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

As the U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf arrived in Islamabad, the ceasefire appeared fragile. The Lebanese state-run news agency reported Israel was pressing ahead with strikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least three people. Iran said discussions would only take place if there is a ceasefire in Lebanon and blocked Iranian assets are released.

The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 1,953 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. It has largely cut off the Persian Gulf from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring and damaging infrastructure in half a dozen countries in the region.

In Tehran, residents told The Associated Press they were skeptical yet somewhat hopeful about the talks and worn down by weeks of airstrikes that have carved a path of destruction across their country.

Shahab Banitaba questioned whether the United States could be trusted to uphold any agreement.

Unsettled and uncertain: What the Iran war means around the world as US and Iran enter talks

The long-term fallout of the war in Iran is only beginning to take shape, but this much is clear: The conflict has left the Middle East unsettled, alliances strained and the world facing uncertain shifts in the balance of economic and military power.

Iran’s theocracy is tattered but alive, with new economic leverage. The U.S. and Israel will hold elections this year, their leaders potentially facing voters having fallen short of their war aims. The NATO alliance, already strained, is under even more pressure. The Gulf Arab states face an emboldened Iran in their backyard.

At this inflection point, as the U.S. and Iran prepare for talks this weekend in Pakistan, AP journalists in the Middle East and Washington share their assessments on how the war is still reverberating across the world during the tenuous ceasefire:

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to be graded for the war, he would get an “incomplete.”

Netanyahu set some ambitious goals at the outset of the fighting on Feb. 28, saying he wanted to remove the threats posed by Iran’s missile and nuclear programs and its support for hostile proxy groups. He also vowed to create the conditions for a popular uprising against the Iranian government. None of these goals were fully achieved.

The Latest: Vance arrives in Pakistan for talks with Iranian officials to shore up shaky ceasefire

A U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance arrived in Pakistan for talks with Iranian officials aimed at shoring up a shaky ceasefire and paving the way for a permanent end to the fighting. It marks the first such meeting since the war began more than a month ago.

The ceasefire brokered by Pakistan still faces hurdles in the talks beginning Saturday, as Israel and Hezbollah militants have been trading fire along the border of southern Lebanon and Iran has set conditions before negotiations can begin.

The Iranian delegation arrived early Saturday in Islamabad, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who said on X that discussions will only take place if there is an Israeli ceasefire in Lebanon the release of blocked Iranian assets.

Hours earlier, President Donald Trump wished Vance good luck. “We’ll find out what’s going on. They’re militarily defeated.”

In Islamabad, the streets of a normally bustling capital were deserted Saturday as security forces sealed roads ahead of the talks.

Artemis II’s record-breaking journey around the moon ends with dramatic splashdown

HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing new records near the moon with grace and joy.

It was a dramatic grand finale to a mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

In a scene reminiscent of NASA’s Apollo moonshots of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy’s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha.

Russian strikes on Odesa kill 2 ahead of Orthodox Easter ceasefire

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local authorities reported, ahead of a proposed ceasefire for Orthodox Easter.

A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Israeli strike kills Lebanese security forces as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire ahead of talks

BEIRUT (AP) — Attacks intensified Friday between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah ahead of direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel set to begin next week.

The talks are set to begin Tuesday in Washington and will be mediated by U.S. diplomats, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said in a statement, citing the outcome of a call Friday among Israeli, Lebanese and U.S. ambassadors. The statement reiterated Beirut's position that the talks be held under a ceasefire or truce.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter later issued a statement describing next Tuesday's talks as “formal peace negotiations," but said a ceasefire was not on the agenda, in a stark contradiction to Aoun's remarks.

“Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries,” the statement read.

At least 13 members of Lebanon's State Security forces were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Friday, while Hezbollah claimed an attack targeting a naval base in the Israeli port city of Ashdod some 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the border.

Allies yank support for Swalwell's California governor run after sexual assault allegations

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In a stunning political reversal, prominent supporters of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign for California governor withdrew their support Friday after the congressman denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him.

Swalwell did not immediately heed those calls, saying on social media that he would spend the weekend with family and friends and share an update “very soon.”

“These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They're absolutely false. They did not happen, they have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have,” he said.

Swalwell was among the leading Democrats in the race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom. But in just hours, he saw his most prominent supporters — including U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and powerful labor unions — drop their endorsements and call for his exit from the race.

Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate who has avoided engaging in the contest to replace him, said in a statement: “As we continue to learn more, these allegations from multiple sources are deeply troubling and must be taken seriously.”

Female rickshaw drivers in Sierra Leone rise above stigma to earn a living and empower women

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — As the late afternoon sun settles over Freetown’s main transit park, Hawa Mansaray pulls up her motorized three-wheeled vehicle and steps away for a break and to pray.

Mansaray is one of a small but growing number of women entering a male-dominated commercial transport sector in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. The auto-rickshaws, known locally as kekeh, are an essential means of transport and until recently were almost exclusively driven by men.

“I have done different jobs since I came to Freetown but kekeh has done more for me,” said the 27-year-old single mother of one.

The rickshaws have become increasingly popular in Sierra Leone, filling the gaps in a strained public transport system as the West African country struggles to recover from its 1991-2002 civil war.

Freetown’s population has grown to more than 1.5 million, according to city estimates — roughly three times the size it was when much of its infrastructure was planned and built. Public transport systems have struggled to keep up, creating demand for commercial motorcycles and auto-rickshaws.

Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is reelected for a sixth term

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh was reelected for a sixth term after official results showed him winning 97.81% of the vote in Friday's election.

Guelleh, 78, has ruled the small Horn of Africa nation of about 1 million for more than two decades. Last year, the country’s lawmakers scrapped presidential age limits.

Election officials said the vote was peaceful. At the presidential palace, supporters on Saturday celebrated and offered congratulations.

Guelleh faced a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offered little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

Guelleh succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999, extending a family-led system that has shaped the country’s politics for decades.

Federal court hears new case against Trump's latest global tariffs

NEW YORK (AP) — The centerpiece of President Donald Trump's economic policy — sweeping taxes on global imports — is under legal assault again.

The U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, heard oral arguments Friday in an attempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck down his preferred choice — even bigger, even more sweeping tariffs.

In his first attempt to impose global tariffs, the president last year invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), using the law to declare America's longstanding trade deficit a national emergency and to impose double-digit worldwide taxes on imports to combat it. He interpreted the law broadly to justify tariffs of whatever size he wanted, whenever he wanted to impose them, on whatever country he wanted to target.

The Supreme Court struck those tariffs down on Feb. 20, saying IEEPA did not authorize the use of tariffs to counter national emergencies.

But Trump had alternatives to IEEPA. The quickest option was Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose global tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, after which congressional approval is needed to extend them. After his defeat at the Supreme Court, Trump quickly announced 10% Section 122 tariffs. He said he'd raise them to the maximum 15% but hasn't yet done so. The tariffs are scheduled to expire July 24.