AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

US envoys work for new hostage release deal, scale-down of Israel-Hamas war but say no timetable

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of the CIA jetted to Europe for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials Monday, sounding out the potential for a deal on a new cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza, as the U.S. defense secretary spoke to Israeli military leaders about scaling back major combat operations against Hamas.

Still, there was no sign that a shift in the war was imminent after more than two months of devastating bombardment and fighting. Fierce battles raged in northern Gaza, where residents said rescue workers were searching for the dead and the living under buildings flattened by Israeli strikes.

Pressure is growing, as France, the U.K. and Germany — some of Israel’s closest allies — joined global calls for a cease-fire over the weekend. Israeli protesters have demanded the government relaunch talks with Hamas on releasing more hostages after three were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops while waving a white flag.

U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza. But after talks with Israeli officials Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “This is Israel’s operation. I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms.” The U.S. has vetoed calls for a cease-fire at the U.N. and has rushed munitions to Israel.

The U.N Security Council delayed a vote to Tuesday on an Arab-sponsored resolution calling for a halt to hostilities to allow unhindered access to humanitarian aid. Diplomats said negotiations were taking place to get the U.S. to abstain or vote “yes” on the resolution.

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Pentagon announces new international mission to counter attacks on commercial vessels in Red Sea

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The U.S. and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced early Tuesday in Bahrain.

The seriousness of the attacks, several of which have damaged the vessels, has led multiple shipping companies to order their ships to hold in place and not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the security situation can be addressed.

The U.S. military’s Central Command reported two more of the attacks on commercial vessels Monday. A strike by attack drone and ballistic missile hit a tanker off Yemen, at roughly the same time a cargo ship reported an explosive detonating in the water near them, the military said.

“This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in statement released just after midnight in Bahrain. “Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative.”

The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain will join the U.S. in the new mission, Austin announced. Some of the countries will conduct joint patrols while others provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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Texas governor signs bill that lets police arrest migrants who enter the US illegally

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved sweeping new powers that allow police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the U.S. border and give local judges authority to order them to leave the country, testing the limits of how far a state can go to enforce immigration laws.

Opponents have called the measure the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law — denounced by critics as the “Show Me Your Papers” bill — that was largely struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and Texas’ law is also likely to face swift legal challenges.

The law, which takes effect in March, allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people who are suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, they could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.

Abbott, who signed the law in front of a section of border fence in Brownsville, predicted the number of people crossing illegally into Texas would drop by “well over 50%, maybe 75%.” He did not offer evidence for that estimate.

“The consequences of it are so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas,” he said.

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Jonathan Majors’ Marvel ouster after assault conviction throws years of Disney’s plans into disarray

NEW YORK (AP) — Marvel had more riding on Jonathan Majors than perhaps any other actor. Now it’s parting ways with him, and throwing years of plans for its cinematic universe in disarray.

Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Co. dropped Majors from all future projects following the actor’s conviction for assault and harassment on Monday, according to a person close to the studio who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The swift move by Disney marked a stunning about-face for an actor who had been one of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars. A Manhattan jury on Monday found the 34-year-old Majors guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation for a March altercation with his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.

Majors, who was acquitted of a different assault charge and of aggravated harassment, will be sentenced on Feb. 6. He declined to comment as he left the courthouse. Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said in a statement that “it is clear that the jury did not believe Grace Jabbari’s story of what happened in the SUV because they found that Mr. Majors did not intentionally cause any injuries to her.”

“Mr. Majors still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name,” said Chaudhry.

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Iceland volcano erupts weeks after thousands were evacuated from a town on Reykjanes Peninsula

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A volcanic eruption started Monday night on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the country’s civil defense to be on high alert.

The eruption appears to have occurred about four kilometers (2.4 miles) from the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. Grainy webcam video showed the moment of the eruption as a flash of light illuminating the sky at 22:17 local time. As the eruption spread, magma, or semi-molten rock, could be seen spewing along the ridge of a hill.

“The magma flow seems to be at least a hundred cubic meters per second, maybe more. So this would be considered a big eruption in this area at least,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management told the Icelandic public broadcaster, RUV.

In November, police evacuated the town or Grindavik after strong seismic activity in the area damaged homes and raised fears of an imminent eruption.

Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and grounded flights across Europe for days because of fears ash could damage airplane engines.

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Pope approves blessings for same-sex couples that must not resemble marriage

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples, the Vatican announced Monday, a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage.

But while the Vatican statement was heralded by some as a step toward breaking down discrimination in the Catholic Church, some LGBTQ+ advocates warned it underscored the church’s idea that gay couples remain inferior to heterosexual partnerships.

The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if the blessings weren’t confused with the ritual of marriage.

The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings in question must not be tied to any specific Catholic celebration or religious service and should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union ceremony. Moreover, the blessings cannot use set rituals or even involve the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.

But it says requests for such blessings for same-sex couples should not be denied. It offers an extensive and broad definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy shouldn’t be held up to an impossible moral standard to receive it.

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Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 116 people in Gansu and Qinghai provinces

BEIJING (AP) — An overnight earthquake killed at least 116 people in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China, the country’s state media reported Tuesday.

Search and rescue operations were underway in Gansu and neighboring Qinghai provinces. The earthquake left more than 500 people injured, severely damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines, according to the media reports.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in Gansu at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles) just before midnight on Monday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude at 5.9.

By mid-morning, 105 people had been confirmed dead in Gansu and another 397 injured, including 16 in critical condition, Han Shujun, a spokesperson for the provincial emergency management department, said at a news conference. Eleven others were killed and at least 140 injured in Qinghai, according to state media.

The earthquake was felt in much of the surrounding area, including Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the epicenter. Photos and videos posted by a student at Lanzhou University showed students hastily leaving a dormitory building and standing outside with long down jackets over their pajamas.

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36 days at sea: How these castaways survived hallucinations, thirst and desperation

FASS BOYE, Senegal (AP) — A month had passed when the first four men decided to jump.

Countless cargo ships had navigated past them, yet no one had come to their rescue. Their fuel was finished. The hunger and thirst were overwhelming. Dozens had already died, including the captain.

The voyage from the struggling Senegalese fishing town of Fass Boye to Spain’s Canary Islands, a gateway to the European Union where they hoped to find work, was supposed to take a week. But more than a month later, the wooden boat carrying 101 men and boys was getting blown further and further away from its intended destination.

No land was in sight. Yet the four men believed — or hallucinated — that they could swim to shore. To stay on the “cursed” boat, they thought, was a death sentence. They picked up empty water containers and wooden planks — anything to help them float.

And then, one by one, they leapt.

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Serbia’s opposition takes to the streets claiming election fraud in Sunday’s vote

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s weekend snap election was held in “unjust conditions,” with multiple reports of irregularities, international observers said on Monday, as opponents of populist President Aleksandar Vucic took to the streets claiming the vote was rigged.

Political tensions spiked in the Balkan country over the parliamentary and local elections on Sunday. In Belgrade, several thousand people gathered in front of the state election commission headquarters, chanting “thieves,” as opposition leaders moved to lodge formal complaints claiming fraud in the city election.

“We have hundreds and hundreds of complaints, said opposition politician Marinika Tepic. She and several other opposition politicians will camp inside the building that’s the seat of the state election commission. “We will stay here for a while.”

At one point, protesters broke through a fence surrounding the building and one young woman tried to storm the entrance. Protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and rolls of toilet paper at the building.

Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party won the parliamentary vote, an early official count confirmed. However, in the Belgrade local election, an opposition group said it was robbed, would not recognize the results and would demand a rerun of the ballot.

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The late Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, honored as trailblazer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, was remembered Monday as a trailblazer who never lost sight of how the high court’s decisions affected all Americans.

O’Connor, an Arizona native who was an unwavering voice of moderate conservatism for more than two decades, died Dec. 1 at age 93. Mourners at the court on Monday included Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to serve in her role, and her husband Doug Emhoff.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke at a private ceremony that included the nine justices and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, as well as O’Connor’s family and court colleagues.

“She would often say, ‘It was good to be the first, but I don’t want to be the last,'” Sotomayor said of O’Connor’s distinction as the first woman. She lived to see a record four women serving on the high court.

“For the four us, and for so many others of every background and aspiration, Sandra was a living example that women could take on any challenge, could more than hold their own in any spaces dominated by men and could do so with grace,” Sotomayor said.

The Associated Press