Iranian state TV announced Sunday that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country's late supreme leader, has been named his successor.

The younger Khamenei had long been considered a contender, even before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war, and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.

Irans powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader, and now Khamenei will have the central say in war strategy. The announcement came on the ninth day of the war and after signs of a rift among Iranian officials as the country awaited a decision by the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics that selects Irans supreme leader.

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U.S. President Donald Trump told ABC News earlier Sunday he wants a say in who comes to power once the war is over; a new leader is not going to last long without his approval, Trump added. The U.S. and Israel killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the wars opening airstrikes.

Regional anger grows over strikes

The war toll on civilian targets grew as Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant vital to drinking water supplies, and oil depots in Tehran smoldered following overnight Israeli strikes.

In a sign of rising regional anger, the Arab League chief lashed out at Iran for its reckless policy of attacking neighbors, including ones that host U.S. forces. Gulf countries have been struck by hundreds of missiles and drones since the war started on Feb. 28, and Irans president has vowed to expand attacks.

Saudi Arabia reported its first deaths, saying a military projectile fell onto a residential area and killed two people of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality. Foreign residents and workers have made up most of the wars deaths in Gulf nations.

Israel reported its first soldier deaths, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where its military is fighting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. military said a service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have now been killed.

The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials.

Irans president toughens tone

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian backtracked from conciliatory comments a day earlier in which he apologized for attacks on neighbors soil. Iranian hard-liners had swiftly contradicted him, saying war strategy wouldnt change.

The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be, Pezeshkian said Sunday.

Pezeshkian has urged neighboring states not to take part in U.S. and Israeli attacks. The U.S. strikes have not come from the Gulf Arab governments but from U.S. bases and vessels in the region.

The geography of some countries in the region both overtly and covertly is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue," judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote on X on Saturday.

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Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are part of the three-member leadership council overseeing Iran since Khamenei was killed.

Desalination and oil facilities attacked

Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported additional Iranian missiles launched toward them.

Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online.

Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region and thousands of stranded travelers, raising new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.

The desalination plant strike came after Iran said a U.S. airstrike damaged a desalination plant there. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the strike on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had cut into the water supply to 30 villages.

He warned that in doing so the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.

In response, CENTCOM spokesperson U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said that "U.S. forces do not target civilians period.

Iranian authorities also said Israel's overnight strikes on four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal killed four people. Witnesses in Tehran said the smoke was so thick that it looked as if the sun had not risen.

Israels military said the oil depots were being used by Irans military for fuel to launch missiles.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain.

It also said about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and almost three dozen health facilities. It also

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned it soon could become harder to produce and sell oil. Some regional producers, including in Iraq, have curbed output amid dangers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran maintains sufficient fuel, Veys Karami, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, told the state-run news agency.

Lebanon says a half-million people displaced

Lebanon said over a half-million people have been displaced in the week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The actual number is likely higher. Lebanons count of 517,000 refers to those who registered on the governments online portal. Israel over the past week has called on residents in dozens of villages across southern Lebanon and the entirety of Beiruts southern suburbs to evacuate as fighting intensifies.

Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said 83 children and 82 women have been among those killed.

In Beirut, sheltering families crammed into schools, slept in cars or in open areas near the Mediterranean Sea, where some burned firewood to keep warm. The government said it would open a sports stadium to shelter thousands more.

Israels renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the war's opening days. The strikes have been the most intense since a November 2024 ceasefire. Israel has continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah had been trying to rebuild its positions there.

Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant on Sunday, raising fears that civilian infrastructure may become fair game in the war, as Irans president vowed to expand the country's attacks on American targets across the region in the face of intense U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.

A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility engulfed parts of Irans capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, while Israel renewed attacks in Lebanon. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the nine-day-old campaign, which has rippled across the region and appears to have no end in sight.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened Sunday to step up attacks on American targets across the Middle East. He appeared to backtrack from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. Those comments, in which he apologized for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.

RELATED STORY | Trump warns Iran of complete destruction as war reaches one-week mark

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes pushed the death toll to above 300 after Israel ordered tens of thousands to evacuate ahead of an offensive aimed at stamping out the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The war, which Israel and the United States launched with airstrikes on Feb. 28, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, over 300 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Six U.S. troops have also been killed.

The conflict has rattled global markets, disrupted air travel and left Irans leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Irans parliament, said on Sunday that the wars effect on the oil industry would continue to spiral, warning it could soon become harder to both produce and sell oil.

Some regional producers, including in Iraq, have already curbed output amid dangers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Irans president toughens tone

When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be, Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday. Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression and it never has.

The remarks came a day after Pezeshkian said Iran regretted regional concerns caused by Iranian strikes and urged neighboring states not to take part in U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran.

While multiple Gulf states reported intercepting more incoming missiles and drones from Iran, Pezeshkian said the country wasn't looking to battle them and accused the U.S. of trying to pit countries against one another.

Iranian hard-liners quickly contradicted those remarks. Judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote on X: The geography of some countries in the region both overtly and covertly is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue."

Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are part of a three-member leadership council that has overseen Iran since an earlier strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Pezeshkians remarks Sunday reinforced pledges that Iran would not surrender despite U.S. and Israeli threats, with Trump and Netanyahu saying their aim remains the replacement of Irans leaders.

Were not looking to settle, Trump told reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One. Theyd like to settle. Were not looking to settle.

Desalination and oil facilities attacked

The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, reported additional Iranian missiles launched toward them on Sunday, including several that hit new categories of civilian infrastructure.

The United Arab Emirates said that Iran launched more than 100 missiles and drones in new barrages. Only four drones fell at unnamed locations, the countrys defense ministry said.

Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. The island nation, home to the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet, has been among the countries targeted by Iranian drones and missiles. Attacks have hit hotels, ports and residential towers and killed at least one person.

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The desalination plant strike came after Iran said a U.S. airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant. Abbas Araghchi, the country's foreign minister, said the strike on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had cut into the water supply for 30 villages. He warned that in doing so the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.

Neither U.S. Central Command and Israel's military had immediate comment on the plant.

Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region, raising new fears of risks in multiple parched desert nations.

Iran also said on Sunday that overnight strikes from Israel hit four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal, killing four people. Witnesses in Tehran said the smoke was so thick from a fire that engulfed the north Tehran oil depot that it felt as if the sun had not risen.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on Sunday that about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and medical facilities. It warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain after Israeli strikes set fires at oil depots in the area.

Iran maintains sufficient fuel, Veys Karami, Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, told Irans state-run news agency. Israel's military said on Saturday that the targeted oil depots were being used by Irans military.

More strikes hit Lebanon

Israel renewed its assault early Sunday on parts of Lebanon, where health officials reported at least 394 people have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said on Sunday that 83 children and 82 women were among those killed. The Israeli military has ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate. Lebanese officials have reported more than 400,000 displaced during an offensive that Israel's military has said is aimed at stamping out Iran-supported forces there.

In Beirut, sheltering families crammed into schools, slept in cars or in open areas near the Mediterranean Sea, where some burned firewood to keep warm while awaiting basic supplies. The government says its soon repurposing in a large sports stadium to shelter thousands more.

Israels renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the opening days of the war. The subsequent strikes have been the most intense since a November 2024 ceasefire.

Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon at that time but continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah had been trying to rebuild its positions there. Hezbollah said last week that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israels strikes continued on Lebanon, its patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight.

Newly released videos showing the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by a federal immigration agent in Texas last year call into question assertions by the Department of Homeland Security that a driver intentionally rammed an agent with his car immediately before he was killed.

