ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cade Cunningham had 29 points and 11 assists, Tobias Harris scored 23 points and the NBA-leading Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 106-92 on Sunday night for their sixth straight road victory.
The Pistons improved to 45-14, winning for the eighth time in nine games. They have won 10 of 11 on the road and are 21-7 overall away from home.
Jalen Duren added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Detroit.
Paolo Banchero led Orlando with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but also had nine turnovers. Tristan da Silva added 19 points and Desmond Bane had 17, but the Magic shot 30.7% in the second half and experienced a third-quarter collapse for the second time in three nights. They squandered a 19-point lead in less than four minutes in a loss to Houston on Friday night.
After missing their first 15 3-point attempts, the Pistons were down 57-50 at halftime. They moved ahead for the first time on a 3-pointer by Harris midway through the third quarter, and took command with an 11-0 run.
Detroit forward Isaiah Stewart served the final game of a seven-game suspension for an altercation at Charlotte on Feb. 9. Magic guard Anthony Black missed a game for the first time this season, sitting out with a strained right quad.
Up next
Pistons: At Cleveland on Tuesday night.
Magic: Host Washington on Tuesday night.
— By DICK SCANLON, Associated Press
Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva (23) and Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson (9) go after a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, March 1, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Jaxon Kohler scored a season-high 21 points and Jeremy Fears Jr. added 21 points and nine assists to lead No. 13 Michigan State past Indiana 77-64 on Sunday.
Kur Tang finished with a career-high 18 points, making 6 of 8 from 3-point range — nearly half of the Spartans’ 13 3s. Kohler also grabbed 13 rebounds, his 12th double-double of the season as the Michigan State (24-5, 14-4 Big Ten) won its fourth straight.
The Spartans never trailed in winning at Assembly Hall for just the second time in six trips to complete a road sweep this week. They also won at No. 8 Purdue 76-74 on Thursday. It was coach Tom Izzo’s first trip to Bloomington since he broke the league record for conference wins in February 2025, breaking the mark held by former Hoosiers coach Bob Knight.
Lamar Wilkerson scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Indiana (17-12, 8-10) from a fourth consecutive loss. Tucker DeVries finished with 20 points and six rebounds, while Sam Alexis added eight points in a game Indiana’s bench players were shut out.
Michigan State used a hot start to take a 14-5 lead, then relied on its long-range flurry to thwart the Hoosiers from mounting serious challenge. The Spartans extended the margin to 39-26 on Teng’s fourth 3 of the game late in the first half.
Indiana managed to cut the halftime deficit to 45-37, then quickly fell into a 52-41 hole early in the second half. The Hoosiers got as close as 54-48 with 13:41 to play, but Teng answered with another 3 and the Spartans went on a 10-3 spurt to rebuild a 67-55 lead.
The Hoosiers never fully recovered.
Up next
Michigan State: Hosts Rutgers in its home finale Thursday.
Indiana: Closes out its home schedule Wednesday against Minnesota.
— By MICHAEL MAROT, Associated Press
Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler attempts to get past Indiana forward Reed Bailey (1) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Bloomington, In., Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
EAST LANSING (AP) — Jaloni Cambridge scored 33 points, Chance Gray added 21 and No. 13 Ohio State hit a program record 18 3-pointers in a 87-68 win over No. 15 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams.
Cambridge shot 12 of 24 from the field and 7 of 12 from beyond the arc, the most she has made from deep all season. Gray shot 7 of 11 from 3-point range.
Elsa Lemilla recorded a double-double for the Buckeyes (24-6, 13-5 Big Ten) with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Kennedy Cambridge put up 10 points.
The Buckeyes had a 15-0 run in the second quarter, putting them up 38-11, and they went into halftime leading 49-26.
The Spartans (22-7, 11-7) were led in scoring by Grace VanSlooten, with 17. Rashunda Jones scored 16 and Ines Sotelo added 11.
Up next
Michigan State: Will be the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The Spartans play on Thursday.
Ohio State: Can be the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament with a Minnesota loss against Illinois, or the No. 5 seed if Minnesota wins.
