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

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS that Tehran has been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels, “and this is up to our military to decide.” He said a group of vessels from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.

Iran has said the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil exports normally pass, is open to all except the United States and its allies.

Araghchi added that “we don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans” about finding a way to end the war, noting that Israel and the U.S. started the fighting with coordinated attacks on Feb. 28 during indirect U.S.-Iran talks on Iran's nuclear program. He also said Tehran had “no plan to recover” the enriched uranium that is under rubble following U.S. and Israeli attacks last year.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC he has been “in dialogue” with some of the countries Trump mentioned, and said he expected China “will be a constructive partner” in reopening the strait.

'Radiant' mother from Kentucky among 6 US service members who died in air crash in Iraq

A woman raising two children was among the six U.S. service members killed last week when a refueling plane involved in the war with Iran crashed in western Iraq.

Tech Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, hailed from a large family in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was “very, very” proud of her military career, her husband Gregory Pruitt said Sunday.

“I’ll give you something brief -– in a word, radiant,” he said on a phone interview, trying to hold back tears. “If there was a light in the room, she was it.”

Survivors include the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and Sgt. Pruitt's stepson.

Most recently, she had served with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron from Sumpter Smith Joint National Guard Base in Birmingham, Alabama. She was an assistant flight chief of operations and was an instructor in operating the boom of a KC-135.

Analysis: Two weeks into war with Iran, Trump has been knocked back on his political heels

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump increasingly has been knocked on his political heels.

He's grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates with a public concerned by American deaths in the conflict, surging oil prices and dropping financial markets. Even some of his supporters are questioning his plan and his overall poll numbers are declining.

Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost from the war's early days after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments. That, combined with rising oil prices, undercut the yearslong push to crimp President Vladimir Putin's ability to wage war in Ukraine.

Then there are Democrats, who were left reeling after Trump won the 2024 election. With control of Congress at stake in November's midterms, the party has come together to oppose Trump's Iran policy and point to the economic turmoil as proof that Republicans haven't kept their promises to bring down everyday costs.

“I think Democrats are well-positioned for this November and the midterms,” said Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains party backers to run for office and staff campaigns.

Israeli military claims brother of man who attacked Michigan synagogue was Hezbollah commander

JERUSALEM (AP) — The man who attacked a Michigan synagogue was the brother of a Hezbollah commander killed earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike, Israel’s military claimed Sunday.

Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in the March 5 strike in Lebanon along with three other relatives of the attacker in Michigan — a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him.

The FBI's Detroit office, which is investigating the synagogue attack, declined to comment on the claims by Israel's military about Ibrahim Ghazali.

“Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will continue to refrain from commenting on its substance,” FBI spokesman Jordan Hall said in an email Sunday.

The Israeli military alleges Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander who managed weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.

Snow and wind batter parts of US, with threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes starting later Sunday

CHICAGO (AP) — A broad and erratic patchwork of severe weather rumbled across much of the U.S. on Sunday, dumping heavy snow and making roads impassable in the Upper Midwest while damaging high winds swept across the Plains. Hawaii also continued to be affected by severe flooding.

And portions of the mid-South readied for late-day thunderstorms. Forecasters said the storms will spread eastward and by Monday threaten a large swath of the Eastern U.S., with mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., at greatest risk for high winds and tornadoes.

Successive punches of snow, wind and severe weather are “going to impact the eastern half of the United States," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys. Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you’re looking at several major airports being impacted.”

An area from central Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was likely to see over 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow, with higher isolated totals on the peninsula, Roys said. Lower snow accumulations in places like Chicago and Milwaukee will likely create trouble for commuters on Monday, he added.

Over 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow had fallen in some portions of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as of Sunday afternoon, according to National Weather Service reports. Transportation officials warned of worsening conditions with low visibility and snow-covered roadways.

As Trump pushes deportations, immigration data becomes harder to find

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration likes to promote its immigration enforcement agenda through numbers, with ambitious goals to deport 1 million people, report zero releases at the U.S.-Mexico border and arrest thousands of alleged gang members.

For all the boasting, the administration has been releasing less reliable, carefully vetted data than its predecessors on a signature policy that has become one of the most contentious of Trump's second term.

