News Story

Tehran claims the US attacked it from the UAE as Iran war enters its third week

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Iran urged people Saturday to evacuate the Middle East's busiest port and two others in the United Arab Emirates, openly threatening a neighboring country's non-U.S. assets for the first time as its war with the United States and Israel entered a third week.

Tehran said the U.S. had used "ports, docks and hideouts" in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran's oil exports, without providing evidence. It urged people to leave areas where it said U.S. forces were sheltering.

Hours later, there was no sign of an attack on Dubai´s Jebel Ali port - the Mideast´s busiest - or the Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi. But debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hitting an oil facility sparked a fire at the third port, in Fujairah.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told MS NOW that the U.S. attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place "very close to Dubai," calling that dangerous and saying Iran "will try to be careful not to attack any populated area" there.

U.S. Central Command said it had no response to Iran´s claim. A diplomatic adviser to the UAE´s president, Anwar Gargash, said on social media the country has the right to defend itself but "still prioritizes reason and logic, and continues exercising restraint."

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Iranians grapple with whether to flee the country because of the war

KAPIKOY BORDER CROSSING, Turkey (AP) - After bombs exploded near her home in the eastern Iranian city of Golestan, hairdresser Merve Pourkaz decided to leave.

Pourkaz, 32, said she traveled nearly 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) to an alpine border crossing in the hopes of reaching the safety of the nearby Turkish city of Van.

"If they let me, I will stay in Van until the war ends," she told The Associated Press recently while waiting at the crossing. "If the war doesn´t end, maybe I´ll go back and die."

Pourkaz is one of the 3.2 million people in Iran who the U.N. refugee agency estimates have been displaced since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran started. While some are seeking shelter in safer parts of Iran or one of its neighboring countries, others are returning from abroad, heading toward the fighting to protect their families and homes.

So far, relatively few people have chosen to leave: The U.N. estimates that only about 1,300 Iranians have fled via Turkey each day since the war started, and on some days, more people return to Iran than depart. But Iran's neighbors and Europe are growing increasingly concerned about a possible migration crisis should the war drag on and are making contingency plans.

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War has already displaced nearly a million Lebanese, and aid groups warn of a humanitarian crisis

BEIRUT (AP) - Fatima Nazha slept on the street for two days after she and her family fled their home in Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli mass evacuation order.

All of the schools the government turned into shelters were full, and the family couldn´t afford a hotel or an apartment, so she and her husband eventually moved into a tent in the country's biggest stadium while their kids and grandchildren found shelter near the southern coastal city of Sidon.

In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by war, just over a year since the last conflict uprooted over a million Lebanese from their homes. That´s one in every seven people in the tiny country, according to humanitarian organization the Norwegian Refugee Council. Many don´t have a place to stay, and the cash-strapped government has only been able to accommodate roughly 120,000 people as it scrambles to open shelters and bring in more supplies.

Nazha, who uses a wheelchair, said being forced from her home has been far more difficult this time than when Israel and Hezbollah were last at war more than a year ago. The strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group have been more intense and unpredictable, and Israel's evacuation order came abruptly, leaving her unable to gather all her belongings.

"The strikes used to target a specific area, but now they´re hitting all the areas," she said, taking a drag off her cigarette. Lebanon´s Health Ministry said Friday that more than 700 people, including 103 children, have died in the war.

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Russian strike on Kyiv region kills 4 people and wounds 15 as peace talks are stalled

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - A combined Russian missile and drone attack on the Kyiv region killed at least four people and wounded 15, a Ukrainian official said Saturday, after the United States postponed Russia-Ukraine talks due to the war with Iran.

The attack hit four districts, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions, enterprises and critical infrastructure, the head of the regional administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, wrote in a social media post. He said three of the wounded were in critical condition.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the main target of the strikes was the energy infrastructure of the Kyiv region. He said Russia launched around 430 drones and 68 missiles.

Russia´s Defense Ministry on Saturday said the nighttime strikes targeted energy and industrial facilities serving Ukraine's armed forces, as well as military airfields.

The U.S. has postponed its sponsored talks planned this week between the two sides due to the war in the Middle East.

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AP Exclusive: Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan talks diplomatic efforts as regional war rages

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey´s powerful foreign minister said Saturday that there is no serious initiative to resume negotiations between the United States and Iran but that he believes Iran is open to back-channel talks.

The comments by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview came as Ankara is striving to stay out of the widening war in the Middle East.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Washington and Tehran, had attempted to mediate a solution between them before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran two weeks ago, triggering the war.

"The conditions are not very much conducive" to diplomacy now, Fidan said. The Iranians "feel betrayed" because for a second time they were attacked while in active negotiations with the U.S. over their nuclear program, he said, but added, "I think they are open to any sensible back-channel diplomacy."

