Associated Press – d559

Pope Leo XIV celebrates first Easter vigil, calls for harmony and peace

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:44:47 +0000

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, carrying a tall, lit candle through a darkened and silent St. Peter’s Basilica, ushered in Christianity’s most joyous celebration with his first Easter vigil service as pontiff Saturday night, urging that Easter would bring harmony and peace to a world torn by wars.

Easter for Christians commemorates Christ’s triumph over death with his resurrection following his crucifixion. Lighting the candle before he entered the basilica, the Pope intoned: “The light of Christ who rises in glory.”

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Candle bearers stopped to light candles of the congregants as they walked down the central aisle, spreading flickers of light through the dark basilica before the lights went up as the Pope arrived at the baroque main altar, followed by cardinals dressed in white.

In his homily, Leo called sin “a heavy barrier that closes us off and separates us from God, seeking to kill his words of hope within us,’’ and likened it to the stone that had covered Jesus’ tomb — but which was found overturned, revealing Jesus’ resurrection.

Leo said that there are stones representing sins to be overturned today, some “so heavy and so closely guarded that they seem to be immovable.”

“Some weigh heavily on the human heart, such as mistrust, fear, selfishness and resentment; others stemming from these inner struggles, sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations.

“Let us not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by them!” the Pope said, calling on the faithful to make a commitment “so that the Easter gifts of harmony and peace may grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world.’’

With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo has repeatedly called for a halt in hostilities. On Palm Sunday, he said that God doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who make war or cite God to justify their violence.

As is tradition, Leo baptized 10 adults from all over the world during the Mass.

During Leo’s first Holy Week, which is notoriously demanding, the pontiff carried the cross for the entire 14 stations during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday, the first time a pope has done so for decades.

On Holy Thursday, he washed the feet of 12 priests in the traditional Holy Thursday ritual, restoring a tradition his predecessor Pope Francis had broken by including laypeople and non-Christians.

On Sunday morning, Leo will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message “to the city (of Rome) and the world,” which acts as a summary of the world’s woes.

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One crew member rescued after U.S. fighter jet goes down in Iran

Associated Press — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 18:10:17 +0000

One crew member was rescued Friday after an American aircraft was shot down in Iran, according to one U.S. and one Israeli official, who both spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive ongoing military operations.

The rescue occurred as the U.S. military was conducting a search and rescue operation, according to three people familiar who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation. Israel is helping the United States with the operation.

According to an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East. The email did not provide more details.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a previous statement that U.S. President Donald Trump had been briefed but did not offer any additional information.

The number of crew on board wasn’t immediately known.

The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region’s energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks.

F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet has a 2-person crew

Iranian state media has claimed that Iran’s military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a two-person crew consisting of a pilot and weapons system officer.

Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the Air Force Safety Center, said the Strike Eagle has an emergency locator beacon in a survival kit that can be set to activate automatically or manually.

U.S. begins rescue operation after Iranians say fighter jet went down

Associated Press — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:17:01 +0000

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military launched a rescue operation Friday after local Iranian state media said an American fighter jet went down over southwest Iran and at least one crew member ejected.

A rescue operation was underway, according to an Israeli military officer briefed on the information who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a U.S. announcement.

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Social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where the Iranian channel said at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

It would mark the first time the U.S. has lost aircraft in Iranian territory and marks a dramatic escalation in the war since it began five weeks ago. It was not clear if the jet was shot down or crashed. The number of crew on board was not immediately known.

The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately respond to several messages seeking comment.

Iran fired on targets across the Mideast on Friday, as Tehran kept the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours, despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.

TV urges residents to hand over pilot

The anchor on the Iranian channel urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did. The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans over 15,500 square kilometres.

Authorities also urged the public to search for the pilot in neighbouring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a suspected downed pilot.

An on-screen crawl earlier urged the public to “shoot them if you see them,” referring to social media footage circulating of what appeared to be U.S. aircraft in the area. The channel showed metal debris in the back of a pickup truck while making the announcement but provided no other immediate details.

A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iran targets a desalination plant and a refinery

The claim came after Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under Iranian attack, and the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.

Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the U.S. hit a major bridge, which was still under construction, killing eight people.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state‑run National News Agency

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S.-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Iran is keeping a chokehold on Strait of Hormuz

World leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The U.N. Security Council was expected to take up the matter on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it doesn’t open the waterway and telling other nations to “go get your own oil.” On Friday, he said in a post on social media that, “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 Friday, up more than 50 per cent since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — a diplomat with long experience negotiating with the West who remains close to a pragmatic wing of Iran’s leadership — wrote on Friday in Foreign Affairs magazine that the time has come to end what he referred to as a stalemate.

The U.S. and Iran have proposed dueling plans, and Zarif’s proposal included elements of both in a sign part of Iran’s leadership might be willing to negotiate.

Iran “should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions — a deal Washington wouldn’t take before but might accept now,” he wrote.

It’s not clear how much to read into the proposal from Zarif, who has no official position in Iran’s government, but would likely not have published such a piece without at least some authorization from senior leaders.

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Russian strikes on Ukraine kill eight as Kyiv holds door open for Easter truce

Associated Press — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:51:47 +0000

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least eight people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported.

Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signalled Kyiv’s openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

‘I have no words’

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday.

Kalashnyk said one person died and at least eight others were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv. The attacks came days after the residents of Bucha marked the fourth anniversary of atrocities committed in the town by Russia’s invading forces.

Obukhiv resident Lesia Podoriako, 37, told The Associated Press she was at work with her child when she learned her building had been struck.

“I found out about it through Telegram channels. Then all my friends and acquaintances started calling me, telling me that our building was attacked. I have no words. The main thing is that everyone is alive and healthy,” she said.

Another person was killed in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions also reported casualties from Friday’s attacks.

Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummelled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.

A destroyed car is seen after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Vyshneve, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Kyiv floats an Easter ceasefire

Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv’s continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin’s response remains unclear.

Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine’s defence ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”

“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.

“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics — railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.

Around midday on Friday, Russian forces dropped five aerial bombs on Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. At least two people were killed and three more were injured, according to a Telegram update by Vadym Filashkin, who heads the regional military administration.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a passenger bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt.

Regional government officials said several people were hospitalized, adding that the 51-year-old driver was being treated for head wounds and multiple fractures.

Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. A 29-year-old woman and a man later died of their injuries in hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in two separate Telegram updates.

Bohdan Hladykh, head of Kharkiv’s Department of Emergency Situations, said Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday with explosive drones.

Ukrainian drones target Russia

Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometres from the border, said regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported, who added that the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.

The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. Separately, he said that seven people were wounded in the region after a drone struck a commercial facility.

Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.

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Iran warns U.S. ground troops would be ‘set on fire’ as regional diplomats meet

Associated Press — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 16:54:26 +0000

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A top Iranian official warned the U.S. against a ground invasion, saying its troops would be set “on fire,” as regional diplomats met Sunday in Pakistan in hopes of opening direct U.S.-Iran talks and ending the month-long war.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to Iranian state media.

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He also dismissed the talks as a cover after some 2,500 U.S. Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.

“We don’t know at what moment our homes could be targeted,” said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war. “I am definitely afraid.”

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

Expert says world economy is a ‘crisis point’

The Houthis joined the war over the weekend with a missile attack on Israel. Their entry has raised concerns that they could resume attacks on vessels in the Red Sea further disrupting the global shipping industry and sending oil prices much higher.

Nomi Bar-Yaacov, fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said the Houthis’ potential disruption of oil export in the Red Sea will create a “point where we have not been before.”

At this time, both the Homuz and Bab al-Mandab straits will be closed, she said.

“All eyes are on the mediation, but the oil crisis is, I think, at an unprecedented state,” she said.

The head of the U.S. oil and natural industry’s top lobbying group says “the only real solution” to rising energy and consumer prices as a result of the war with Iran is to get the Strait of Hormuz open.

“If we can do that this week with targeted regime actions, I think we have to take that opportunity because it’s only going to get worse over time,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.

