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

Trump, who said he would nominate Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin in her place, made the announcement on social media after Noem faced a two-day grilling on Capitol Hill this week from GOP members as well as Democrats.

Noem’s departure marks a stunning turnaround for a close ally to the president who was tasked with steering his centerpiece policy of mass deportations. But she appeared to increasingly become a liability for Trump, with questions arising over her spending at her department and over her conduct in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Trump said Noem “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!).” He said he was making her a "Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.

Noem, who appeared at a law enforcement event in Nashville, Tennessee, moments after Trump's announcement, did not address her ouster there. She read from prepared remarks and was not asked by attendees about the development.

Every facet of Iran's military and theocracy is under assault. These images show the damage

CAIRO (AP) — The U.S. and Israel are striking a much wider array of targets in Iran than they did during 12 days of war last summer, when their focus was on the country's nuclear enrichment sites. Now, the aim appears to be destroying Iran's military and weakening the grip of its theocratic rulers, experts say.

U.S. Central Command alone says it has hit more than 2,000 targets in less than a week, a far heavier barrage than any American bombing campaign in the Middle East in more than a decade, according to Airwars, an independent group that tracks global conflicts. Israel says it has hit hundreds of sites.

From the capital of Tehran to cities across the country, the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have bombarded the Islamic Republic -- its leaders, military bases, weapons factories, soldiers and police, and state TV.

The totality of the damage is not clear. But it is “a more significant blow than anyone expected might happen in such a short time,” Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, an independent monitoring group, said in a statement. Still, even after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the emergency leadership team still appears to have “the ability for domestic coercion,” said the group, which goes by the acronym ACLED.

The mounting death toll is also difficult to independently assess because of poor communications. An Iranian government agency says at least 1,230 people have been killed. More than 165 people were killed when a school in southeastern Iran was hit, most of them of children, according to Iranian state media.

Intense Israeli strikes target Iran and Lebanon as US warns bombardment to 'surge dramatically'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Intense Israeli airstrikes pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon early Friday as the U.S. apparently struck an Iranian drone carrier at sea, intensifying its campaign targeting the Islamic Republic’s fleet of warships.

Iran launched new retaliatory attacks in the Middle East at the end of a full week of bombardment, which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned was “about to surge dramatically.”

Israel’s military said Friday morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital. Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.

The Israeli military said strikes have already destroyed most of Iran’s air defenses and missile launchers.

The war has escalated to affect countries across the Middle East and beyond. Early Friday, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host U.S. forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

US and Venezuela agree to reestablish diplomatic relations in major shift after Maduro's ouster

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The United States and Venezuela agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations in a major shift in a historically adversarial relationship, the State Department said on Thursday.

The move comes after rounds of Trump administration officials have visited the South American nation following a U.S. military operation that deposed former President Nicolás Maduro in January. Since then, the Trump administration has been stepping up pressure on Maduro loyalists now in power to accept its vision for the oil-rich nation.

Relations between the two countries were cut off in 2019, during the first Trump administration, in a decision by Maduro. They closed their embassies mutually after U.S. President Donald Trump gave public support to Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó, who claimed to be the nation’s interim president in January that year. That prompted U.S. diplomatic staff to move to neighboring Colombia.

The State Department in a statement on Thursday said that talks between the countries were “focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.”

The announcement was made at the end of a two-day visit by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to Venezuela. The visit largely focused on the country's mining sector. It followed a February visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright that centered on Venezuela's oil potential. Both secretaries are aiming to shore up foreign investment to advance the administration's phased plan to turn around the crisis-wracked nation.

Justice Department publishes missing Epstein files involving uncorroborated claim about Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday released additional Jeffrey Epstein files involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against President Donald Trump that the department said had been mistakenly withheld during an earlier review.

The department said last week that it was working to determine if any records were improperly withheld after several news organizations reported that the massive tranche of records that had been made public didn’t include some files documenting a series of interviews conducted in 2019 with a woman who made an allegation against Trump.