The videos, including from officer body cameras, offer the first visual account of the shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, during a beach trip last year. Hours of footage and other law enforcement records were released Friday following a public records request from The Associated Press and other news outlets.

Martinezs death was the earliest of at least six fatal shootings by federal agents since President Donald Trump launched a nationwide immigration crackdown in his second term, and is among several cases in which video has called into question the administrations initial narratives.

The Texas Rangers closed their investigation into the March 15, 2025, shooting after a grand jury declined last week to file any criminal charges against Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens, who fired the fatal shots, according to records released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

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In a written statement included in the files, Stevens said he fired to protect his fellow agents, police officers and the public from what he feared was a potential terrorist attack intended to cause mass casualties. A DHS spokesperson said last month the HSI agent fired defensive shots after the driver intentionally ran over his fellow agent, resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle.

The newly released body camera videos, taken from behind Martinezs car, do not clearly show the vehicle striking an agent.

Another video shows Joshua Orta, who was riding in the car with Martinez, telling investigators that his friend had not intended to harm federal officers but had panicked because he feared getting arrested for driving while intoxicated.

He didnt know what to do. Like he definitely didnt want to go to jail, Orta said. But as far as like running over an officer ... he wouldnt do that.

Spokespersons for DHS did not respond to requests for comment about the videos.

Shots fired, shots fired

While local media reported at the time the shooting involved a police officer, DHS did not publicly disclose its agents were involved until after the AP and other media outlets reported it last month.

Martinez was just days past his 23rd birthday when he and Orta drove from their hometown of San Antonio down to South Padre Island, a popular spring break party destination. They drank with friends and smoked marijuana before heading back out on the town, Orta told investigators.

Martinez was driving his blue Ford sedan when, shortly after midnight, they came upon the scene where South Padre police officers were directing traffic around a two-car collision at a busy intersection. Also at the scene were three HSI agents from a maritime border security task force redirected to conduct immigration enforcement, according to documents.

In body camera footage captured by two of the island's police officers, Martinezs car can be seen slowly approaching the intersection, appearing to go straight as vehicles were being instructed to turn left. Martinez's car slows to a crawl nearly a full stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Once the pedestrians are out of the way, the car slowly pulls into the intersection before stopping again as the HSI agents approach, shouting instructions for the driver to stop.

One of the HSI agents, identified in documents as Special Agent Hector Sosa, moves in front of the car. Stevens is on the drivers side and reaches toward the door.

Get him out, get him out, one of the officers can be heard shouting.

Martinez's car begins slowly moving forward and turning to the left, where other vehicles were traveling. Stevens, on the drivers side of the car, is keeping pace and appears to be leaning in toward the open drivers side window. As officers yell for Martinez to stop, Stevens pulls his weapon and rapidly fires three shots through the window before quickly backing away.

Shots fired, shots fired, one of the police officers wearing a camera yells into his radio.

The entire incident transpires in about 15 seconds.

Agents pull the driver from the car

The blue Ford quickly comes to a full stop and Martinez is pulled from the vehicle and handcuffed by multiple officers. Orta is also pulled from the passenger seat and handcuffed.

Martinez remains in cuffs and on the ground, unmoving, for about a minute before paramedics already on the scene of the earlier traffic accident begin to provide medical aid.

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An autopsy report shows all three shots fired by Stevens hit Martinez, with bullets traveling through his left arm before entering his torso and piercing his heart, lungs, liver and other organs. The autopsy report also showed that Martinez's blood alcohol level was 0.12%, well above the legal limit to drive in Texas of 0.08%.

In a three-page written statement provided to the Texas Rangers almost two months after the shooting, Stevens said he fired his weapon as Martinez accelerated forward, striking Special Agent Sosa who wound up on the hood of the vehicle." He also said he narrowly avoided being run over, being struck by the driver's side and causing the mirror to break off of the vehicle. A photo from the scene showed the mirror damaged, but still on the car.

As he fired, the agent said that still fresh on his mind were recent domestic and international events, including a man who had driven a pickup truck into a crowd of New Years revelers in New Orleans weeks earlier.

The drivers eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers, Stevens wrote. This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance. This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties."

As reported by AP last month, an internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation said the agent struck by the car was treated for an unspecified knee injury at a nearby hospital and released. The newly released videos show the agent after the shooting arresting Orta and walking without any visible injury or limp.

That's when he panicked and turned the wheel'

Orta said Martinez had been drinking earlier that night several shots and a beer and smoked marijuana when he approached the traffic checkpoint where a vehicle accident had occurred earlier.

One officer spotted an open alcoholic beverage near Martinez but directed the car to keep moving and turn to the left. Instead, Martinez continued straight, toward the accident and more officers.

Thats when he panicked and turned the wheel, and he didnt floor the gas but we kind of went a little bit and I guess they thought he was like trying to run the cop over or something," Orta said.

Orta said that their car came to a full stop at first. Then Martinez turned to the left with the car barely moving.

I saw the officer kind of get on the hood. Like he didnt hit him, but like he kind of like, you know what I mean, caught his feet, Orta said. It was just slowly moving and they started shooting.

Orta died Feb. 21 in a car accident in San Antonio.

Lawyers representing Martinez's mother, Rachel Reyes, said in a statement the newly released videos and other evidence showed his car was barely moving when Stevens fired at point-blank range.

This batch of evidence shows no justification for Rubens killing," lawyers Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said. Still, our pursuit of full transparency will continue until we have all the facts. We, and the public, have yet to see all of the evidence held by the government.

An asteroid that NASA used for target practice a few years ago was nudged into a slightly different route around the sun, findings that could help divert a future incoming killer space rock, scientists reported Friday.

Its the first time that a celestial bodys orbit around the sun was deliberately changed. The asteroid that NASA's Dart spacecraft slammed into was never a threat to Earth.

This study marks a notable step forward in our ability to prevent future asteroid impacts on Earth, the international research team wrote in Science Advances.

The changes were slight reductions of just one-tenth of a second and one-half of a mile to a solar lap spanning two years and hundreds of millions of miles, according to the scientists.

Even though this seems small, a tiny deflection ... can add up over decades and make the difference between a potentially hazardous asteroid hitting or missing the Earth in the future, lead author Rahil Makadia, of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in an email.

For any save-the-planet tests, the key isnt delivering a huge shove at the last minute. The key is delivering a tiny shove many years in advance," he added.

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Launched in 2021 on the worlds first planetary defense exercise, the Dart spacecraft deliberately plowed into Dimorphos, which orbits a bigger asteroid, Didymos, as they circle the sun together. The space agency quickly determined that the 2022 strike trimmed the smaller asteroid's orbit around its bigger companion.

But it took until now for scientists to confirm, based on observations from around the world, that the impact cut the duos travel time around the sun by 0.15 seconds. With each solar orbit lasting 769 days, thats a real-time slowdown of just over 10 micrometers per second, shrinking the asteroids 300-million-mile orbit by 2,360 feet.

The researchers said all the boulders and other debris flung off Dimorphos in the crash provided as much push to Dimorphos as the spacecraft itself a doubling of momentum. Last summer, a U.S.-Italian team estimated that 35 million pounds of rock and dust were ejected.

The good news is that even with the change in the asteroids course, Earth remains safely out of their way for the foreseeable future. Thats why this rubble-packed system was picked for the mission, said Steven Chesley of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who took part in the study.

While it is just a single experiment, it is nonetheless an important data point that will be relevant to any future asteroid deflection missions, Chesley said in an email.

