AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Trump said U.S. forces “obliterated” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island — home to the primary terminal that handles the country's oil exports — and warned that the island's oil infrastructure could be next. Just a day before, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said such a strike would provoke a new level of retaliation.

Earlier Friday in the Iranian capital, a large explosion rocked a central square where thousands of people gathered for an annual state-organized rally to support the Palestinians and call for Israel’s demise. Israel had warned that it would target the area in central Tehran.

There were no reports of casualties. The decision to proceed with the demonstration attended by some senior government officials, and Israel’s threat to target it, underscored the fierce determination on both sides in a war that has rattled the global economy and shows no sign of letting up.

Iran has continued to launch widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf states, and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes, even as U.S. and Israeli warplanes pummel military and other targets across Iran.

US eases some Russian oil sanctions but crude prices stay high

The U.S. is temporarily easing some sanctions on Russian oil shipments, reflecting global concerns over sharply higher crude prices due to supply shortages stemming from the Iran war.

The move, intended to soothe jittery markets over the disruption of Middle Eastern oil and gas supplies, underlines how the war has boosted Moscow's ability to profit from its energy exports, a pillar of the Kremlin’s budget as it presses its invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that's been loaded on tankers as of Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X. That would give reluctant purchasers a green light to take the oil without worrying that they will run afoul of U.S. sanctions rules.

The Trump administration earlier had granted a 30-day reprieve to refineries in India.

Bessent said the “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” was part of President Donald Trump's “decisive steps to promote stability in global energy markets” and to “keep prices low."

All 6 crew members on a US refueling plane that crashed in Iraq are dead, US military says

WASHINGTON (AP) — All six crew members of a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed while supporting operations against Iran are dead, the U.S. military said Friday.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash in western Iraq on Thursday followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace” and that the other plane landed safely.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a social media post that three of the six crew members were from his state and deployed with the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing. He did not identify them but offered condolences to their families.

The crash brings the U.S. death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 service members, with the seven others killed in combat. About 140 U.S. service members have been injured, including eight severely, the Pentagon said earlier this week.

The KC-135 has been in service for more than 60 years and has been involved in several fatal accidents, most recently in 2013. Adding to concerns about their reliability, the aircraft don't always carry parachutes.

US stocks lose ground as war with Iran keeps pressure on oil prices

Wall Street's losses deepened Friday as the ongoing fallout from the war in Iran keeps pushing oil prices higher, ratcheting up inflationary pressure on the global economy.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been up as much as 0.9% in the early going. The benchmark index is now down 3.1% so far this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite finished 0.9% lower. The indexes also ended the week with their third straight weekly loss.

After briefly easing early Friday, crude oil prices rose again, bringing the benchmark oil price back above $100 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, closed 2.7% higher at $103.14 per barrel. It's up about 40% for the month.

A barrel of U.S. crude oil rose 3.1% to settle at $98.71. It’s risen around 46% this month.

Old Dominion shooter was released from prison early after completing drug program

NEW YORK (AP) — The man who opened fire in a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University completed a drug treatment program that allowed him early release from federal prison, even though he was convicted of a terrorism charge that should have disqualified him from that benefit.

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2017 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State group, and was released about 2½ years early, according to prison records.

The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Friday that Jalloh was released in December 2024 because of a loophole in a legal provision that allows some inmates to shave time off their sentences by completing a substance abuse treatment program.

The agency told The Associated Press that it has since closed the loophole and has changed its policies to bar inmates with terrorism-related convictions from being released in that manner. It said that its previous attempts to update a list of excluded offenses had stalled in negotiations with the union representing correctional workers, the Bureau of Prisons said.

Since canceling the union contract last year “not one inmate with terrorism related charges has received time credit” for completing the drug treatment program, the agency said.

Man who rammed into Michigan synagogue had just lost family in an Israeli strike in Lebanon

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — A Lebanese-born man who had learned a week earlier that four of his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in his native country, waited in his car outside a synagogue for two hours before ramming into the building where dozens of children were inside.

Authorities said Friday that Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, 41, crashed his car into Temple Israel outside Detroit on Thursday afternoon, then started firing his gun through the windshield, exchanging fire with an armed security guard.

