Deadly US airstrike on Yemeni oil port escalates Trump's campaign against the Houthis

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. airstrike on an important oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels killed more than 70 people and wounded many others, the Iranian-backed rebel group said Friday, marking a major escalation in the military campaign President Donald Trump launched against the faction last month.

The overnight strike on the Ras Isa port sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and turned tanker trucks into burning wrecks. It was the first American attack on a Houthi-controlled oil facility in the new U.S. bombing campaign. It also came just before the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Washington has linked to its attacks in Yemen.

The U.S. is targeting the Houthis because of the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran's self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel.

The port is a major hub for incoming fuel shipments that power areas of Yemen held by the Houthis, and analysts say the airstrike could seriously affect daily life there.

The Houthis, who said the attack killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses strewn about the port and smashed tanker trucks. They denounced the strike as a “completely unjustified aggression.”

___

Trump says Ukraine-Russia talks 'coming to a head' and 'no one is playing' him in push to end war

PARIS (AP) —

President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.

Trump spoke shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.

“Now, if for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say you’re foolish. You are fools, you horrible people,” Trump said. “And we’re going to just take a pass. But hopefully, we won’t have to do that.”

Rubio's dour assessment came after landmark talks in Paris among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. Another meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.

___

Israeli strikes kill at least 25 in Gaza and Huckabee makes first appearance as US ambassador

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 25 people on Friday including children, hospital workers said, as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.

The dead included 15 people killed in three strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Ten people were killed in Jabaliya, including eight from the same home, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

The strikes came a day after more than two dozen people died in Gaza as Israel continued attacks, pressuring Hamas to disarm and return hostages it took in October 2023.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Western Wall on Friday, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by U.S. President Donald Trump. "Those are his initials, D.T.,“ said Huckabee while showing the note to the media.

In his first act as ambassador, Huckabee said Trump told him to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Huckabee also said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas. A one-time presidential hopeful, Huckabee has acknowledged his past support for Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel but said it would not be his “prerogative” to carry out that policy.

___

US senator returns from El Salvador trip, says Abrego Garcia case is about far more than one man

WASHINGTON (AP) — The dispute over the wrongful deportation and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia “is not only about one man” but about Donald Trump's disregard of the American judicial system as well, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Friday as he returned from a three-day trip to El Salvador to press for the detained man's release.

Speaking to reporters just after landing back in the United States, Van Hollen offered few answers about what will come next in Abrego Garcia’s case. But the Maryland Democrat said that he and others will keep speaking out after the Trump administration defied court orders to facilitate his return to the United States and insisted that he would stay in El Salvador — even as officials acknowledged an “error” in deporting him.

“It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,” Van Hollen said at Washington Dulles International Airport at a news conference with Abrego Garcia's supporters behind him. “It’s very clear that the president, Trump administration, are blatantly, flagrantly disagreeing with, defying the order from the Supreme Court.”

Standing next to him, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, wiped away tears as the senator shared her husband’s comments about missing his family.

Much uncertainty remains about the future of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, after Van Hollen was presented with a carefully staged opportunity to meet with him in El Salvador on Thursday. The Maryland senator said that Abrego Garcia reported he'd been moved from a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison, CECOT, to a detention center with better conditions

___

Shooting rampage at Florida State that left 2 dead lasted less than 5 minutes, police say

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Several thousand students, staff and faculty packed a plaza at Florida State University for a vigil Friday evening, bowing their heads in a moment of silence honoring the two people who were killed and six others who were wounded in a shooting rampage the previous day.

The gunman, identified as the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy, arrived on campus an hour before the shooting Thursday and stayed near a parking garage before he walked in and out of buildings and green spaces while firing a handgun just before lunchtime, police said.

In roughly four minutes, officers confronted 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State student, and shot and wounded him, Tallahassee police said.

Officials have not identified the two men who died, but family members said Robert Morales, a university dining coordinator, was one of them. He worked at Florida State since 2015 and studied criminology there in the early 1990s, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The other was Tiru Chabba, 45, a married father of two from Greenville, South Carolina, who was working for food service vendor Aramark, said Michael Wukela, a spokesperson for attorneys hired by the family.

