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

Russia says 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility

MOSCOW (AP) — Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had learned the group’s branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and shared the information with Russian officials.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which state investigators were investigating as terrorism.

The attack, which left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof, was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine dragged into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “huge tragedy.”

The Kremlin said Putin was informed minutes after the assailants burst into Crocus City Hall, a large music venue on Moscow’s western edge that can accommodate 6,200 people.

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Kate, Princess of Wales, reveals she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy

LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy, she revealed Friday in a stunning announcement that followed weeks of speculation about her health and whereabouts.

The princess disclosed her condition in a video message recorded Wednesday in Windsor and broadcast Friday. It came after relentless speculation on social media ever since January, when she was hospitalized for unspecified abdominal surgery.

Kate asked for “time, space and privacy” while she is treated for an unspecified type of cancer that was discovered after what she described as “major” surgery.

Wearing a casual striped sweater and jeans, Kate sat on a wooden bench in front of a lawn dotted with daffodils. The flowers, which bloom in early spring, are often used as a symbol of hope for people fighting cancer.

“I am well,” she said. “I am getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal.”

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What is known about Kate’s cancer diagnosis

Kate, the Princess of Wales, has disclosed that she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy — though in a video announcement Friday, she did not say what kind of cancer or reveal details of her treatment.

Here’s what is known:

Kate had what was described as abdominal surgery on Jan. 16. The news wasn’t announced until the next day, when Kensington Palace revealed that Kate was recovering from a planned operation.

At the time, officials said her condition wasn’t cancerous but did not specify what kind of surgery, saying only that it was successful.

During the video announcement Friday, Kate said: “Tests after the operation found cancer had been present,” and that she was in the early stages of treatment.

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Senate struggles to wrap up $1.2 trillion funding package as partial shutdown deadline nears

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate bogged down Friday evening on a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills, increasing the prospects that funding for some key federal agencies could lapse and initiate a partial government shutdown beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Though passage was not in doubt, Republicans and Democrats were at odds over votes on proposed amendments in exchange for expediting a final vote.

Republicans said Friday evening that they had proposed several amendments on border security and other issues, but that Democrats had rejected those votes during hours of talks. Any successful amendments to the bill would send the legislation back to the House, which has already left town for a two-week recess.

“Right now, it doesn’t look good,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said after emerging from talks on the Senate floor.

The practical impact of a funding lapse in the near term would likely be minimal, with federal offices closed for the weekend and many government services funded through earlier legislation. Still, there could be varying impacts on the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies that would see a lapse in funds — especially if the disagreements drag into Monday.

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Speaker Mike Johnson faces threat of ouster from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson is at risk of being ousted after hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate Friday, his leadership abruptly challenged in the middle of a House vote on a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government open.

It’s the same political dynamic that removed the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, just five months ago when far-right conservatives revolted over his compromise with Democrats to prevent a federal shutdown. But this one faces steeper odds, with less public GOP support, at the moment.

As the House left town for a two-week spring recess, with no imminent vote scheduled on removing the speaker, the punishing threat hangs over Johnson, of Louisiana, as the far-right flank once again seizes on the tactic, a disruptive tool used to make demands and leverage their own priorities.

“We’ve started the clock to start the process to elect a new speaker,” the Georgia congresswoman said on the Capitol steps.

Greene, a leading ally of the Republicans’ presumed 2024 presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, declined to put a timetable on her next move, but said she was issuing a “warning” to Johnson for the weeks ahead.

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‘I will not feed a demon’: YouTuber Ruby Franke’s child abuse case rooted in religious extremism

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The malnourished and badly bruised son of a parenting advice YouTuber politely asks a neighbor to take him to the nearest police station in newly released video from the day his mother and her business partner were arrested on child abuse charges in southern Utah.

The twelve-year-old son of Ruby Franke, a mother of six who dispensed advice to millions via a popular YouTube channel, had escaped through a window and approached several nearby homes until someone answered the door, according to documents released Friday by the Washington County Attorney’s office.

Crime scene photos, body camera video, witness statements and interrogation tapes were released a month after Franke and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were each sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. A police investigation determined religious extremism motivated the women to inflict horrific abuse on Franke’s children, Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke announced Friday.

“The women appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined ‘sins’ and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies,” Clarke said.