Scientists expect to learn even more about the impacts aftermath when the European Space Agencys Hera spacecraft reaches the asteroids in November. Dimorphos is 525 feet in diameter. Fast-spinning Didymos is 2,560 feet across with, according to the latest study, 200 times more mass than its sidekick.

Unlike Dart, Hera will not strike but will tag along for months of surveying. A pair of small experimental probes will peel away and attempt to land.

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From former presidents to an NBA Hall of Famer to prominent church pastors, stories of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.s influence on politics, corporate boardrooms and picket lines loomed large Friday at a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader.

Thousands of people gathered at a church on Chicago's South Side to pay a final public tribute to Jackson.

Barack Obama said Jackson's presidential runs in the 1980s set the stage for other Black leaders, including his own successful 2009 presidency and re-election.

The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasnt any place or any room where we didnt belong, Obama said. He paved the road for so many others to follow."

Obama, joined by two other former Democratic presidents, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, at a celebration of life for Jackson, received the loudest round of applause as the three entered the chamber.

We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope, Obama said. Each day we wake up to some new assault to our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to things you just didnt think were possible.

Each day we are told by folks in high office to fear each other, said Obama, referring to the current Republican leadership in Washington.

Clinton said Jackson made him a better president. He knew change came from the inside out," Clinton said.

Former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke Friday.

President Donald Trump, who praised Jackson on social media after he died and also shared photos of the two of them together, was not attending the service, according to his public schedule issued by the White House.

Thousands attend Jackson memorial service

The event honors the protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate and follows memorial services that drew large crowds in Chicago and South Carolina, where Jackson was born. Fridays celebration at an influential Black church with a 10,000-seat arena is expected to be the largest.

Crowds of attendees waited in long lines outside the church on the citys South Side as television screens played excerpts of some of Jacksons most famous speeches. Inside, vendors sold pins with his 1984 presidential slogan and hoodies with his I Am Somebody mantra.

A prerecorded video address of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared on auditorium screens as attendees continued to file into the chamber.

Sanders praised Jacksons dual presidential bids as an unprecedented effort to bridge divides along race and class. The Vermont progressive, who twice mounted unsuccessful bids for the Democratic presidential nomination, praised Jackson for inspiring enthusiasm across racial and age divides.

Along with a slew of Illinois elected leaders, notable attendees included actor and producer Tyler Perry, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and political activist and theologian Cornel West.

Marketing professional Chelsia Bryan said Friday that she decided to attend the memorial service because it was a chance to be part of something historic.

As a Black woman, knowing that someone pretty much gave their life, dedicated their life to make sure I can do the things that I can do now, hes worth honoring, Bryan said.

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Jackson Jr.: Everyone welcome

Jesse Jackson Jr. said all were welcome to celebrate his fathers life.

Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, right wing, left wing because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American, Jackson Jr. said last month. Dad would have wanted us to have a great meeting to discuss our differences, to find ways of moving forward and moving together.

The elder Jackson died last month at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak. Family members say he continued coming into the office until last year and communicated through hand signals. His final public appearances included the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Sitting in the crowd was 90-year-old Mary Lovett. She said Jacksons advocacy inspired her many times, from when she moved from Mississippi to Chicago in the 1960s, taught elementary school and became a mom. She twice voted for Jackson during both of his presidential runs and appreciated how he always spoke up for underrepresented people. Hes gone, but I hope his legacy lives, she said. I hope we can remember what he tried to teach us.

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Jackson's service was to the poor, underrepresented

Jackson's pursuits were countless, taking him to all corners of the globe: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, health care, job opportunities and education. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.

His son, Yusef Jackson, who runs the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, recalled how his father carried a well-worn Bible but also showed his faith by showing up to picket lines.

He lived a revolutionary Christian faith rooted in justice, nonviolence and the moral righteousness, Yusef Jackson said Friday. He was deeply involved in the political struggles of his time, but his gift was that he could rise above them. Its not about the left wing or the right wing. It takes two wings to fly. For him, the goal was always the moral center.

Jacksons services in Chicago and South Carolina drew civic leaders, school groups and everyday people who said they were touched by Jacksons work, from scholarship programs to advocating for inmates. Several states flew flags at half-staff in his honor.

Services in Washington, D.C., were tabled after a request to allow Jackson to lie in honor in the United States Capitol rotunda was denied by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said the space is typically reserved for select officials, including former presidents. Details on a future event have not been made public.

A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump's sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.

Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson's life sentence.

Sheriffs deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.

Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff's office report.

This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done, the report said.

Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladsons office.

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"In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards," Gladson's office said in a news release.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year behind bars after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from the riot. Johnson had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was pressured into it, but the judge rejected his request before sentencing.

Johnson, of Seffner, Florida, was carrying a bullhorn as he marched to the Capitol after attending Trump's Stop the Steal rally near the White House. He entered the building through an office window that other rioters had smashed, according to federal prosecutors. Johnson cursed and yelled at police officers after they used tear gas to disperse the mob of Trump supporters, prosecutors said.

In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that companies that paid tariffs struck down last month by Supreme Court are due refunds.

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade wrote that all importers of record were entitled to benefit from the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sweeping double-digit import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The Supreme Court found those tariffs to be unconstitutional under the emergency powers law, including the sweeping reciprocal tariffs he levied on nearly every other country. The majority ruled that the president could not unilaterally set and change tariffs because taxation power clearly belongs to Congress.

In his ruling, Eaton wrote that he alone will hear cases pertaining to the refund of IEEPA duties. The ruling offers some clarity about the tariff refund process, something the Supreme Court did not even mention in its Feb. 20 decision. Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official, said he expects the government to appeal or seek a stay to buy more time for U.S. Customs to comply.

The federal government collected more than $130 billion in the now-defunct tariffs through mid-December and could ultimately be on the hook for refunds worth $175 billion, according to calculations by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

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Eaton was ruling specifically on a case brought by Atmus Filtration, a Nashville, Tennessee, company that makes filters and other filtration products, claiming a right to a tariff refund.

All goods that go through U.S. Customs and Border Protections enter a process called liquidation, when the agency issues its final accounting of what is owed. Once liquidated, importers have 180 days to formally contest the duties. After that window closes, the liquidation is legally final.

The judge ordered customs to stop collecting the IEEPA tariffs the Supreme Court struck down last month on goods going through the liquidation process. And if the goods were past that part of the process, the agency would have to recalculate them without the tariffs.

This is a great decision for importers and consumers who paid, said Barry Appleton, a law professor and co-director New York Law Schools Center for International Law. It will make customs brokers busy. It should make things easier for the courts and get a process underway for those importers who paid within the last 180 days.

On Monday, another federal court rejected the Trump administrations attempt to slow the refund process. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit started the next phase in the refund process by sending it to New York trade court to sort out.

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Now the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency must come up with a way to process the refunds. Customs routinely refunds tariffs when theres been some kind of error, but its system was not designed for a mass refund, said trade lawyer Alexis Early, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. The devil will be in the details of the administrative process.

Republicans are invoking the war in Iran and the prospect of retaliatory terrorist attacks as they tee up votes Thursday on a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

The House already approved a DHS spending bill in January, but it faltered in the Senate as Democrats insisted on changes to immigration enforcement operations following the shooting death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. As a result, funding for the department lapsed on Feb. 14.

Republicans are calling on Democrats to reconsider their vote in the wake of the conflict in Iran. Both the House and the Senate are expected to hold votes on the matter.

