Thousands of residents in towns north of Honolulu were told to evacuate their homes early Friday morning as flooding from heavy rains intensified and water levels rose behind a 120-year-old dam.

Emergency sirens blared along Oahus famed North Shore, where rising waters damaged some homes and vehicles. Honolulu officials issued a LEAVE NOW evacuation order at 5:35 a.m. Friday for Waialua and Haleiwa: Extremely dangerous flooding and Wahiawa Dam is high.

Officials have been watching dam levels since a storm last week dumped heavy rain across the state, which led to catastrophic flooding that washed away roads and homes. After the worst of it, a similar but weaker storm was forecast to bring more rain through this weekend.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a social media post that the Hawaii National Guard has been activated to respond to the flooding. The storm of course is very severe right now, particularly on the northern part of Oahu, he said, describing chest-high flood waters. Its going to be a very touch-and-go day.

As she prepared to evacuate to a friends home on higher ground, Waialua resident Kathleen Pahinui told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the aging dam is a concern every time it rains.

Just pray for us, she said. We understand theres more rain coming.

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Molly Pierce, spokesperson for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, said the evacuation order covers more than 4,000 people, though the number could be higher.

Officials issued a warning for the dam during heavy rain last week, but the water level receded as rain subsided.

The water is actively running over the spillway right now, she said.

The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most of them built as part of irrigation systems for the sugar cane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

In 2006, seven people were killed when the Ka Loko dam on the island of Kauai collapsed and water rushed downhill.

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A 31-year-old Georgia woman has been charged with murder by police who say she took pills to induce an illegal abortion.

If state prosecutors decide to move forward with the murder charge brought by local police against Alexia Moore, her case would be one of the first instances of a woman being charged for terminating a pregnancy in Georgia since it passed a 2019 law banning most abortions.

The arrest warrant charging Moore with murder uses language that echoes the law, saying police determined Moore had been pregnant beyond six weeks "based on the medical staff's knowledge that the baby had a beating heart and was struggling to breathe."

"No one should be criminalized for having an abortion," Dana Sussman, senior vice president of the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice said in a statement, calling Moore's case "an unprecedented murder charge for an alleged abortion."

Court records say Moore arrived at a hospital Dec. 30 complaining of abdominal pain. She told medical workers that she had taken misoprostol, a drug used in medication abortions, and the opioid painkiller oxycodone, according to an arrest warrant obtained by police in Kingsland, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Savannah.

The fetus survived for about an hour after being delivered at the hospital, the warrant says. The police investigator obtaining the warrant wrote that Moore told the nursing staff: "I know my infant is suffering, because I am the one who did the abortion. I want her to die."

Georgia bans abortion after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected. That's generally at about six weeks' gestation before many women know they're pregnant.

Moore has been jailed in coastal Camden County since March 4 on charges of murder and illegal drug possession, according to online jail records.

More pregnant women charged with crimes since Roe was overturned

A 2024 study by the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice found that at least 210 women across the U.S. were charged with crimes related to their pregnancies in the 12 months after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce abortion bans.

That tally was more than the group found in any other 12 month period. Most of the cases involved allegations of substance use during pregnancy.

Moore's mother said she had no immediate comment when reached by phone Thursday. A spokesperson for the Georgia Public Defender Council confirmed one of its attorneys is representing Moore but made no further comment.

Court records show Moore's attorney has filed legal motions seeking a bond and a speedy trial. A court hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Ultimately, the decision on whether to prosecute Moore for murder will be left to District Attorney Keith Higgins of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, who would first have to obtain an indictment from a grand jury. Higgins did not immediately return phone and email messages.

Some had warned Georgia abortion law could lead to murder charges

The warrant said medical records estimated Moore had been pregnant for 22 to 24 weeks, placing her fetus at the threshold of viability. It refers to Moore's fetus as "a human being who was born alive and survived for one hour. Under Georgia law, the victim became a person at the moment of live birth."

Georgia's abortion law states that an embryo is legally a person once cardiac activity can be detected. Andrew Fleischman, a Georgia defense attorney who is not involved in Moore's case, said that means authorities could seek murder charges against a woman who intentionally terminates her pregnancy after there's cardiac activity.

"Murder is intentionally causing the death of a person," he said, adding that he and others warned before the law passed that a mother could be charged in a case like this.

"I'm not sure prosecutors are eager to be the first one to jump this hurdle," Fleishman said. "I think it's a totally legally permissible case. I think they could do it. I'd be surprised if they go through with it."

Elizabeth Edmonds, executive director of the anti-abortion Georgia Life Alliance, said any claim that the charges stem from the 2019 abortion law is "misrepresenting the facts and trying to again make it a fear-mongering thing that Georgia is prosecuting women on pregnancy outcomes."

Edmonds said she believed the murder charge was appropriate in part because Moore is accused of illegally obtaining and taking oxycodone before her fetus died.

Coroner says he didn't rule death a homicide

The warrant says a toxicology screening detected oxycodone in the fetus' blood, but police were told the test would not be able to detect misoprostol. It says Moore told police she obtained the abortion pills online and got the opioid from a relative.

Camden County Coroner M. Wayne Peeples said Thursday that he was called to Southeast Georgia Health System's hospital to take custody of the remains. He said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation declined to perform an autopsy, noting the fetus was delivered in a hospital.

The coroner said he didn't rule the death as a homicide, instead finding both the cause and manner of death were undetermined.

Moore also faces charges for possessing oxycodone, a controlled drug that wasn't prescribed to her, as well as possession of a dangerous drug for the abortion-inducing misoprostol.

The drugs misoprostol and mifepristone together are approved for terminating pregnancies during the first 10 weeks of gestation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Misoprostol can also be used alone if mifepristone is not available. It's also used off-label for abortion in the second trimester.

In 2024, Louisiana classified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. Similar legislation has been introduced in some other states and in Congress, but has not been adopted elsewhere.

A federal arts commission on Thursday approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing President Donald Trump's image to help celebrate America's 250th birthday on July 4.

The vote by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members are supporters of the Republican president and were appointed by him earlier this year, was without objection. It clears the way for the U.S. Mint to begin production on the coin, whose size and denomination are still under discussion.

"As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump," U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement.

The unprecedented move marks yet another example of Trump and his allies circumventing conventional past presidential practices and even the law to get what he wants. It's the latest instance of Trump putting his name and likeness in the historical archive, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes.

RELATED STORY | Coins marking America's 250th birthday unveiled without designs for Trump, civil rights or suffrage

Federal law says no living president can appear on U.S. currency. But Megan Sullivan, the acting chief of the Office of Design Management at the Mint, said the Treasury secretary has authority to authorize the minting and issuance of new 24-karat gold coins, which Scott Bessent has used to get around that prohibition and put Trump on a coin.

She presented the coin's final design at the commission's March meeting on Thursday and said Trump had approved it.