Sommers told Fox News Channel’s The Sunday Briefing that “that artery has to be reopened and fast” because “the longer this goes on, the higher prices are going to go.”

Sommers is also troubled by the entry of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

“If the Houthis start attacking ships going through the Red Sea, that could really put us on the cusp of a major energy crisis throughout the world. That is a top concern this week, as well,” he says.

Pakistan hosts Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt

Pakistan said the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad without U.S. or Israeli participation, days after the U.S. offered Iran a 15-point “action list” as a framework for a possible peace deal. The ministers are expected to meet again Monday.

Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty said the meetings are aimed at opening a “direct dialogue” between the U.S. and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators. Both this war and last year’s 12-day war began during rounds of indirect talks.

Iranian officials have rejected the U.S. framework and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure.

But Press TV, the English-language arm of Iran’s state broadcaster, reported last week that Tehran had drafted its own five-point proposal that reportedly called for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through.

It “sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion,” said Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Iran.

An adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, called for any settlement to the war to include “clear guarantees” that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated.

Gargash said Iran’s government has become “the main threat” to Persian Gulf security and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Iran threatens retaliatory strikes

Iran on Sunday warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.

U.S. colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities.

“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment” of Iranian universities by midday Monday, the Guard said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday that dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.

Death toll continues to climb

Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,100 people have been killed.

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.

In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

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Iran’s soccer team honours victims of deadly missile strike on school

Associated Press — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:21:46 +0000

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Players held small backpacks as Iran’s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honour the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.

More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in southern Iran. Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.

The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.

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During the national anthem Friday, the Iranian team honored the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them.

Video of the ceremony also showed the players wearing black armbands in remembrance of those killed since the war began.

The match was played in Antalya, southern Turkey. Nigeria won 2-1 in a game that was a World Cup tuneup for Iran, ahead of the tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Islamic Republic’s team is scheduled to play three group-stage matches in June in the U.S. The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country asked FIFA to move those three games to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending, citing safety concerns.

Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to go to the U.S. because of military attacks on Iran by Israel and U.S.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has dampened Iran’s attempts to move its matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”

Separately on Friday, Iran’s judiciary threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said. The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.

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Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says

Associated Press — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:54:19 +0000

JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods showed signs of impairment and was arrested Friday at the scene of a car crash in which he struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said.

Martin County Sheriff, John Budensiek, said Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover.

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The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island. Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-land road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.

Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods to be showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but he refused to take a urine test. Authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.

This was at least the third time Woods has been involved in a car crash, most recently in February 2021 when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at a high rate of speed, leading to multiple leg and ankle injuries. Woods said later doctors considered amputation. Authorities at the time did not seek warrants for blood samples to screen for drugs or alcohol and said there was no evidence of impairment or distracted driving.

Four years earlier, in 2017, Woods was arrested on a DUI charge when south Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car that was parked awkwardly with damage to the driver’s side. Woods said he had taken a bad mix of painkillers. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving.

In November 2009, Woods collided with a fire hydrant and a tree when leaving his home near Orlando.

Woods has played 11 tournaments since that 2021 crash, not finishing closer than within 16 shots of the winner the four times he finished 72 holes.

Woods won his fifth Masters, and 15th major, in 2019. He has 82 wins on the PGA Tour, tied for the all-time record with Sam Snead.

Woods, 50, had been working his way back to golf from a seventh back surgery in September. He had not decided whether he could play in the Masters on April 9-12.

His last official tournament was the British Open in 2024. Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025 and that kept him off the course all season even before the back surgery. He managed to play in his indoor TGL golf league on Tuesday night.

He has kept deeply involved in PGA Tour affairs as chairman of the Future Competition Committee that is restructuring the model of the tour.

Woods also faced a soft deadline at the end of the month to decide whether to become U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland. Woods was offered the job for the last Ryder Cup and did not turn it down until June. The PGA of America wants a decision much sooner this time.

U.S. and Iran threaten to expand the war to the region’s power plants

Associated Press — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:34:43 +0000

ARAD, Israel (AP) — Iran and the allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah stepped up attacks on Israel on Sunday after the United States and Iran threatened to target critical infrastructure in the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, crucial to oil and other exports, would be “completely closed” immediately if the U.S. follows up on President Donald Trump’s new threat to attack its power plants.

