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

‘Rust’ armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on movie set

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A jury convicted a movie weapons supervisor of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”

The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm.

Gutierrez-Reed also had faced a second charge of tampering with evidence, stemming from accusations that she handed a small bag of possible narcotics to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection. She was found not guilty on that count.

Immediately after the verdict was read in court, the judge ordered the 26-year-old armorer placed into the custody of deputies. Lead attorney Jason Bowles said afterward that Gutierrez-Reed will appeal the conviction, which carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Santa Fe-based state district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer did not immediately set a sentencing date.

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Alabama governor signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation into law Wednesday shielding in vitro fertilization providers from potential legal liability raised by a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court last month raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups. Three major IVF providers paused services.

The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

Republicans in the state Legislature proposed the lawsuit immunity as a way to get clinics reopened. They refused, however, to take up a bill that would address the legal status of embryos.

The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month. The decision prompted an outcry from groups across the country. Patients in Alabama also shared stories about having upcoming embryo transfers abruptly canceled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

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Third-party group No Labels is expected to move forward with a 2024 campaign, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The third-party presidential movement No Labels is planning to move toward fielding a presidential candidate in the November election, even as high-profile contenders for the ticket have decided not to run, two people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

After months of leaving open whether the group would offer a ticket, No Labels delegates are expected to vote Friday in favor of launching a presidential campaign for this fall’s election, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the group’s internal deliberations.

No Labels will not name its presidential and vice presidential picks on Friday, when roughly 800 delegates meet virtually in a private meeting. The group is instead expected to debut a formal selection process late next week for potential candidates who would be selected in the coming weeks, the people said.

Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump’s romp on Super Tuesday all but ensured a November rematch of the 2020 election. Polls suggest many Americans don’t have favorable views of Biden or Trump, a dynamic No Labels sees as an opening to offer a bipartisan ticket. But Biden supporters worry No Labels will pull votes away from the president in battleground states and are critical of how the group won’t disclose its donors or much of its decision-making.

No Labels officials would not publicly confirm plans for Friday’s meeting. In a statement, senior strategist Ryan Clancy said only, “We expect our delegates to encourage the process to continue.”

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Pressure grows on Israel to open more aid routes into Gaza by land and sea as hunger worsens

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Efforts to get desperately needed humanitarian aid to war-wracked northern Gaza gained momentum Wednesday with the European Union increasing pressure for the creation of a sea route from Cyprus to Gaza and British Foreign Minister David Cameron saying that Israel’s allies were losing patience.

While aid groups say all of Gaza is mired in a humanitarian crisis, the situation in the largely isolated north stands out. Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living there have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The U.N. says that one in six children younger than 2 in the north suffers from acute malnutrition.

Amid the global pressure to alleviate the crisis, two Israeli officials said Wednesday the government will begin allowing aid to move directly from its territory into northern Gaza and will also cooperate with the creation of the sea route from Cyprus.

Israel would allow 20 to 30 aid trucks to enter northern Gaza from Israel on Friday, the start of more regular deliveries via that route, one of the officials said. It will also begin doing security checks Sunday on aid in Cyprus before it’s delivered via sea to Gaza, the official said. The ship will be part of a pilot project to test the feasibility of the sea route. The aid is UAE-funded and made possible with US involvement.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the upcoming shipments with the media.

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Houthi missile attack kills 3 crew members in Yemen rebels’ first fatal assault on shipping

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel, the U.S. military said. It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack on the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the U.S. began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn’t halted their attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran announced Wednesday that it would confiscate a $50 million cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. aboard a tanker it seized nearly a year earlier. It is the latest twist in a yearslong shadow war playing out in the Middle East’s waterways even before the Houthi attacks began.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said an anti-ship ballistic missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen struck the True Confidence, causing significant damage to the ship. In addition to the three deaths, at least four crew members were wounded, with three in critical condition.

Two aerial photos released by the U.S. military showed the the ship’s bridge and cargo on board ablaze.

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Frozen in time: Families of those on missing Flight 370 cannot shake off their grief without answers

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Over the past decade, Grace Subathirai Nathan graduated from law school, got married, opened a law firm and had two babies. But part of her is frozen in time, still in denial over the loss of her mother on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane in 2014.

There has been no funeral service, and Grace, 35, still speaks of her mother in the present tense. When she got married in 2020, she walked down the aisle with a picture of her mother tucked in a bouquet of daisies — chosen because of her mother’s name, Anne Catherine Daisy.

The Malaysian criminal lawyer has become one of the key faces of Voice 370, a next-of-kin support group, as she channeled her grief into keeping alive the quest for answers in the mysterious disappearance of MH370 that has ripped many families apart.