"It is my understanding that the secretary of the Treasury presented this design, as well as others, to the president and these were his selection," Sullivan said.

The White House and the Mint did not immediately respond to electronic and telephone requests for comment.

The front of the coin features an image of Trump in a suit and tie and with a stern look on his face. His fists rest on top of what is supposed to be a desk as he leans forward. Lettering on the top half of the coin spells "LIBERTY" in a slight arc. Directly underneath that are the dates 1776-2026. The words "IN GOD WE TRUST" are at the bottom, with seven stars on one side of the coin and six stars on the other side.

The reverse side depicts a bald eagle midflight with "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" on the right side and "E PLURIBUS UNUM" on the left side.

"I know it's a very strong and a very tough image of him, and I think it's fitting to have a current sitting president who's presiding over the country over the 250th year on a commemorative coin for said year," said Commissioner Chamberlain Harris, a top White House aide to Trump.

The coin will be part of a "very limited production run," Sullivan said, but the number has not been determined. The size and denomination of the coin also have not yet been decided, she said. Some commissioners noted Trump's fondness for big things as they advocated for the largest size coin.

The Mint, which is part of the Treasury Department, has looked at a size for the Trump coin that is larger than its 1-ounce (28-gram) gold coin, which is about 1.3 inches (3.3 centimeters) in diameter, Sullivan said.

RELATED STORY | Trump $1 coin proposed for Americas 250th anniversary

Its largest coin is 3 inches (7.6 centimeters), "so we're looking somewhere in there," she said.

"I think the president likes big things," said Commissioner James McCrery II, who was the architect on Trump's design proposal for a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom addition to the White House. The fine arts commission approved that proposal at its February meeting.

Harris told McCrery she agreed with him. She works in the White House as a special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Oval Office.

"I think the larger the better. The largest of that circulation, I think, would be his preference," Harris said, speaking of Trump.

The U.S. military is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 more Marines to the Middle East, an official said. One U.S. official confirmed Friday that the USS Boxer and two other amphibious assault ships, along with roughly 2,500 Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, have deployed from their home port of San Diego and are bound for the Middle East.

Two other U.S. officials confirmed that the ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

RELATED STORY | Defiant Iran warns parks and tourist attractions worldwide could be targets

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained since the war began Feb. 28 or even who was truly in charge of the country. But Iran has showed it is still capable of attacks that are choking off oil supplies and denting the global economy, raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Irans leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end in sight to the war.

Protestant and Catholic clergy are asking a federal judge to order that they be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility at the headquarters of the Trump administration's enforcement surge in Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell will hear Friday from attorneys for Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic priest. They're suing for an injunction requiring Department of Homeland Security officials to allow prompt in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over roughly the 3,000 federal officers who had surged into the state at the height of the crackdown.

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The Minnesota lawsuit alleges the Whipple building, named for Minnesotas first Episcopal bishop, a 19th-century advocate for human rights, now stands in stark contrast to its namesakes legacy. It says the building has become the epicenter of systematic deprivation of fundamental constitutional and legal rights by the federal government.

Government attorneys plan to argue the request is at least partly moot because Operation Metro Surge officially ended on Feb. 12. They also say the number of new detentions has since subsided, so temporary restrictions on visitors have been eased, and clergy visits have been allowed for over two weeks. In a recent filing, they said staff members weren't in a good position previously to allow visitation because the Whipple building had been both a hub of heightened ICE operations and the symbolic center of community unrest.

Catholic and Episcopal bishops in Minnesota, other Christian and Jewish clergy, and the Minnesota Council of Churches are also supporting the request.

Clergy across the country have been pushing for more access to immigration detention facilities, especially during the holy seasons of Lent and Ramadan. Its a longstanding practice for faith leaders to minister to detainees. but it has become far more contentious amid the current immigration crackdown.

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It took a similar lawsuit for two Catholic priests and a nun to gain entry into an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview on Ash Wednesday last month. And Muslim and Christian clergy in Texas have struggled to get into large Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities there.

The Minnesota lawsuit alleges that ICE unconstitutionally obstructed faith leaders from offering prayer, pastoral guidance, sacramental ministry, and spiritual comfort to detainees in moments of profound fear, isolation, and despair.

Case filings list several instances in which clergy went to Whipple to minister to detainees but were refused access, including on Ash Wednesday, a solemn day in many Christian traditions in which clergy place ashes on worshippers' foreheads in the sign of the cross.

The lawsuit called the restrictions in place at Whipple a violation of both the constitutional freedom of religion of clergy who feel compelled by their faith to serve detainees and the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

ICE's stated policy is that facilities that hold detainees for more than 72 hours are required to have a chaplain or religious services coordinator, as well as dedicated spaces for services. ICE says its policy also requires advance notice and background checks for clergy and faith volunteers.

But government attorneys and ICE officials contend the Whipple building is just a short-term holding facility, and that most held there are moved to other ICE facilities within 24 hours.

Tauria Rich, a senior local ICE official who oversees the facility, said in a filing this week that visitors are rare, and that any clergy requests would be back to being handled on a case-by-case basis. She said one clergy member had attempted to visit in early March, but left because no detainees were present. The visit would have been allowed if any detainees had been there, she said.

Its not just clergy whove struggled to get in. Three members of Congress from Minnesota were turned away when they tried to inspect the facility. Once they did get in, they reported poor conditions.

Access has also been an issue for attorneys. Homeland Security was ordered by a different federal judge last month to give new detainees at Whipple immediate access to counsel before they're taken elsewhere.

Iran threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and insisted it was still building missiles. Friday's show of defiance came nearly three weeks into U.S.-Israeli strikes that have killed a slew of Tehrans top leaders and hammered its weapons and energy industries.

Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states as many in the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar. Iranians were also marking the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally festive holiday that is more subdued this year.

RELATED STORY | Netanyahu says Iran can no longer enrich uranium, as conflict continues through Gulf

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained since the war began Feb. 28 or even who was truly in charge of the country. But Iran has showed it is still capable of attacks that are choking off oil supplies and denting the global economy, raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Irans leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising, and its not clear what capabilities Iran retains or how the war might end.

Iran remains defiant despite weeks of attacks

Irans top military spokesman warned Friday that parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations worldwide wont be safe for Tehrans enemies.

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi made the threat as Iran continues to be hit by American and Israeli airstrikes. It renewed concerns that Iran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic in the war.

U.S. and Israeli leaders have said that weeks of strikes have decimated Irans military. Airstrikes have also killed its supreme leader, the head of its Supreme National Security Council and a raft of other top-ranking military and political leaders.

RELATED STORY | Pentagon asks for $200 billion to continue to fund Iran war

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Irans navy was sunk and its air force in tatters, while adding that its ability to produce ballistic missiles had been taken out. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard disputed the missile claim on Friday.

We are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling, spokesman Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini was quoted as saying in Irans state-run IRAN newspaper.

Naeini added that Iran had no intention of seeking a quick end to the war. These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted, he said.