Trump late Saturday set a 48-hour deadline to open the strait.

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Iran’s parliament speaker said Tehran also would retaliate against U.S. and Israeli energy and wider infrastructure in the region.

Israeli leaders visited Arad, one of two southern communities near a secretive nuclear research site struck by Iranian missiles late Saturday, wounding scores of people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “miracle” no one was killed. He claimed Israel and the U.S. were well on their way to achieving their war goals and asked the international community for more support.

The developments signalled the war, which the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28, was moving in a dangerous new direction, despite Trump’s comment last week he was considering “winding down” operations. It has killed over 2,000 people, rattled the global economy and sent oil prices surging.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed a man in northern Israel, while Gulf Arab states — including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said they intercepted new Iranian strikes.

People follow a truck carrying the flag draped coffins of Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, a spokesperson for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of his comrades Amir Hossein Bidi , during their funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Energy and desalination plants are threatened

Iran has practically closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world.

Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through it, but attacks on ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tanker traffic. Some of the largest oil producers have made cuts because their crude has nowhere to go.

The U.S. and its allies in Europe and Asia rely heavily on the oil to meet energy demand. In its most recent attempt to relieve pressure on energy prices, the U.S. has lifted some sanctions on Iranian oil at sea.

Trump said if Iran didn’t open the strait, the U.S. would destroy its “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X that if Iran’s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities — would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed.”

Under international law, power plants that benefit civilians can be targeted only if the military advantage outweighs the suffering it cases to civilians, legal scholars say.

Separately, Iranian officials said they would keep providing safe passage through the strait to vessels from countries other than its enemies.

Strikes in Israel and Iran bring new nuclear concerns

Iran said its strikes in the Negev Desert late Saturday were in retaliation for an earlier attack on Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz, according to state-run media.

Tehran praised the attack as a show of strength, even as Israel’s military asserts that Iranian missile launches have gradually decreased in frequency since the war began.

“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Qalibaf said.

Southern Israel’s main hospital received at least 175 wounded from Arad and Dimona, its deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated Press.

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it doesn’t confirm or deny their existence. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on X it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli centre or abnormal radiation levels.

Israel denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday, while the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage. The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 441 kilograms of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility.

Smoke and debris rise from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)

Iran says strikes also hit hospital

Iran said strikes hit a hospital in Andimeshk. Its health ministry said patients and doctors were evacuated to another city.

Iran’s death toll in the war has surpassed 1,500, state media reported Saturday, citing the ministry. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.

A Qatari military helicopter crash on Saturday, blamed on a technical malfunction, killed all seven aboard, Qatari authorities said.

The Israeli civilian was killed in the northern town of Misgav Am in what Israel’s military said “seemed to be” a rocket attack.

Hezbollah launched strikes on Israel soon after the war began, calling it retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel then targeted Hezbollah in deadly airstrikes and expanded its ground presence in southern Lebanon.

Fighting there has intensified. Israel on Sunday expanded its list of targets to include all bridges over the Litani River, which Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to move fighters and weapons into the south. Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre, giving an hour’s warning.

Katz also ordered the military to accelerate its destruction of Lebanese homes near Israel’s northern border.

Lebanese authorities say Israel’s strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

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K-pop sensation BTS returns with a comeback concert in Seoul

Associated Press — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:26:10 +0000

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After a four-year break, K-pop supergroup BTS returned Saturday with a massive, free comeback concert in Seoul, where thousands of police locked down a central boulevard for the Netflix-exclusive spectacle that drew tens of thousands of fans.

“Annyeonghaseyo! We’re back,” RM, the band’s leader, told the crowd, using the Korean word for “hello,” as they opened with Body to Body, setting off delirious screams from fans waving purple-and-red light sticks and thrusting smartphones into the air.

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All seven members of the band — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — recently completed South Korea’s mandatory military service, and hope to reclaim their status as one of the world’s biggest pop acts.