Following the attack Thursday, a person familiar with the matter speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said security guards in the building killed the gunman. Later, authorities said guards “neutralized” him. But Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said during a news conference Friday that ultimately Ghazali fatally shot himself after he got stuck in his vehicle and the engine caught fire. Officials later found large quantities of commercial grade fireworks and several jugs of a liquid believed to be gasoline.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues, located in suburban West Bloomfield Township north of Detroit, as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.

Runyan said that law enforcement didn’t have enough evidence to call the attack an act of terror at this time, but said that investigations were ongoing.

Zelenskyy says US 30-day waiver on Russian oil sanctions is 'not the right decision'

PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that the U.S. 30-day waiver on Russian oil sanctions amid the Iran war is “not the right decision” and won’t help bring a stop to Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

“This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” Zelenskyy said. “This certainly does not help peace.”

“I believe that lifting sanctions will, in any case, lead to a strengthening of Russia’s position. It spends the money from energy sales on weapons, and all of this is then used against us,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to Paris.

“Therefore, ultimately lifting sanctions only so that more drones will later be flying at you is, in my opinion, not the right decision,” he said.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday a 30-day waiver on Russian oil sanctions. The step aims to free up Russian cargoes stranded at sea and ease supply shortages caused by the Iran war.

Jury finds ex-NY trooper guilty of manslaughter in 2020 chase that killed 11-year-old

KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York state trooper accused of ramming his vehicle into an SUV during a high-speed chase leading to the death of an 11-year-old girl was convicted of manslaughter Friday at his second trial.

Prosecutors say Christopher Baldner, 47, rammed the SUV twice on the New York State Thruway, causing it to lose control and flip over. Eleven-year-old Monica Goods, who was in the SUV, was killed in the December 2020 crash. Baldner’s attorneys said the accident occurred after the SUV cut the trooper off as he pulled alongside during the pursuit.

"While nothing can bring Monica back, this verdict is some semblance of justice for her loved ones,” state Attorney General Letitia James said in a prepared statement.

The retired trooper, who remained free on bail, faces a maximum of five to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced June 2.

A jury acquitted Baldner of murder and reckless endangerment charges in November, but they deadlocked on a second-degree manslaughter charge. Judge Bryan Rounds declared a mistrial and a second trial on the lone remaining charge began last month.

Key inflation gauge worsened in January, before Iran war lifted gas prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve moved higher in January in the latest sign that prices were persistently elevated even before the Iran war caused spikes in oil and gas costs.

Prices rose 2.8% in January compared with a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Friday, slightly below December’s increase in a report that was delayed by last fall’s six-week government shutdown. The shutdown created a backlog of data that is nearly cleared.

Yet excluding the volatile food and energy categories — which the Fed pays closer attention to — core prices rose 3.1%, up from 3% in the prior month and the highest in nearly two years.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% in January, while core prices jumped 0.4% for the second straight month, a pace that if sustained would lift inflation far above the 2% annual target set by the Fed.

The data has since been overtaken by the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28 and has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Oil prices have soared more than 40% since the war began and gas prices have jumped to $3.60 a gallon from just under $3 a month earlier, according to AAA. Those figures will likely cause inflation to spike in March and potentially April, economists forecast.

Cuban president confirms US talks as island's energy and economic crises intensify

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has held talks with the U.S. government, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday, marking the first time the Caribbean country has confirmed widespread speculation about discussions with the Trump administration as it grapples with a severe energy crisis.

Díaz-Canel said the talks “were aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations. International factors facilitated these exchanges.” He did not elaborate on those factors, or provide any specifics about the talks, which U.S. President Donald Trump has alluded to in the past.

Cuba's relations with the U.S. have been fraught for decades and punctuated by animosity, with the exception of a brief rapprochement during former President Barack Obama's second term.

Asked for comment on Friday, the White House pointed to Trump's public comments about discussions with Cuba that he said were being led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and intended to press major changes in Cuban policies and governance.

Trump has suggested that top Cuban leaders would be smart to avoid the fate of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted and arrested in a U.S. military operation in January.