A short time after the statement was released, Iranian state television said Naeini was killed in an airstrike.

The countrys new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also released a rare statement, saying Irans enemies need to have their security taken away.

Khamenei hasnt been seen since he succeeded his father, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

Less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's global tariffs, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul listened as one of the plaintiffs in the case recounted the financial toll of the levies on his wine importing business.

This is a heavy tax and you have to pay it up front, Victor Schwartz, the owner of VOS Selections, told Hochul as they walked alongside bottles of wine he imports from 16 countries.

As Hochul seeks reelection this year, she says the impact of Trump's tariffs is a centerpiece of her message. She has pressed the administration to issue a $13.5 billion tariff refund to New Yorkers following the Supreme Court decision. And she released an ad this week criticizing her Republican challenger, Bruce Blakeman, for supporting the levies and attending the White House event where Trump unveiled them with a massive board listing the rate for each country.

RELATED STORY | How Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs impact prices one year later

This is a lethal issue for Republicans this November, Hochul said in an interview. You can be sure we're going to make sure people know who did this to them.

She's not alone. Democrats running for governor across the country are making tariffs central to their pitch to voters. They're betting that in an election year dominated by issues ranging from immigration to the war in Iran, rising costs connected to the tariffs will be a motivating issue for many voters.

That picture of (Trump) with the tariff board is going to be front and center in every single one of our campaigns, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who is leading the Democratic Governors Association this year, said in an interview.

White House spokesman Kush Desai countered that what Democrats are really running against are President Trumps Most-Favored-Nations deals to slash prescription drug prices by up to 90 percent, trillions in investments to bring manufacturing back to America, and new trade deals that level the playing field for American workers.

All of these historic victories were possible because of tariffs.

This is a challenging election year for the GOP

Republicans are entering a challenging election year as they contend with voter anxiety around spiking prices an issue Trump pledged to fix during his 2024 campaign and the record of a president's party losing ground during the midterms.

Much of the focus has been on Congress, where Democrats are just a few seats shy of taking the House majority. But the party is also aiming to regain ground outside Washington as they hope to hold onto governorships in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin and eye GOP-held seats in Nevada, Georgia and Iowa.

In interviews this week, Democrats running in some of those states said tariffs and the broader issue of affordability will be at the forefront of their agenda.

In Nevada, state Attorney General Aaron Ford sued the administration over its initial round of tariffs and is suing again as Trump seeks to revive them. As he seeks the Democratic nomination to take on Republican incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo, Ford called the tariffs illegal and blamed them for restaurant closures and fewer visitors to his tourism-dependent state.

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Tariffs are at the very top of the conversation because Nevadans every single day are feeling the impacts, Ford said.

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is seeking reelection in a state Trump won by more than 5 percentage points in 2024 with a focus on costs. She criticized GOP Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, who are vying for the nomination to challenge her, for cheering on these reckless tariffs. Both lawmakers voted against a measure last month to end the national emergency Trump declared to impose tariffs on Canada.

Hobbs said the cost concern was about more than tariffs, noting Medicaid cuts, rising health costs and a spike in gas prices in the wake of the war in Iran.

Theyre being hit everywhere, she said.

Republicans try to turn affordability concerns back on Democrats

Republicans largely reject the tariff criticism and are trying to turn the anxiety about affordability back on Democrats, especially in high-cost states where they already govern. Blakeman, for instance, said in a statement that Hochul is solely responsible for the affordability crisis in New York, with crushing electric bills, soaring insurance rates and the highest taxes in America.

In an interview, Schweikert argued that it was only a few years ago in a previous administration that the Democrats actually liked tariffs. So this seems to be if Trump's for it, they're against it.

Trump, for his part, hasnt given up on the tariffs. After calling the Supreme Courts decision unfortunate, his administration is scrambling to find ways to revive the levies. The president has already announced a 10% tariff using a different mechanism, a move thats facing legal challenges, and wants to further raise tariffs to 15%.

But Trumps prediction of a manufacturing renaissance that would result from companies making more products in the U.S. to avoid tariffs has not materialized. During the first year of his second term, 98,000 manufacturing jobs were lost. Revenue from tariffs is doing little to reduce the federal deficit, which is projected to climb over the next decade.

Polling suggests unease about the dramatic way Trump has imposed the levies. In January, before the Supreme Courts ruling, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults said Trump went too far in imposing new tariffs and using presidential power, an AP-NORC poll found.

A reporter for a Spanish-language news outlet in Tennessee who contends she was wrongly held in detention for more than two weeks was released Thursday after paying a bond recently allowed by a judge, her attorneys said.

Estefany Rodrguez Flrez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias who has done stories critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had been in ICE custody after her arrest on March 4 during a traffic stop. She was held in jail in Etowah County, Alabama, then in the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana.

We are grateful that Estefany is able to walk away with her freedom to be with her family as she continues to fight for her right to remain in her community and in the US," Mike Holley, an attorney for Rodrguez, said in a statement.

MORE ABOUT THE CASE | Nashville reporter detained by ICE could soon be released

Rodrguez, a Colombian citizen, entered the U.S. lawfully and has been living in the country for the past five years, according to court records filed by her lawyer. She has a valid work permit, and she has applied for political asylum and legal status through her husband, who is a U.S. citizen. She had no criminal history, a steady employment record, ties to the community, and a 7-year-old daughter at home, her attorneys said.

In a wrongful detention court challenge aided by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Rodrguez's attorneys argue she was targeted because her reporting has been critical of ICE's practices under President Donald Trump's administration, saying her First Amendment rights and Fifth Amendment due process rights were violated.

The government has said there was no such violation for what was the agency's discretionary decision to begin removal proceedings and said First Amendment rights may not even be applicable to an illegal alien.

On Monday, an immigration judge in Louisiana set a $10,000 bond for her release.

Holley said they plan to continue with the wrongful detention case and are working for not only her full release, "but an order prohibiting ICE from mistreating her in a similar way in the future.

Rodrguez applied for asylum before her visa expired in September 2021, and she has remained in the country because she faced persecution in Colombia and because leaving the U.S. would mean abandoning her asylum application, her attorneys wrote. Her permit to work while awaiting an asylum interview was granted in February 2022.

Her attorneys say the arrest was an unlawful, warrantless seizure that violated the Fourth Amendment because authorities did not have a reason to think she was likely to escape before a warrant could be obtained. Attorneys representing the federal government say they had an arrest warrant, but her attorneys were skeptical of its validity. It was dated two days before the arrest, handwritten, crumpled, lacked her identification number and left the certificate of service section blank, they wrote. Another warrant was typed up and dated March 4.

Rodrguezs lawyer said in court documents that ICE had twice rescheduled a meeting with Rodrguez on her case, first because the office was closed during a winter storm and the second time because an agent couldnt find her appointment in the system.

A new meeting was then set for March 17.