Michigan State forward Grace VanSlooten drives to the basket against Washington center Yulia Grabovskaia during an NCAA basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Seattle. (STEPHEN BRASHEAR — AP Photo, file)
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.
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.
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.
A metro Detroit doctor says he has treated more than 30 young patients for slope-related injuries this month alone a number he says he has never seen before. With March historically bringing some of Michigan's harshest winter conditions, icy slopes are adding to the danger.
Watch Faraz's report below
Metro Detroit Pediatric orthopedic surgeon sees dramatic rise in ski and snowboard injuries among kids this winter
Thirteen-year-old Gabriel Cline should be in school, playing with his friends. Instead, he's at the doctor's office recovering from a skiing accident that shattered both bones in his right leg.
"White Lightning was a black diamond I gained too much speed, hit a bump, crashed twisted my leg like that," Gabriel said.
Gabriel says it happened on a slope far above his skill level and in seconds, he went from thrill to trauma. X-rays confirmed the extent of the damage.
"This is where his leg or tibia broke in half in a spiral fashion, so it twisted. And it was significantly displaced, and it required surgery," Dr. Ahmed Bazzi, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon with Michigan Orthopaedic Surgeons, said.
With a steel rod stabilizing the bone, Gabriel was back on his feet within weeks a recovery Bazzi calls remarkable.
"I learned how to walk again this week and it's not really been that painful at night anymore," Gabriel said.
But Gabriel's accident is part of a troubling trend Bazzi has been tracking this winter.
"This season specifically I've seen a really big uptick in ski and snowboard-related injuries just this season alone," Bazzi said.
This month alone, Bazzi said he has treated more than 30 young patients for slope-related injuries a number he says he has never seen before.
Bazzi points to a combination of riskier behavior, limited training, poor equipment fit, and harsher slope conditions. With March still part of Michigan's winter season, icy, compacted snow means more speed and a harder landing.
"Natural snow has packed up, thawed, frozen, become icy... and then more artificial snow goes on top. What you're landing on is harder, slicker," Bazzi said.
Those conditions are translating into a rise in serious injuries that can sideline kids for weeks or impact their growth long-term.
"Shoulder injuries, elbow fractures, femur fractures, knee ligament tears and in children, growth plate injuries," Bazzi said.
Gabriel wants to turn his painful experience into a cautionary message for his three younger siblings.
"I learned not to pressure myself into going down hills too advanced for me and I learned my limits," Gabriel said.
Bazzi says prevention starts before getting on the lift.
"Proper instruction, fitted gear, checking your bindings, learning how to fall, and stretching before and after skiing that's critical," Bazzi said.
If you are heading out to the slopes, the right gear, a little caution, and preparation for the sport can all make a difference.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
The Detroit Police Department is investigating two shootings that happened on the city's west side on Sunday morning. At this time, it doesn't appear that the shootings are related.
Here are details about the two shootings, listed in chronological order:
3:07 a.m.
One man is dead after police say he was shot in the early morning hours on Detroit's west side.
Police found the body of a man in the 7100 block of West Warren; this shooting is being investigated as a homicide, with DPD telling us the suspect is unknown.
9 a.m.
A child was taken to the hospital after accidentally shooting themselves in a home on Detroit's west side.
Police responded to a home in the 8800 block of Artesian around 9 a.m. this morning. We're told that the child found the gun and discharged it.
We're told that the child is in stable condition and that DPD is investigating what led up to the incident.
Bad Omens’ latest road trek is dubbed the Do You Feel Love Tour, after a refrain from the show-opening “Specter.”
And rest assured there was plenty of affection for the Virginia-formed heavy rock band from a packed Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night, Feb. 28.
Much has happened for the quartet since it first played in the metro area 10 years ago (almost to the day) at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac. Back then it had just a couple of singles behind it, with its first album still six months away. Now Bad Omens is an undeniable global headliner and leader in its genre, with an aggregated fusion of styles — metal, metalcore, emo, ambient — that hits hard but is still mindful of melodies.