The gap in information and a loss of figures from an office that has tracked immigration data back to the 1800s have left researchers, advocates, lawyers and journalists without important statistics to hold the Republican administration to account.

“They aren’t publishing the data,” said Mike Howell, who heads the conservative Oversight Project, an advocacy group pushing for more deportations. Instead, Howell said, the Department of Homeland Security has put out numbers in news releases “that purport to be statistics with no statistical backup and the numbers have jumped all over the place.”

With mass deportations a priority, new restrictions and increased enforcement have led to a surge in immigration arrests, detentions and deportations.

AP finds an Israeli group discreetly organized the mystery flights evacuating Palestinians from Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The plane carrying about 150 Palestinians from Gaza came as a surprise to everyone on the ground when it landed in South Africa in November.

It wasn't the only one. Since May, at least three flights filled with Gaza residents who’d signed up to leave the war-torn enclave have landed in Indonesia and South Africa.

An Israeli group whose founder adamantly supported U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza is behind the flights, an AP investigation has found, raising further questions about the motives behind the evacuation of hundreds of people from the strip.

At the time, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola called the flights a “clear agenda to cleanse out the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.”

Ad Kan, an Israeli organization founded by soldiers and former intelligence officers, worked via another company to distance links to Israel and organize the flights, according to a contract, passenger lists, text messages, financial statements, and interviews with more than two dozen Israelis, Palestinians and other people involved with the trips.

US-China trade talks open in Paris, paving the way for Trump-Xi summit

BEIJING (AP) — Representatives from Beijing and Washington began their economic and trade talks in Paris on Sunday, paving the way for U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in about two weeks.

The delegations, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, convened in the French capital in the morning, China's official news agency Xinhua reported. The White House has said that Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2, though Beijing has not officially confirmed it.

Bessent said on Thursday that his team will continue to deliver results that put America's farmers, workers and businesses first. The U.S. Treasury Department said Bessent will meet He on Sunday and Monday.

China’s commerce ministry said Friday the two sides are set to discuss “trade and economic issues of mutual concern.”

Trump’s visit to China will be the first for a U.S. president since he went in his first term in 2017. It will come five months after the two leaders met in the South Korean city of Busan and agreed to a one-year truce in a trade war that temporarily saw tit-for-tat tariffs soar to triple digits before the two sides climbed down.

'Sinners' and 'One Battle After Another' poised for an all-Warner Bros. showdown at Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stars are streaming down the red carpet at a 98th Academy Awards where few awards feel like shoo-ins, and the night is steering toward a coronation for either Paul Thomas Anderson or Ryan Coogler.

Most would call that a win-win.

Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is the favorite heading into the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. But Coogler’s “Sinners” comes in the lead nominee with a record 16 nominations. Both filmmakers are poised to leave with their first Oscar.

But little else is assured at an Academy Awards where Michael B. Jordan or Timothée Chalamet (despite the ballet diss heard 'round the world) could win their first Academy Award in a too-close-to-call best actor race.

A picture-perfect sunny afternoon greeted arrivals at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday. This year, the carpet is colored in an earthy brown shade called “red rock.” Japanese maple trees are also lining the path.

Biggest question for the March Madness bracket is whether Miami (Ohio), at 31-1, will be included

All the metrics, analytics and number crunching in the world cannot erase the most important statistic attached to the team that has captured college basketball's imagination and its curiosity leading into March Madness.

Miami of Ohio's record is 31-1. The Redhawks were the first college basketball team in five years to enter their conference tournament with an undefeated record.

Virtually everything else about the regular-season champions of the Mid-American Conference — their 339th-ranked schedule, their zero top-caliber (Quad 1) matchups, their ugly (and only) loss to a not-very-good UMass team — screams NIT or maybe no postseason bid at all.

And yet, leaving this mid-major darling out of March Madness when the brackets are revealed Sunday night would feel, to many, like a crime.

The fact that a team that started the season 31-0 isn't sure whether it will make the tournament and stands to be this season's version of a lovable underdog if it does speaks volumes about exactly why March Madness is unlike any other event in sports.