Rodrguez was with her husband in a marked Nashville Noticias vehicle when it was surrounded by several other vehicles and she was taken to a detention center, the news outlet has said.

One of her attorneys, Joel Coxander, said it was more than 10 days before Rodrguez was allowed to speak with him.

Several press associations have put forth their own legal brief, warning of potential pitfalls from arresting reporters who are not U.S. citizens.

The predictable consequence of the arrest and detention of these individuals is to end that speech and to chill a vast amount of future speech, especially by non-citizen journalists fearful that hard-hitting reporting on sensitive topics could lead to their detention, according to the brief led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

After her arrest, Rodrguez was moved to a county jail in Etowah in Alabama. Following a day there, before she could be flown to Louisiana an officer asked if she had lice, and she was taken back to the jail. She was held in isolation for about five days, then forced to strip in a shower room where an officer poured a chemical liquid on her head that burned her eyes, the filing says.

She was then moved to Louisiana on March 12.

Spanish authorities have found the body of a missing college student from Illinois.

The body of 20-year-old James Jimmy Gracey was found Thursday evening in the water off a Barcelona beach, near where he was last seen outside a nightclub with his friends early Tuesday morning.

He never returned to the room he was renting with friends. Police recovered his phone soon after he went missing. Gracey was a student at the University of Alabama, and was visiting friends in Barcelona for a spring break trip.

Catalan police say that their investigation continues into the cause of death.

Regional Catalan police said Thursday they had found a body in the water at around 6 p.m. local time. Police told The Associated Press that the body was recovered off Barcelonas Somorrostro beach, near where Gracey was last reported seen.

Gracey, who was wearing a white shirt and dark pants and a chain with a gold rhinestone cross, never returned to the room he was renting with friends, according to family members who live in the suburb of Elmhurst, about 19 miles west of Chicago.

Beth Marren OReilly, who is Graceys aunt, said he and his friends arrived in Barcelona on Monday morning to visit a group of University of Alabama friends studying abroad there.

Local authorities notified Graceys parents that they had his phone. Originally, the family thought Gracey may have lost his phone or been pickpocketed, but when they reached out to his friends, they learned that Gracey wasnt with them as of early Tuesday morning.

You keep thinking that ... youre going to wake up from this and its a terrible nightmare, OReilly said. You know, you see people say this all the time. You never thought it could be our family. And here we are.

OReilly described him as a good Catholic boy from the Midwest and an amazing older brother to his four younger siblings. Along with his fraternity commitments, he is in the honors program at Alabama, she said.

Hes such an all-around good kid, OReilly said. And thats why were so worried. Its just, its not like him to not be in contact.

Friends still in the city have begun hanging missing person signs showing Gracey's photo and details of the last time he was seen.

RELATED STORY | Authorities search for missing retired Air Force general in New Mexico

Barcelona is a popular tourist destination that brings in millions of foreign visitors each year. It is generally safe, especially compared with major U.S. cities, where tourists biggest worry are normally pickpockets.

Barcelonas beaches, located in walking distance of its center, are a main draw especially for young visitors. The area where Gracey went out is a stretch of beach with several restaurants and nightclubs that are frequented by locals and foreigners.

We are keeping Jimmy and his family at the forefront of our thoughts, and our staff are in direct communication with the family to offer every support and assistance possible," the University of Alabama said in a statement on Thursday.

Gracey is a member of the Theta Chi fraternity at the school, and the international organization said he holds two positions within the school's chapter.

Since learning of his disappearance, the International Fraternity has been in regular communication with federal lawmakers, the University of Alabama, and our chapter members, including those who remain in Barcelona searching tirelessly for Jimmy, CEO Michael Mayer said.

Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy.

The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Irans Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Iran's targeting of energy production further stressed global supplies already under pressure because of its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the worlds oil is transported.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, Irans top leaders have been killed in airstrikes and the countrys military capabilities have been severely degraded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles.

Still, Iran now led by the son of the supreme leader killed in the wars opening salvo remains capable of missile and drone attacks rattling its Gulf Arab neighbors and a global economy dependent on the energy they produce.

Underscoring the danger to ships in the region, a vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another damaged off Qatar. Efforts to bypass the Strait of Hormuz were also under pressure: An Iranian drone hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had been hoping to use as an alternative exit route.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly surged above $119 a barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war. The European benchmark for natural gas prices also rose sharply and has roughly doubled in the past month.

RELATED STORY | US F-35 lands safely after Iran mission; report says it may have been hit

Energy infrastructure is targeted around the Gulf

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a dangerous escalation.

But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said extensive damage was caused by Iranian missiles hitting the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, where production had already been halted after earlier attacks. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar's ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.

Two oil refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, local authorities said.

In Israel, more than a half-dozen waves of Iranian attacks targeting large parts of the country sent millions of people to shelters. The strikes caused damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.

After the latest Iranian barrage, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the electricity grid in northern Israel sustained some damage. He said crews had restored electricity to some areas and were working to restore it in others. Israeli media showed images of black smoke rising from an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa; Cohen said the refinery damage was minor.

RELATED NEWS | Pentagon asks for $200 billion to continue to fund Iran war

Hegseth says more Iranian leaders could be targeted

The Trump administration has cited various war objectives, including degrading Irans missile capabilities and its nuclear program. Killing senior leaders has also been a priority for the U.S. and Israel.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday implied that more leaders could be targeted, referring specifically to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij force, a powerful internal security unit whose leader was killed by Israel earlier this week.

The last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the IRGC or Basij, temp jobs, all of them, Hegseth said.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that U.S. forces continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory, with warplanes hunting Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz and helicopters striking Iranian drones. Caine said the U.S. military has also dropped 5,000-pound bombs on underground weapon-storage facilities.

Irans state TV, quoting a Revolutionary Guard statement, said the countrys air defense system hit an F-35 fighter jet. U.S. Central Command said an F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. A spokesman for the command, Capt. Tim Hawkins, said the aircraft landed safely, the pilot was in stable condition and the incident was under investigation.

In a sign of the Iran war's rising price tag, the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds, a senior administration official said. The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.

Among the Iranian energy facilities hit in recent days was the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex. There were no injuries and the plant suffered no damage, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Israel said Thursday it struck Iranian targets in the Caspian Sea for the first time. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the strikes hit dozens of targets, including ships, a shipyard and a command center.

Irans strikes were retaliation for Israeli attack on a critical gas field

Iran stepped up its attacks on Gulf energy facilities after Israel hit South Pars, the Iranian part of the worlds largest gas field, which is located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar.

With some 80% of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the countrys electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.

Israels target selection in this war has heavily focused on the institutions, leaders and infrastructure, the New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note. It now seeks to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions for civilians intolerable.

Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of uncontrollable consequences that could engulf the entire world.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again. But he warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatars energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and massively blow up the entirety of the field.

Asked later about the possibility of U.S. ground troops being deployed to Iran, Trump responded, No. Im not putting troops anywhere.