Bolstered by plenty of pre-recorded backing tracks, Bad Omens certainly had its share of high-octane bangers such as “Limits,” “Nowhere to Go,” “Artificial Suicide” and “Anything > Human.” But, along with Saturday’s show openers Beartooth and England’s entertainingly mysterious President, it applied a dynamic sensibility that keeps fans on their toes — moshing, crowd-surfing and even dancing to electro-fused songs like “V.A.N.,” “What Do You Want From Me” and the epic “Impose,” the latter one of four 2025 singles that vaulted the group’s popularity even further.
Bad Omens certainly greeted its moment visually as well. Saturday’s 90-minute show delivered an ample amount of spectacle, with 14 angled LED screens above the stage and three more on the sides and behind the band, as well as lasers, smoke jets and enough fire to melt the hockey ice beneath the arena’s seats. There was even a “plot” as five cryptic messages — portrayed with an old school cassette recorder on the screens — between the 18 songs; the contents were largely lost on the crowd but definitely provided a sense of drama that set up each set of ensuing songs.
And despite frontman Noah Sebastian’s assertion that he was “extra nervous” on Saturday, the group’s performance was spot-on, the live and synchronized elements synced tightly together, and with the special effects that accompanied every song. (He also noted that drummer Nick Folio had worked for Little Caesars Pizza for “about two weeks” before one of Bad Omens’ tours.) Confetti rained over the general admission floor during “Impose,” while the encore “Concrete Jungle”/”Dethrone” closed the night like an aural sledgehammer.
Heavy rock act Bad Omens performed Saturday, Feb. 28, to a packed Little Caesars Arena (Photo by Bryan Kirks for Bad Omens)
Saturday’s other acts teed things up nicely for Bad Omens, deploying much of the same kind of sonic synthesis. Bearthooth’s fifty minutes was driven by frontman Caleb Shomo’s physical charisma and infectious enthusiasm (not to mention wisdom in not mentioning the band’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio — never a great selling point in Michigan). And President made good on the intrigue surrounding it; nobody knows who the masked troupe — with monikers such as The President, Heist, Protest and Vice — really is, but that’s only added to the intrigue and its half-hour Detroit debut was certainly strong enough to bring fans back for more.
President also finished with a late-set, recorded message that, “We came to build a movement, a sound, a future” — a sentiment that rang true for all three bands on Saturday. And in their collective hands, that future seems undeniably solid.
Heavy rock act Bad Omens performed Saturday, Feb. 28, to a packed Little Caesars Arena (Photo by Bryan Kirks for Bad Omens)
Three U.S. service members were killed in action and five were seriously wounded, Central Command said Sunday morning, the first reported U.S. casualties in the joint attack with Israel on Iran.
The military also said several other service members suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions. After the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, in the operation, strikes across the Middle East continued Sunday, with Israel saying it launched a fresh wave in “the heart of Tehran” and Iran mounting attacks on Israel and across the Persian Gulf.
A strike from Iran killed at least nine people near Jerusalem, according to Israel’s national emergency service, and injured at least 28. Iran’s state broadcaster, citing figures from the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported 201 dead and 747 injured in the country. The Washington Post could not independently verify the report.
Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and a vocal opponent of Israel and the West since coming to power in 1989, was killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks Saturday along with other top Iranian leaders.
Social media showed scenes of both grief and celebration in Iran, where the government declared 40 days of mourning and announced a temporary leadership structure.
Israeli defense officials said Sunday that their initial strikes on Iranian leaders, launched in two locations, eliminated 40 military commanders and that they would continue to dismantle Iranian military infrastructure. Iran’s retaliatory attacks included for the first time a strike against Oman, which had served as a mediator in nuclear discussions between Washington and Tehran.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
Hundreds of thousands of stranded travelers scrambled to make new connections and get through to airlines on jammed phone lines after the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel shut down much of the Middle East to air travel.
Tourists and business travelers crowded hotels and airports, with no word on when many airports would reopen or when flights to and through the Middle East would resume. Some governments advised their stranded citizens to shelter in place.
Shutdown airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha including Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest in the world are important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and the West to Asia. All three were directly hit by strikes.
