US and Iran exchange strikes as they struggle over Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.
The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
Kuwait said Saturday it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones and that a water desalination plant was struck, causing a fire, the second such attack in two days in the tiny desert nation, which depends on desalination for 90 percent of its drinking water.
Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force.
The US and Iran have blown past red lines as they lurch back toward all-out war
A week after the United States and Iran signed a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war, an Iranian drone slammed into a cargo ship sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
There were no casualties or major damage, but the June 25 attack set off a chain of hostilities that would put the two countries on a path back toward all-out war less than a month after they agreed to stop fighting.
Each strike and counterstrike chipped away at the pillars of the agreement, which has now collapsed, though there are still efforts to salvage it. Red lines set by both sides have been crossed. A return to full-scale war that would further destabilize the Middle East and disrupt the world economy appears increasingly likely.
Here's a look at how we got here.
The attack on the cargo ship came after Iran had warned vessels not to use an alternative route through the Strait of Hormuz that is overseen by the U.S. military and intended to be outside Tehran's control.
A Texas prosecutor reveals new details in an ICE killing of a Houston father
A federal prosecutor in Texas shared new details Thursday evening about the moments before an immigration officer shot and killed a Mexican national and longtime U.S. resident in early July. The disclosure complicates the government’s earlier claim that the man struck an ICE vehicle before he was shot.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, on July 7 as he was driving to a Houston construction job site with three co-workers, one of whom was his brother. The shooting sparked protests in the sprawling Texas city, echoing Salgado Araujo’s family’s calls for transparency. The family describes him as a hardworking father very close to obtaining legal status in the U.S. after living in the country for 35 years.
The shooting came just days before two other men in Florida and Maine died as part of President Donald Trump's federal immigration crackdown, renewing scrutiny on the Department of Homeland Security's law enforcement tactics.
Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said for the first time on Thursday that ICE officers were targeting two Guatemalan men who were potentially subject to deportation. He said they were driving a van similar to the one Salgado Araujo was driving when he was killed. In an earlier statement released the day Salgado Araujo was killed, DHS said he was targeted in an immigration enforcement operation, and he was living in the country without legal permission.
Reitz also said that the officers believed that Salgado Araujo and the passengers in his car fit the description of the Guatemalan men the agents were looking for.
7 killed and more than 50 wounded in Ukrainian drone attack on Russian regions
Seven people were killed and 51 others were wounded in Russia overnight by Ukrainian drone attacks, Russian officials said Saturday.
Kyiv's forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.
Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."
“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.
Off-duty employee arrested in shooting near ICE detention center in Colorado that injured a woman
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — An off-duty employee at a federal immigration detention center in Colorado has been arrested for allegedly firing a gun following a confrontation with two protesters outside the building, hitting a woman in the foot.
Aurora police said the shooting happened Thursday night as employees were waiting along a street for the protest to clear so they could start their work shifts. Investigators said two women started a verbal confrontation and took pictures of the employees' vehicles before walking away.
The man is accused of retrieving a personally owned pistol and firing one shot in the direction of the women, hitting one in the lower body. The woman's injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.
Emma Landis, 21, said she got shot on her right ankle. “It’s not a joke. This isn’t a game. This isn’t something you see on social media and hope not to experience," Landis said.
Demonstrators regularly have been gathering outside the center in Colorado, like they have elsewhere around the U.S., to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, protesters clashed with law enforcement in New Jersey, resulting in dozens of arrests there.
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Massive fire destroys 100 homes in Norway and forces hundreds to evacuate
DRAMMEN, Norway (AP) — A major fire in southern Norway destroyed more than 100 homes Friday and forced hundreds of people to evacuate the area, according to police and the country's public broadcaster.
The blaze started in a townhouse in the city of Drammen around 3:30 p.m. Friday, police said. It then spread through the area and into nearby forests. Firefighters continued their efforts Saturday morning to bring the blaze under control.
NRK, Norway's public broadcaster, said hundreds of people went to an evacuation center.
No residents have been reported missing, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.
Drammen is roughly 34 kilometers (21 miles) southwest of Oslo.
Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday.
The thick smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze and prompted Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians to postpone their game against Pittsburgh Pirates in Ohio.
Warnings of dangerous conditions were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., though there's potential for temporary improvement with storms forecast in some affected areas during the weekend.
D.C. resident Stewart Verdery awoke Friday to take in his usual sunrise view of the city's famous landmarks from a rooftop, only to be greeted by a darkened horizon and no monuments in sight.
“It’s pretty crazy to wake up at sunrise and not see the sun when it’s not even raining,” he said by phone after posting a video of the surreal scene on X. “And it smells like somebody’s having the world’s largest cookout.”
Rescuers race to find survivors in the rain after a landslide in China kills at least 8
CHONGQING, China (AP) — Rescue crews on Saturday raced to find survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left 34 missing.
The landslide occurred in Pengshui County on Friday morning on the outskirts of Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed down a slope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ten people were rescued but sent to the hospital, while more than 1,100 people have been relocated.
Photos and Associated Press videos showed that one of the fallen rocks appeared larger than a multistory building, with ruins scattered across the steep terrain. One of the damaged buildings had its top part crushed and a car was seen half-buried near another building.
The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters, Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told a news conference on Friday.
CCTV said persistent rain hit Pengshui from Friday night to Saturday morning and 19.2 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rainfall was recorded at a weather station. The unstable weather made the rescue operation more challenging, it said. As the rain eased slightly, rescue teams entered the site to conduct on-the-ground inspections of the collapsed buildings and riverbank areas.
Maine Democrats running to replace Platner as Senate nominee scramble to woo his voters
The tight timeline to replace former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner has left Democratic hopefuls scrambling to woo his progressive base while trying to turn the focus from the disgraced oysterman to defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
It's a delicate balance for the candidates, who are vying to face Collins in a contest that could decide control of the Senate as Platner’s shadow hangs over the race. In their first debate Thursday night, one of the first questions candidates were asked was: What was Graham Platner's best idea?
Moving past Platner is just one of the challenges facing Democrats. The never-before-used process to pick a new nominee means candidates have less than three weeks to pull off what typically takes campaigns months or years, from organizing volunteers to raising money and preparing for debates.
The whiplash many of the candidates are facing was on display Thursday.
Asked by debate moderators about President Donald Trump's decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this year, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows gave inaccurate information about Collins not pushing back against Trump, a Republican. When a moderator called her on it, Bellows said she was on vacation on the Kennebec River last week after previously focusing on her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign and hadn't expected to be running for the Senate.
Texas floods have left high waters and a big cleanup job after hundreds of people are rescued
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — First responders in storm-battered Texas again rushed to save people trapped in high waters Friday, as more heavy rain widened the danger from floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue.
A week of punishing downpours dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas. The rain was expected to taper off, but another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.
Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. More than 50 people were rescued by boat from flooded apartments and a water-logged RV park.
A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months worth of rain has fallen in a span of days. In Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, floodwaters rushed through Miguel Vasquez’s home twice this week, leaving a layer of mud and knocking over his refrigerator and other items.
Debris was strewn around his neighborhood and a neighbor’s shed teetered over a washed-away section of the property. He said Friday that he'd been caught in the waters' current and nearly been swept away and drowned in trying to get to his house Wednesday.

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