, and she accused Allred of being “only out for himself.” She pointed to financial disclosures that showed Allred's wealth nearly doubling during his own time in Congress, although Allred said his assets were in a blind trust and the money came from his wife's income as a partner at a law firm.

“To be clear, the sum total I made on that trade was only $90,” Johnson said of her Palantir stock. “My opponent is trying to make it seem like it was hundreds or thousands.”

Pope calls for robust regulation of AI in manifesto that ponders the future of humanity

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called Monday for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as the technology impacts everything from work to war.

“Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first encyclical, has been eagerly awaited ever since history’s first U.S.-born pope announced days after his election that he considered AI to be the biggest challenge facing humanity today.

In the text, Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race, especially in developing ever more sophisticated methods of remote warfare. He declared that it was “not permissible” to entrust irreversible, lethal decisions to AI systems, setting up another flash point between the American pope and the Trump administration, which has worked aggressively to deregulate AI development.

“Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death,″ the pope told a special Vatican presentation of the encyclical, one of the most authoritative types of teaching documents a pope can issue.

Experts in the tech industry, academia and Catholic morality said the document will likely become a benchmark in the debate over AI, a point of reference for policymakers, researchers and ordinary folk alike. It comes as the near-daily developments in the technology trigger concerns over AI replacing human jobs and even human intelligence.

Scripps National Spelling Bee guide: How to watch, who the notable spellers are, rules and prizes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The best young spellers in the English language are competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week, continuing a more than century-old tradition. The three-day competition begins Tuesday and concludes Thursday night.

The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. After a long run at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the bee returns to the nation's capital this year at Constitution Hall, a few blocks from the White House.

Another change for this year: ESPN NFL analyst and recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion Mina Kimes has joined the bee as its television host.

This is the 98th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 111th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.

Thirty of the past 36 champions have been of Indian heritage, including last year’s winner, Faizan Zaki.

Jodar shaping up as tennis' Next Big Thing and makes quite a debut at the French Open

PARIS (AP) — Two-time reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz is out injured. Promising 21-year-old French player Arthur Fils also pulled out with a physical issue. Jack Draper has been bothered for months by a right knee problem.

The list of candidates capable of challenging top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who enters the French Open on a three-month-long 29-match winning streak, has been dwindling.

Enter Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old Spaniard who has been making waves on the ATP Tour.

Jodar continued to impress in his Roland Garros debut, dropping just five games in a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 rout of American opponent Aleksandar Kovacevic on Monday despite boiling heat at the clay-court Grand Slam. The last man to concede fewer games in a French Open debut was Novak Djokovic, who allowed three to Robby Ginepri in 2005.

“I did the things very well from the start,” Jodar said. “It’s just my first year (on tour) and I’m experiencing a lot of things in these past few months.”