Mohammad Abdul Mannan, in the crowd at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said he wasn't concerned about the war, but that he needs to get his flight to the Middle East to make a living.
We have set out to go for work, and we must go," he said. "My only concern is how to go abroad and how to earn an income.
In Dubai, stranded travelers could hear fighter jets overhead and an explosion when the Fairmont Palm Hotel was hit by a missile strike.
Many were unable to get updated flight information from tour operators or Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, which suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Monday afternoon.
Louise Herrle and her husband had their flight to Washington canceled on their way back to their Pittsburgh home after a tour of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with no word when they could reschedule.
Were in the hotel room, we are not leaving it, so youre not going to give it up until we know we have a flight out of here, Herrle said. Im sure everyone else is in the same situation.
Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, said it is hard to calculate the number of travelers affected worldwide.
However, it estimated that at least 90,000 people alone change flights daily in the airports in Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi on just three airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.
Airports and airspaces still closed
Airspace or airports in Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were closed, according to flight tracking sites and government agencies there.
More than 1,800 flights were canceled Sunday to airports across the Middle East, including those in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt, according to Cirium. At least that number of flights were canceled Saturday.
Cancellations will extend beyond Sunday, at least.
Emirates Airlines suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Monday afternoon. The Qatar airport was closed until at least Monday morning, according to Qatar Airways. Israeli airline El Al said it was preparing a recovery effort to bring home Israelis stranded abroad once the airspace reopened.
Two airports in the United Arab Emirates reported strikes as the government there condemned what it called a blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles on Saturday.
Officials at Dubai International Airport said four people were injured, while Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi said one person was killed and seven others were injured in a drone strike. Strikes were also reported at Kuwait International Airport.
Iran did not publicly claim responsibility.
Flight delays and cancellations are likely to continue
Airlines urged passengers to check their flight status online before heading to the airport. Some airlines issued waivers to affected travelers that will allow them to rebook their flight plans without paying extra fees or higher fares.
For travelers, theres no way to sugarcoat this, said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group. You should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.
Mike McCormick, who used to oversee air traffic control for the Federal Aviation Administration, said countries might reopen their airspace once American and Israeli officials tell airlines where military flights are operating and how capable Iran remains at firing missiles.
Check your flight status before you travel
The reverberations echoed far outside the Middle East for example, airport authorities in the resort island of Bali in Indonesia said more than 1,600 tourists were stranded at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday after five flights to the Middle East were canceled or postponed.
Airlines that are crossing the Middle East will have to reroute flights around the conflict with many flights headed south over Saudi Arabia. That will cause delays and higher costs.
Jonathan Escott and his partner had arrived at the airport in Newcastle, England, on Saturday only to find out that his direct flight to Dubai on Emirates airline was canceled, leaving everyone on the flight stuck there.
Escott had no idea when he may be able to travel.
No one knows, Escott said. No one really knows whats going on with the conflict, really. Not Emirates, Emirates dont have a clue. No one has a clue.
No. 3 Michigan sophomore guard L.J. Cason will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee, the team announced Saturday.
Cason came up limping a day earlier in an 84-70 win at Illinois in which the Wolverines (27-2, 17-1) clinched the Big Ten regular-season title.
He appeared to be initially hurt when falling to the court after chasing down a defensive rebound late in the first half. Cason returned to play for two-plus minutes in the second half before leaving the game with about 13 minutes left, and finished with nine points.
First and foremost, our hearts hurt for L.J., coach Dusty May said in a statement.
You never want to see a young man who has poured so much into this program have something like this happen, he added. However, if theres anyone equipped to handle this and the rehab process, its LJ.
Cason is a primary backup, who was sixth on the team in averaging 8.4 points per outing, while going 33 of 82 in 3-point attempts in 28 games this season.
This isnt how I wanted my season to end, but I trust Gods plan, and Ill attack rehab the same way I approach everything -- with focus and determination, Cason said. Weve got many goals as a team, and Ill be locked in supporting my brothers every step of the way.