The military action in Iran makes it all more urgent and crucial to have a fully funded, fully staffed DHS across all its departments, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

It did not appear the GOP's strategy had changed the position of Democratic lawmakers, though. They said they are prepared to fund most of the agencies at the department, just not Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.

It's the same lousy, rotten bill that does not put any guardrails or constraints on ICE or CBP after federal agents shot American citizens in the street, said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Workers are beginning to miss part of their paychecks

Following the longest federal shutdown in the countrys history last year, Congress has completed work on 11 of this years 12 appropriations bills. Only the bill for Homeland Security remains outstanding.

Republicans said the timing couldn't be worse for a Homeland Security shutdown. While a large majority of the department's employees are considered essential and continue to work, many will not receive a full paycheck this week.

Republicans said the prospect of an increase in unscheduled absences by the Transportation Security Administration's agents and screeners could lead to longer wait times at the nation's airports. Meanwhile, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has canceled various assessments to determine vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure. And training for first responders conducted through the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been canceled.

RELATED STORY | DHS top spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to step down

Can we not understand America is under siege, now likely to be attacked because radical Islam is under siege, and theyre going to hit back and were sitting here looking at each other and not funding DHS," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said during a hearing Tuesday featuring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Democrats are seeking several changes at the department include prohibiting ICE enforcement operations at sensitive locations like schools and churches, allowing independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, requiring warrants to be signed by judges before federal agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent, and requiring agents to wear identification and remove their masks.

Republicans note that the bill does include a bipartisan provision directing more resources for deescalation training and $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras.

Little to show from negotiations

The White House and congressional Democrats don't appear to have made significant progress in recent weeks resolving their differences after trading several offers.

Look, we're still far apart but we're negotiating and exchanging paper back and forth, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the Republican chairwoman of a panel that oversees homeland security funding, said shes been talking to Democrats about a possible pathway forward, but prospects are unclear.

She and other Republicans are citing last weekend's mass shooting in Austin as an example of the dangerous threat environment that's facing Americans following the attack on Iran.

I think that it is incredibly irresponsible to not fund the agency that is supposed to keep us safe here at home, Britt said.

RELATED STORY | DHS accused of using surveillance technology to track legal observers

Democrats said they are ready to fully fund all the agencies within the department except for ICE and CBP.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, authored a proposal to do that, but it was blocked from consideration. She said Republican leadership was using Trump's aimless, costly and illegal war with Iran to force through more funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection without any of the substantial changes that the vast majority of Americans believe those agencies need."

It is a cynical effort and it is one that will fail," DeLauro said.

The House is preparing to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution to halt President Donald Trump's attack on Iran, a 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 along party lines. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing the American people 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.

The tally in the House is expected to be tight, but the outcome will provide an early snapshot of the political support, or opposition, to the U.S.-Israel military operation and Trump's rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war.

RELATED STORY | Senate rejects effort to limit Trump's military operations on Iran

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.

Meeks said in his nearly three decades in Congress, the hardest votes he has taken have been deciding whether to send U.S. troops to war.

The roll calls are a clarifying moment for the president and the parties just days into the overseas conflict that has quickly carried echoes of the long U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many veterans of those wars have since run for office and now serve in Congress.

Republicans largely back Trump, and most Democrats oppose the war

Trumps Republican Party, which narrowly controls the House and Senate, largely sees the conflict with Iran not as the start of a new war, but the end of a regime that for decades has long menaced the West. The operation has killed Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some view as an opportunity for regime change, though others warn of a chaotic power vacuum.

Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the GOP chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly thanked Trump for taking action against Iran, saying the president is using his own constitutional authority to defend the U.S. against the imminent threat the country posed.

Mast, an Army veteran who worked as a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan, said the war powers resolution was effectively asking that the president do nothing.

For Democrats, Trump's war with Iran, influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a war of choice that is testing the balance of powers in the U.S. Constitution.

The framers werent fooling around, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., arguing that the Constitution is clear that only Congress can decide matters of war.

He said whether lawmakers support or oppose the Trump administration's military action, they should have the debate. Its up to us, weve got to vote on it.

While views in Congress are largely falling along party lines, there are crossover coalitions. Both the House and Senate resolutions were bipartisan, and are drawing bipartisan support and opposition. The House is also voting on a separate resolution affirming that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

RELATED STORY | Officials identify two more US service members killed in Iran conflict

The war powers resolution, if signed into law, would immediately halt Trump's ability to conduct the war unless Congress approved the military action. The president would likely veto the measure.

As an alternative, a small group of Democrats has proposed a separate war powers resolution that would allow the president to continue the war for 30 days before he must seek congressional approval. It is not expected to come yet for a vote.

Trump officials provide shifting rationale for war

After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump has scrambled to win support for a conflict that Americans of all political persuasions were already wary of entering. Trump administration officials spent hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week trying to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.

Six U.S. military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait, and Trump has said more Americans could die. Thousands of Americans abroad have scrambled for flights, many lighting up the phone lines at congressional offices as they sought help trying to flee the Middle East.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the war could extend eight weeks, twice as long as the president himself first estimated. Trump has left open the possibility of sending U.S. troops into what, so far, has largely been bombing campaign by air. Hundreds of people in the region have died.

The administration said the goal is to destroy Iran's ballistic missiles that it believes are shielding its nuclear program. It has also said Israel was ready to act against Iran, and American bases would face retaliation if the U.S. did not strike first. On Wednesday, the U.S. said it torpedoed an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka.

"This administration can't even give us a straight answer of as to why we launched this preemptive war," said Rep. Thomas Massie, the Republican from Kentucky who is often an outlier in his party.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had teamed up to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, also forced the war powers resolution to the floor, pushing past objections from House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson has warned that it would be dangerous to limit the president's authority while the U.S. military is already in conflict.

Senators sit in their desks for solemn vote

In the Senate, Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts during Trump's second term. This one, however, was different.

Underscoring the gravity of the moment Wednesday, Democratic senators filled the chamber and sat at their desks as the voting got underway.

Today every senator every single one will pick a side," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote. Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?

Sen. John Barrasso, second in Senate Republican leadership, said Democrats would rather obstruct Donald Trump than obliterate Irans national nuclear program."

The legislation failed on a 47-53 tally mostly along party lines, with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in favor and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania against.

For the second time, Virginias Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that voters can cast ballots on a Democrat-led congressional redistricting plan that could help the party win four more U.S. House seats, as the justices review legal challenges to the effort.

The court ruled that a statewide referendum can be held on April 21 on whether to authorize mid-decade redistricting, upending a temporary restraining order put in place by a Tazewell County judge last month. It comes after the top court made a similar ruling last month in a related case.

The court still has not ruled on whether the mid-decade redistricting amendment and referendum are legal, indicating that the scheduled April vote could be all for nothing if the top court upholds a lower court ruling blocking the effort. Early voting on the referendum is supposed to begin Friday.

RELATED STORY | Why 2025 became the year of mid-decade redistricting

Since late February, officials in Tazewell County have refrained from preparing for the referendum in light of the restraining order. On Wednesday, Tazewell Director of Elections Brian Earls said he would work hard to ensure early voting would start in his county come Friday.

I believe we will be ready, he said in an email. If not, it will not be for lack of effort.

President Donald Trump launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last year by pushing Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help his party win more seats. The goal was for the GOP to hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.

Instead, it created a burst of redistricting efforts nationwide. So far, Republicans believe they can win nine more House seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they can win six more seats in California and Utah, and are hoping to fully or partially make up the remaining three-seat margin in Virginia.

