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

The owner of HBO Max, DC Studios and popular titles like “Harry Potter” had backed Netflix’s proposal for months. But after Skydance-owned Paramount upped its rival bid for the entire company to $31 per share, in addition to other revisions, Warner’s board on Thursday said that the offer “constitutes a ‘company superior proposal.’”

That could mean the start of a fresh bidding war over Warner. Netflix now has four business days to try and match Paramount’s proposal to further revise its offer — which currently stands at $27.75 per share for Warner’s studio and streaming business.

Warner on Thursday maintained that Netflix's bid remains on the table. And despite Thursday's decision, the board noted that it “has not withdrawn or modified" its previous recommendation in favor of that transaction.

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hillary Clinton testifies she has no information on Epstein's crimes and doesn't recall meeting him

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media. The closed-door deposition concluded after over six hours of questioning Thursday.

The depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee as it investigates Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.

Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein's abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.

President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed regret that the Clintons are being forced to testify, bowed last year to pressure to release case files on Epstein. The Clintons, too, agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.

Anthropic CEO says AI company 'cannot in good conscience accede' to Pentagon's demands

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology.

The company said in a statement that it’s not walking away from negotiation but that new contract language received from the Defense Department “made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.”

The Pentagon’s top spokesman has reiterated that the military wants to use Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology in legal ways and will not let the company dictate any limits ahead of a Friday deadline to agree to its demands.

Sean Parnell said Thursday on social media that the Pentagon “has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”

Anthropic’s policies prevent its models, such as its chatbot Claude, from being used for those purposes. It’s the last of its peers — the Pentagon also has contracts with Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI — to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network.

Cuba says troops killed 4 after an armed speedboat opened fire near the island

MIAMI (AP) — Word from the Cuban government of a deadly encounter between its troops and a boat carrying armed expatriates is casting a spotlight on Cubans living in the U.S. who still harbor aspirations of a counter-revolution 67 years after a guerrilla uprising ushered in communism.

Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops, who fired back, killing four and wounding six, Cuba’s government says.

One of the four killed was Michel Ortega Casanova – a man on an “obsessive and diabolical” quest for Cuba’s freedom from current circumstances, according to his brother in Miami.

Misael Ortega Casanova said that his brother Michel is an American citizen who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and still agonizes over the suffering that Cubans endure.

“They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives,” Misael said of passions harbored by his brother.

US and Iran wrap up latest nuclear talks without a deal as the risk of war looms

GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States held hours of indirect negotiations Thursday over Tehran's nuclear program but walked away without a deal, leaving the danger of another Mideast war on the table as the U.S. has gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the region.

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the talks in Geneva, said there had been “significant progress in the negotiation” without elaborating.

But just before the talks ended, Iranian state television reported that Tehran was determined to continue enriching uranium, rejected proposals to transfer it abroad and sought the lifting of international sanctions, indicating it was not prepared to meet U.S. President Donald Trump's demands.

Trump wants a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, and he sees an opportunity while the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests. Iran also hopes to avert war, but maintains it has the right to enrich uranium and does not want to discuss other issues, like its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Al-Busaidi said technical talks involving lower-level representatives would continue next week in Vienna, the home of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The United Nations' atomic watchdog likely would be critical in any deal.

Judge rejects request to block Trump White House from building its $400 million ballroom project

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a preservationist group’s request to block the Trump administration from continuing construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the National Trust for Historic Preservation was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its bid to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s project. He said the privately funded group based its challenge on a "ragtag group of theories" under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, and would have a better chance of success if it amended the lawsuit.

“Unfortunately, because both sides initially focused on the President’s constitutional authority to destruct and construct the East Wing of the White House, Plaintiff didn’t bring the necessary cause of action to test the statutory authority the President claims is the basis to do this construction project without the blessing of Congress and with private funds,” the judge wrote.

The preservationists sought an order pausing the ballroom project until it undergoes multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

Trump used his social media account to hail the ruling as “Great news for America.” The Republican president said the project was ahead of schedule and under budget and "will stand long into the future as a symbol to the Greatness of America.”

Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus along with allegations that agents had entered the university-owned residence under false pretenses.

Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump.

In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately.

“I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani's post, adding she was in “complete shock” from the experience.

The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president’s unlikely relationship with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened to have deported.

Young woman says she was on social media 'all day long' as a child in landmark addiction trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A young woman who is battling against social media giants took the stand Thursday to testify about her experience using the platforms as she was growing up, saying she was on social media “all day long” as a child.

The now 20-year-old, who has been identified in court documents as KGM, says her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta and YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies are likely to play out.

KGM, or Kaley, as her lawyers have called her during the trial, started using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9.

Kaley took the stand wearing a pink floral dress and a beige cardigan and said she was “very nervous” after her attorney, Mark Lanier, asked how she was doing Thursday morning.

Prosecutor claims that delayed charges against Abrego Garcia were 'extraordinary' but justified

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A representative of the U.S. Attorney’s office testified in federal court on Thursday that the human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was justified while acknowledging that the charges coming two years after a traffic stop in question was “extraordinary.”

Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive and pushed by officials from President Donald Trump's administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States. He wants the charges dismissed.

While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That's because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

After he was deported to El Salvador last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration had to work to bring him back. He was eventually returned to the U.S. only to face criminal charges of human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty.

Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

US hockey player Brady Tkachuk slams White House TikTok as 'clearly fake' after anti-Canada slur

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — American hockey player Brady Tkachuk said Thursday that he did not appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians after winning Olympic gold, calling it fake and something he would never say.

The video includes fabricated audio of Tkachuk referring to Canadians as “maple syrup eating (expletive),” with the expletive bleeped out. The video carries a note saying it “contains AI-generated media.”

“It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts. … I know that those words would never come out of my mouth.”

Asked if he liked the video, Tkachuk said he did not: “I would never say that. That’s not who I am.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.