Michigan plays at Iowa on Thursday before closing its season hosting Michigan State on March 8. The team has earned a bye through the opening rounds of the Big Ten tournament, which it will open in the quarterfinals on March 13.
PARIS (AP) — He is known as the French Banksy — or simply JR. Now the artist popular across France for large-scale projects, from photographs to graffiti and street art, wants Parisians to do something unusual on the city’s arguably most famous bridge: stop.
In June, he plans to transform the bustling Pont Neuf that dates back to the 17th century into a walk-through “cave” — a temporary, monumental public artwork that will cover the stone arches with a rocky illusion and invite visitors to cross the River Seine through a tunnel, complete with sound and digitally augmented reality.
He says it’s possibly the “largest immersive installation ever made” and — one that will be accessible around the clock and offer a “totally different approach” to the bridge.
“We’re about to leave something pretty incredible in the middle of Paris,” JR told The Associated Press at his studio in eastern Paris, wearing his trademark hat and shades.
His project, the Pont Neuf Cavern is to run June 6-28, spanning 120 meters (yards) in length and over 17 meters in height.
French artist JR shows his project Pont Neuf Cavern during an interview with The Associated Press in his studio, in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A tribute — and a gamble
The installation is a nod to a Paris legend: the late artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude who in 1985 wrapped Pont Neuf — and its streetlamps — in a pale golden fabric. The project, which took years of negotiations with the authorities, helped define the genre of monumental public art in modern cities across the world.
To JR, the homage is both aesthetic and personal.
“I had the chance to meet Christo along the years,” he said. “We had big respect for each other’s work.”
French artist JR shows his project Pont Neuf Cavern during an interview with The Associated Press in his studio, in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
While walking recently on the street with an AP crew, an older woman stopped JR — now, a household name in his country — to share her memories of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapping. She told him she was excited to see the bridge transformed again.
Still, JR — a pseudonym stemming from first name, Jean-René — acknowledges the weight of following in the iconic pair’s footsteps.
“It’s pretty hard to go after them,” he said, “but I’m doing it in a very different style, in my own way.”
His idea is about “bringing back mineral and nature” to the heart of Paris.
From the outside, his installation will make Pont Neuf look “as if it has been overtaken by a prehistoric outcrop,” a structure visible along the banks of the Seine — a rocky mass that is “literally going to break the landscape,” he said.
A photomontage shows the project by French artist JR called Pont Neuf Cavern in his studio, in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Two experiences: the city, then the cave
JR said there will be two main ways for people to experience his installation. From the outside, those heading to Pont Neuf will see the giant installation hundreds of meters away.
And from the inside, once visitors enter the “cave” on Pont Neuf, they will be able to walk through a long tunnel-like structure, having a feeling of “total immersion,” he said.
The cave will allow no daylight in and once inside, visitors “will lose track of time,” JR said.
A key collaborator on the project is Thomas Bangalter, a former member of French rock band Daft Punk who is creating the sound to accompany the installation — “something you’ll only hear from the inside,” JR said.
Snap’s AR studio in Paris is developing the augmented reality technology. Visitors will be able to use their smartphones to “experience and see things that you can’t see with your eyes,” JR said.
He is intentionally mysterious about what that is — keeping it a surprise until closer to the opening.
JR’s team conducted extensive engineering studies, including tests in a hangar at Paris’ Orly airport, to understand how the structure behaves, especially in an emergency when the electricity that fuels the cave’s air supply cuts off. Tests show the structure stays the same. There is also the security question — the bridge is a busy zone, especially during Paris’ tourist-packed early summer.
JR said visitor numbers will be limited at any given time, and that his team is consulting with authorities on that. During the three weeks of the exhibition, the installation will be continuously monitored.
A photomontage shows the project by French artist JR called Pont Neuf Cavern in his studio, in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A cave, and a metaphor
JR is best known for his large-scale art — enormous portraits pasted on buildings, border walls and rooftops. Because of his origins in graffiti and street art he has inevitably drawn comparison with Banksy, the elusive U.K.-based artist famous for his huge murals and activism.
JR’s installation will not have any massive faces, but the theme is still human, he says: gathering, connection, and what people project onto a shared space.