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In February, Virginia Democrats released a new congressional map that aims to give their party four more seats. Since then, the Democratic-led Legislature passed the proposed map and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the document into law.

Still, the map only goes into effect if its backed by voters and the amendment process is approved by the top court.

Virginia Democratic House Speaker Don Scott said Wednesday that the top court's decision gives voters an opportunity to decide whether the map gets used.

The Supreme Court of Virginias decision ensures that this referendum will move forward and that Virginians will have the opportunity to make their voices heard, he said.

Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have sought to portray their redistricting push as a response to Trumps overreach. Republicans have sounded aghast at the proposed district map, describing it as a way for liberals in northern Virginia to commandeer the rest of the state.

While the court allowed the referendum to move forward, their ruling did not comment on the amendment's legality.

It is the process, not the outcome, of this effort that we may ultimately have to address, the ruling said. Issuing an injunction to keep Virginians from the polls is not the proper way to make this decision.

The U.S. sank an Iranian warship in international waters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, as it intensified its bombardment with Israel of Iran's security forces and other symbols of power. Tehran vowed to completely destroy the Middle East's military and economic infrastructure signaling the war was nowhere near over and could expand further.

The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that state television announced the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the conflict, would be postponed. Millions attended the funeral of his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

RELATED STORY | 6 US service members killed as Iran conflict intensifies

In addition to striking Tehran on the fifth day of the conflict, Israel hit the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, while Iran fired on Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel. As the conflict spiraled, Turkey said NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkeys airspace.

The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, while disrupting the supply of the worlds oil and gas, snarling international shipping, and stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.

Both sides are unrelenting in their attacks

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a torpedo from a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship. He did not name the ship, but earlier an Iranian warship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.

In a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said that the Tuesday night strike on an Iranian warship was the first such attack on an enemy since World War II.

An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters, Hegseth said. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.

RELATED STORY | Ambassador says US cannot help Americans leave Israel amid escalating Iran conflict

Sri Lankan authorities said 32 people were rescued from the Iranian ship and that others died.

Israel said it hit buildings associated with Iran's Basij, the all-volunteer force of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that conducted a bloody crackdown on protesters in January that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained in the country.

The Israeli military also said it hit buildings associated with Irans internal security command, which also has suppressed demonstrations in the past. It also pounded towns near Beirut.

Israel and the U.S. have said they want to see the Iranian public overthrow the country's theocracy, and strikes against counterprotest forces are likely part of that effort.

Iranian state television showed the ruins of buildings in the center of the capital of Tehran, with interviewees saying the attacks damaged their homes. Strikes have also been reported in the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom, targeting a building associated with a clerical panel set to pick Irans next supreme leader. Iranian media said it was empty at the time.

State TV has begun calling the conflict the Ramadan war, a reference to the holy Muslim fasting month currently taking place. But that term also suggested leaders are trying to prepare the public for a protracted conflict.

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, echoed that sentiment, saying: Weve just begun.

Cooper said American forces have damaged Irans air defenses and taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that such damage has led to a decline in launches from Iran.

Still, explosions echoed in the skies over Jerusalem on Wednesday, and Israels military said Iran had launched missiles toward the country, while Hezbollah sent rockets.

Iran has also struck around the region, and air sirens sounded Wednesday morning across Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet.

At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Eleven people in Israel have been killed. More than 50 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. Six U.S. troops have been killed.

State Rep. James Talarico topped Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in an expensive and fiercely contested Texas Senate Democratic primary that once again has the party dreaming of a big upset in November.

Who Talarico will face depends on a May runoff between longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton a race expected to get increasingly nasty over coming months and could hinge on whether or not President Donald Trump offers an endorsement.

Texas, along with North Carolina and Arkansas, on Tuesday kicked off midterm elections with control of Congress at stake and against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

No Democrat has won a statewide race in the reliably Republican state in over 30 years, but in a statement after his victory, Talarico proclaimed We're about to take back Texas.

RELATED STORY | Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley clinch North Carolina Senate nominations

Crocketts campaign said she planned to sue over voting issues in Dallas and she spoke only briefly on Tuesday night to warn that people have been disenfranchised."

Republicans head to round 2

Cornyn, meanwhile, is seeking a fifth term but is facing a tough challenge from Paxton, the state attorney general. Cornyn hopes to avoid becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history to seek reelection and not be renominated.

The GOP contest also featured U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who finished a distant third and conceded. But him making it a three-way race made it tougher for any candidate to reach the 50% vote threshold needed to win the nomination outright and avoid the May 26 runoff.

All three campaigned on their ties to Trump, who did not make an endorsement in the race. Now both Cornyn and Paxton will again fiercely compete to curry the president's favor.

Cornyn was facing a tough enough battle that he didn't hold an election night party. Instead, in comments to reporters in Austin, he sought to make the case that a runoff win by Paxton would leave a dead weight at the top of the ticket for Republicans.

Ive worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally, Cornyn said. I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything weve worked so hard to build over these many years.

Addressing supporters in Dallas, Paxton made a point of saying he felt like he had during a recent trip to Mar-a-Lago, Trumps Florida estate. He also proclaimed: We proved something theyll never understand in Washington.

Texas is not for sale, he said.

Cornyns cool relationship with Trump is part of what made him vulnerable. He and allied groups spent at least $64 million in television advertising alone since July to try stabilize his support.

Paxton, who began campaigning in earnest only last month, has made national headlines for filing lawsuits against Democratic initiatives. He remained popular in Texas despite a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges, of which he was acquitted, and accusations of marital infidelity by his wife.

Senate GOP leaders, who are backing Cornyn, worry that Paxtons liabilities would make it harder to defend the seat if he is the nominee and require significant spending that could be better used elsewhere.

Confusion at some polling places

In the Democratic campaign, Crockett and Talarico each argued that they would be the stronger general election candidate in a state that backed Trump by almost 14 percentage points in 2024.

Voting was extended in Dallas County and Williamson County, outside Austin, after voters reported being turned away and directed to different voting precincts because of new primary rules. Paxtons office later challenged a decision keeping the polls open longer, and the state Supreme Court ruled that ballots cast by people not in line by 7 p.m. should be separated from others.

RELATED STORY | Texas primaries snarled by confusion as voters are turned away in some counties

It was not immediately clear how the courts action would be carried out or how many eligible ballots remained to be counted in Dallas County, Crocketts home base. Crockett said she would seek legal action after voting was concluded.

And in Harris County, which includes Houston, a spokesperson said that as of 10 p.m. there were still voters at 20 centers.

Democratic race featured clash of styles

Crockett and Talarico waged a spirited race as Democrats look for their first Senate win in Texas since 1988.

Crockett has built a national profile for zinger attacks on Republicans and focused on turning out Black voters in the Dallas and Houston areas. Talarico, a seminarian who often references the Bible, held rallies across the state, including in heavily Republican areas.

We are not just trying to win an election," a jubilant Talarico told supporters in Austin before the race was called. We are trying to fundamentally change our politics. And its working.

Dallas voter Tanu Sani said she cast her ballot for Talarico because he really spoke to me in the way he tries to unify.

Tomas Sanchez, a voter in Dallas County, said he supported Crockett because she cares about immigrants, she cares about the American people in a way that a lot of the Republicans have proven they havent.

Talarico outspent Crockett on television advertising by more than four to one as of late February. He got a burst of attention and campaign contributions last month from CBS' decision not to air his interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert, who said the network pulled the interview for fear of angering Trump's FCC.