“In terms of going on, I progressed in my career, in my family life … but I am still trying to push for the search of MH370 to continue. I am trying to push for the plane to be found, so in that way I haven’t moved on,” Grace said in an interview. “Logically in my brain I know I am probably never going to see her again, but I haven’t been able to accept that fully, and I think emotionally, there’s a gap that hasn’t been bridged due to the lack of closure.”

The baffling disappearance of Flight 370 still captivates people around the world. The Boeing 777 left Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on March 8, 2014, but dropped off radar screens shortly after and never made it to Beijing, its destination. Investigators say someone deliberately shut down the plane’s communications system and took the plane off course.

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Ex-Honduran president defends himself at New York drug trafficking trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took the witness stand in his defense at his New York trial on Tuesday, denying that he teamed up with drug dealers to protect them in return for millions of dollars in bribes.

His testimony in Manhattan federal court came after several days of testimony by drug cartel traffickers who are hoping to earn leniency from long prison sentences in exchange for their cooperation against him. They claimed he protected the drug trade in return for millions of dollars that helped fuel his rise to power.

But Hernández said the opposite, testifying that he worked against the interest of drug traffickers because they “did a lot of damage to my country.”

Prosecutors say Hernández, who served as president from 2014 to 2022, used his Central American nation’s military and police to help drug dealers move cocaine through the country on its way to America. In the U.S., he was often viewed by Democratic and Republican administrations as beneficial to American interests in the region.

Hernández denied helping drug traffickers or accepting bribes and cast himself as a crusader against drug trafficking who did everything he could to help the United States in its pursuit of drug dealers, including by extraditing about two dozen individuals.

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Politicians seek new alliances to lead Haiti as gangs take over and premier tries to return home

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian politicians started pursuing new alliances Wednesday, seeking a coalition that could lead the country out of the gang violence that has fueled lawlessness, closed the main airport and prevented embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning home.

Haiti remained largely paralyzed, with schools and businesses still closed amid heavy gunfire blamed on the gangs that control an estimated 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where several bodies lay on empty streets. The country’s two biggest prisons were also raided, resulting in the release of more than 4,000 inmates over the weekend.

Henry faces increasing pressure to resign, which would likely trigger a U.S.-supported transition to a new government.

One new political alliance involves former rebel leader Guy Philippe and ex-presidential candidate and senator Moïse Jean Charles, who told Radio Caraïbes on Wednesday that they signed a deal to form a three-person council to lead Haiti.

Philippe, a key figure in the 2004 rebellion that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returned to Haiti in November and has been calling for Henry’s resignation. He spent several years in prison in the U.S. after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign donor says his Panera Bread restaurants will follow minimum wage law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A wealthy campaign donor of California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Panera Bread restaurants he owns will start paying workers at least $20 an hour on April 1 after controversy over whether a new state minimum wage law for fast food workers applies to his businesses.

California’s statewide minimum wage is $16 per hour. Newsom signed a law last year that says fast food restaurants that are part of a chain with at least 60 locations nationally must pay their workers at least $20 per hour beginning April 1. But the law does not apply to restaurants that have their own bakeries to make and sell bread as a stand-alone menu item.

That exception appeared to apply to restaurants like Panera Bread. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Newsom had pushed for such a carve-out to benefit donor Greg Flynn, whose company owns and operates 24 Panera Bread restaurants in California.

The Democratic governor and Flynn denied the report, with Newsom calling it “absurd.” Newsom spokesperson Alex Stack said the administration’s legal team analyzed the law “in response to recent news articles” and concluded Panera Bread restaurants are likely not exempt because the dough they use to make bread is mixed off site.

Flynn has not said whether he agrees with the Newsom administration’s interpretation. But on Tuesday, he announced that all of the Panera Bread restaurants his company owns and operates will pay all hourly workers pre-tip wages of “$20 per hour or higher.”

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Haley’s exit from the GOP race pushes off — again — the day Americans could elect a woman president

WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman ascends toward the heights of American politics, with the nation’s top elected office — the presidency — looming far out of reach. A man at the bottom predicts, unhelpfully: “You’ll never make it, sister!”

Asked the Chicago Daily Tribune, in a 1922 editorial cartoon published two years after women won the right to vote: “How high will she go?”

More than a century later, that question remains stubbornly unanswered. Nikki Haley’s suspension Wednesday of her campaign for the GOP presidential nomination makes her the latest in a long line of women with presidential hopes to crash against the monolith of a man — in this case, Republican Donald Trump — in a nation founded on the concepts of equality and opportunity for all.

Without endorsing Trump, Haley withdrew from the contest with a shoutout to the women and girls who supported her, and by quoting a woman who did make it to the top in a democracy — Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister.

“’Never just follow the crowd,” Haley said, suggesting she’ll become a private citizen, for now. “Always make up your own mind.”