AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT

Hardly 'friends': Zuckerberg fends off senators on privacy

WASHINGTON (AP) - Under fire for the worst privacy debacle in his company's history, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg batted away often-aggressive questioning Tuesday from lawmakers who accused him of failing to protect the personal information of millions of Americans from Russians intent on upsetting the U.S. election.

During some five hours of Senate questioning, Zuckerberg apologized several times for Facebook failures, disclosed that his company was "working with" special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian election interference and said it was working hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users' private data by a data-mining company affiliated with Donald Trump's campaign.

Seemingly unimpressed, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said Zuckerberg's company had a 14-year history of apologizing for "ill-advised decisions" related to user privacy. "How is today's apology different?" Thune asked.

"We have made a lot of mistakes in running the company," Zuckerberg conceded, and Facebook must work harder at ensuring the tools it creates are used in "good and healthy" ways."

The controversy has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging, but Zuckerberg seemed to achieve a measure of success in countering that: Facebook shares surged 4.5 percent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.

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AP sources: Raid related to payments to women accusing Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal agents who raided the office of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, were looking for information about payments to a former Playboy playmate and a porn actress who claim to have had affairs with Trump, two people familiar with the investigation said Tuesday.

Public corruption prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan are trying to determine if there was any fraud related to the payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, according to one of the people. McDougal, a former playmate, was paid $150,000 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for her story, though the magazine never published it. Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels as part of an agreement, made before the 2016 election, to keep her from going public with her allegations.

A warrant used in the raid Monday specifically authorized agents to seize records related to McDougal, said one of the people, who demanded anonymity to discuss the confidential details.

The payments appear to be part of a pattern of Trump' self-described fixer trying to shield the businessman-turned-politician from embarrassing press by buying women's silence.

The new details on the Cohen raid, first reported by The New York Times, emerged as the president boiled over on Twitter about it and evidence that investigators are zeroing in on his inner circle. The raid on Cohen was not carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller's team.

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10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. WHO'D RATHER NOT GO IT ALONE

The Trump administration consults with global allies on a possible joint military response to Syria's alleged poison gas attack.

2. CHINA'S CONCILIATORY GESTURE RAISES OPTIMISM

Investors and China watchers welcome President Xi's pledge to open his country's market wider to foreign competition, hoping it will ease a trade dispute with Washington.

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AP FACT CHECK: Facebook doesn't sell data but profits off it

NEW YORK (AP) - Mark Zuckerberg insisted once again Tuesday that Facebook doesn't sell your data, calling it a common misconception people have about Facebook. Here's a look at his remarks.

ZUCKERBERG: "We do not sell data to advertisers," the Facebook CEO testified during a Senate hearing. "What we allow is for advertisers to tell us who they want to reach. And then we do the placement."

THE FACTS: It's true that Facebook doesn't sell your data directly to third parties, but it clearly profits from the information. Thanks to user data, Facebook made $40 billion in advertising revenue last year, second only to Google when it comes to the share of the global digital advertising market.

Facebook uses the data you provide, such as where you live and how old you are, and combines it with geographic information from your phone to tailor ads to a certain audience. Facebook can charge more money the more specific the audience is. "With our powerful audience selection tools, you can target the people who are right for your business," Facebook says on its page about advertising.

How does Facebook do this without selling data? Advertisers choose the types of users they want to reach. Facebook can make the match internally to select the users to be shown the ads. In this case, Facebook isn't technically selling data, as it's all done internally. But without your data, Facebook wouldn't be able to offer such targeted advertising.

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African nation of Chad is being taken off US travel ban list

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said Tuesday that citizens of Chad would be able to receive visas to the United States again because the African nation has been removed from the administration's travel ban list.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had signed a proclamation announcing Chad had "improved its identity-management and information sharing practices" enough to be taken off the list.

Chad was put on the list last September because of an office supply glitch that prevented it from supplying homeland security officials with recent samples of its passports. U.S. officials also said Chad was unable to adequately share public safety and terrorism-related information with U.S. officials who screen foreigners seeking to enter the country.

Chad has been a key U.S. counterterrorism partner in the fight against threats to Africa's Sahel region posed by al-Qaida affiliates like Boko Haram and the newly designated West Africa wing of the Islamic State group.

The travel restrictions placed on Chad will be terminated Friday, the State Department said. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the "improved practices" by Chad "demonstrate a clear off-ramp for countries placed on the travel restriction list. These improvements will improve security for the people of Chad and the United States."

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Bill Cosby lawyer attacks accuser as prosecutors build case

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Bill Cosby's retrial took a far more combative turn Tuesday than the first go-round, as his lawyers launched a scathing attack on his accuser and prosecutors put the first in a parade of women on the stand to portray the comedian as a sexual predator.

Heidi Thomas, who was a 24-year-old aspiring actress in 1984 when she met Cosby in Reno, Nevada, testified he knocked her out with a potent glass of wine and forced her to perform oral sex.

Prosecutors have lined up five accusers in all to make the case that the TV star, once revered as America's Dad, made a habit of drugging and assaulting women well before he was charged with violating Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Cosby's lawyer urged jurors to ignore the other accusers - calling them irrelevant to this case - but saved most of his fire for Constand, branding her a "con artist" who tried to frame the comedian for the money.