Other key primaries

Texas races also featured new congressional district boundaries that GOP lawmakers urged on by Trump redrew to help elect more Republicans. The result matched several Democratic incumbents in primary fights and set up new general election battlegrounds.

Republican former Rep. Mayra Flores was attempting a comeback but was defeated by Eric Flores, a lawyer endorsed by Trump, for the nomination to run against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. Mayra Flores made history in a 2022 special election as the first Republican to win in the Rio Grande Valley in 150 years but lost her bid for a full term later that year.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost his primary to state Rep. Steve Toth, who was endorsed by Sen. Ted Cruz.

Another incumbent GOP incumbent, Rep. Tony Gonzales, was considered vulnerable after an alleged affair with a staffer who killed herself. He was challenged by gun manufacturer and YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera, who calls himself the AK guy. The two will head to a runoff in a district that includes Uvalde, site of a deadly 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira clinched the Republican primary to succeed GOP Chip Roy in southwest Texas.

Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy winner, won his party's primary in South Texas against physician Ada Cuellar. Pulido will face two-term Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz.

In suburban Dallas, Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson was facing former Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and 2024 Senate nominee.

Democratic Rep. Al Green was fighting to stay in office after his Houston-based district was drawn to lean Republican. Green, 78, ran in a newly drawn district against Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, 37, who won a January special election for the current 18th District.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott easily won his primary and will face Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Roy advanced to a primary runoff with Mayes Middleton for attorney general.

Tensions flared as questions mounted at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday over the Trump administrations shifting rationale for war with Iran as lawmakers demand answers over the strategy, exit plan and costs to Americans in lives and dollars in what is quickly becoming a widening Middle East conflict.

Trump officials arrived at the Capitol for a second day of closed-door briefings, this time with all members of the House and Senate as the administration tries to stave off a looming war powers resolution vote intended to restrict Trumps ability to continue the joint U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran.

"The president determined we were not going to get hit first. Its that simple, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a testy exchange with reporters at the Capitol.

RELATED STORY | Rubio walks back claim that US strikes on Iran were influenced by Israel

Rubio pushed back on his own suggestion a day earlier that Trump decided to strike Iran because Israel was ready to act first. Instead, he said Trump made the decision to attack this past weekend because it presented a unique opportunity with maximum chance for success.

There is no way in the world that this terroristic regime was going to get nuclear weapons, not under Donald Trumps watch," he said.

The sudden pivot to a U.S. wartime footing has disrupted the political and policy agenda on Capitol Hill and raised uneasy questions about the risks ahead for a prolonged conflict and regime change after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At least six U.S. military service personnel have died so far.

The turn of events has intensified the push in Congress for the war powers resolution among the most consequential votes a lawmaker can take, with the war well underway as administration officials are telling lawmakers it will need supplemental funds to pay for the conflict. It comes at the start of a highly competitive midterm election season that will test Trump's slim GOP control of Congress.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer left the closed hearing said he was concerned of mission creep in a long war.

Senators demand answers, and some cheer Trump on

Senators spent the morning grilling Trump officials during an Armed Services Committee hearing over Rubios claim Monday that the president, believing that Israel was ready to act, decided it was better for the U.S. to launch a preemptive strike to prevent Iran's potential retaliation on American military bases and interests abroad.

RELATED STORY | Trump suggests 'somebody from within' Iranian regime could succeed Khamenei

Sen. Angus King, the independent from Maine, said its very disturbing that Trump took the U.S. to war because Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to bomb Iran. Past U.S. presidents, he said, have consistently said, No.

Defense official Elbridge Colby told senators the president directed the military campaign to destroy Iranian missiles and deny the country nuclear weapons.

Trump himself disputed the idea that Israel had forced his hand. In his own Oval Office remarks, he said, "I might might have forced their hand.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Trump ally from Oklahoma, said the president did the world a favor.

How about we say, Thank you, Mr. President, for finally getting rid of this nuisance, he said.

But Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., demanded to know how this fits into Trumps America First campaign promise not to commit U.S. troops to protracted military campaigns abroad.

Trump has suggested the war could drag on, and has not ruled out sending American troops into Iran.

America First and peace through strength are served by rolling back as the military campaign is designed to do the threats posed, Colby responded. This is certainly not nation-building. This is not going to be endless.

Whats next for the Iranian regime and its people

Questions are growing over who will lead Iran after the death of Khamenei, who has ruled the country for decades, as are worries of a leadership vacuum that creates unrest.

Democrats warned against sending U.S. military troops into Iran after more than two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

I am more fearful than ever we may be putting boots on the ground, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., after the closed briefing.

The reason why theres so much consternation on our side is because President Trump has not given us a clear reason why he is in Iran, said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. If he wants to declare war on Iran, that is the job and responsibility of Congress under the Constitution.

Republicans insist its not for the Americans to decide the future of Iran.

That's going to be largely up to the Iranian people, said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed to the aftermath of the U.S. attacks on Venezuela in January that ousted President Nicholas Maduro and elevated his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to power.

Cotton said on CBS over the weekend that he imagines some leaders inside of Iran who might be jockeying to audition for the role of Irans Delcy Rodriguez.

Trump, in calling for Iranians to use this opportunity to take back their country, has acknowledged the uncertainty.

Most of the people we had in mind are dead, Trump said Tuesday. He also panned the idea of elevating Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Irans last shah, to take over in Iran.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump confidante, said over the weekend, Its about the threats, not about whos in charge. If the next group in Iran continues to threaten America, they will meet the same fate.

War powers resolutions become a consequential vote

Both the House and Senate are preparing to vote on war powers resolutions that would restrain Trump's ability to continue waging war on Iran without approval from Congress.

Under the U.S. Constitution, it's up to Congress, not the president, to decide when the country goes to war. But lawmakers often shirk that duty, enabling the executive branch to amass more power to send the military into combat without congressional approval.

Why are we spending billions of dollars to bomb Iran? said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who said there would be strong support from Democrats for the resolution.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson has said it would be frightening to tie the president's hands at this time, when the U.S. is already engaged in combat.

Other lawmakers have suggested that if Congress does not vote to restrain Trump, it should next consider an Authorization of the Use of Military Force, which would require lawmakers to go on record with affirmative support for the Iran operation.

Former President George W. Bush sought, and received, authorization from Congress to launch the post-9/11 wars.

A sell-off for stocks wrapped around the world and hit Wall Street Tuesday, while oil prices climbed even higher on worries about the widening war with Iran. But the big moves that rocked markets in the morning eased substantially as the day progressed.

By the end of trading, the S&P 500 had sunk 0.9%. That would be a solid loss on a typical day, but the index had been down as much as 2.5% in the morning because of worries that the war may do more sustained damage to the economy than feared.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 403 points, or 0.8%, after plunging more than 1,200 points earlier in the morning. The Nasdaq composite pared its loss to 1%.

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It was just a day earlier that U.S. stocks opened the morning with a sharp loss, only to recover all of it and end the day with a tiny gain. Helping to drive that rebound was a record showing that past wars and conflicts in the Middle East have not usually meant long-term pain for U.S. stocks.

But that was with the caveat that oil prices did not jump too high, like above $100 per barrel. On Tuesday, oil prices rose again and raised more alarms. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly leaped above $84.

The jump lessened through the day, though, which helped moderate the losses for stocks. Brent settled at $81.40, up 4.7%. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 4.7% to $74.56.

The moves showed oil prices, and how much theyre set to worsen inflation, are among the central fears for investors. More expensive fuel will mean less money for U.S. and other households to spend. It would also raise expenses for companies worldwide, which would likewise hurt their profits. And corporate profits are the lifeblood of stock markets.