Death toll climbs in third week of war

More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people roughly 20% of the population according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. Israel says it has killed more than 500 Hezbollah militants.

In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike, according to officials.

At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

Iran announced the execution of three men detained in Januarys nationwide protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out, the judiciarys Mizan news agency reported.

The FBI is investigating whether Joe Kent, who resigned his position as a top counterterrorism official this week in protest of the Iran war, improperly shared classified information, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The investigation precedes Kent's resignation Tuesday from his role as director of the U.S. government's National Counterterrorism Center, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing FBI inquiry.

But it comes as the Justice Department has undertaken multiple investigations over the last year into political foes of President Donald Trump, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Prosecutors have repeatedly struggled to make charges stick amid rejections from judges or to secure indictments in the first place.

RELATED STORY | Gabbard backs Trump after intelligence official resigns over Iran war

Additional details about what the investigation, which was first reported by Semafor, is examining were not immediately available.

Kent disclosed his departure from the administration in a statement on X in which he cited his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and said he "cannot in good conscience" back the war against Iran.

"Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Kent wrote.

Trump later told reporters that he always thought Kent was "weak on security" and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, "we don't want those people." Other Trump administration officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, have since sought to distance themselves from Kent and his assessment.

A phone message was left Wednesday night for Kent, who previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress, with a former campaign manager.

Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched and fasted alongside Csar Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.

So when Wilcox's daughter called this week to inform them of sexual abuse allegations leveled against Chavez, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez's photos from their restaurant walls and made plans to cover the mural.

"We love Csar Chavez. But we cannot honor him and we cannot even love him anymore," said the former Phoenix City Council member.

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with stunning allegations that he sexually abused girls and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America union, Dolores Huerta.

Latino leaders and community groups quickly condemned the alleged abuse by Chavez but emphasized that the farmworker movement was never just about a single man. Chavez died in California in 1993 at age 66.

RELATED STORY | Allegations against labor rights icon Cesar Chavez lead to cancellation of celebrations

There were calls to alter memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S. The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state's Hall of Fame something it's never done before.

Some local and state leaders in both parties urged their communities not to celebrate Chavez's birthday on March 31, and to rename buildings and streets named for him. Celebrations of Chavez in Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

In California, legislative leaders announced Thursday they are going to rename Csar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in light of the allegations.

California was the first state to designate Chavez's birthday as a day to honor the civil rights leader nearly 30 years ago. In 2000, the Legislature passed a bill to make it an official paid day off for state employees and require the state to start teaching students about his legacy and his involvement in the labor movement in California.

Many other California workers are given the day off.

Dolores Huerta stamped her own legacy on the fight for justice

Huerta, who is a labor rights legend in her own right, said in a statement released Wednesday that she stayed silent for 60 years for fear her words could hurt the farmworker movement. She said she did not know Chavez had hurt other women.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez; one in which she was "manipulated and pressured" and another when she was "forced against my will." She said both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.

She joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. For many, they were akin to Martin Luther King. Jr. and Rosa Parks because of their work advocating for racial equality and civil rights.

Huerta's resolve and dedication to civil rights, women's rights and social justice won wide admiration. Some, including a group of Democrats in Texas, are calling for Huerta's name to replace Chavez's on places that bear his name.

The New York Times first reported Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. Huerta, too, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.

ICYMI | Newsom 'aware' of FBI memo detailing Iran drone threat to California

Some knew about Chavez's abusive behavior, biographer says

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

Streets, schools and parks across the Southwest bear Chavez's name. California became the first state to commemorate his birthday, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 Csar Chavez Day. President Joe Biden had a bronze bust of Chavez installed in the Oval Office when he moved into the White House.

Biden and Obama have not yet commented on the allegations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was still processing the news.

Chavez was full of contradictions even as a union leader, said Miriam Pawel, a California journalist who wrote a biography of him. There was abusive behaviors within the union, but people didn't speak out because they believed the union was the best way to protect farmworkers, she said.

"For many, many years, for most of those people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, they did not wanna talk about it," Pawel said.

Chavez's family and foundation voice support for the victims

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

Chavez's family said in a statement that they are devastated by the allegations.

"We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse," the family said.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation pledged support for the labor leader's victims, saying with the Chavez family's support the organization will figure out its identity going forward.

The United Farm Workers union quickly distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.

Wilcox, the former Phoenix council member, said Chavez helped people understand the value of workers at all levels.

"There's two things: Chavez the man and Chavez the man who we didn't know," she said. "And the one we knew, we knew the good things he did and the things we saw put in place. ... And the one we did not know is like a monster."

Crews began demolishing Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday to make way for a memorial that will pay tribute to the 49 people killed in the attack at the LGBTQ-friendly club nearly a decade ago.

Construction workers began tearing down walls in the long-shuttered venue that were still scarred by bullet holes from the June 12, 2016, attack, when a gunman opened fire during a Latin night celebration, killing dozens and wounding 53 other people before police killed him following a standoff.

RELATED STORY | Cruel political act: Florida paints over rainbow crosswalk honoring Pulse shooting victims

The city of Orlando purchased the Pulse property in 2023 for $2 million and plans to build a $12 million permanent memorial that will open in 2027. Those efforts followed a botched multiyear attempt by a foundation run by the clubs former owner to buy the property.

The plan for the memorial comes at a fraught time for monuments to LGBTQ+ history since President Donald Trump's second term began. The federal government removed a pride flag outside of Stonewall National Monument last year, following a National Park Service memo that prohibits the agency from flying any flags besides the U.S. flag and the flag of the Department of the Interior.

A similar battle played out in Orlando last year, when local officials clashed with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis because workers painted over a rainbow mural on the crosswalk in front of Pulse. The move came after the Florida Department of Transportation issued a memo that prohibited surface art associated with social, political or ideological messages or images and does not serve the purpose of traffic control.

RELATED STORY | Shooting At Pulse Nightclub Isn't Considered A Hate Crime. But Why?

The Pulse attacker had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Two crew members of a tugboat were killed and two others were injured in what the Coast Guard described Wednesday as a "confined space incident" aboard a barge moored in southeast Alaska last weekend.

A Coast Guard news release provided limited details about what happened to the four, but said they were in a confined space aboard the freight barge Waynehoe on Sunday when other crew members from their tug, the Chukchi Sea, lost contact with them. The barge was moored about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Ketchikan.

The parents of Sidney Mohorovich, one of the victims, said they were told by Coast Guard officials there was methane gas present in the confined space.

"We don't know why the series of events that led to all the people being in the confined space, if they all like went down as a team or in separate stages," Todd Mohorovich told The Associated Press by phone from his home in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. "I have no information on that, but what I can tell you is that the confined space had high levels of methane gas in it."

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He did not know the source of the gas or why it was present. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation of the presence of methane gas.

Todd and Eva Mohorovich last spoke to their son Saturday night when he told them about impending bad weather. "He said that the barge was in a spot where they were going to be able to be sheltered from that storm," Todd Mohorovich said.