Tom Mesereau, delivering his opening statement a day after prosecutors took their turn, said Constand "hit the jackpot" when Cosby paid her $3.4 million over a decade ago to settle her lawsuit against him.

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Trump axes trip amid discussions over Syria, raid on lawyer

WASHINGTON (AP) - With federal agents digging into his personal affairs, Donald Trump drove his West Wing into deeper tumult Tuesday, canceling a South American trip to consider a military strike in Syria and bidding farewell to another top aide amid a continual staffing shakeup.

Trump, still fuming after agents on Monday raided the office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has privately pondered firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and publicly mused about firing special counsel Robert Mueller. The raid, in which agents seized records on topics including a $130,000 payment to a porn actress who alleges she had sex with Trump in 2006, comes as the president weighs imminent military action in Syria and ahead of what was supposed to be his first trip to Latin America this weekend.

Trump had been telling confidants for weeks that he was not eager to make the three-day trip, which had already been shortened from original plans, according to two people who have discussed it with him in recent weeks but were not authorized to disclose the private conversations. His decision not to travel was publicly tied to the need to monitor the situation in Syria, but privately Trump said he didn't want to be away from the White House amid developments in the China trade dispute and in the Mueller investigation.

A year ago, the president ordered a round of airstrikes while hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.

Trump also expressed confidence in the loyalty displayed by Cohen, his longtime personal and professional fixer, who ascended to one of the most powerful roles at the Trump Organization not filled by a family member. Cohen has steadfastly denied wrongdoing in his payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and has publicly defended Trump, but he has confided in associates that he is fearful of being a fall guy, according to a person familiar with his thinking but not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

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Trump and allies mull possible joint response in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) - Trump administration officials consulted with global allies Tuesday on a possible joint military response to Syria's alleged poison gas attack, as President Donald Trump canceled a foreign trip in order to manage a crisis that is testing his vow to stand up to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Trump spoke with other world leaders, and other U.S. officials said the U.S., France and Britain were in extensive consultations about launching a military strike as early as the end of this week. None of the three countries' leaders had made a firm decision, according to the officials, who were not authorized to discuss military planning by name.

A joint military operation, possibly with France rather than the U.S. in the lead, could send a message of international unity about enforcing the prohibitions on chemical weapons and counter Syria's political and military support from Russia and Iran.

President Emmanuel Macron said France, the U.S. and Britain will decide how to respond in the coming days. He called for a "strong and joint response" to the attack in the Syrian town of Douma on Saturday, which Syrian activists and rescuers say killed 40 people. The Syrian government denies responsibility.

The French president does not need parliamentary permission to launch a military operation. France is already involved in the U.S.-led coalition created in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Multiple IS attacks have targeted French soil, including one last month.

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Oklahoma Republicans refuse to bow to teachers' demands

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A top Republican lawmaker said Tuesday that the Oklahoma Legislature has no plans to bow to striking teachers' demand to eliminate a capital gains tax break as a way to end a walkout now in its second week.

Rep. John Pfeiffer, a House majority floor leader, also said lawmakers are unlikely to consider any other major revenue bills this session. Gov. Mary Fallin also defied striking teachers on Tuesday, signing a bill to repeal a tax on hotel stays that teachers had called on her to veto. Fallin encouraged lawmakers to turn their attention to other issues.

The actions of the governor and Legislature appeared to indicate that the confrontation has reached a stalemate. The state's largest teachers union has called for the walkout to continue until the Legislature comes up with more money for schools. Several districts have announced plans to close Wednesday for an eighth consecutive day.

Teachers descended on the Capitol again Tuesday, but the crowds were notably smaller. The House and Senate this week returned to more routine work, holding committee meetings and considering bills unrelated to revenue or education.

The Republican-led Legislature has approved tax increases on cigarettes, motor fuel and oil and gas production to generate about $450 million, with the bulk going to teacher raises. Pfeiffer said many House Republicans agreed to vote for the package only if the capital gains tax deduction remained.

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Gradual deployment of US troops to Mexico border underway

ROMA, Texas (AP) - The deployment of National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border at President Donald Trump's request was underway Tuesday with a gradual ramp-up of troops under orders to help curb illegal immigration.

The Trump administration also announced that Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will visit this week a stretch of new border wall breaking ground in New Mexico, putting additional focus on what Trump has called a crisis of migrant crossings and crime.

The construction and commitment of at least 1,600 Guard members from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas provoked fresh condemnation from immigrant activists and praise from border-state Republican governors, who will retain command-and-control of their state's Guard during a mission that for now has no firm end date.

The only holdout border state was California, led by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not announced whether troops from his state's National Guard will participate and has repeatedly clashed with Trump over immigration policy. The state was still reviewing Tuesday whether it join the effort, said Lt. Tom Keegan, a spokesman for the California National Guard.

In Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to put more than 1,000 Guard members into action, military officials said Tuesday that 300 troops would report to armories this week for preparation and training. Texas has previously kept about 100 Guard members stationed on the border for years as part of its own border security efforts.

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