Franke, 42, and Hildebrandt, 54, a mental health counselor, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse for trying to convince Franke’s two youngest children that they were evil, possessed by demons and needed to be punished.

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MLB investigating gambling, theft allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball has opened a formal investigation into illegal gambling and theft allegations involving Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

Mizuhara was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and claims from Ohtani’s attorneys that the two-way Japanese star had been the victim of a “massive theft.”

“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei (Mizuhara) from the news media,” the commissioner’s office said in a statement Friday. “Earlier today, our Department of Investigations began their formal process investigating the matter.”

Ohtani and the Dodgers were in Seoul, South Korea, for their opening series against the San Diego Padres when reports were published about alleged ties between the 39-year-old Mizuhara and an illegal bookmaker. The teams returned to the U.S. after Thursday night’s game and MLB did not make a public comment until announcing the investigation on Friday.

The IRS confirmed Thursday that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details.

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Texas school bus with over 40 pre-K students struck by cement truck, killing 2, authorities say

BASTROP, Texas (AP) — A cement truck veered into a school bus carrying more than 40 pre-K students returning from a field trip to a Texas zoo Friday, killing a boy on the bus and a man in another vehicle, authorities said.

Officials said the bus rolled over on the highway in the rural outskirts of Austin, where a heavy presence of emergency vehicles shut down traffic for hours. The roof of the bus was crumpled, and much of another vehicle nearby was pulverized. Personal items were strewn across the road.

Four people in critical condition were airlifted from the crash site. Six others with potentially serious injuries were transported by ambulance, said Kevin Parker, division chief Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.

An ambulance bus transported about 10 other patients to a children’s hospital with minor injuries, Parker said. Passengers on the bus included 44 students and 11 adults, according to the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

The child who died “was a precious young boy” who was a pre-K student at Tom Green Elementary School in Buda, according to Eric Wright, school district superintendent. The child’s name was not released.

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Trump says he has nearly $500 million in cash but doesn’t want to use it to pay New York judgment

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed on Friday to have almost a half-billion dollars in cash but said he’d rather spend it on his presidential run than on the $454 million civil fraud judgment against him in New York. The former president vowed to fight the verdict “all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary” as the state gears up to potentially seize some of his assets if he doesn’t pay the hefty tab.

Trump has been trying to get a state appeals court to excuse him from a requirement that he provide financial guarantees showing he’s good for the money while he appeals the staggering verdict.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee didn’t provide any documentation for his cash claim, and his lawyers have suggested it’s not feasible to tie up so much cash on a bond while also keeping his businesses running and meeting other obligations. Among them, according to financial records: a condition on one of his property loans that he maintain a minimum liquidity of $30 million.

A Manhattan judge in February found that Trump repeatedly lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and others to secure loans and make deals. The judge ordered him to give up profits from certain real estate deals and money he saved by obtaining lower interest rates on loans. Trump denies that he tried to deceive anyone.

As recently as Thursday, Trump’s lawyers reiterated in court filings that they were having difficulty obtaining a bond covering the judgment because underwriters insisted on cash, stocks or other liquid assets instead of real estate as collateral. More than 30 bonding companies rejected their entreaties, they said.

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Israel’s Netanyahu rebuffs US plea to halt Rafah offensive. Tensions rise ahead of Washington talks

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday once again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israel’s prime minister rejected American appeals to call off a promised ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is overflowing with displaced civilians.

The tough message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets the stage for potentially difficult talks next week in Washington between top U.S. officials and a high-level Israeli delegation. Netanyahu said Israel is ready to “do it alone” in Rafah if necessary. Despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide crucial military aid and diplomatic support, even as Israel’s war against Hamas has killed more than 32,000 people in Gaza and led to a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas and says the militant group’s forces there must be defeated for Israel to meet its war objectives. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7 attack, which killed some 1,200 people, took 250 others hostage and triggered the fierce Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza.

But Rafah now shelters over 1 million homeless Palestinians who fled fighting elsewhere in Gaza. The U.S., along with most of the international community, fears an Israeli ground invasion will endanger civilians’ lives and impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the territory, most of which comes through Rafah.

Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel is working on ways to evacuate civilians from combat zones and to address the humanitarian needs of Gaza, where international aid officials say the entire population is suffering from food insecurity and famine is imminent in the hard-hit north.

The Associated Press