The crew planned to perform normal deck duties to make sure everything was secured ahead of the storm.

Federal regulations define "confined space" on a vessel as "a compartment of small size and limited access such as a double bottom tank ... or other space which by its small size and confined nature can readily create or aggravate a hazardous exposure." That could include a lack of oxygen.

The tugboat crew called the Coast Guard for help and managed to recover one of the dead crew members from the space and helped the two survivors out before the rescue team arrived.

The barge was then towed to Ketchikan, where the confined space "was able to be safely cleared for the recovery of the second deceased crew member," Coast Guard spokesperson Alexander Ransom told AP in an email.

The causes of death were not released, and the bodies were sent to Anchorage for autopsies.

Sidney Mohorovich, 28, was one month into his new job with Hamilton Marine Construction.

The company didn't return a message seeking comment.

Mohorovich, a large equipment mechanic, was on his first job in Alaska. He lived in Deming, Washington, with his fiancee ahead of their planned June wedding.

He previously was a logger and welder, and before that he learned how to build houses and do electrical work. "He could pretty much figure anything out," his mother said.

"He was loved by so many," Eva Mohorovich said of her son's outgoing personality. "Just an exceptional human being, smarty, witty, funny, loving."

It was in his heart to lend a hand to people in need, and he was unselfish in so many ways, his father said.

"We're just really thankful for who he was," Todd Mohorovich said. "I wouldn't change a thing in the life that we've all shared together, regardless of this the tragedy at this time. If we were to change something, it would lead to other changes that we don't know about."

The two survivors were reported to be in good condition, Ransom said, changing their conditions from stable as the guard advised in an earlier release. The other man killed was identified as Ben Fowler.

The national debt surpassed a record $39 trillion on Wednesday, a milestone that comes just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

The unprecedented figure highlights competing administration priorities, from passing a massive tax law and boosting defense spending and immigration enforcement to chipping away at the debt itself the latter of which Donald Trump promised to do as both a candidate and as president.

The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impact of rising government debt on Americans including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services. Advocates for a balanced budget also warn that the long-term trend of borrowing more and paying more in interest will force Americans to face tougher fiscal tradeoffs ahead.

Michael Peterson, chair and CEO of the nonprofit Peter G. Peterson Foundation, created to raise awareness of Americas long-term fiscal challenges, said in a statement that we must recognize this alarming rate of growth and the significant financial burden we are putting on the next generation.

RELATED STORY | The Danny Moses Show: What to know about the spiraling national debt

The trajectory of the rising costs is also a concern. The federal debt has surged under both Republican and Democratic presidents, most recently fueled by wars, large-scale pandemic spending and tax cuts.

The U.S. national debt hit $38 trillion five months ago and $37 trillion two months before that.

At the current growth rate, we will hit a staggering $40 trillion in national debt before this falls elections, Peterson said. Borrowing trillion after trillion at this rapid pace with no plan in place is the definition of unsustainable.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett estimated on Sunday that the war in Iran had cost the U.S. more than $12 billion so far. It is unclear when the war will end.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, pointed to a decline in the federal deficit during Trump's first year back in office.

According to Treasury's Fiscal Data website, total government spending in fiscal year 2025 was $7.01 trillion and total revenue was $5.23 trillion, resulting in a deficit of $1.78 trillion, which is a decrease of $41 billion from the previous fiscal year.

Desai said the decrease in the deficit is attributable to raising individual tax revenue and a government right-sizing push that has reduced federal employment to its lowest level since 1966, and aggressive crackdown on federal welfare fraud. As these and other initiatives continue taking effect, Americas deficit and debt-to-GDP ratios will continue trending in the right direction.

The Pentagon has asked the White House for another $200 billion to carry out the war in Iran, a senior administration official said.

The request comes as U.S. President Donald Trump warned on social media that the U.S. would retaliate and massively blow up the entirety of Iran's gas field if it continues.

The Pentagon sent the request to the White House, according to the senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.

RELATED STORY | As Iran war spreads, a UN shipping agency is searching for ways to keep commercial crews safe

This $200 billion is an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in Trumps big tax cuts bill.

Congress is bracing for a new spending request but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration. It is unclear whether the spending request would have support.

Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. Fuel prices soared around the world.

The direct attacks on energy infrastructure mark a major escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. One think-tank said Israels targeting of South Pars, the Iranian part of the worlds largest gas field, aimed to inflict more pressure on the Iranian government by making living conditions for its civilians intolerable. Iran responded by hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze.

RELATED STORY | Global fuel prices spike after Iran hits multiple Gulf oil and gas sites

Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran. The wars latest developments now threaten long-term disruptions to the global energy supply.

In the escalating war in Iran, the State Departments Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the center of the geopolitical fray.

Typically led by a veteran diplomat, the bureaus role would be to coordinate U.S. foreign policy across an 18-country region, much of which has become a chaotic battlefield scarred by drone and missile strikes as the U.S. and Israel remain locked in conflict with Iran.

The Trump administration for a time put Mora Namdar, a lawyer of Iranian descent with limited management experience, in charge before later moving her to a different post. One of her credentials was her contribution to Project 2025, a conservative think tanks blueprint for the second Trump administration. Namdars last Senate-confirmed predecessor was a longtime Middle East expert who had been with the department since 1984 and had served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

RELATED STORY | 'They were going to attack first:' White House continues defense of Iran strikes

Now that bureau is also working with far fewer resources. The administrations most recent budget proposed a 40% cut to the bureau, though Congress eventually enacted less dramatic cuts. The administration also eliminated the dedicated Iran office, merging it with the Iraq office.

Staff reductions and management choices hamper emergency response

These kinds of personnel and management choices coupled with President Donald Trump's moves to shrink government and confine decision-making to a tight circle are limiting the ability of the United States to handle a global emergency, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials, many of whom recently left government.

In divisions of the State Department that typically would handle the Iran response, numerous veteran diplomats with decades of collective experience were fired, retired or were reassigned replaced by more junior officials or political appointees. The administration cut more than 80 staffers in Near Eastern Affairs, according to numbers compiled by a State Department employee who was terminated last year based on surveys of colleagues. (The department does not release official figures on Foreign Service officer staffing levels but did not dispute the number.)

The Trump administration has left the assistant secretary position in charge of Near Eastern Affairs vacant, along with key ambassadorships in the Middle East. Four of the five supervisors in the bureau have temporary titles.

The current and former officials, some of whom asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters during an active conflict, paint a portrait of an understaffed government workforce struggling to execute the presidents agenda. Those who remain tell colleagues that their analysis, recommendations and advice go unheeded.

The State Department vigorously disputed those assessments.