He says his installation is also an allusion to Plato’s allegory of the cave in which chained men interpret shadows on the cave wall as reality, ignorant of the real world outside — and compares that to the fake reality created by the visual world of our social media platforms.
“What are our caves today is our phone,” JR said, “because we … believe that … our algorithm on social media … is the reality.”
During the installation, which will coincide with June’s Paris Fashion Week and World Music Day, the bridge will close to traffic.
French artist JR gestures during an interview with the Associated Press next to the Pont Neuf bridge about his project called Pont Neuf Cavern, in Paris, France, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
LOS ANGELES — Some of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary shorts hit so hard, viewers may be grateful to come across one that simply follows donkeys visiting an observatory in the desert — even if it bumps up against the very boundaries of the genre.
‘All the Empty Rooms’
Director Joshua Seftel hadn’t spoken with his former colleague, longtime CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, in 25 years. Then Hartman, famed for stories of human kindness and compassion, reached out: He and photojournalist Lou Bopp had been documenting bedrooms left behind by children killed in American school shootings.
“I said to him, ‘This could be a great film,’” says Seftel, though Hartman asked not to be in it. “I said, ‘You are the “Good News Guy” and people trust you. If the Good News Guy is telling you he’s got some bad news, people are going to listen.’ ”
The rooms provide silent testament to those who once lived there. One is festooned in SpongeBob memorabilia; another contains the rack on which a girl would arrange her outfits for the week.
“You meet these families and hear the stories and there’s a heaviness” in the rooms, says Seftel. He says he could see them weigh on Bopp and Hartman. A filmmaker friend, on seeing the film, told Seftel, “Steve Hartman is a haunted man.”
A scene from “Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud.” (HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery/TNS)
‘Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud’
Brent Renaud and his brother, Craig, made documentaries in Haiti, Egypt, Iraq and other hot spots, and won awards for their portrait of a troubled Chicago school. Then, while covering the war in Ukraine, Brent was killed by Russian soldiers.
“For Brent, it was always a focus on people caught in the middle of conflicts,” says Craig Renaud. “Going back to the front lines over and over again, we often had to be on the ground for months at a time in these war zones.”
Included in the clips of Brent Renaud’s work: a weeping Iraqi woman clutching the bloody jeans of her slain son; Renaud interviewing a Honduran boy embarking on the hazardous trek to the U.S. on his own; and a Somali man telling Renaud, “The way you hold the camera, you’re doing it from your heart.”
It also includes casual mention of his diagnosis as neurodivergent.
“He’s calm as a monk in a firefight,” Craig Renaud says, “but a cocktail party in Brooklyn is absolutely terrifying.”
‘Children No More: Were and Are Gone’
In Tel Aviv, a group of Israeli protesters stands silently, holding posters emblazoned with the faces of Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.
“They didn’t choose to be part of this war,” says Israeli filmmaker Hilla Medalia. “They were killed not because they brought it on themselves, but because someone decided they needed to die.”
Medalia’s film follows activists whose silent vigils draw both support and condemnation. So far, despite sometimes having to abandon their protests when situations become potentially threatening, they remain undaunted.
“Their focus is to stop the war and this war crime and other things that are happening in our name, and to force the general public to confront those images and to look at the kids and to feel for them,” Medalia says. “It’s amazing to me how humanity and compassion become an act of resistance.”
A scene from “The Devil Is Busy.” (HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery/TNS)
‘The Devil Is Busy’
At a women’s health clinic in Atlanta, a typical day includes religious protesters on megaphones (“All men,” points out co-director Geeta Gandbhir) and women seeking help only to discover their pregnancies are just past the six-week mark, making terminating them illegal in Georgia.
“We decided to focus on the providers,” says Gandbhir. “They’re putting themselves at risk to provide care. What you see are the hurdles they face.”
Co-director Christalyn Hampton says the burdens on these independent clinics have drastically increased as about 50 Planned Parenthood sites closed last year. She points out the spectrum of healthcare provided and the complexity of situations for both patients, many of whom must travel considerable distances, and providers.
