AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EST

“Which side do you want to be on?" Gov. Tim Walz asked the public. "The side of an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets, or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?” — a reference to Saturday's shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

In a federal office building about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino, the public face of the crackdown, again blamed the shooting on Pretti.

“When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement officer and — and they bring a weapon to do that. That is a choice that that individual made,” he told reporters.

The competing comments emerged as local leaders and Democrats across the country demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after Pretti's shooting, which set off clashes with protesters in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.

Republican calls are growing for a deeper investigation into the fatal Minneapolis shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — A growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, a sign that the Trump administration's accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino sought testimony from leaders at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying “my top priority remains keeping Americans safe.”

A host of other congressional Republicans, including Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, pressed for more information. Their statements, in addition to concern expressed from several Republican governors, reflected a party struggling with how to respond to Saturday’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a VA hospital.

Trump administration officials were quick to cast Pretti as the instigator. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was among those who said Pretti “approached” immigration officers with a gun and acted violently. Videos from the scene show Pretti being pushed by an officer and then a half-dozen agents descend on him. During the scuffle, he is holding a phone but is never seen brandishing the 9mm semiautomatic handgun police say he was licensed to carry.

The killing has raised uncomfortable questions about the GOP's core positions on issues ranging from gun ownership to states' rights and trust in the federal government.

Massive winter storm dumps sleet, freezing rain and snow around much of US

A massive winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic. Tree branches and power lines snapped under the weight of ice, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast were left without electricity.

The ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” for days, the National Weather Service said.

Heavy snow was falling from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in a phone interview. “It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000-mile spread.”

President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had rescue teams and supplies in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

More than 11,400 flights canceled Sunday as massive winter storm sweeps across US

NASHVILLE (AP) — A massive winter storm made for a brutal travel day Sunday, with widespread cancellations and delays at some of the nation's busiest airports.

Widespread snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened nearly 180 million people — more than half the U.S. population — in a path stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England, the National Weather Service said Saturday night. After sweeping through the South, the storm moved into the Northeast Sunday, and was expected to dump about 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston.

More than 11,400 flights were canceled on Sunday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that as of Sunday morning, the storm is the highest experienced cancellation event since the pandemic.

By Sunday afternoon, the majority of flights were canceled at busy airports in the Northeast and elsewhere. LaGuardia Airport in New York closed Sunday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency said on its website the busy Queens airport grounded flights until 8 p.m.

In Philadelphia, 94% of flights, 326 flights, were canceled. Ninety-one percent of flights, 436 flights, were canceled at LaGuardia Airport in New York. New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport had 466 flights canceled, about 80% of flights, according to FlightAware.

Iran unveils mural warning of retaliation if US conducts a military strike

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in a central Tehran square on Sunday with a direct warning to the United States to not attempt a military strike on the country, as U.S. warships head to the region.

The image shows a bird's-eye view of an aircraft carrier with damaged and exploding fighter planes on its flight deck. The deck is strewn with bodies and streaked with blood that trails into the water behind the ship to form a pattern reminiscent of the stripes of the American flag. A slogan is emblazoned across one corner: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”

The unveiling of the mural in Enghelab Square comes as the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships move toward the region. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the ships are being moved “just in case” he decides to take action.

“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said Thursday.

Enghelab Square is used for gatherings called by the state and authorities change its mural based on national occasions. On Saturday, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that his force is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger.”

Dr. William Foege, leader in smallpox eradication, dies

ATLANTA (AP) — Dr. William Foege, a leader of one of humanity's greatest public health victories — the global eradication of smallpox — has died.

Foege died Saturday in Atlanta at the age of 89, according to the Task Force for Global Health, which he co-founded.

The 6-foot-7 inch Foege literally stood out in the field of public health. A whip-smart medical doctor with a calm demeanor, he had a canny knack for beating back infectious diseases.

He was director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later held other key leadership roles in campaigns against international health problems.

But his greatest achievement came before all that, with his work on smallpox, one of the most lethal diseases in human history. For centuries, it killed about one-third of the people it infected and left most survivors with deep scars on their faces from the pus-filled lesions.

US security agreement for Ukraine is '100% ready' to be signed, Zelenskyy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that a U.S. security guarantees document for Ukraine is “100% ready” after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia.

Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a signing date, after which the document would go to the U.S. Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification.

Zelenskyy also emphasized Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.”

The Ukrainian leader described the talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. The talks, which began on Friday and continued Saturday, were the latest aiming to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy acknowledged fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point.

Trump says US used secret weapon to disable Venezuelan equipment in Maduro raid

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. used a secret weapon he called “The Discombobulator” to disable Venezuelan equipment when the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro. Trump also renewed his threat to conduct military strikes on land against drug cartels, including in Mexico.

Trump made the comments in an interview Friday with the New York Post.

The Republican president was commenting on reports that the U.S. had a pulsed energy weapon and said, “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it."

He said the weapon made Venezuelan equipment “not work.”

“They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off," Trump said in the interview. "We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”

Israel launches 'large-scale operation' to locate last hostage in Gaza

NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the last hostage in Gaza, as Washington and other mediators pressure Israel and Hamas to move into the next phase of their ceasefire.

The statement came as Israel’s Cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening Gaza’s key Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and a day after top U.S. envoys met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about next steps.

The return of the remaining hostage, Ran Gvili, has been widely seen as removing the remaining obstacle to moving ahead with opening the Rafah crossing and proceeding with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire's second phase.

Late Sunday, Netanyahu's office in a statement said: "Upon completion of this operations, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the United States, Israel will open the Rafah crossing.” It gave no details on how long that would be, but Israeli military officials were quoted in local media as saying the operation could take days to complete.

The return of all remaining hostages, alive or dead, has been a central part of the first phase of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10. Before Sunday, the previous hostage was recovered in early December.

Row erupts within UK's governing Labour Party after popular mayor blocked from upcoming election

LONDON (AP) — A row erupted Sunday within Britain's governing Labour Party after the ambitious mayor of Manchester was prevented from trying to re-enter Parliament at a special election in the city, with critics claiming Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not want to see a potentially dangerous rival back in the House of Commons.

Andy Burnham, who has been in charge of the Greater Manchester region since 2017 and has expressed interest in being Labour leader in the future, made a request to the party's governing committee on Saturday to stand as the candidate in the upcoming election for the Gorton and Denton constituency.

The request stoked speculation that Burnham wants to be in place in Parliament for a possible challenge to Starmer's leadership if a raft of elections this May — Britain's equivalent to the midterms — go as badly as many in Labour are fearing.

If current opinion polls are any guide, Labour is expected to lose Wales for the first time since the legislature was created in 1999, fall way short of reclaiming power in Scotland and get battered in local elections in England.

Other parties, including the anti-immigration Reform U.K. and the Greens, have been the main beneficiaries of Labour’s apparent drop in support.