Iran's supreme leader resolves to keep fighting in his first public remarks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s secretive new leader issued his first public statements Thursday, resolving to keep fighting, promising more pain for Gulf Arab states and threatening to open “other fronts” in a war that has already disrupted world energy supplies, the global economy and international travel.

The hard-line stance revealed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's attacks were creating conditions for the Iranian population to topple the government.

“It is in your hands,” Netanyahu said at a news conference, addressing the Iranian people. “We are creating the optimal conditions for the fall of the regime.”

Since the start of the war, U.S. and Israeli strikes have targeted security checkpoints in Iran to undermine the government’s ability to suppress dissent, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the U.S-based independent monitoring group known as ACLED.

Intense airstrikes hit early Friday around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as outlying areas. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.

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US military refueling plane crashes in Iraq and rescue is underway

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American military refueling plane taking part in the operation against Iran crashed in Iraq and rescue efforts were underway, U.S. Central Command said Thursday.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. A U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the developing situation, said the KC-135 aircraft that crashed had at least five crew members aboard.

The crash was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire, the military said in a statement, which described the plane as “a loss.”

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said that two aircraft were involved and that one landed safely and the other went down in western Iraq.

A second U.S. official, who similarly spoke on condition of anonymity, said the other plane involved also was a KC-135 tanker.

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ROTC students at Old Dominion University subdued and killed shooter who left 1 dead, 2 hurt

A former Army National Guard member who had spent eight years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire on a classroom at Virginia's Old Dominion University on Thursday before ROTC students subdued and killed him, authorities said.

He had yelled “Allahu Akbar” before the shooting, which left one person dead and two wounded, according to the FBI.

Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, said at a news conference that the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students showed “extreme bravery and courage” and prevented further loss of life by stopping the gunman, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh.

The students subdued him and “rendered him no longer alive,” Evans said. “I don’t know how else to say it.” She confirmed Jalloh wasn’t shot but didn’t provide further details.

The campus shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media.

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Man who rammed his vehicle into Michigan synagogue was naturalized citizen from Lebanon, DHS says

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) — The armed man who rammed his vehicle into one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues Thursday has been identified as a 41-year-old naturalized citizen born in Lebanon, according to federal officials.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was fatally shot by security officers after driving through a hallway at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit, Michigan, in a vehicle that then caught fire, authorities said.

Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, called the crime a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community" and said at a news conference Thursday that the FBI is leading the investigation.

Investigators have not determined a motive yet.

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Oil jumps to $100 per barrel and stocks sink worldwide with no clear end in sight for the Iran war

NEW YORK (AP) — With no clear end in sight, the war with Iran sent oil prices back to $100 per barrel on Thursday, and stocks sank worldwide.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% and resumed its sharp swings following a couple days of relative calm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 739 points, or 1.6%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.8%.

The center of action was again the oil market, where the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 9.2% to settle at $100.46. Worries are worsening that the war could block the production of oil in the Persian Gulf for a long time and cause a debilitating surge of inflation for the global economy.

Iran’s new supreme leader released his first statement Thursday since succeeding his late father, saying his country would keep up attacks on Gulf Arab neighbors and use the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel. A fifth of the world’s oil typically sails through the strait, and oil producers in the region are cutting production because their crude has nowhere to go.

Countries around the world are trying to make up for that, and the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its members would release a record amount of oil, 400 million barrels, from stockpiles built for such emergencies.

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Under pressure from Trump, Republicans plan long talkathon on voting bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under pressure from President Donald Trump, Senate Republicans plan to launch a “full and robust debate” next week on legislation to impose strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements, an effort to show Trump that they are serious about the bill even though it doesn’t have enough support to pass.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is planning a talkathon on the Senate floor for an indefinite period of time, though it won’t officially be the “talking filibuster” that Trump has suggested. Republicans plan to hold the floor for days, if not weeks, to pressure Democrats.

“I can guarantee that we are going to put Democrats on the record,” Thune said on the Senate floor Thursday as he announced the plan to take up the bill, which has already passed the House.

Trump has said he won’t sign any other legislation until the bill — known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE America Act — is passed. It faces unified opposition from Democrats, meaning that the Senate likely can’t approve it unless Republicans change the rules and eliminate the filibuster. Many GOP senators are unwilling to go that far.