“When the technician is giving the young lady a sonogram, the [patient] goes through several emotions: She’s happy, she’s crying, she’s nervous. That speaks to the vulnerability these women feel when they have to make certain decisions. That emotional moment [reminds us] of that human aspect.”
‘Perfectly a Strangeness’
A trio of donkeys traverses a desert to an observatory. Captured with creative camera angles and accompanied by an imaginative score, Alison McAlpine’s film pushes the boundaries of what documentaries are.
While shooting her previous feature in Chile, McAlpine noticed donkeys hanging out around an observatory. “We hired three gentle donkeys [for the film]. It was a combination of trying to direct the donkeys up from the valley to the observatory, and sometimes we just followed the donkeys.”
McAlpine acknowledges that her film has been difficult to categorize. “Sometimes it’s at IDFA, which is an international documentary festival. Sometimes it’s just competing with fiction, where it’s been lucky to win awards sometimes. But what is a documentary? As soon as you put on a lens and a frame, it’s a personal document, not something objective.
“I’ve been moved because people have been touched; they seem to be transported elsewhere, which is what one wants as a filmmaker.”
According to relationship scientist Paul Eastwick, online dating is a market where there are dramatic winners and losers. “I think our modern existence happens to pull from modes of interaction that really amp up the importance of mate value,” Eastwick said. “But it does not have to be this way, and for a long time, it was not this way.”
This is the genesis of Eastwick’s decades-long research about how people initiate and maintain close relationships. His new book “Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection” argues against evolutionary psychology’s philosophy of dating and relationships — debunking ideas like money matters most to women, looks matter most to men and everyone has an inherent objective “mate value.” In his work, the University of California Davis psychology professor offers a dating and relationships alternative in which compatibility trumps all.
His new book “Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection” argues against evolutionary psychology’s philosophy of dating and relationships— debunking ideas like money matters most to women, looks matter most to men and everyone has an inherent objective “mate value.” (Handout/Crown/TNS)
Since the dawn of his career, Eastwick has had more than one bone to pick with evolutionary psychology.
The theoretical approach, which studies human behavior, cognition and emotions as products of natural selection, depicts relationship formation as sales-like, highly gendered and strategy-based. That model, which Eastwick calls the “EvoScript,” has never squared with his view of close relationships.
The researcher has long viewed the EvoScript as outdated and exaggerated if not completely incorrect. But it was only a few years ago, when online communities of so-called incels started latching onto evolutionary psychology’s story of close relationships that he began to see the EvoScript as dangerous.
“It was upon realizing that there’s this fun house mirror version of [evolutionary] psych out there that I was like, I think it’s time,” Eastwick said. “There was a wake-up call for me that, we need a scientific book out there that’s going to bring the most contemporary science to people.”
In his work, Eastwick argues that desirability is subjective and unpredictable — and that all anyone really wants is a secure attachment bond that sustains them through good and bad seasons.
The Times talked to Eastwick about how to reimagine the dating “numbers game,” tips for better dates and why men and women ultimately want the same thing.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
You write in your book that “online dating can bring the worst parts of dating to the fore by exaggerating gender differences and making you feel like a clearance item at the bottom of the bin.” What are the long-term and short-term psychological effects of that on people as they go through their dating lives?
“It makes dating feel a little bit like a job, like you’re making sales pitches, and you can set your sights high, but ultimately you’re going to have to settle. It makes the whole thing feel like you’re trying to get a deal, and I just think these are bad metaphors, especially if we want to be happy in the long run. But there is a slow burn approach that feels more like finding connection, opening oneself up, spending time getting to know other people sometimes just for the sake of getting to know other people. Part of what I want to do in the book is remind people that there are other ways — and those other ways also happen to be more democratic, for lack of a better word there — that pull for more idiosyncrasy and give more people a chance to find partners that will really appeal to them.
If you’re trying to tackle the EvoScript, as you call it, what is your thesis about dating?