As far as we can tell, APs entire report on the evacuations does not include any conversations with people actually involved. Instead, it relies on outside or former official sources that have no idea what they are talking about. We walked AP through specific inaccuracy after specific inaccuracy indeed how the whole premise was wrong," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

More than 3,800 State Dept. employees departed since Trump took office

The State Department saw a departure of more than 3,800 employees since Trump took office through a combination of reductions in force, staffers taking the Fork in the Road deferred resignation plan and ordinary retirements. According to estimates by the American Foreign Service Association, the labor union that represents foreign service officers, senior foreign service ranks were disproportionately represented in the layoffs compared to their share of the overall workforce.

Hes making choices without the larger expertise of the United States government that would flag issues of consequence, said Max Stier, CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that studies federal workforce issues. Sometimes government is slow-moving because there are a lot of different factors that need to be balanced against each other.

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

For instance, the administration appears to have been caught off guard by what would happen once the U.S. struck Iran something Trump himself acknowledged this week when he expressed surprise that Tehran retaliated with strikes on American allies in the region. Nobody expected that. We were shocked. They fought back, Trump told reporters this week.

Pigott said staffing reductions are not having any negative impact on our ability to respond to this operation, our ability to plan, and our ability to execute in service to Americans. He added that the department rejects the premise that key decisions were made without meaningful input from experienced professionals.

But Iranian retaliation on U.S. allies was predictable, according to former officials, as well as previous wargames and conflict models run by both the U.S. military and private organizations. The National Security Council, which Trump has pared, typically would have presented the president with analysis from experts within the bureaucracy.

Instead, decisions are made by a small group of officials close to the president without the planning or coordination of the larger machinery of government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as the president's national security adviser.

In the Trump Administration, decisions are made by President Trump and senior administration officials and not by no-name bureaucrat leakers who whine to the press about not being consulted about highly classified operations, White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson said.

Advice from career officials often went unheeded

In the time that I was there, there was no policy process to speak of, said Chris Backemeyer, who served in Near Eastern Affairs as a deputy assistant secretary of state before resigning last year. Backemeyer was a major proponent of the Iran deal that Trump abandoned. He recently left government to run for Congress as a Democrat in Nebraska.

They did not want to hear any advice from career people, said Backemeyer.

Namdar was later moved to be the head of consular affairs, the part of the department responsible for providing assistance to American citizens overseas and issuing visas to foreign visitors.

When the U.S. made the decision to strike Iran, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee offered embassy staff in Jerusalem the opportunity to evacuate a sign that he knew strikes were coming. But some other embassies in the region did not make similar arrangements leaving nonessential personnel and their families stranded in a war zone.

The department said it has been issuing travel warnings since January and was fully staffed to handle the crisis the moment the strikes were launched.

Evacuation planning was chaotic

Still, little planning appears to have gone into how to evacuate the Americans who were living, working, visiting or studying in many of the countries that became engulfed in the conflict in part because the White House seems to have underestimated the possibility of the strikes expanding into a prolonged multi-country war, as evidenced by Trump's own remarks.

After Iranian attacks on allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department began calling for Americans to leave the region. But numerous former Consular Affairs staffers say such planning should have begun long before U.S. strikes started.

In a statement posted to social media, Namdar only told Americans to evacuate several days into the conflict, when airspace was largely closed and many commercial flights were unavailable.

The messaging that went out to American citizens after the U.S. struck Iran was woefully late and, initially, confusing," said Yael Lempert, who served as U.S. ambassador to Jordan until 2025. Lempert is one of five former ambassadors expected to speak about the department's failures at an event Thursday at the American Academy of Diplomacy in Washington.

Other poorly executed evacuations, such the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, have drawn criticism.

But this time they're compounded by the loss of experienced people, officials say. Consular Affairs has lost more than 150 jobs in the Trump administration due to a combination of reductions in force, dismissals of probationary employees and retirements, according to a U.S. official who asked for anonymity though other parts of the department were hit much harder.

The department notes that it has offered assistance to nearly 50,000 Americans impacted by the conflict, with more than 60 flights evacuating citizens from the region. In total, the department says more than 70,000 Americans have been able to return home since the outbreak of hostilities on Feb. 28.

Dispute from the Trump Administration

Piggott on Thursday called the criticism vague and inaccurate, stating there were no reductions in force that "affected our overseas operations that are working in the field to assist Americans."

As we told @AP ahead of time, this story is not based in reality, but they wouldn't be deterred by the facts. We gave them detailed responses, but instead, they relied on vague and inaccurate criticism from unnamed or outside sources. Here is some of what we provided: pic.twitter.com/R1wfUdiyWg

Tommy Pigott (@StateDeputySpox) March 19, 2026Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect Piggott's detailed response to the Associated Press report.

Iran intensified its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors' energy sites Thursday, hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze as it struck back following an Israeli attack on its main natural gas field, a major escalation in the Mideast war that has sent global fuel prices soaring.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran.

A ship was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off Qatar, underscoring the ever-present danger also facing vessels due to Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported.

RELATED STORY | As Iran war spreads, a UN shipping agency searches for ways to keep crews safe

Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west to avoid the strait and ship it from the Red Sea, but the security of that route was called into question after Iran's drone hit the countrys SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu.

Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said firefighters put out a blaze at a major LNG facility after it was hit by Iranian missiles. Production had already been halted there after earlier attacks but it said the latest wave of missiles caused sizable fires and extensive further damage.

Damage to the facility could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the market even after the Iran war ends.

A drone attack on Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire but caused no injuries, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. The refinery is one of the biggest in the Middle East, with a petroleum production capacity of 730,000 barrels per day. Shortly after, a drone attack set ablaze the nearby Mina Abdullah refinery, officials said.

Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas facility and Bab field, calling Iranian overnight attacks on the sites a dangerous escalation.

Gulf states condemn Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure

Missile alert sirens sounded in multiple other areas around the Gulf, and Israel warned of incoming Iranian fire multiple times.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all denounced the Iranian attacks, with Saudi Arabias top diplomat saying assaults on the kingdom meant what little trust there was before has completely been shattered.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the attacks a dangerous escalation by Iran.

But Iran showed no signs of relenting, with Saudi Arabia intercepting six drones in Riyadh and Eastern province before saying that the SAMREF refinery was hit. The Saudi Defense Ministry said damage assessment was underway at SAMREF, a joint venture between the kingdoms oil giant Saudi Aramco and ExxonMobil.

In Israel, more than a half dozen waves of Iranian attacks targeting large parts of the country sent millions of people to shelters. The strikes caused damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.

RELATED STORY | US strikes Iranian minelayers as it warns Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open

Iran strikes back after Israel hits critical gas field

The Iranian attacks came after Israel hit South Pars, the Iranian part of the world's largest gas field located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar.

With some 80% of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the country's electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.

Hitting the gas field is a clear expansion of the conflict, the New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note.

Israels target selection in this war has heavily focused on the institutions, leaders and infrastructure," the think tank said. "It now seeks to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions for civilians intolerable.

Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of uncontrollable consequences" that "could engulf the entire world.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatars energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and massively blow up the entirety of the field.