The performance at Gwanghwamun Square launches a global tour spanning dozens of shows across the United States, Europe and Asia, which analysts say could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue per quarter.

The hour-long concert came after the group on Friday released its fifth album, ARIRANG, which sold nearly 4 million copies in its first day, said the band’s management company, HYBE. The company also said RM had injured his ankle during a rehearsal, but he still performed with modified choreography.

The BTS concert, which began at 8 p.m., drew several tens of thousands to the Gwanghwamun area, including 22,000 fans who secured free seats in the designated viewing zone and others who watched on screens nearby. The show was streamed live on Netflix.

“It will be amazing because it’s been so long that BTS (was) not with us,” Dallila Di Tullio, a 32-year-old fan from Italy, said before the concert, calling it a once-in-a-century event.

BTS debuted in 2013 and has a legion of global supporters who call themselves the “Army.” It became the first K-pop act to top Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 2020 with their first all-English song Dynamite.

Jung Dukhyun, a pop culture commentator, said that the impact of BTS’ return as a full-group would be tremendous at a time when global fandom for K-pop has grown much stronger, as shown by the success of Netflix’s animated sensation KPop Demon Hunters.

Kpop group BTS perform during the ‘BTS The Comeback Live Arirang’ concert in central Seoul, South Korea, March 21, 2026. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)

Stringent crowd controls

The dark streets blazed with light as waves of fans sang and cheered from cordoned sections, a jubilant scene that unfolded under an unusually heavy police presence managing the crowds.

“I still vividly remember how, at our last Busan concert a few years ago, we asked you to wait for us. Thank you so much for coming here like this,” Jin said.

The group performed songs from their new album, including SWIM, alongside hits like Dynamite and Butter. Some members appeared to tear up while thanking fans who braved the chilly night, before holding hands and bowing to the crowd to close the show.

Police and city officials closed nearby streets and roads, halted the area’s subway and bus services, and sealed off dozens of surrounding buildings, in what amounted to a full-day shutdown of the district.

Thousands of police officers maintained a tight perimeter around the performance venue, channeling the crowds with a maze of fences and buses.

Concertgoers began queuing by midday to secure spots along nearby roads, passing through security checks and metal detectors at designated entry points. The restrictions forced nearby shops to close and police to use their buses to shuttle wedding guests to a nearby venue.

“I was hoping to (see) if we can go through some holes or be around. Apparently we cannot because they will be asking people to move,” said Bernice Sanchez, a 52-year-old fan from Switzerland, as she looked for a place to wait.

While South Korean officials have taken crowd safety more seriously since a 2022 Halloween surge that killed nearly 160 people, critics say the controls went too far and undermined the symbolism of performing in Gwanghwamun, seen as Seoul’s spiritual heart and most prominent gathering space.

Hundreds of thousands have gathered in Gwanghwamun in recent years to mourn, protest and celebrate as the country weathered tragedy and political upheaval.

The BTS concert came about a year after waves of demonstrators filled the area, calling for the ouster of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. Those month-slong rallies were marked by a festive atmosphere and a striking blend of politics and pop culture, with protesters singing and waving colourful K-pop light sticks, and ended without major safety accidents.

Drawing on culture and heritage

The new BTS album, ARIRANG, takes its name from a centuries-old folk song, regarded as an unofficial anthem in both Koreas, whose themes of separation, longing and quiet resilience have echoed across generations.

Gwanghwamun and nearby Gyeongbok Palace provided a sweeping historic backdrop to Saturday’s show, which was highlighted by lighting effects that bathed the palace gate and walls in purple, red and blue.

Suga told the crowd that the album’s title and the decision to perform in Gwanghwamun reflected the group’s focus on identity. RM said the band focused on making music that felt true to themselves as they reconvened to work on the new album.

“We wanted to show who we are and how we can come together,” he told the crowd.

South Korean officials, including current President Lee Jae Myung, expressed hope that the event would promote the country’s culture and soft power.

The group’s comeback follows a nearly four-year hiatus driven by South Korea’s mandatory military service, which requires most able-bodied men to serve 18 to 21 months under a conscription system aimed at deterring aggression from North Korea.

