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

Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shake hands and sign deal at White House peace summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook hands Friday at a White House peace summit before signing an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict.

President Donald Trump was in the middle as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan flanked him on either side. As the two extended their arms in front of Trump to shake hands, the U.S. leader reached up and clasped his hands around theirs.

The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other and the U.S. that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the U.S. to seize on Russia’s declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said.

Trump said at the White House on Friday that naming the route after him was “a great honor for me” but “I didn’t ask for this.” A senior administration official, on a call before the event with reporters, said it was the Armenians who suggested the name.

Trump has sought to be known as a peacemaker and made no secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize. Friday’s signing adds to a series of peace and economic agreements brokered by the U.S. this year.

___

Justice Department escalates scrutiny of Trump foes with probes of Letitia James and Adam Schiff

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is escalating efforts to scrutinize perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump with investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.

The Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to a lawsuit the Democrat filed against Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s part of an investigation into whether James violated Trump’s civil rights, another person said. Another subpoena seeks records related to a lawsuit involving the National Rifle Association and its longtime leader Wayne LaPierre.

The people could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on Friday on the condition of anonymity.

Attorney General Pam Bondi this week also named Ed Martin as a special prosecutor to help conduct separate mortgage fraud investigations into James and Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff of California, one of the people said. James and Schiff have denied any wrongdoing and have called the claims politically motivated.

The moves are among the most serious yet the Justice Department has taken against political foes of the president, who vowed on the campaign trail to seek retribution against his opponents. Schiff and James are both vocal critics of Trump, and James has sued Trump and his Republican administration dozens of times over his policies as president and over how he conducted his private business empire.

___

Appeals court tosses judge’s contempt finding against Trump administration in prison deportations

WASHINGTON (AP) — A split appeals court panel tossed out a judge’s contempt finding against President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday in a case over deportations to an El Salvador prison.

The decision comes after planes carrying Venezuelan migrants landed at the prison even after U.S District Judge James E. Boasberg said in court they must return to the United States.

Boasberg found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court. The ruling marked a dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches of government.

But the divided three-judge panel in the nation’s capital found that Boasberg had exceeded his authority and intruded on the executive branch’s foreign affairs powers.

Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both of whom were nominated by Trump in his first term in the White House, agreed with the unsigned majority opinion.

___

Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City stirs fears for civilians and hostages

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Friday it will intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, stirring fears for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, and renewing international pressure for an end to the conflict.

Israel’s air and ground war has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The timing of another major ground operation is unclear. It will likely require mobilizing thousands of troops and forcibly evacuating civilians, almost certainly worsening Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

An official familiar with the plans to take over Gaza City said the operation would be “gradual” and that there is no start date. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The U.N. Security Council announced an emergency meeting on Israel’s plans was rescheduled to 10 a.m. EDT on Sunday after originally being scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

The U.N. Mission of Panama, which holds the council presidency this month, provided no details, but Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and Israel is certain to want to speak at the meeting.

___

Nagasaki marks 80th A-bomb anniversary as survivors put hopes of nuke ban in the hands of youth

NAGASAKI, Japan (AP) — Nagasaki is marking the U.S. atomic attack on the southern Japanese city 80 years ago and survivors of the attack are working to make their hometown the last place on earth hit by the bomb.

Despite their pain from wounds, discrimination and illnesses from radiation, survivors have publicly committed to a shared goal of abolishing nuclear weapons. But recently they worry about the world moving in the opposite direction as the anniversary is commemorated Saturday.

The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed some 70,000 people, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and the country’s nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

Aging survivors and their supporters in Nagasaki now put their hopes of achieving nuclear weapons abolition in the hands of younger people, telling them the attack is not distant history, but an issue that remains relevant to their future.

Teruko Yokoyama, an 83-year-old member of a Nagasaki organization supporting survivors, said she feels the absence of those she has worked, which fuels her strong desire to document the lives of remaining survivors.

___

Germany halts military exports to Israel for use in Gaza amid outcry over Netanyahu plan

BERLIN (AP) — Germany won’t authorize any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza “until further notice,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, in a strikingly quick response by one of Israel’s strongest international backers to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet to take over Gaza City.

The move by Germany, which has previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel’s government taken by some of its European Union allies, appeared likely to further isolate Israel in the wake of the military takeover plan that has been decried by the United Nations, aid and human rights groups, and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, among others.

Germany, along with the United States and Italy, is among the top foreign suppliers of equipment used by Israel’s military. The pause adds to action taken by European countries — including economic, military and diplomatic measures — against Israel in recent months out of concern over its government’s conduct in the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Merz said in a statement that Israel “has the right to defend itself against Hamas’ terror” and that the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations toward a ceasefire are “our top priority.” He said that Hamas mustn’t have a role in the future of Gaza.

“The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved,” he said. “Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice.”

___

Trump says he will meet Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the Ukraine war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential breakthrough after weeks of expressing frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting.

The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details, which Trump announced on social media, but both nations had said they expected a meeting could happen as soon as next week.

Such a summit may prove pivotal in a war that began more than three years ago when Russia invaded its western neighbor and has led to tens of thousands of deaths — although there’s no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.

In comments to reporters at the White House before his post confirming the date and place, Trump suggested that any agreement would likely involve “some swapping of territories,” but he gave no details. Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed.

Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II.

___

California’s Newsom, Pelosi back Texas Democrats as GOP warns of more escalations over walkout

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shoulder-to-shoulder Friday with Texas Democratic lawmakers in a show of support for their nearly weeklong walkout, which has blocked a vote on congressional redistricting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over U.S. House control.

Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before next year. But the standoff is threatening to spill into other states — including California, New York, Florida and Indiana — in an emerging proxy war for control of Congress in 2026.

California is moving toward a special election in November that Democrats hope could slash five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state, in direct response to the maneuvering in Texas.

“We are trying to defend democracy, as opposed to see it destroyed district by district,” Newsom said amid the crowd of lawmakers at the governor’s mansion. “There are no rules for Donald Trump.”

Pelosi defended the Texas walkout, calling it “self-defense for our democracy.”

___

Suspected gunman and police officer dead in shooting near the CDC and Emory University, police say

ATLANTA (AP) — A man opened fire outside the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, leaving bullet marks in windows across the sprawling campus and killing a police officer before he was found dead in a nearby building, authorities said.

The attack, which unfolded near neighboring Emory University, prompted a massive law enforcement response to one of the nation’s most prominent public health institutions, but no one else was reported to be injured.

At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said in a post on X. Images shared by employees showed multiple agency buildings with bullet-pocked windows, underscoring the breadth of the damage to a site where thousands of scientists and staff work on critical disease research.

The gunman was found on the second floor of a building across the street from the CDC campus and died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. He added that “we do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.”

The shooter was armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

___

Montana bar shooting suspect is captured, ending weeklong search

A man suspected in a shooting at a Montana bar that left four people dead was captured Friday just a few miles from where the shooting happened after hundreds of law enforcement officers spent the past week scouring nearby mountainsides, authorities said.

Michael Paul Brown, 45, was taken into custody around 2 p.m. near the area where authorities had focused their search in the days following the Aug. 1 shooting at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, about 100 miles (190 km) from Missoula.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said during a news conference that about 130 law enforcement officers made a hard push Thursday after getting tips that helped verify they were looking in the right area.

“It’s not someplace he’d been hiding. He was flushed out,” Knudsen said.

Gov. Greg Gianforte first confirmed Brown’s capture on social media Friday afternoon, saying it was the result of what he called a “Herculean effort” from law enforcement officers across the state.