Airstrikes batter Iran as it attacks Israel and Gulf states, while diplomatic efforts gather pace

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Airstrikes battered Iran and Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel and sites across the Mideast on Tuesday, even as President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.

With thousands more U.S. Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides firing barrages and Iran denying any negotiations are taking place, the war’s tempo remained high a day after Trump delayed his self-imposed deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran's chokehold on that crucial waterway has snarled international shipping, sent fuel prices skyrocketing, and threatened the world economy.

Pakistan offered to host diplomatic talks, but Iran remained defiant, vowing to fight “until complete victory.”

Any talks between the U.S. and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s shifting objectives, particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, it’s not clear who in Iran’s government would have the authority to negotiate — or be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue taking out leaders after killing several.

Iran remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

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What to know about possible talks to wind down the Iran war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprising claim this week that talks with Iran were yielding great progress has only raised more confusion over a war whose goals were already unclear. The most basic question: What talks?

Iran denied any negotiations were taking place, pledging to fight “until complete victory.” Pakistan, Egypt and Gulf Arab nations are trying behind the scenes to piece together talks, but their efforts still seem preliminary. Israel is vowing to keep up its attacks.

If anything, the war appears to only be escalating. Barrages were fired into Iran, Israel and across the Mideast on Tuesday, and thousands more U.S. Marines were on their way to the Gulf.

Here is a look at what's known and not known about possible talks to wind down the war.

Since launching the war alongside Israel on Feb. 28, Trump has given shifting and often vague objectives, and those mixed messages were on display in recent days. He has talked of degrading or destroying Iran's missile capabilities, and its ability to threaten neighbors — goals that he has some flexibility in declaring accomplished. A much tougher goal is ensuring Iran can never build a nuclear weapon, and Trump has insisted that will be part of any deal.

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Fire truck in LaGuardia crash lacked equipment needed to trigger runway warning system, NTSB says

NEW YORK (AP) — A runway warning system failed to sound an alarm before an Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck that crossed its path while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, federal investigators said Tuesday.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are looking at whether that lack of warning or any other problems with the airport's layers of safety precautions could have prevented the crash.

Among the areas being explored are control tower staffing levels, who was in charge of coordinating the air and ground traffic and whether the fire truck heard the control tower’s frantic, last-second warnings to stop.

“We rarely, if ever, investigate a major accident where it was one failure," said National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy. "When something goes wrong, that means many, many things went wrong.”

The Air Canada plane carrying more than 70 people slammed into the fire truck late Sunday, killing both pilots and injuring several passengers. Most, though, were able to escape the mangled aircraft, and a flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived after being thrown onto the tarmac.

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New Mexico jury says Meta harms children's mental health and safety, violating state law

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico jury ruled Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms.

The landmark decision comes after a nearly seven-week trial, and as jurors in a federal court in California have been sequestered in deliberations for more than a week about whether Meta and YouTube should be liable in a similar case.

Jurors sided with state prosecutors who argued that Meta — which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — prioritized profits over safety. The jury determined Meta violated parts of the state’s Unfair Practices Act on accusations the company hid what it knew about about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and impacts on child mental health.

The jury agreed with allegations that Meta made false or misleading statements and also agreed that Meta engaged in “unconscionable” trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children.

Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million.

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Airport disruptions abound as senators chase deal to end Homeland Security budget standoff

WASHINGTON (AP) — Travel disruptions deepened Tuesday as senators raced to salvage a proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown by funding much of the department, including airport workers going without pay, but excluding immigration operations that have been core to the dispute.

The sudden sense of urgency comes as U.S. airports are snarled by long security lines, with travelers being told to arrive hours before their flights in Houston, Atlanta and Baltimore/Washington International. Routine Department of Homeland Security funding was halted in mid-February ahead of the busy spring travel season. Nearly 11% of Transportation Security Administration workers who were scheduled to report for duty Monday — more than 3,200 — missed work, and at least 458 have have quit altogether since the shutdown began, according to DHS.