Trump has made the bill a priority ahead of the midterm elections, arguing that Republicans need it to win — even as his party won the presidency and congressional majorities in 2024 without it. Federal law already requires that voters in national elections affirm under oath, at the risk of prosecution, that they are U.S. citizens.

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Iran-linked hackers take aim at US and other targets, raising risk of cyberattacks during war

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pro-Iranian hackers are targeting sites in the Middle East and starting to stretch into the United States during the war, raising the risk of American defense contractors, power stations and water plants being swept into a wave of digital chaos that could expand if Tehran's allies join the fray.

Hackers supporting Iran claimed responsibility for a significant cyberattack Wednesday against U.S. medical device company Stryker. Since the war began Feb. 28, they also have tried to penetrate cameras in Middle Eastern countries to improve Iran's missile targeting. They have targeted data centers in the region, as well as industrial facilities in Israel, a school in Saudi Arabia and an airport in Kuwait.

Iran has invested heavily in its offensive cyber capabilities while cultivating ties to hacking groups. In recent years, groups working for Tehran have infiltrated the email system of President Donald Trump's campaign, targeted U.S. water plants and tried to breach the networks used by the military and defense contractors.

The goal is to wear down the American war effort, drive up the costs of energy, strain cyber resources and cause as much pain as possible for American companies that depend on the defense industry.

“Something is going to happen because the gloves are off," said Kevin Mandia, founder of the cybersecurity companies Mandiant and Armadin.

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Trump bragged about low gas prices. The Iran conflict has him doing an about-face

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since starting a war with Iran caused oil and gasoline prices to spike, President Donald Trump has pivoted from a focus on keeping energy prices low to trying to paint high oil prices as a positive.

The about-face comes as Trump's team has struggled to offer a clear plan for opening up the critical Strait of Hormuz so that tankers full of oil and natural gas are no longer stranded — even as the administration took a series of decisions to try to quickly stabilize surging prices.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump said Thursday on his social media site.

It was only last month, in his State of the Union address, that Trump had bragged about gas prices at $2.30 a gallon, a figure that has since soared more than 50% to a national average of $3.60 a gallon, according to AAA.

The flip-flop shows Trump's political interests at home are suddenly at odds with his desire to flex America’s muscles on the global stage. It comes at a precarious time for Trump's party, ahead of the November midterm elections. Trump has said that high gas prices helped him defeat his predecessor, Joe Biden. But he told reporters on Saturday that he had no worries about the rising costs that could influence voters this year, and create pressure for him to end the conflict prematurely.

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Israeli military drops charges against soldiers accused of sexually assaulting Palestinian detainee

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military on Thursday said it was dropping charges against five soldiers accused of beating and sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee in an alleged assault partially caught on camera.

The decision, which came as much of the country’s attention was focused on the war with Iran, closed a flashpoint case that has bitterly divided Israel since the soldiers were arrested in 2024 at the notorious Sde Teiman military prison, prompting anger from members of the far-right government and hard-line ultranationalists who violently overran the prison in protest.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the announcement, while human rights groups accused the military of ignoring one of the gravest instances of abuse in the country’s network of wartime prisons.

“Israel’s military advocate general just gave his soldiers license to rape -- so long as the victim is Palestinian,” said Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, after the case was dismissed. She said the decision was “the latest in a long line of actions that whitewash abuses against detainees whose frequency and severity have worsened since Oct. 7, 2023.”

Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying that “the state of Israel must pursue its enemies, not its heroic fighters.”

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Smaller portions are a big restaurant trend as customers watch their budgets and waistlines

The biggest new restaurant trend is small.

Special menus with petite, less expensive portions are popping up all over, from large chains like Olive Garden and The Cheesecake Factory to trendy urban eateries and farm-to-fork dining rooms.

Restaurants hope that offering smaller servings beyond the children's menu will meet many different diners’ needs. Some people want to spend less when they go out. Others are looking for healthier options or trying to lose weight. Younger consumers tend to snack more throughout the day and eat smaller meals, said Maeve Webster, the president of culinary consulting firm Menu Matters.

“These are really driven by, I think, changes in the way people are thinking about their relationship with food, the way they spend money on food, what is a good value and what’s not,” Webster said.

Beth Tipton, the co-owner of Daniel Girls Farmhouse Restaurant in Connersville, Indiana, introduced an eight-item Mini Meals menu last fall after several customers requested smaller portions. The menu, which includes daily specials like a half piece of meatloaf with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy for $8, now accounts for about 20% of the restaurant's orders, she said.

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