Fidan, 57, served as Turkey´s intelligence chief for more than a decade before being appointed foreign minister in 2023.

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Before recent attack, Michigan synagogue had been bolstering its security

The Michigan synagogue that came under attack this week when an armed man drove his car into the building had for months been strengthening its security apparatus by hiring a seasoned police lieutenant as its security director and holding active shooter training.

That beefed up security, which came in response to rising antisemitism and other attacks at places of worship, is being credited with saving lives in an event that ended with only the attacker dying.

An armed private security guard shot back at the attacker after he opened fire through his windshield in a hallway inside the building. When the car barreled in, there were 140 students inside in an early childhood learning center. All were unscathed.

The car´s engine caught fire, and the gunman, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, eventually used his own weapon to fatally shoot himself, according to Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI´s Detroit field office.

"If they had not done their job almost perfectly we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone," U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said of the building's security.

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Trump seeks to close $1.6 trillion revenue gap with raft of new tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration this week stepped up its ambitious effort to replace about $1.6 trillion in lost tariff revenue that was eliminated by the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a range of the president's import taxes.

Recovering that lost revenue, which the White House was counting on to help offset the steep, multi-trillion dollar cost of its tax cuts, is possible but will be challenging, experts say. The administration has to use different legal provisions to impose new duties, and those provisions require longer, complex processes that U.S. companies can use to seek exemptions. It could be months or more before it is clear how much revenue the replacement tariffs will yield.

"I wouldn't bet against this administration being able to get back on paper the same effective tariff rate they had before," said Elena Patel, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. But the new approach will "make it easier for people to contest the tariffs, which is going to put a big asterisk on the revenue until all that is settled."

On Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration will investigate 16 economies - including the European Union - over whether their governments are subsidizing excessive factory capacity in a way that disadvantages U.S. manufacturing. The investigation will also cover China, South Korea, and Japan, Greer said.

In addition, he said there would be a second investigation of dozens of countries to see if their failure to ban goods made by forced labor amounts to an unfair trade practice that harms the United States. That investigation will also cover the EU and China, as well as Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Brazil.

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Crew of fatal US military crash included Alabama father recently deployed and several from Ohio

A pilot from Alabama had just been promoted to major in January and had been deployed less than a week when the refueling aircraft he was aboard crashed in Iraq this week, killing him and five others, his brother-in-law said Saturday.

Alex Klinner, 33, leaves behind three small children: 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son, his brother-in-law, James Harrill, said Saturday while confirming his death.

"It´s kind of heartbreaking to say: He was just a really good dad and really loved his family a lot - like a lot," Harrill said.

Klinner was one of three people killed in the Thursday crash who the U.S. government said were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and who Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said were stationed in Birmingham. On Saturday, the U.S. government identified the other two as Capt. Ariana Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington, and Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky.

Three additional deceased service members on the aircraft were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio. They were identified by federal and state officials as Capt. Seth Koval, 38, Capt. Curtis Angst, 30, and Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28.

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Burt Jones was the inevitable Republican nominee for Georgia governor. Then Rick Jackson showed up

ATLANTA (AP) - Burt Jones seemed like the inevitable Republican nominee for governor in Georgia.

He is the current lieutenant governor, he has lots of family money and perhaps most important, he has President Donald Trump's endorsement.

But that certainty crumbled after health care tycoon Rick Jackson unexpectedly cannonballed into the race in February, dumping more than $30 million of his money into television ads. That already is more than any candidate has ever spent in a primary race for Georgia governor, with more than two months before the May 19 election.

The blitz has left Jones clinging to Trump´s endorsement like a life preserver while Jackson consciously evokes Trump. Jackson even descended in a glass elevator at his office building to announce his candidacy, echoing Trump's 2016 campaign start when he rode down a golden escalator in his eponymous New York skyscraper.

Jay Morgan, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, said "there´s no template" for what Jackson is doing in Georgia.

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The biggest change to voting in Republican election bill could become a burden for many US voters

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Joshua Bogdan was born and raised in the United States. The only time the New Hampshire resident has left the country was for a day and a half in seventh grade, when he went to Canada to see Niagara Falls.

Even so, that did not mean proving his U.S. citizenship in last fall's local elections was easy.

The 31-year-old arrived at his voting place in Portsmouth and handed the poll worker his driver's license, just as he had done in other towns when arriving to vote. She said that would no longer do.

The poll worker said that under the state's new proof-of-citizenship law, which took effect for the first time during town elections in 2025, Bogdan would need a passport or his birth certificate because he had moved and needed to reregister at his new address. A scramble ensued, turning the voting process that he had always found fun and invigorating into a nerve-wracking game of beat the clock.

"I didn't know that anything had officially changed walking in there," he said. "And then being told that I had to provide a passport that I've never had or a birth certificate that's usually tucked away somewhere safe just to cast my vote - which I've done before - it was frustrating."