AP News Summary at 3:42 a.m. EST

By The Associated Press

House elections produced a stalemate. Can Republicans figure out how to work with a thin majority?

WASHINGTON (AP) — After one of the most chaotic and least productive U.S. House sessions in modern history, voters made a surprising choice in elections — they overwhelmingly stuck with the status quo. Republicans will hold onto a thin majority in the House. While the chamber’s exact partisan divide is still coming into focus as votes are tallied in a handful of remaining races, the results of 435 House races nationwide produced hardly any change to the makeup of the chamber. In fact, the election results so far have ended in a stalemate. Republicans and Democrats have each flipped seven seats. Just eight incumbents nationwide have lost their races.

Trump names Interior-designee Doug Burgum to head new White House council on energy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Friday that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department, will also head a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world. Trump said Burgum will oversee a panel that crosses all executive-branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation. Earlier Friday, Trump said Steven Cheung will serve as his White House communications director and Sergio Gor will run the personnel office. Both positions could be influential in the new administration.

In final talks, Biden to press China’s Xi on North Korea’s ties with Russia

LIMA, Peru (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to use his final meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping to urge him to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its backing of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Saturday’s talks on the sidelines of an international summit come with about two months to go before Biden leaves office. Biden met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan and expressed alarm with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow battle Ukrainian troops. Biden administration officials believe Beijing could be doing more to urge Pyongyang against involving itself in Russia’s war.

Operation False Target: How Russia plotted to mix a deadly new weapon among decoy drones in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At a secretive factory in Russia’s central grasslands, engineers are manufacturing hundreds of decoy drones meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses as they try to protect against a horrific new weapon, an Associated Press investigation has found. The plant at Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone recently started churning out thermobaric drones alongside the decoys, the investigation found. The thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They suck out all the oxygen in their path, and cause injuries even outside the initial blast site: Collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage. Russia came up with the plan in late 2022 and codenamed it Operation False Target, the investigation found.

Protesters’ biggest day expected at UN climate talks, where progress is slow

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — The United Nations climate talks neared the end of their first week on Saturday with negotiators still at work on how much wealthier nations will pay developing countries adapt to planetary warming. Meanwhile, activists planned to march in what is traditionally their biggest protest during the two-week talks. The march in Baku was expected to be echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that’s become an annual event. While protesters are busy outside the venue for COP29, as the climate talks are known, negotiators inside will return to a hoped-for deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations.

Fire engulfs hospital ward in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — A fire tore through a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies and injuring 16 others. The fire occurred late Friday at a hospital in Jhansi city in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Officials said the blaze spread quickly through the ward, where 55 infants were being treated. Forty-five babies were rescued and are receiving medical care, said Bimal Kumar Dubey, a local official. It was not immediately clear what sparked the blaze. The tragedy has raised questions over the hospital’s safety measures. While fire alarms had been installed in the intensive care unit, parents and witnesses said they did not activate during the blaze.

The family of Israeli-American hostage pleads with Biden and Trump to bring hostages home

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Some families of the 101 hostages still being held in Gaza are desperately hoping that a drastically different political landscape will be able to reignite the momentum to bring their loved ones home. They say they still hope though the impacts of Donald Trump’s election victory, a hard-line new defense minister in Israel, Qatar’s exit from the negotiations and the ongoing war in Lebanon remain unknown. The family of 20-year-old Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander has met with President Joe Biden and president-elect Trump to plead with them to work together to bring home the hostages who have been held in Gaza for over a year.

An Indian family froze to death crossing the Canada-US border, a perilous trip becoming more common

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two men are accused of helping illegally smuggle Indian nationals across the U.S.-Canada border and into Minnesota, including four members of an Indian family who froze to death in 2022. Their federal trial is set to start Monday. Prosecutors say the two, who have both pleaded not guilty, were well aware of the brutal cold that winter and the dangers migrants could face. The men are accused of being part of a sophisticated human smuggling operation feeding a fast-growing population of Indians living illegally in the U.S.

The daughters of Malcolm X sue the CIA, FBI and NYPD over the civil rights leader’s assassination

NEW YORK (AP) — Three daughters of Malcolm X are accusing multiple law enforcement agencies in a $100 million lawsuit of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader. The CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others were named in the lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan federal court. The daughters — along with the Malcolm X estate — claim in the lawsuit that the agencies were aware of and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing. For decades, More questions than answers have arisen over who was to blame for the death. The FBI declined to comment and the other law enforcement agencies did not immediately respond to interview requests.

Jake Paul beats 58-year-old Mike Tyson as the hits don’t match the hype

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jake Paul won a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson as the hits didn’t match the hype in a fight between a young YouTuber-turned-boxer and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion. All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, with Paul even stopping to pay homage with a bow to Tyson before the final bell sounded at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The fight wasn’t close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73. Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.