Iran fires on targets across the Mideast while Israel and US hit Tehran as war nears end of 5th week
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has fired on targets across the Middle East, damaging a desalination plant and setting a refinery ablaze in Kuwait. American and Israeli airstrikes hit the Islamic Republic on Friday as the war neared the end of its fifth week. Tehran has kept the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors, despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed. In a sign that part of Iran’s theocracy could be willing to negotiate, the country’s former top diplomat published a proposal for ending the conflict in an influential American magazine. Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
Trump offers murky path forward for Republicans as Iran war clouds midterm elections
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump won the presidency by promising to lower costs and end wars. A year and a half later, he is a wartime president contemplating whether to send U.S. ground troops into an expanding conflict in Iran. Gas prices are spiking and Trump is urging Americans to be patient. Everything adds up to a perilous situation for Republicans in the midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. The president did little to sell the war to skeptical voters before it started, and he defended his leadership on Wednesday night in his first major presidential address on the conflict.
Oil prices surge while Asian share prices rise moderately
TOKYO (AP) — Oil prices are surging on worries of a prolonged Iran war while most Asian financial markets are rising moderately during cautious trading. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel. Stocks rose in Japan and South Korea, while declining in Shanghai. Markets were closed for the Good Friday holiday in other Asian markets, as well as France, Germany and Britain and Wall Street. Crude oil prices have been driving sharp swings for stocks globally. Shipping traffic has been severely curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz.
Artemis II astronauts rocket toward the moon after spending a day around Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have fired their engines and are blazing toward the moon. The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and one Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule has bolted out of orbit around Earth and chased after the moon nearly 250,000 miles away. It is the first engine firing for a moon crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot in 1972. NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.
Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist who oversaw Justice Department upheaval, is out as his attorney general
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Pam Bondi is out as his attorney general. Bondi's departure ends the contentious tenure of a Trump loyalist who upended the Justice Department’s culture of independence from the White House, oversaw firings of career employees and investigated the Republican president’s perceived enemies. Thursday's news follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, which made Bondi the target of angry conservatives. Trump has named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general, though three people familiar with the matter say he has privately discussed Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin as a permanent pick.
No sign of war winding down in Mideast as Friday dawns with attacks across region
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — There has been little sign Friday of the war in the Mideast winding down as Israel says it faced incoming fire from Iran, and Kuwait and Bahrain also reported being under attack. In Iran, eight people were killed while celebrating the close of Persian new year near a major bridge hit by a U.S. strike. Tehran continued to demonstrate its ability to strike its neighbors even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated. Iran’s strikes on its neighbors along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world’s energy supplies far beyond the Middle East.
Russia strikes targets in Kyiv region as Ukraine holds door open for Easter truce
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a “massive” missile and drone strike on Friday on areas around the Ukrainian capital, killing one person, the head of the regional military administration reported, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled Kyiv’s openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in both Ukraine and Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce. Another person was killed in Ukraine's north as almost 500 drones and missiles rained down on Ukraine. In Russia, 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday morning.
Hegseth asks the Army's top uniformed officer to step down while US wages war against Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army’s top uniformed officer and two other generals as the U.S. wages a war against Iran. Top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that Gen. Randy George “will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.” George has held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023. His is just the latest in a series of firings of top military officers. A Pentagon official says Hegseth also fired Army Gen. David Hodne and Army Maj. Gen. William Green. No reasons have been given for the departures, which come nearly five weeks into U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Trump says he'll sign order to resume pay for Homeland Security. His move bypasses Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he'll soon sign an order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees who have gone without paychecks during the partial government shutdown that has reached 48 days. He announced the unilateral move in a social media post Thursday. He's blaming Democrats for the impasse while thanking Republican leaders for their work this week in trying to end the standoff. The Republican president used a similar maneuver to resume pay for the Transportation Security Administration. Trump’s latest intervention is expected to apply to other non-law enforcement employees at the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard and support staff.
Trump unveils 100% tariff on some patented drugs on 'Liberation Day' anniversary
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that could slap long-threatened pharmaceutical tariffs of up to 100% on some patented drugs from companies that don’t reach deals with his administration in the coming months. Companies that have signed a “most favored nation” pricing deal and are actively building facilities in the U.S. to onshore production of patented pharmaceuticals and their ingredients will have a 0% tariff. For those that don’t have a pricing deal but are building such projects in the U.S., a 20% tariff will apply but increase to 100% in four years. Companies still have months to negotiate before the 100% tariffs kick in. Also Thursday, Trump rolled out an update on his 50% tariffs on imported steel, aluminum and copper.