Democrats are refusing to fund the department without restraints on Trump's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after federal agents killed two citizens in Minneapolis.

“The time to end this is now,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

But Democrats panned the offer as insufficient. And President Donald Trump himself was noncommittal.

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Minnesota sues Trump administration over shootings, including deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good

WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The lawsuit claims that the federal government reneged on its promise to cooperate with state investigations after the surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis. State officials are seeking a court order demanding that the Trump administration comply.

“We are prepared to fight for transparency and accountability that the federal government is desperate to avoid,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters.

The lawsuit marks an escalation in the clash between Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration over the investigations into the high-profile shootings by federal officers that sparked public outcry and protests. The Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials don’t have jurisdiction to investigate, but state officials insist they need to conduct their own probes because they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself.

“There has to be an investigation any time a federal agent or a state agent takes the life of a person in our community,” Moriarty said.

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Supreme Court considers letting Trump administration revive restrictive immigration asylum policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether the Trump administration should be able to revive an immigration policy that has been used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Some conservative justices seemed receptive to the Justice Department's push to overturn a lower-court ruling against the practice known as metering. Immigration authorities limited the number of people who could apply for asylum, saying it was necessary to handle an increase at the border.

Advocates say the policy created a humanitarian crisis during President Donald Trump's first term as people who were turned away settled in makeshift camps in Mexico as they waited for a chance to seek asylum.

The policy isn't in place now, and Trump ordered a wider suspension of the asylum system at the start of his second term.

The administration, though, argues that metering remains a “critical tool" used under administrations from both parties, and should be available if necessary in the future.

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Brazil's Bolsonaro to serve sentence at home due to ill health, judge to review in 90 days

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro will continue to serve his 27-year sentence for a coup attempt at home instead of in prison due to failing health, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes allowed the 71-year-old to return to his residence in capital Brasilia after he is discharged from the hospital, but he argued in his decision that he will review the case within 90 days.

Bolsonaro will wear an ankle monitor and is not allowed to use cellphones, the judge ruled. Local police will surveil his house in a gated community, where protesters are not allowed to gather. Bolsonaro is not allowed any visitors except for doctors and family members.

The embattled leader has been hospitalized since March 13 for pneumonia, one of several health problems he has faced since he was stabbed by a man in 2018 before he was elected president.

His house imprisonment could be extended after another medical report. Legal experts say it is rare for Brazilian judges to establish limits for house imprisonment measures, which are also hard to be revoked.

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As US pressure grows for leadership change in Cuba, a Castro could be the next president

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for change in Cuba’s leadership, speculation is mounting about who, if anyone, might replace Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

As Raúl Castro's handpicked largely figurehead successor in 2018, Díaz-Canel has been the only leader without the last name Castro to govern since the 1959 revolution. He still has two years left in his term —- but some experts and a growing number of Cubans doubt he'll make it.

Two Castro cousins have come into focus as potential replacements, experts said.

Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga — Raúl Castro’s 55-year-old great nephew — has shot to power since emerging from obscurity several years ago. He became minister of Cuba’s influential Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment in May 2024 and was appointed the island’s deputy prime minister in October.

By contrast, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro — Raúl Castro’s grandson — has never occupied a government post, having served as his grandfather’s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba’s equivalent of the U.S. Secret Service. He has long been known as “Raulito,” or “Little Raúl” and is new to the spotlight cast on high-ranking government officials.

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Afghanistan releases American national Dennis Coyle held for more than a year

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Tuesday released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the Foreign Ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul, the country's capital, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan's Supreme Court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient.”

Coyle was detained in January 2025. Afghan authorities accused him of violating laws, but never specified which ones.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release.

“President (Donald) Trump is committed to ending unjust detentions overseas – Dennis joins over 100 Americans who have been freed in the past 15 months under his second term in office,” Rubio said in a statement. “While this is a positive step by the Taliban, more work needs to be done,” he added.

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