AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST

Trump claims a win on immigration after a call with Mexico’s president. But she suggests no change

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump declared a win on stopping illegal immigration through Mexico on Wednesday after talking with that country’s leader. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Mexico was already doing its part and had no interest in closing its borders.

The two spoke just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canada and Mexico as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.

Trump said Sheinbaum “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico.” Sheinbaum indicated separately on social media that she told Trump that Mexico is already “taking care of” migrant caravans, calling it an “excellent conversation.”

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” Sheinbaum added.

While the state of the proposed tariffs remained unclear, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account that this was “effectively closing our Southern Border.” He called it a “very productive conversation.”

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Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A number of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and “swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.

“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

The attacks ranged from bomb threats to swatting, in which attackers initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses, she said. The tactic has become a popular one in recent years.

Leavitt said law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted and Trump and his transition team are grateful.

Among those targeted were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general; Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, whom Trump chose to lead the Department of Labor, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February.

Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”

Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned.

As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations.

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Thousands of Lebanese return to their homes as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire takes hold

TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants returned home Wednesday as a ceasefire took hold, driving cars stacked with personal belongings and defying warnings from Lebanese and Israeli troops to avoid some areas.

If it endures, the ceasefire would end nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, and Israel’s closest ally, the United States, into a broader conflagration.

The deal does not address the war in Gaza, where Israeli strikes overnight on two schools-turned-shelters in Gaza City killed 11 people, including four children, according to hospital officials. Israel said one strike targeted a Hamas sniper and the other targeted militants hiding among civilians.

The truce in Lebanon could give reprieve to the 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border.

“They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Mohammed Kaafarani, 59, who was displaced from the Lebanese village of Bidias. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide.”

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Schools are bracing for upheaval over fear of mass deportations

Last time Donald Trump was president, rumors of immigration raids terrorized the Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas was the school superintendent.

Word spread that immigration agents were going to try to enter schools. There was no truth to it, but school staff members had to find students who were avoiding school and coax them back to class.

“People just started ducking and hiding,” Balderas said.

Educators around the country are bracing for upheaval, whether or not the president-elect follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. Even if he only talks about it, children of immigrants will suffer, educators and legal observers said.

If “you constantly threaten people with the possibility of mass deportation, it really inhibits peoples’ ability to function in society and for their kids to get an education,” said Hiroshi Motomura, a professor at UCLA School of Law.

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Ohio governor signs bill limiting bathroom use by transgender students

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Transgender students from kindergarten through college at Ohio public and private schools will be banned from using multiperson bathrooms that fit their gender identities under a measure that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he has signed.

DeWine signed the law out of public view Tuesday over the objections of Democrats, teachers’ unions and civil rights groups, which had hoped that his objections to a ban on gender-affirming care for minors last year would carry through and prompt another veto. It takes effect in 90 days.

The governor issued no statement regarding the signing.

The Republican-backed measure — labeled the “Protect All Students Act” — requires public and private schools, colleges and universities to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in school buildings and other facilities used for school-sponsored events. It contains no enforcement mechanism.

“It revolves around safety, security, and, I think, common sense. It protects our children and grandchildren in private spaces where they are most vulnerable,” said Republican Ohio state Sen. Jerry Cirino, the bill’s sponsor.

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3 Americans held for years in China have been released, the White House says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released and are returning to the United States, the White House said Wednesday, announcing a rare diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration.

The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges.

“Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement.

The release comes just two months after China freed David Lin, a Christian pastor from California who had spent nearly 20 years behind bars after being convicted of contract fraud.

U.S.-China relations have been roiled for years over major disagreements between the world’s two largest economies on trade, human rights, the production of fentanyl precursors, security issues that include espionage and hacking, China’s aggressiveness toward Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, and Beijing’s support for Russia’s military-industrial sector.

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Police deny sitting on evidence as Netflix doc brings renewed attention to JonBenet Ramsey’s killing

DENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing.

JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.

The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier because of the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.”

In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution.

“What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives,” he said.

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Ex-TV host Charlie Rose settles sexual harassment lawsuit years after his #MeToo-era ouster

NEW YORK (AP) — Former TV host Charlie Rose has resolved a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by three women in the wake of his #MeToo-era ouster from CBS News in 2017 and the cancellation of his long-running, eponymous PBS talk show.

In settling, the plaintiffs said they assign no “ill intent” to Rose and realize now that his conduct could be subject to interpretation.

Lawyers for Rose and the women — younger employees who accused him of “predatory behavior” and “blatant and repeated sexual harassment” — filed court papers this week confirming that the lawsuit has been resolved. An online court docket listed the case as settled. The terms were not disclosed.

The lawsuit had been set to go to trial Monday in Manhattan after years of sparring over the women’s allegations and the dismissal of their retaliation claims against Rose.

Plaintiffs Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing Wei said in a statement that the litigation process and the required pretrial exchange of evidence known as discovery had enabled both sides to “better understand each others’ points of view.”

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Massive balloons take shape ahead of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

NEW YORK (AP) — They’re up, up and — almost — away.

The massive helium balloons that will float through New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took shape on Wednesday, when they were filled with helium ahead of the big event.

“You see these giant balloons come to life and they’re really, really huge,” said Stephanie Senkevich, one of dozens of people helping inflate the stars of Thursday’s show. “You can see them start on the ground right next to you where you look taller than them. And slowly, slowly, they start to raise right above you.”

This year, 17 giant character balloons and other inflatables will travel from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, alongside floats, performers, marching bands and more.

New balloons for 2025 will feature characters including Minnie Mouse, Goku from ”Dragon Ball” and Spider-Man, joining longtime favorites such as Smokey Bear and SpongeBob SquarePants.

The Associated Press