Tuesdays climb for oil prices came after Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, part of a widening of targets that also includes areas critical to the worlds oil and natural gas production. Worries are particularly high about the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, a narrow passageway where roughly a fifth of the worlds oil passes.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | How they got him: Khamenei confirmed dead after CIA tracked Iran's Supreme Leader for months

Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowed that any ships that passed through the strait would be set on fire.

The fears about oil prices ebbed a bit later in the day as President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy could begin escorting tankers through the strait, if necessary, to ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD.

Making things uncertain for markets is the question about how long this war may continue.

A major attack by the United States and Israel has already killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but Trump said late Monday night on his social media network, Wars can be fought forever, and very successfully with the supply of munitions that the United States possesses.

Some professional investors said again Tuesday they dont think this is the beginning of a long-term down market and that stocks could rebound if the war doesnt last that long. But they acknowledge it could take a while for that to become clear, and Tuesdays swings for markets show how uncertain things are.

Tuesdays sell-off started in Asia, where the Kospi stock index in South Korea, a big energy importer, plunged 7.2% as markets reopened after a holiday on Monday. That was its worst day since two summers ago, and it had been setting records recently.

Tokyos Nikkei 225 dropped 3.1%, even as analysts said Japan has a sizable stockpile lasting more than 200 days. In Europe, where prices for natural gas have soared because of the war, Frances CAC 40 lost 3.5%.

On Wall Street, nearly three out of every four stocks within the S&P 500 dropped. Unlike a day before, influential Big Tech stocks werent able to prop up indexes, and Nvidia fell 1.3%.

Among the winners on Wall Street was Target, which rose 6.7% after the retailer reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 64.99 points to 6,816.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 403.51 to 48,501.27, and the Nasdaq composite sank 232.17 to 22,516.69.

In the bond market, Treasury yields leaped in the morning with worries about inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly rose above 4.10% before pulling back just below 4.06%. It was at 4.05% late Monday and just 3.97% on Friday.

Higher yields can make it more expensive for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money, affecting everything from mortgages to bond issuances. They also put downward pressure on prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.

When Treasurys are paying more in interest, they can also undercut the price of gold, which pays its investors nothing. Gold fell 3.5% Tuesday to settle at $5,123.70 per ounce, halting a strong run that had taken it above $5,300 as investors looked for safer places to park their money.

High inflation could also tie the Federal Reserves hands and keep it from cutting interest rates. The Fed lowered rates several times last year and indicated more cuts were to come in 2026. That would help boost the economy and job market, but lower rates can also worsen inflation.

Traders are now pushing back their forecasts further into the summer for when the Fed could resume cutting rates, according to data from CME Group. Thats even though Trump has been calling for Fed officials in angry and personal terms to cut rates now.

Frustrated and anxious travelers clamored Tuesday for flights out of the Middle East and other regions where a widening Iran war has stranded tens of thousands of people, closed major airports and caused widespread cancellations.

The U.S. State Department urged all Americans to leave more than a dozen countries in the region, while other nations scrambled to arrange repatriation flights for their citizens. But with airspaces closed or restricted across the Gulf, many werent sure what to do.

RELATED STORY | State Department now urges Americans to leave Middle East countries as war intensifies

They say Get out, but how do you expect us to get out when airspaces are closed? said Odies Turner, a 32-year-old chef from Dallas who was stuck in Doha, Qatar. They just have been canceling every flight. I want to go home.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar posted Monday on X that Americans in Iran and Israel, as well as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, should DEPART NOW using any available commercial transportation.

Scramble to get home

While governments around the world worked to evacuate citizens who were stuck overseas, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said that right now, the options are fairly limited. He warned there was only so much the U.S. government could do.

The U.S. Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel, Huckabee wrote on X, adding information about a shuttle bus to Egypt the embassy provided as a courtesy as you make your own security plans.

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Many travelers were holed up in hotels near major Mideast gateways. Others were forced to seek shelter because of airstrikes, or were marooned on cruise ships that couldnt sail through the Strait of Hormuz.

We called our children at 3 a.m. to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them and to let them know that its over for us, said Mariana Muicaru, among hundreds of Romanian pilgrims who had been stranded on a church trip to Israel.

Muicara, who watched rockets fly across the sky, finally reached Bucharest on Tuesday.

Critical travel route

Anita Mendiratta, an international aviation and tourism consultant who was stuck in Bangkok, said the location of the war would inevitably upend travel and trade.

Effectively within the Middle East, an eight-hour flying distance covers two-thirds of the world population, she said. When that corridor is blocked, it forces aviation to either move far north which is going into potentially other conflict airspace, such as Russia, such as Pakistan, or fly south. That puts huge pressure on the airlines.

Still, some were slowly making their way out.

Tess Arnold, a 34-year-old travel writer from Seattle, had been caught in Dubai, but managed to get to London on Tuesday and hopes to return home a day later.

After days of the unsettling booms and the site of what appeared to be missile or drone interceptions, she was elated to be on her way.

Huge relief, she said by text message. The entire plane was whooping and clapping.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified in the Senate on Tuesday in her first congressional appearance since the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis galvanized widespread opposition to how the Trump administration was executing its mass deportation agenda.

Noem's appearance in front of the Judiciary Committee also comes after a weekend shooting at a bar in Texas that is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, leading to concerns that the escalating conflict in Iran could have repercussions for security in the U.S.

Her department's immigration tactics triggered a clash in Congress over its routine funding, which remains unresolved, although a spending bill passed last year granted it a significant infusion of cash for the Republican administration's mass deportation policy.

RELATED STORY | Minnesota launches investigation that could bring charges against federal immigration officers

Noem defended her agency's treatment of immigrants caught up in enforcement activities, and blamed activists and others for attacks against officers. She also lashed out at Democrats for the congressional funding showdown.

"The latest Democrat-led shutdown of DHS is reckless," Noem said. "It's unnecessary, and it undermines the American national security, and it harms the men and women who work at DHS and their families."

Noem last appeared in Congress in December. But since then, President Donald Trump's immigration agenda and its enforcement by Noem's department have met fierce resistance in Minnesota, culminating in the deaths of two protesters, both U.S. citizens, at the hands of federal immigration officers.

In what was initially billed as an effort to root out fraud in Minnesota, Homeland Security eventually sent hundreds of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to the state. They were met by protesters who organized marches, patrolled neighborhoods for ICE activity with whistles and ferried food to immigrants too afraid to leave their homes.

RELATED STORY | DHS accused of using surveillance technology to track legal observers

Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, setting off intense protests by Minnesota politicians and residents pushing for Homeland Security to end its operation in the state. Then on Jan. 24, Customs and Border Protection officers opened fire on another Minnesota resident, Alex Pretti, who had been filming enforcement operations.

Those deaths led to cries for accountability and transparency. Noem, whose initial comments portrayed both Good and Pretti as the aggressors, has come under withering criticism by Democrats and even some Republicans, who have called for her to resign.

After public outrage over the deaths, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take control of operations on the ground there. Homan has since announced a drawdown of the ICE and CBP officers who had been sent to Minnesota to carry out what had been dubbed Operation Metro Surge, although he's been adamant that the president's mass deportation agenda will continue.

Noem faced questioning from Democrats who say officers under her control have abused their power, used excessive force and violated people's constitutional rights in carrying the Trump administration's agenda.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, repeatedly questioned Noem about comments she made immediately after the deaths of both Good and Pretti that cast them as the aggressors in the events leading up to their deaths. He called on her to apologize.