___

10,000 pages of records about Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 assassination are released, on Trump's order

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 10,000 pages of records related to the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were released Friday, including handwritten notes by the gunman, who said the Democratic presidential candidate “must be disposed of” and acknowledged an obsession with killing him.

Many of the files had been made public previously, while others had not been digitized and sat for decades in federal government storage facilities. Their release continued the disclosure of historical investigation documents ordered by President Donald Trump.

Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving a speech celebrating his victory in California’s presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.

The files included pictures of handwritten notes by Sirhan.

“RFK must be disposed of like his brother was,” read the writing on the outside of an empty envelope, referring to Kennedy's older brother, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. The return address was from the district director of the Internal Revenue Service in Los Angeles.

___

Iran-US talks over Tehran's nuclear program hinge on a billionaire and a seasoned diplomat

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As far as biographies go, the two men in charge of the delicate negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program couldn't be more different.

On the American side, billionaire real estate magnate Steve Witkoff leads the effort by President Donald Trump's administration to restrict Tehran's atomic program, which they fear could allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon. The Bronx-born developer finds himself tapped by Trump to deliver on the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war as well — two conflicts that show no signs of stopping.

Representing Iran is Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who like many of his generation is a veteran of the bloody Iran-Iraq war. He rose through the ranks of Iran's diplomatic corps and served as a trusted negotiator during the talks that led to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Whether the two men find common ground in the high-stakes negotiations, with a second round due to take place Saturday in Rome, could mean success or failure in the talks. At risk is a possible American or Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear sites, or the Iranians following through on their threats to pursue an atomic weapon.

Arriving in Tokyo as Iran's new ambassador in 2008, Araghchi received the equivalent of a diplomatic rave review — from the U.S. Embassy of all places.

___

Men toting chains and pierced with cactus keep a Good Friday tradition in Atlixco, Mexico

ATLIXCO, Mexico (AP) — Every year, crowds fill the streets of the central Mexican town of Atlixco on the Catholic holiday of Good Friday to witness the sight.

Throngs of half-naked men walk through the scorching streets blindfolded, toting 70-pound chains and pieces of cactus lodged in their arms and legs. It’s part of a tradition in the town where participants say they are paying penance for their sins.

But participation has dipped in recent years, and a tradition that once involved more than 100 people now has just 35. It coincides with a larger dip in people who consider themselves Catholic in the Latin American nation.

Locals and organizers believe it’s due to the loss of faith among young people, who find the practice too burdensome.

Since 1990, the share of Mexicans who identify themselves as Catholic has dropped from just over 90% to 78%, according to Mexico’s 2020 census.

___

Thousands of pilgrims trek through New Mexico desert to historic adobe church for Good Friday

CHIMAYÓ, N.M. (AP) — A unique Holy Week tradition drew thousands of Catholic pilgrims to a small adobe church in the hills of northern New Mexico, in a journey on foot through desert badlands to reach a spiritual wellspring.

For generations, people of the Upper Rio Grande Valley and beyond have walked to reach El Santuario de Chimayó to commemorate Good Friday.

Pilgrims began arriving at dawn. Some had walked through the night under a half moon, carrying glow-sticks, flashlights and walking staffs.

Some travelers are lured by an indoor well of dirt believed to have curative powers. Throughout the year, they leave behind crutches, braces and canes in acts of prayer for infirm children and others, and as evidence that miracles happen.

Easter week visitors file through an adobe archway and narrow indoor passages to find a crucified Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas at the main altar. According to local lore, the crucifix was found on the site in the early 1800s, a continent away from its analog at a basilica in the Guatemalan town of Esquipulas.

___

FSU shooting victims include a school employee whose dad was a Cuban exile turned CIA operative

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two people were killed and six others were injured when a gunman opened fire at Florida State University, sending students fleeing from the student union and putting the Tallahassee, Florida, campus under lockdown.

Authorities have identified the shooter as Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old Florida State student who is the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy. He began firing with his stepmother’s former service weapon before he was shot and wounded by officers when he refused to comply with commands, investigators said.

Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunchtime Thursday just outside the student union.

Officials have also not identified the victims who died. A family member said that university employee Robert Morales was one of those who were killed. Attorneys for the family of the second victim identified him as Tiru Chabba, a food service vendor executive. Here is what we know about Morales and Chabba.

Robert Morales was a university dining coordinator who had worked at Florida State since 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025