AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

The tear in the inner wall of the aorta, called an aortic dissection, was related to the hardening of Graham's arteries. An official cause of death will be disclosed after toxicological and microscopic testing.

Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican and former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for more than three decades, had turned 71 years old just two days before dying on Saturday night. His office had originally said he had suffered from a “brief and sudden illness."

Trump, who talked to Graham frequently, said he was “like a member of the family. It’s very tough.” He said on NBC’s ”Meet the Press" that Graham had called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine and “sounded a little bit tired, but perfect.” The president ordered that flags across the country be flown at half-staff until next Saturday evening.

A noted foreign policy hawk, Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on international affairs and he advised Trump on matters such as the Iran war and Russia. On Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions.

Who could replace Lindsey Graham? South Carolina's next steps after senator's death

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was running for a fifth term when he passed away over the weekend, began a tumultuous new chapter in South Carolina politics during a year that has already been full of upheaval.

As the conservative state's senior senator and an influential ally of President Donald Trump, Graham was presumed to be on a glide path toward reelection.

Now, Gov. Henry McMaster must choose a temporary replacement who can serve until January while the state also prepares a special primary so voters can choose a new Republican nominee for the general election.

The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina's most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.

Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — all of whom are now eyeing Graham's seat.

Ukraine reels after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death, fearing a weaker link to Trump

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — With the death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ukraine lost a close ally in President Donald Trump’s orbit, leaving its leaders grappling with the implications for their war-torn country.

Graham had been in Ukraine two days prior, standing in Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Square, flanked by the golden domes of the monastery and the burned-out remains of Russian military equipment.

There, he offered Ukrainians reason to be optimistic, telling reporters that sweeping new hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia, legislation he had spent years pushing with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, were finally within reach. He would be heading back to Washington to meet with bipartisan leaders to advance the proposal.

Two days later, on Sunday, the world learned of his sudden death.

Ukrainian officials and lawmakers were devastated by the news. For years, Graham had been one of Kyiv’s closest allies in Washington and a trusted intermediary with Trump, who had a strained relationship with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

US and Iran vie for Strait of Hormuz, waterway key to global energy supplies, in latest attacks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.

The attacks, sparked by Iran striking a container ship Sunday in the strait off the coast of Oman, again underlined that the waterway that once saw a fifth of the world's traded crude oil and natural gas pass through it remained the key issue in negotiations. The narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has seen shipping disrupted since the start of the war as Iran maintained a chokehold on it by attacking commercial vessels around it, intimidating shippers.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of an interim deal that was supposed to set up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future, worrying world leaders the Iran war fully could resume.

“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

The U.S. military’s Central Command described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boats.

Iran persecutes its Baha’i minority fiercely in a year of protests and war, rights groups say

Peyvand Naimi has spent more than six months in an Iranian prison, accused of killing state security agents during nationwide protests, although his family says no formal charges or evidence have been presented. “The Baha'is will not be released,” the family says it was told by the prosecutor.

Ever since the Baha’i faith was founded in Persia — now Iran — in the 19th century, its followers there have been persecuted, usually more harshly during times of crisis.

This year, amid massive anti-government protests and war with the United States and Israel, the Islamic Republic has mounted a fierce crackdown on the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, human rights groups say.

Since January, dozens of Baha’is have been imprisoned because of their faith, human rights groups say. Holy books and religious symbols have been desecrated during raids of Baha'i family homes — which these groups say is evidence of authorities' sectarian motivations. Those detained have faced mistreatment ranging from electric shocks to mock hangings, and some have made forced confessions to crimes punishable by death, rights groups say.

The Islamic Republic's intensified campaign against Baha'is is part of a wider crackdown across Iran. Nationwide protests that began in late December prompted the deadliest backlash by Iranian security forces since the Islamic Republic took power in 1979, with thousands killed and tens of thousands reportedly arrested.

New Zealand actor Sam Neill, known for 'Jurassic Park' and 'The Piano,' dies at 78, his family says

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Sam Neill, a smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose career moved from art film to blockbuster as he dodged velociraptors in “Jurassic Park” and played Holly Hunter’s husband in “The Piano,” has died. He was 78.

In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Neill died on Monday in Sydney, according to a statement posted to the actor’s social media page.

His death was “sudden and unexpected,” the statement said, adding that he “remained cancer free” when he died. A cause of death wasn’t specified.

