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

With stock markets reeling and economic fallout from the war extending far beyond the Middle East, Trump is under growing pressure to end Iran's chokehold on the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil is usually shipped.

The United States has offered Iran a 15-point proposal for a ceasefire that includes it relinquishing control of the strait, but at the same time has ordered thousands more troops to the region — possibly in preparation for a military attempt to wrest the waterway from Iran’s tight grip.

With time running out on a deadline set by Trump for Iran to open the strait, after which he had threatened to destroy Iran’s energy plants, he pushed his self-imposed deadline back to April 6 on Thursday, saying that talks on ending the conflict were going “very well.” Iran, however, maintains it is not engaged in any negotiations.

Israel’s attack Friday “in the heart of Tehran” targeted sites used by Iran to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons, the Israeli military said. It also hit missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran.

Why Pakistan has emerged as a mediator between US and Iran

ISLAMABAD (AP) — As fears of a wider regional conflict escalate following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began in late February, Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected mediator, offering to help bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table.

Islamabad isn't often called on to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but it's stepped into the role this time for a number of reasons, both because it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and because it has a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved.

Pakistani government officials have said that their public peace effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy, though they have provided few details. They have also said that Islamabad stands ready to host talks between representatives from the U.S. and Iran.

Here's what to know about Pakistan's mediation effort:

Pakistan’s role in Iran-U.S. negotiations surfaced only days ago following media reports. Officials in Islamabad later acknowledged that a U.S. proposal had been conveyed to Iran.

Senate approves funding for TSA and most of Homeland Security, but not immigration enforcement

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.

The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it Friday.

“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “Obviously, we’ll still have some work ahead of us.”

With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the endgame emerged in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday. President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.” The deal did not include any of the restraints Democrats have demanded as they sought to rein in Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the outcome could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump's “rogue” immigration operation “does not get more funding without serious reform.”

World shares mostly lower and oil gains after Wall Street's worst day since start of Iran war

HONG KONG (AP) — World shares mostly fell and oil gained again on Friday after Wall Street had its worst day since the start of the Iran war over growing doubts about a de-escalation.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 9,939.96. France's CAC 40 dropped 0.7% to 7,718.97, and Germany's DAX lost 1.3% to 22,314.28.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.4% lower at 53,373.07. South Korea’s Kospi also lost 0.4% to 5,438.87, narrowing the sharp drop earlier in the day at trading close.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.4% to 24,951.88 after dipping earlier in the day, while the Shanghai Composite index traded 0.6% higher at 3,913.72.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,516.30.

Rubio tries to sell Iran war to skeptical G7 diplomats after Trump insults allies

VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in France meeting his Group of Seven foreign minister counterparts on Friday, after President Donald Trump attacked NATO countries over a reluctance or refusal to take part in the Iran war, a conflict that some of America’s closest allies have met with deep skepticism.

Rubio will have a hard time trying to sell the other top diplomats from G7 countries on the U.S. strategy for the Iran conflict, to which almost all nations have raised objections. On his arrival at the meeting venue at a historic 12-century abbey in Vaux-de-Cernay outside of Paris, Rubio posed for a group photo with his fellow foreign ministers but none of them spoke.

Trump’s vitriolic comments about NATO during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday will likely make it an even tougher task. Of the G7 nations — besides the U.S. — Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy are members of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Japan is the only one that is not.

Rubio left Washington for the G7 meeting just hours after Trump complained bitterly about NATO countries not stepping up to help the U.S. and Israel in the Iran war.

“We are very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing,” Trump said.

Minnesota to host 'No Kings' flagship rally, headlining Springsteen amid tensions over ICE and war

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota will be the flagship of the “No Kings” protest movement Saturday when Bruce Springsteen performs “Streets of Minneapolis” in a state where emotions are still raw over President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and the deaths of two residents shot by federal officers.

More than 3,100 events are being organized in communities large and small across all 50 states, with more than 9 million people expected to participate. A growing number of them will be in suburbs, which are increasingly on the front lines of resistance against Trump.

Organizers have designated the Minnesota rally, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, as Saturday’s flagship event. They've told a state oversight agency that 100,000 people could converge on the Capitol complex, where last June’s event drew an estimated 80,000 people.

