Israel strikes Iran's nuclear sites and kills top generals. Iran retaliates with missile barrages

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.

Iran retaliated late Friday by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below.

In a second round of attacks, sirens and explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard booming in the sky over Jerusalem early Saturday. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the earlier wave of missiles, to head to shelter.

The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a wave was being launched. Associated Press journalists in Tel Aviv could see at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.

A hospital in Tel Aviv treated seven people wounded in the second Iranian barrage; all but one of them had light injuries. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services said they were injured when a projectile hit a building in the city

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The Latest: Israel attacks nuclear program in Iran, drawing waves of missiles

Israel's ongoing attacks on Iranian nuclear sites killed 78 people and wounded more that 320 on Friday, said Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. The strikes killed generals and scientists, but the ambassador told the U.N. Security Council that “the overwhelming majority” of victims were civilians.

Iran retaliated with two waves of long-range missiles targeting Israel's commercial capital, Tel Aviv, Medics said the first wave wounded at least 34 people and the second injured seven more.

Israel launched the attacks on Iran amid simmering tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. For years, Israel had threatened such a strike and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.

As Iranian projectiles and Israeli interceptor rockets left trails of smoke and flame across the night sky on Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to let Israel “escape safely from this great crime.”

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Marines take over some security in LA while cities across US prep for 'No Kings' rallies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After a week of protests over federal immigration raids, about 200 Marines moved into Los Angeles on Friday to guard a federal building in the city while communities across the country prepped for what’s anticipated to be a nationwide wave of large-scale demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s polices this weekend.

The Marine troops wearing combat gear and carrying rifles took over some posts from National Guard members who were deployed to the city after the protests erupted last week. Those protests sparked dozens more over several days around the country, with some leading to clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.

On Friday, Marines started to replace Guard members protecting the federal building west of downtown, so the Guard soldiers can be assigned to protect law enforcement officers on raids, the commander in charge of 4,700 troops deployed to the LA protests said.

The Marines moved into Los Angeles before Saturday’s planned “No Kings” demonstrations nationally against Trump’s policies, which will also happen the same day as a military parade in Washington, D.C..

The Marines’ arrival also came a day after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that had directed Trump to return control of Guard troops to California. The judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal, violated the Tenth Amendment, which defines the power between state and federal governments, and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority. The judge did not rule on the presence of the Marines.

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US helps Israel shoot down barrage of Iranian missiles

WASHINGTON (AP) — American air defense systems and a Navy destroyer helped Israel shoot down incoming ballistic missiles Friday that Tehran launched in response to Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and top military leaders, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. has both ground-based Patriot missile defense systems and Terminal High Altitude Air Defense systems in the Middle East capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which Iran fired in multiple barrages in retaliation for Israel's initial attack.

A Navy destroyer in the eastern Mediterranean Sea also shot down Iranian missiles heading toward Israel, one official said.

The United States also is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to the strikes.

The Navy directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House, U.S. officials said.

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Judge blocks Trump’s election executive order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to overhaul elections in the U.S., siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the effort as unconstitutional.

The Republican president’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline.

The attorneys general had argued the directive “usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.” The White House had defended the order as “standing up for free, fair and honest elections” and called proof of citizenship a “commonsense” requirement.

Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said in Friday's order that the states had a likelihood of success as to their legal challenges.

“The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Casper wrote.

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Air India black box recovered after crash that killed 241 onboard and several others on the ground

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered Friday in what likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident that killed 241 people on the plane and a number of others on the ground.

The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel when the plane came down shortly after takeoff on Thursday in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

The plane's digital flight data recorder, or black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with “full force.” The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post.

The device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement.

“This should show quickly if there was a loss of engine power or lift after takeoff and allow a preliminary determination of the likely cause for the crash,” said Fromme, who heads the professional association's Aerospace Division.

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Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, shows up for Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial but can't get in

NEW YORK (AP) — Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, briefly showed up to the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday to support the hip-hop mogul, a longtime friend. But he wasn't allowed into the courtroom and left after briefly watching the trial on a video monitor in another room.

Ye, dressed in white, arrived at Manhattan federal court before noon while the trial was on a break and spent about 40 minutes in the building.

After emerging from an airport-style security screening, Ye was asked if he was at the courthouse to support Combs.

“Yes,” he responded with a nod. He then hustled to an elevator and did not respond when asked if he might testify on Combs’ behalf when the defense begins its presentation as early as next week.

Courthouse security did not take him to the 26th floor where the trial occurs in one of the building's largest courtrooms. Admittance there is strictly controlled, with seats reserved for Combs' family and legal team, the media and spectators who wait in line for hours to get a coveted seat.

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Oil prices leap 7% and US stocks slump more than 1% on worries about the crude market

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices leaped, and stocks slumped Friday on worries that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.

The S&P 500 sank 1.1% and wiped out what had been a modest gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 769 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.3%.

The strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 7.3% to $72.98. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 7% to $74.23 for a barrel.

Iran is one of the world’s major producers of oil, though sanctions by Western countries have limited its sales. If a wider war erupts, it could slow the flow of Iran’s oil to its customers and keep the price of crude and gasoline higher for everyone worldwide.

Beyond the oil coming from Iran, analysts also pointed to the potential for disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a relatively narrow waterway off Iran’s coast. Much of the world’s oil that's been pulled from the ground moves through it on ships.

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Jury begins deliberating whether Karen Read is guilty of murder in Boston police boyfriend’s death

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the murder trial of Karen Read began deliberations without a verdict Friday after weeks of testimony in a highly divisive case in which the prosecution’s theory of jaded love turned deadly was countered by a defense claim that a cast of tight-knit Boston-area law enforcement killed a fellow police officer.

Read, 45, is accused of fatally striking her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a house party where other local police and a federal agent were closing out a night of drinking in 2022. She’s charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. If convicted on the most serious charge, she faces life in prison.

Jurors went home for the weekend and will resume on Monday.

Read’s defense said O'Keefe was beaten, bitten by a dog, then left outside a home in the Boston suburb of Canton in a conspiracy orchestrated by the police that included planting evidence.

The first Read trial ended July 1 in a mistrial due to a hung jury.

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Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges in Tennessee federal court

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee.

The hearing was the first chance the Maryland construction worker has had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration's allegations since he was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt to justify the mistaken deportation. The investigation was launched weeks after the U.S. government deported Abrego Garcia and following a Supreme Court order and mounting pressure to return him.

Abrego Garcia's lawyers told a judge Friday that some government witnesses cooperated to get favors regarding their immigration status or criminal charges they were facing. A federal agent acknowledged during his testimony that one witness was living in the U.S. illegally with a criminal record and is now getting preferred status.

“He sounds like the exact type of person this government should be trying to deport,” Federal Public Defender Dumaka Shabazz said. “They’re going to give all these other people deals to stay in the country just to get this one other person.”

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