“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life,” his family wrote.

Neill was one of a host of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, a list that includes Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy “Sweet Revenge” to chopping off Hunter’s finger in “The Piano” to poking his own eyes out in the sci-fi horror “Event Horizon.”

Oil prices jump and world shares are mixed as US and Iran carry out airstrikes

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices jumped and world shares were mixed on Monday after the U.S. carried out airstrikes and Iran retaliated.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX added 0.2% to 25,105.55 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% higher, to 8,347.26. Britain's FTSE 100 also was up just 0.1%, at 10,506.86.

U.S. stock futures were mixed, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.3% and that for the Dow nearly unchanged. The Nasdaq composite future lost 0.9%.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed as much as nearly 5% early Monday before falling back. As of early morning in Europe, it was up 2.3% at $77.72 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude added 2.1% to $72.92 per barrel.

Prices for both types of crude oil recently had slipped back to around the levels they were at before the war with Iran began after the two sides set an interim agreement on ending the conflict and ships resumed transporting oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Is there such a thing as being too old to execute? Aging death row inmates are set to die in Florida

MIAMI (AP) — The last prisoner strapped to a table in Florida’s death chamber was 74 years old — the oldest the state has executed in modern times. The next two set to die are older still.

The series of executions, due to be carried out by the end of this month, highlights the nation’s aging death-row population. One of Florida's prisoners scheduled to die in July, a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1986, is 80 years old and would be only the second known octogenarian to be executed in the U.S.

For some, it renews questions about the humanity of administering capital punishment to inmates who might soon die from natural causes. For others, it illustrates how lengthy appeals designed to ensure constitutional protections and prevent innocent people from being executed can also delay justice.

“Is this intentional, as though to say, we’re not going to let a natural death help you escape executions?” asked the Rev. Dustin Feddon, a Catholic priest who has been ministering to Florida death row inmates since 2013. Noting the church's opposition to capital punishment, he added: "To execute those that are the most frail and elderly is even more cruel and unusual.”

Marilyn Gifford, whose sister's killer is set to die Tuesday, doesn't see it that way.

Senate returns to Washington after Sen. Lindsey Graham's death with uncertain agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans will return to Washington on Monday with an uncertain agenda after the sudden death of prominent Republican Lindsey Graham, a committee chairman and key player who served as a crucial ally with President Donald Trump.

Graham, 71, died Saturday evening after a tear in his aorta, according to a statement from his office on Sunday. The shocking news came after another prominent Republican senator, former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, has been hospitalized for almost a month. McConnell broke a weekslong silence about his health Sunday evening, saying that he was still recovering after suffering from pneumonia and falling in his home.

The continued absence of McConnell, R-Ky., and the surprise death of the South Carolina senator have shaken Republicans who were already at odds with Trump and stalled on several priorities as they return from a two-week recess. And the reduced Republican numbers in the 53-47 Senate are sure to add confusion to what was already expected to be a chaotic and difficult few months before the November midterm elections.

Despite consolidated power in Washington, Republicans have been unable to get much done as the Senate, House and White House have disagreed on legislative priorities and as Trump has criticized Senate Republicans, in particular, for not passing his legislation to require proof of citizenship for voters. Graham, who was one of Trump’s closest friends in the Senate, often served as a pivotal intermediary.

“He was a great — like a gauge, a temperature gauge of the Senate,” Trump said of Graham on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, noting he had talked to Graham on Saturday. “He could go in and get something approved. He would just get people on his side.”

McConnell says a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking weeks of silence about health condition

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Mitch McConnell on Sunday revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about his condition after weeks of mounting speculation about the Kentucky Republican’s health.

McConnell, 84, said in a statement that he was “briefly unconscious” around the time he was first taken to the hospital and has undergone a battery of tests to try and determine what led to his fall. He said he was also treated for mild pneumonia and has been moved to a rehabilitation facility.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell said, adding that he is now “regaining my strength.”

McConnell’s statement came on the heels of the unexpected death of his fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. McConnell said he cannot return to the Senate “quite yet.”

Coupled with Graham’s passing, that will temporarily whittle the GOP majority in that chamber down by two, to 51-47, as Republicans try to increase military funding, advance President Donald Trump’s agenda and confirm Trump's nominees.