BTS members began serving in 2022, with Suga the last to complete his service in June 2025.

Some analysts say the group’s ARIRANG world tour could become the biggest K-pop tour ever by scale and revenue, with 82 shows planned globally in stadiums of around 50,000 seats. Ha Jae-keun, a cultural critic, said BTS was likely to have a “second heyday,” as they maintained a highly powerful fandom and would benefit from the broader international ascent of K-pop.

“We will do our best to give everything we got,” J-Hope said.

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Iran targets British-U.S. base, main nuclear enrichment site is struck again

Associated Press — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:06:54 +0000

CAIRO (AP) — Iran targeted a joint U.K.-U.S. base in the Indian Ocean, and Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site was struck again, as the war in the Middle East entered its fourth week.

Iran’s attack on the Diego Garcia air base — about 4,000 kilometres away — suggested Tehran has missiles that can go farther than it had previously acknowledged, or that it had used its space program for an improvised launch.

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Iran’s capital saw heavy airstrikes overnight and into the morning, residents said, as thousands of worshippers converged on Tehran’s grand mosque to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said attacks would “increase significantly” next week. He spoke shortly after fragments from an Iranian missile slammed into an empty kindergarten near Tel Aviv.

The war shows no sign of abating as its effects are felt far beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices.

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs and its support for armed proxies in the region. There have been no public signs of an uprising, while internet restrictions in Iran complicate communications.

With little information coming out of Iran, it is not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the U.S. and Israeli strikes that began Feb. 28 — or even who is truly in charge. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since being named to the role.

U.K. officials did not give details of the strike that targeted the Diego Garcia base, which was unsuccessful. Britain’s Ministry of Defense called Iran’s “lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz” a threat to British interests and allies.

It’s unclear how close the missiles came to the island. Iran previously asserted that it has limited its missile range to below 2,000 kilometers (over 1,200 miles).

But military experts said Iran may have used its space launch vehicle for an improvised firing.

“If you’ve got a space program, you’ve got a ballistic missile program,” said Steve Prest, a retired Royal Navy commodore.

Britain has not participated in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran but has allowed U.S. bombers to use its bases to attack Iran’s missile sites. On Friday, the U.K. government said U.S. bombers could use Diego Garcia to attack sites used to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

An Israeli policeman walks in a kindergarten hit by fragments of an Iranian missile in Rishon LeZion, Israel, on March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

Israel denies responsibility for attack on Natanz

Iran’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage after the strike on the Natanz nuclear facility, nearly 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 440 kilograms of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility, with a lesser amount at Natanz. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on X it was informed by Iran about the strike and was looking into it.

Israel’s military said it was “not aware” of a strike by it there.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said such strikes posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East.”

The Natanz facility was hit in the first week of the war and several buildings appeared damaged, according to satellite images. Natanz also was targeted in the 12-day war last June.

Global pressure increases on the Strait of Hormuz

As Iran targets energy facilities in the region while threatening shipping on the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates joined 21 other countries including the U.K., Germany, France and Japan in expressing “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage.”

The Trump administration announced it is lifting sanctions on Iranian oil that was already loaded on ships as of Friday and will end the pause on April 19. Restrictions include sales involving anyone in North Korea or Cuba.

The decision does not increase the flow of oil production, a central factor in surging prices. Iran has evaded U.S. sanctions for years, suggesting that much of what it exports already reaches buyers.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, asserted that Iran’s ability to attack vessels on the strait had been “degraded.” He said multiple 5,000-pound bombs were dropped earlier in the week on an underground facility along Iran’s coast that was used to store anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile missile launchers.

The U.S. is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, an official told The Associated Press. Two other U.S. officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the military operations.

Gulf countries reported more attacks. A missile alert sounded Saturday night in Dubai. Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones over a couple of hours in its east, home to major oil installations.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with civilians in Gulf nations.

Israel’s military said its forces were conducting a “targeted ground operation” Saturday with the support of Israeli aircraft and at least four militants were killed. Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in the southern village of Khiam.

Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Lebanese government. Hezbollah’s civilian assets also have been targeted.

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