"You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists," Durbin said. "We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families."

Noem said she was relying on information from people on the scene and blamed "violent protesters" for contributing to the chaos officers encountered.

"I was getting reports from the ground from agents at the scene, and I would say that it was a chaotic scene, as you've seen in Minneapolis and St. Paul," she said. Her officers "worked at targeting the worst of the worst" and many times faced violence from protesters, she added.

Homeland Security has often blamed conflicts in places like Minneapolis and Chicago where it's carrying out immigration enforcement activities as the fault of Democratic politicians who they say encourage people to oppose officers as they try to make arrests.

Noem is also slated to appear Wednesday in front of a House committee.

A gunman in Texas opened fire on a crowded bar in Austin's busy nightlife district over the weekend before being fatally shot by police in an attack that authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism.

The shooting early Sunday killed three people and wounded more than a dozen others. The suspect was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words Property of Allah," a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

RELATED STORY | Gunman who opened fire on Texas bar was not on FBI radar, authorities say

The mass shooting happened after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran. The FBI and Austin police said they are still looking for a motive behind the shooting, which sent people in the bar and surrounding streets scrambling for cover.

Suspect fired first shots, parked, then fired again

Police said the gunman drove past Bufords Backyard Beer Garden before circling back and firing the first shots from his SUV at people on the sidewalk and inside the bar.

Some college students dove for cover while others stayed motionless inside the bar and across the street next to a food truck, trying to understand what was happening.

The shooting stopped for a moment. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the suspect parked, got out with a rifle and fired on others before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him.

Davis identified two victims as 21-year-old Savitha Shan and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington. Austin Police announced Monday evening that 30-year-old Jorge Pederson also died from his injuries.

Harrington joined the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Texas Tech University in 2024, the fraternity said in an Instagram post. Shans LinkedIn profile listed her as a dual-degree student majoring in management information systems and economics at the University of Texas.

University president says shooting affected students

The bar is on Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs near the flagship campus of the University of Texas system. The school is one of the nation's largest universities with 55,000 enrolled students.

Nathan Comeaux, a 22-year-old senior, spent the evening there with friends and said the bar was full of college students, probably mostly UT kids, shoulder to shoulder, hundreds just enjoying their nights.

Some of those affected included members of our Longhorn family, University President Jim Davis said, using the name of the school's mascot.

Police taped off several square blocks around Sixth Street after the shooting. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and other federal investigators joined local police at the scene.

Shooter was originally from Senegal and legally bought the weapons

Both the FBI and police in Austin said Monday that its too soon to identify the motive.

Police said the gunman was 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. He legally bought the pistol and rifle he used in the attack several years ago in San Antonio, Davis said.

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Diagne was originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

He first entered the U.S. in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa, becoming a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Associated Press reporters on Monday were unable to reach Diagnes family members in the Austin area or his ex-wife, who recently was listed as living near San Antonio. A person who answered the door at a house listed for his ex-wife declined to comment and told a reporter to talk with investigators.

Police responded within 1 minute

The entertainment district has a heavy police presence on weekends, and officers were able to confront the gunman within a minute of the first call for help, the police chief said.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson praised the fast response of police and emergency workers.

They definitely saved lives, he said.

Comeaux, the UT Austin senior, filmed the suspect as he walked toward Buford's with his gun pointed at officers, and officers fired at him.

The shooter was walking towards where I was and towards where the bar was, where there could have been 10 times as much damage if hed gone back to the bar where hundreds of students were hiding, Comeaux said. So Im just very grateful for the heroic police officers who were able to stop the suspect.

A Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a high school was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter Tuesday.

Colin Gray also was found guilty of all other charges in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, northeast of Atlanta. Gray is one of a number of parents across the country who have been charged after their children were accused in fatal shootings.

He was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

RELATED STORY | Georgia authorities release video of interviews with school shooting suspect

Prosecutors said Gray gave his son, Colt, access to a gun and ammunition after receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.

Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was indicted on a total of 55 counts, including murder. He has pleaded not guilty and the judge in his case has set a status hearing for mid-March.

Investigators said Colt Gray carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school attended by 1,900 students.

He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.

RELATED STORY | Authorities arrest father of high school shooting suspect in Georgia

Colin Gray had given his son the gun as a gift the Christmas before the shooting and allowed him to have access to the gun and ammunition, despite his awareness that his sons mental health had deteriorated, a prosecutor said.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors said.

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi and in the country's north left at least 22 people dead and more than 120 others injured as demonstrators supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a U.S. Consulate on Sunday, authorities said.

In the north of the country, demonstrators attacked U.N. and government offices.

The violence came after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said that at least 50 people were also wounded in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition.

RELATED STORY | 3 US service members killed as Iran retaliates after strikes on Khamenei

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his profound sorrow over the martyrdom" of Khamenei and conveyed his condolences to Iran, according to his office. He said: Pakistan stands with the Iranian nation in this moment of grief and shares in their loss.

Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city's main government hospital, confirmed six bodies and multiple injured people were brought to the facility. However, she said the death toll rose to 10 after four critically wounded people died.

In addition, 12 people were killed and over 80 wounded in clashes with police in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region when thousands of protesters angered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran attacked the offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), local police official Asghar Ali said.

A government spokesman, Shabir Mir, said all staff working for those organizations was safe. He said protesters repeatedly clashed with police at various places in the region, damaged the offices of a local charity, and set fire to police offices. However, he said authorities had deployed troops and brought the situation under control.

RELATED STORY | Trumps Iran attack raises legal concerns among Democrats in Congress

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said in a post on X that it was monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations at the U.S. Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore, as well as calls for additional protests at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the consulate general in Peshawar.

It advised U.S. citizens in Pakistan to monitor local news, stay aware of their surroundings, avoid large crowds and keep their travel registration with the U.S. government up to date.

U. S. Consulate windows smashed

In Karachi, which is the capital of southern Sindh province and Pakistans largest city, senior police official Irfan Baloch said that protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. Consulate, but were later dispersed.

He dismissed reports that any part of the consulate building was set on fire. However, he said that protesters torched a nearby police post and smashed windows of the consulate before security forces arrived and regained control.

Protests in the area surrounding the consulate went on for hours, with dozens of youth, some covering their faces, throwing stones at law enforcement officials and vowing to reach the consulate where hundreds of police and paramilitary officers have been deployed.

The clashes prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to issue an appeal for calm.

Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan shares in the grief of the people of Iran, Naqvi said in a statement, but urged people not to take the law into their own hands and to express their protests peacefully. The provincial government of Sindh also urged citizens to express their views peacefully and warned against engaging in violence.

Protests took place elsewhere in Pakistan

In Islamabad, police fired tear gas and swung batons as hundreds of protesters, angered by the killing of Khamenei, tried to march toward the U.S. Embassy. The clashes took place outside the city's diplomatic enclave, where the embassy is located, and additional police had been deployed.

Meanwhile, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, authorities also used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of demonstrators attempting to approach the U.S. Consulate to hold a rally and to denounce the killing of the Iranian leader, police said.

Protesters also held a peaceful rally in Multan, a city in Punjab province, chanting slogans against Israel and the United States.

Mamoona Sherazi, who attended the rally, said that she was protesting Khamenei's killing. God willing, we will never bow before America and Israel, she said.

Protesters also rallied and clashed with police repeatedly near the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, police said. Authorities said that the government has stepped up security around the U.S. Embassy in the capital, and consulates across the country to avoid any further violence.