The movement is spreading around the world, said Ezra Levin, a cofounder of Indivisible, the activist group spearheading the events. Rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries, he said in an interview, including Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Mexico and Australia. In counties with constitutional monarchies, he said, they call the protests “No Tyrants.”

Besides Springsteen, the St. Paul rally will also feature singer Joan Baez and actor Jane Fonda, who've been noted for their activism since the Vietnam War era, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a hero of the progressive movement, along with a long list of other national and local activists, labor leaders and elected officials.

Woman whose son died from drugs bought on social media celebrates verdicts against Meta, YouTube

THORNTON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado woman whose son died from a fentanyl-laced pill he bought through social media celebrated a pair of verdicts this week against Meta and YouTube that she said opened the door for companies to be held responsible for harms to children using their platforms.

“The truth is out, and it’s time that they are held accountable for the design of the platforms,” said Kimberly Osterman, whose son Max died in 2021 at age 18. “They put profits over safety.”

Flipping through photo albums Thursday at her home in Colorado, Osterman reflected on “the days before social media. The days before the infinite scrolling lured him in.” Photos of him in frames with hearts and angels wings dotted the shelves.

Osterman said Max arranged to meet a drug dealer he connected with on Snapchat and purchased what he thought was Percocet. The pill was laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl, and he was dead the next morning. Osterman is pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit that is separate from cases decided this week.

In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both YouTube and Meta, which owns and operates platforms including Instagram and Facebook, liable for harms to children for designing their platforms to hook young users. The companies said they disagreed with the verdicts and may appeal.

Georgia's Fulton County heads to court to seek return of 2020 ballots seized by FBI

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge plans to hear arguments Friday on a demand by officials in Georgia's Fulton County that the FBI return seized ballots and other materials from the 2020 election.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee wrote in a scheduling order that the hearing was needed after the two sides failed to reach an agreement in court-ordered mediation.

The Jan. 28 seizure from a warehouse near Atlanta targeted the elections hub in Georgia's most populous county, which is heavily Democratic and includes most of the city of Atlanta. Fulton County has been at the center of unfounded claims by President Donald Trump and his allies that widespread election fraud cost him reelection.

The FBI's move was one of several actions by the Trump administration that have alarmed Democrats and many election officials who are concerned it is using law enforcement to pursue the president's personal grievances and is planning ways to interfere in this year's midterm elections The FBI also used a subpoena earlier this month to obtain records related to a controversial audit of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County in Arizona, another battleground state Trump lost that year.

At the same time, the Justice Department is fighting numerous states in court for access to voter data that includes sensitive personal information. Election officials, including some Republicans, have said handing over the information would violate state and federal privacy laws.

Somali children are 'on the edge' as hunger spreads. UNICEF says Iran war has worsened the crisis

DOLLOW, Somalia (AP) — The sound of a crying child is a sign of hope in a crowded displacement camp in southern Somalia — the most malnourished children are too weak to even cry.

For the mothers in the Ladan camp in the town of Dollow, survival is the only thing on their minds — not the Iran war or how UNICEF gets the supplies to keep the place running. The displaced here have fled the drought that has ravaged swaths of this Horn of Africa nation after four failed rain seasons.

Their crops and livestock devastated, they show up at the camp, often with nothing but their children.

Aid workers at Ladan say the raging war in the Middle East — more than 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) away — has made their work harder, disrupting supplies and sending fuel costs soaring.

UNICEF says it has $15.7 million worth of lifesaving supplies — including therapeutic food, vaccines, and mosquito nets — in transit or being prepared for delivery to Somalia. But those shipments now are uncertain.

Federal judge temporarily blocks the Pentagon from branding AI firm Anthropic a supply chain risk

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in temporarily blocking the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Thursday said she was also blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic and its chatbot Claude.

Lin said the “broad punitive measures” taken against the AI company by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared arbitrary, capricious and could "cripple Anthropic,” particularly Hegseth's use of a rare military authority that's previously been directed at foreign adversaries.

“Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government,” Lin wrote.

Lin's ruling followed a 90-minute hearing in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday at which Lin questioned why the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of punishing Anthropic after negotiations over a defense contract went sour over the company’s attempt to prevent its AI technology from being deployed in fully autonomous weapons or surveillance of Americans.