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

During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said he did not see any survivors in the water, saying the vessel "exploded in fire, smoke, you can’t see anything. ... This is called the fog of war.”

Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the Sept. 2 mission following the initial strike and the admiral in charge “made the right call” in ordering the second hit, which he “had complete authority to do.”

Lawmakers have opened investigations following a Washington Post report that Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” on the boat, the first vessel hit in the Trump administration's counterdrug campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that has grown to over 20 known strikes and more than 80 dead.

The U.S. also has built up its largest military presence in the region in generations, and many see the actions as a tactic to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to resign.

Federal authorities plan operation in Minnesota focusing on Somali immigrants, AP source says

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the planning.

The move comes as President Donald Trump again on Tuesday escalated rhetoric about Minnesota's sizable Somali community, saying he did not want immigrants from the east African country in the U.S. because “they contribute nothing.”

The enforcement operation could begin in the coming days and is expected to focus on the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and people with final orders of deportation, the person said. Teams of immigration agents would spread across the Twin Cities in what the person described as a directed, high-priority sweep, though the plans remain subject to change.

The prospect of a crackdown is likely to deepen tensions in Minnesota — home to the nation’s largest Somali community. They've been coming since the 1990s, fleeing their country's long civil war and drawn by Minnesota's generous social programs.

An estimated 260,000 people of Somalian descent were living in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest population is in the Minneapolis area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens. Ohio, Washington and California also have significant populations.

US-Russia talks on Ukraine were productive but work remains, Putin adviser says

Talks between Russia and the U.S. on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were productive, but much work remains, Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday.

Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in talks that began late Tuesday as part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to broker a peace deal. Both sides agreed not to disclose the substance of the talks.

Ushakov called the five-hour conversation “rather useful, constructive, rather substantive,” but added that the framework of the U.S. peace proposal was discussed rather than “specific wording.”

Putin's aide also said that “so far, a compromise hasn’t been found” on the issue of territories, without which, he said, the Kremlin sees “no resolution to the crisis.”

“Some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed. Some of the wording that was proposed to us doesn’t suit us. So, the work will continue,” Ushakov said.

Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández freed after Trump pardon

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Hernández was released Monday from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press. The bureau’s online inmate records also reflected his release.

The release of Hernández — a former U.S. ally whose conviction prosecutors said exposed the depth of cartel influence in Honduras — comes just days after the country’s presidential election. Trump defended the decision aboard Air Force One on Sunday, saying Hondurans believed Hernández had been “set up,” even as prosecutors argued he protected drug traffickers who moved hundreds of tons of cocaine through the country.

The pardon also unfolds against the backdrop of Trump’s aggressive counter-narcotics push that has triggered intense controversy across Latin America. In recent months, U.S. forces have repeatedly struck vessels they say were ferrying drugs north, a series of lethal maritime attacks that the administration argues are lawful acts of war against drug cartels — and that critics say test the limits of international law and amount to a pressure campaign on Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.

The Trump administration has carried out 21 known strikes on vessels accused of carrying drugs, killing at least 83 people. The administration has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, similar to the war against al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some friendly, some on-the-news questions at first briefing for new Pentagon press corps

The new journalism guard is officially in at the Pentagon. And the questions being asked of those running the world's most powerful military range from softballs to pointed queries to performances.

On Tuesday, Defense Department press secretary Kingsley Wilson — focused on her talking points and jabbing at old-guard reporters along the way — held her first briefing since most nonpartisan news outlets were replaced by friendly media representatives willing to accept new rules imposed by department chief Pete Hegseth.

Even before the new rules were in place, Hegseth’s Pentagon struggled to hold televised briefings. Wilson’s boss, Pentagon top spokesman Sean Parnell, held only two, one in March and another in July. By contrast, Pentagon officials under the Biden administration typically held two public briefings per week by the end of their time in office.

Among the topics that interested the latest crop of reporters: the National Guard in American cities, military action in Iran and Somalia, an investigation into former President Joe Biden, potential legal action against The Washington Post and efforts to root out disloyal employees.

With Hegseth's role in U.S. military strikes on boats carrying suspected drug couriers off South America under scrutiny, Wilson was asked what say Adm. Frank Bradley had in a second strike on one boat, which a report in the Post on Friday said killed two survivors from the initial attack.

Israeli forensics experts examine remains handed over by militants in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Tuesday said it had received remains handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Red Cross. They were believed to be one of the two hostages still in the territory: an Israeli and a Thai national.