The accuser was interviewed by the FBI four times as it sought to assess her account but a summary of only one of those interviews had been included in the publicly released files.

On Thursday, the department said those files had been “incorrectly coded as duplicative,” and therefore were inadvertently not published along with other investigative documents related to the disgraced financier, who killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

“As we have consistently done, if any member of the public reported concerns with information in the library, the Department would review, make any corrections, and republish online,” the department said in a post on X.

House narrowly rejects Iran war powers resolution in test of Trump's strategy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House narrowly rejected a resolution Thursday to curb President Donald Trump's powers in the Iran war, an early sign of unease in Congress over the rapidly widening conflict that is reordering U.S. priorities at home and abroad.

It's the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing wary Americans in wartime and all that entails — with lives lost, dollars spent and alliances tested by a president's unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.

While the tally in the House, 212-219, was expected to be tight, the outcome provided a clarifying snapshot of political support for, and opposition to, the U.S.-Israel military operation and Trump's rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war. At the Capitol, the conflict has quickly carried echoes of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many Sept. 11-era veterans now serve in Congress.

“Donald Trump is not a king, and if he believes the war with Iran is in our national interest, then he must come to Congress and make the case," said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that it would be “dangerous” to limit the president’s authority while the U.S. military is already in conflict.

More than 20 states sue over new global tariffs Trump imposed after his stinging Supreme Court loss

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some two dozen states challenged President Donald Trump’s new global tariffs on Thursday, filing a lawsuit over import taxes he imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court.

The Democratic attorneys general and governors in the lawsuit argue that Trump is overstepping his power with planned 15% tariffs on much of the world.

Trump has said the tariffs are essential to reduce America's longstanding trade deficits. He imposed duties under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs he imposed last year under an emergency powers law.

Section 122, which has never been invoked, allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15%. They are limited to five months unless extended by Congress.

The lawsuit is led by attorneys general from Oregon, Arizona, California and New York.

Mother of 2 girls found in shallow graves in Cleveland charged with murder

CLEVELAND (AP) — The mother of two young girls found buried inside suitcases in Cleveland was charged Thursday with two counts of aggravated murder, police said.

Aliyah Henderson, 28, is accused of killing Mila Chatman and Amor Wilson, whose remains were recovered after a dog walker led authorities to the suitcases four days earlier.

Mila's father, DeShaun Chatman, said Thursday that he had been looking for his daughter and pursuing custody for five years before investigators told him late Wednesday she was dead.

Chatman said he repeatedly sought emergency custody and had tried to locate Mila through a child welfare agency, but those efforts were unsuccessful because he did not know where they were living.

“It’s very much horrible,” Chatman said, adding that it turned out Mila had been living within view of where their bodies were found. He said he felt “useless — I couldn’t save my baby.”

Pentagon says it is labeling AI company Anthropic a supply chain risk 'effective immediately'

The Trump administration is following through with its threat to designate artificial intelligence company Anthropic as a supply chain risk in an unprecedented move that could force other government contractors to stop using the AI chatbot Claude.

The Pentagon said in a statement Thursday that it has “officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately.”

The decision appeared to shut down the opportunity for further negotiation with Anthropic, nearly a week after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the company of endangering national security.

Trump and Hegseth announced a series of threatened punishments last Friday, on the eve of the Iran war, after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons.

Amodei said in a statement Thursday that “we do not believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

Britney Spears arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs near her Southern California home and released, authorities said. A statement from Spears' representative calls the arrest “inexcusable.”

The California Highway Patrol said officers received a report shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday that someone in a black BMW 430i was driving fast and erratically on U.S. 101 in Newbury Park, California in Ventura County near the Los Angeles County line.

The 44-year-old pop star, the only person in the car, exited the freeway and pulled over, a CHP statement said. She appeared to be impaired, took a series of field sobriety tests, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs and was taken to a Ventura County jail, the CHP said. Chemical test results are pending and the case remains under investigation.

Spears was booked early Thursday morning and released at about 6 a.m., according to jail records.

“This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” a statement from a Spears representative said. “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life. Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.”