AP Top News at 11:29 p.m. EDT

South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung says he’ll bolster US-Japan ties and pursue talks with North

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term. Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier Wednesday, a day after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year. In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-U.S.

US immigration authorities detain the family of the man charged in the Colorado attack

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The wife and five children of an Egyptian man accused of firebombing an event in Colorado in support of Israeli hostages were taken into custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials and threatened with a swift deportation. The family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, could be deported as early as Tuesday night, the White House said in a post on X. It’s rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation in this way. Soliman, disguised as a gardener, had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday’s demonstration and had 18 Molotov cocktails, but he threw just two while yelling “Free Palestine,” police said.

Musk calls Trump’s big tax break bill a ‘disgusting abomination,’ testing his influence over the GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk blasted President Donald Trump’s“big, beautiful bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts as a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday, testing the limits of his political influence as he targeted the centerpiece of Republicans’ legislative agenda. The broadside, which Musk issued on his social media platform X, came just days after the president gave him a celebratory Oval Office farewell that marked the end of his work for the administration, where he spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

Russian rockets kill 4 in a Ukrainian city as Kyiv claims it damaged a key bridge

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian rocket attack targeted the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding 25, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the assault, saying it underscored that Moscow has no intentions of halting the 3-year-old war. The attack came a day after direct peace talks in Istanbul made no progress on ending the fighting. Local authorities said the barrage of rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the center of Sumy. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s secret services said they struck inside Russia again, two days after a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack on air bases deep inside the country.

Gaza officials say Israeli forces killed 27 heading to aid site. Israel says it fired near suspects

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 27, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, in the third such shooting in three days. The army said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots. The near-daily shootings have occurred after an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system it says is designed to circumvent Hamas. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.

New Orleans jail escapee releases videos, prompting search of home where they were made, source says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man who identified himself as a New Orleans jail escapee released videos on social media while still on the run, leading to a police raid that failed to recapture him, an Associated Press source says. Authorities were so convinced about the authenticity of the videos that they searched a home a little over 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) from the jail late Monday where they believe the recordings were made by escapee Antoine Massey, according to a senior law enforcement official who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The official said he wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation into the May 16 escape by 10 inmates.

Arkansas authorities release photo rendering of ‘Devil in the Ozarks’ as manhunt continues

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas authorities on Tuesday released a photo rendering of a convicted murderer and former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks " as the search for the escaped inmate entered its second week. The new image was released as state legislators raised concerns about Hardin’s escape and said they planned to conduct a review of how it occurred. The Arkansas Department of Corrections said the photo rendering of Grant Hardin, 56, depicts how he may look after he escaped May 25 from the Calico Rock prison. The rendering shows Hardin with some hair on his head and face.

Federal prisons must keep providing hormone therapy to transgender inmates, a judge says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons must continue providing hormone therapy and social accommodations to hundreds of transgender inmates following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that led to a disruption in medical treatment, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said in his ruling a federal law prohibits prison officials from arbitrarily depriving inmates of medications and other lifestyle accommodations that the bureau’s own medical staff has deemed appropriate. The judge said the transgender inmates who sued to block Trump’s executive order are trying to lessen the personal anguish caused by their gender dysphoria, the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match.

Knicks fire coach Tom Thibodeau after first Eastern Conference finals berth in 25 years

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Thibodeau just took the New York Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals, the deepest playoff march in 25 years for a franchise that reemerged as a contender after he became their coach. For that, he was fired. The Knicks made what they called a “difficult decision” to move on from Thibodeau on Tuesday, believing it was a necessary step in their chase for a championship. “We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not only with class and professionalism for the past five seasons, but also to tremendous success on the court with four playoff berths and four playoff series victories,” team president Leon Rose said in a statement.

Weinstein retrial nears end as lawyers argue: sexual predator or #MeToo ‘poster boy’?

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ‘s lawyer portrayed him as the falsely accused “original sinner” of the #MeToo era, while a prosecutor told jurors at his sex crimes retrial Tuesday that the former movie mogul preyed on less-powerful women he thought would never speak up. The two sides took very different tones in their closing arguments, which are due to conclude Wednesday. Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, veered into folksy jokes and theatricality — sometimes re-enacting witnesses’ behavior — as he contended that his client engaged in a “courting game,” not crimes. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, as direct as Aidala was discursive, urged jurors to focus on Weinstein’s accusers and their days of grueling testimony.