I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, Trump said on social media.

Energy infrastructure targeted around Gulf region

Qatar Energy said on X that a missile hit on its massive Ras Laffan LNG facility caused the blaze early Thursday.

A ship was also hit off the country's coast, according to the British militarys United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. It was not clear whether it was deliberately targeted or was struck by falling debris as Qatar fired off missile interceptors at incoming Iranian barrages.

Saudi Arabia also reported downing Iranian drones targeting its natural gas facilities overnight, and authorities in Abu Dhabi shut down the Habshan gas facility and Bab field after interceptions over the sites.

Another ship was set ablaze early Thursday off the UAE coast. It was also unclear whether it was targeted or hit with debris, the UKMTO said. It said the vessel was just off the coast of Khor Fakkan, near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is normally shipped.

More than 20 vessels have been attacked during the Iran war so far as Tehran has kept a tight grip on shipping traffic through the waterway, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.

Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the U.S. or its allies, and while some vessels have sailed through, it has only been a trickle.

Paul Thomas Andersons One Battle After Another was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywoods top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.

The ceremony Sunday, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar history as the first female director of photography to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first short at age 18 and has been one of Americas most lionized filmmakers for decades. Before Sunday, Anderson had never won an Oscar.

But One Battle After Another, the favorite coming in, won six Oscars, including best director and best adapted screenplay for Anderson, the Oscars' first trophy for best casting and best supporting actor for an absent Sean Penn.

I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world were handing off to them, said Anderson while accepting the screenplay trophy. But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.

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Ryan Coogler's Jim Crow-set, blues-soaked vampire tale Sinners, which came in with a record 16 nominations, also landed some big and even historic wins. Coogler, the widely loved filmmaker, won the first Oscar in an unblemished career that started out with Jordan in 2013's Fruitvale Station.

Arkapaw was also the first Black person to win for best cinematography. Only the fourth female cinematographer ever nominated, her win was a long-in-coming triumph for women behind the camera.

I really want all the women in room to stand up, said Arkapaw. Because I dont feel like I get here without you guys.

And Jordan, one of Hollywood's most liked leading men, won best actor in one of the night's closest races. The Dolby Theatre rose to its feet in the most thunderous applause of the night.

Yo, momma, whats up? said Jordan after staggering to the stage.

The Oscar night belonged to Warner Bros., the studio of One Battle After Another and Sinners, which scored a record-tying 11 wins. It was an oddly poignant note of triumph for the fabled studio, which weeks earlier agreed to a sale to Paramount Skydance, David Ellisons rapidly assembled media monolith. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has Hollywood bracing for more layoffs.

But Sinners and One Battle After Another the much-acclaimed heavyweights of the season were each Hollywood anomalies: big-budget originals born from a personal vision. In a year where anxiety over studio contraction and the rise of artificial intelligence often consumed the industry, both films gave Hollywood fresh hope.

Jessie Buckley won best actress for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category. At an Oscars where no other acting award seemed a sure thing, Buckley cruised into Sundays Oscars at the Dolby Theatre as the overwhelming favorite.

It's Mother's Day in the U.K., said Buckley on the stage. I would like to dedicated this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart.

KPop and Frankenstein win for Netflix

From the start, when host Conan O'Brien sprinted through the year's nominees as Amy Madigan's character in the horror thriller Weapons in a pre-taped bit, Sunday's ceremony was quirky, a little clunky and preoccupied with the shifting place of movies in culture. There was, of all things, a tie for best live-action short film.

As expected, the Netflix sensation KPop Demon Hunters, 2025s most-watched film, won best animated feature, as well as best song for Golden. It was a big win for Netflix but a more qualified victory for the movies producer, Sony Pictures. Though it developed and produced the film, Sony sold KPop Demon Hunters to the streaming giant instead of giving it a theatrical release.

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On Netflix, KPop Demon Hunters became a cultural phenomenon and the streaming platforms biggest hit. It has more than 325 million views and counting.

This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere, said co-director Maggie Kang.

Another Netflix release, Guillermo del Toros Frankenstein picked up three awards for its lavish craft, for costume design, makeup and hairstyling and for production design.

Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for her performance in the horror thriller Weapons, a win that came 40 years after the 75-year-old actor was first nominated, in 1986, for Twice in a Lifetime. Letting out a giant laugh as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, This is great!

O'Brien presides over a ceremony shadowed by politics

Hosting for the second time, O'Brien began the Dolby Theatre show alluding to chaotic and frightening times. But he argued that the current geopolitical climate made the Oscars all the more resonate as a globally unifying force.

We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today optimism, O'Brien said. Were going to celebrate. Not because we think all is well, but because we work, and hope, for better.

Throughout the show, O'Brien hit a number of targets, like Timothe Chalamet who again missed out on winning his first Oscar, this time for Marty Supreme for his diss of opera and ballet. But the ceremony seldom wasn't shadowed by politics, whether in references to changes under U.S. President Donald Trump or the recently launched war in Iran.

Joachim Trier, whose Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value won best international film, quoted James Baldwin in his acceptance speech: All adults are responsible for all children, he said. Lets not vote for politicians that dont take this seriously into account.

Presenter Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show last year was suspended after comments he made about Charlie Kirk's killing, was among the most blunt.

There are some countries that dont support free speech, said Kimmel. Im not at liberty to say which. Lets just leave it at North Korea and CBS.

Shortly after, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a film about a Russian primary schoolteacher who documents his students' indoctrination to support Russia's war with Ukraine, won best documentary.

'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' is about how you lose your country, co-director said. And what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless, small, little acts of complicity.

We all face a moral choice, he added, but, luckily, a nobody is more powerful than you think.

Tributes to Reiner, Redford and others

Elegy also marked the Oscars. Producers expanded the in memoriam segment following a year that featured the deaths of so many Hollywood legends, including Keaton, Robert Duvall and Redford. Barbra Streisand spoke about Redford, her The Way We Were co-star.

Bob had real backbone, said Streisand, who called Redford an intellectual cowboy before singing a few bars of The Way We Were.

Billy Crystal paid tribute to Rob and Michele Reiner, who were killed in their home in December. Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner's who memorably starred in 1989's When Harry Met Sally... and 1987's Princess Bride. In his moving remarks, Crystal quoted the latter.

All we can say is: Buddy, how much fun we had storming the castle, said Crystal.

Theatrical bests streaming, again

Yet again, the nights final award again didn't go to a streaming release; Apple's CODA remains the only streaming film to achieve that distinction. Sinners and One Battle After Another were both theatrical releases shot on film.

Apple's top contender this time, the Formula One race drama F1, a movie that it partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute theatrically, won for best sound. The lone blockbuster of the year to go home with a win was Avatar: Fire and Ash, for visual effects.

Some of OBriens best digs came at the expense of the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theater for the first time. The host also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: Why isnt the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?

Im honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards, said OBrien. Next year its going to be a Waymo in a tux.