Israel’s government said the “findings” were taken for forensics testing. Palestinian media said they were discovered in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Lahiya.

The remains of 26 hostages taken in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war have already been returned since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire began on Oct. 10.

Israeli fire killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, according to local hospitals.

An Israeli drone strike killed a videographer in the south, said officials at Nasser Hospital, which received the body.

Police bodycam footage played in court shows the minutes leading up to Luigi Mangione's arrest

NEW YORK (AP) — Body camera video shown in court Tuesday documented how police approached, arrested and searched Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's — moments that underlie key questions about what evidence will and won't be allowed at his eventual state murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The footage taken five days after Thompson was gunned down on a New York City sidewalk captured the roughly 20 minutes between officers approaching Mangione at the restaurant and telling him he had the right to remain silent. During that time, they asked his name, whether he'd been in New York recently and other questions, including: “Why are you nervous?”

The Altoona, Pennsylvania, officers believed as soon as they saw his face that he was indeed the much-publicized suspect in Thompson's killing, and quickly realized he'd given a fake name and phony New Jersey driver's license, Officer Joseph Detwiler testified. But police suggested they were simply responding to loitering concerns at the eatery, they made conversation about his steak sandwich, and Detwiler even whistled a tune.

“Just trying to keep things normal and calm, make him think that nothing was different about this call than any other call,” Detwiler explained in court.

But however casual the tone at times, officers also patted Mangione down and pushed his backpack away from him — out of “a safety concern" about what might be in it and what he might do, according to Detwiler.

Man charged in National Guard shooting pleads not guilty during court appearance from hospital bed

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man accused of shooting two National Guard troops near the White House pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder and assault charges during his first appearance before a judge, appearing remotely by video from a hospital bed.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during last Wednesday’s confrontation, said through an interpreter that he was in pain and couldn’t open his eyes. A court-appointed defense attorney entered Lakanwal’s plea on his behalf during a brief hearing in Washington, D.C.

Lakanwal is charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm in the shooting that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report filed in court on Tuesday. Lakanwal chased after and shot at another Guard member before troops detained him as he tried to reload his gun, the report says.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal held without bond. His case is due back in court on Jan. 14.

Winter's first big snowstorm hits the Northeast as schools close and traffic slows

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The first major storm of the winter covered parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic with snow and ice Tuesday, making roads hazardous, disrupting travel and closing schools as some areas braced for several inches of heavy snowfall.

The storm could deliver up to a foot of snow (30 centimeters) as well as wind and heavy rain to states including Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Maine, although parts of the region were spared the predicted high totals. Storm warnings and weather advisories were in place throughout the day.

“It looks like winter wonderland at the moment,” said John Marino in New York’s Catskill Mountains, which could get up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow. As co-owner of a ski shop, he said he's grateful that several inches had already accumulated by Tuesday afternoon, a welcome bonus as the season gets into gear.

Hundreds of flights were delayed and roads turned hazardous before sunrise, slowing commutes. In West Virginia, a tractor-trailer driver was rescued unhurt when his cab dangled off a bridge for several hours after losing control in snowy conditions early Tuesday, news outlets reported.

The storm came just as the Midwest began to escape the snow and ice that snarled travel after the Thanksgiving holiday. Chicago O’Hare International Airport set a record for its highest single calendar day snowfall in November, with more than 8 inches (20 centimeters), according to the weather service. The previous record was set in 1951.

A look at the Thanksgiving shopping weekend and what's next

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's shoppers may feel gloomy about the economy, but they certainly were in the mood to shop over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend that wrapped up on Cyber Monday.

As Wall Street analysts and retailers sift through the data from the weekend — the unofficial start to the season and a good barometer of shoppers' financial health and the strength of the economy — the figures show that shoppers went online and in stores to scour for deals on everything from TVs to clothing. But all that economic uncertainty did affect spending. Shoppers were very focused and selective, some malls reported.

Of course, the weekend looks a lot different from 15 years ago, when shoppers camped out in the wee hours of the morning and fought in store aisles for doorbusters like TVs. Shoppers are still heading to stores, but the biggest growth is online, which now accounts for 30% of total holiday sales. That's up from 15% in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group.

Adobe Analytics reported Tuesday that so-called Cyber Week — the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday — brought in $44.2 billion online overall, up 7.7% year-over-year, bolstered by record spending online during Black Friday.

On Cyber Monday, consumers spent $14.25 billion, up 7.1% and making it again the year's biggest online shopping day.