My thesis is that, if we want to think about the nature of human relationships, how did people evolve to form close relationships, I would describe it as a search for compatibility in small groups. What people classically have looked for and what classically makes for the best, most satisfying pairings are finding and building something compatible with another person from a pretty limited range of options.
OK, so I need to meet people in person. I need to make friend groups. Where do you go to do that now, when things are expensive and a lot of life is online?
For somebody who’s heterosexual, if you’re a woman, it’s like, “OK, where am I gonna meet guys? Where are the guys out there?” Don’t worry if the guys are going to be there, because oftentimes when people meet partners, it’s like, friends of friends of friends, right? It’s all making connections. Maybe it’s sports, maybe it’s activities, maybe it’s a cooking class, maybe it’s a dancing class. Maybe it’s just calling back up the people from your last job that you haven’t seen in a while, getting together over drinks and making it a regular thing. I get it, people are really busy, and everything online is a draw. But the importance of hanging out with people in person, those loose acquaintances, that’s where so much of the magic happens.
People talk a lot about how it’s just a numbers game:You have to go on more dates, you have to swipe on more people. What’s your response to that?
It is a numbers game, but maybe, let’s think about the numbers like this. Rather than numbers of people, it’s numbers of interactions. So you could meet 12 people one time, or you could meet three people four times. I choose the second one, right? Meet fewer people more times. We’re still talking about numbers. We’re still talking about how much time you’re out there interacting with people, figuring out whether you click. But 20-minute coffee dates really pull for a snap judgment. In a perfect world, swiping right on somebody would mean I’m going to do a coffee date with you, and then we’re going to go to some interactive class, and then we’re going to go to a concert and I’m going to spend time with you in all three settings and kind of see how that goes in total and then assess it. So it’s not that the numbers game is misguided, you do have to get out there and try different things, but we often think, “Oh, I can just sample people really briefly, and eventually I’ll get lucky.” The smaller those samples are, the more painful this whole thing gets.
Coffee dates feel like interviews to me. But from a scientific standpoint, why do you recommend an activity-based date over the classic coffee date?
The best evidence that we have for what can you do to make yourself more appealing to someone is not to share your CV and impress them with those details. Do something that reveals a little bit about who you are, how you interact, how you relate to the world, and, best of all, something a little bit vulnerable about yourself. The 36 Questions test, sometimes called the Fast Friends procedure, is truly the best tool we have. Within an hour or two of something interactive, people have gotten to the point where they’re willing to talk about things that they regret, or things that they really like about the other person that they’ve just gotten to know. And this is all in that Fast Friends procedure. So when I think about people doing activities where their attention isn’t just on interview mode, it’s like, “Oh, we’re tackling something together,” it really decreases that self-promotion instinct, which is usually misguided.
In your book, you call compatibility “curated, cultivated and constructed.” Does that mean, to you, that you can theoretically be compatible with anyone?
If you take this idea to its extreme, if you push me, ultimately I land on probably. And of all the things I say that people are going to be resistant to, I think that’s the one that people are like, “No.” Again, I go back to the people involved in small groups. They made relationships work with the limited number of options that were available, and because we are creatures who engage in motivated reasoning, it is very, very possible to be happy with who you’re with, but that does not mean that people just get to turn off all of the alternatives that exist. I think the best way to think about it is, I think a lot of pairs have compatibility potential, but I also think that the many decisions along the way matter a lot.
If the idea of romantic destiny is, as you call it in your book, “the weakest idea ever promoted by scientists,” what is your number-one dating myth you feel your personal research has debunked?
That men and women want different things out of partnerships, that they’re either pulling for different traits or look like these totally different entities, I just think the evidence for this is completely wrong. We see differences when you ask men and women, “What do you want in a partner?” But when you look at the attributes that actually matter, it’s really amazing the extent to which men and women are similar. And it’s not to say that there are no differences, like there is a difference in the strength of the sex drive thing. It’s smaller than people say, but it is there. But if you think about, what do men and women want out of a close relationship? What they really want is somebody who’s going to be supportive, is going to celebrate my successes and is going to have my back.
How do people practically apply that in their dating lives?
Refocusing on attachment, I hope that reduces some of the heteropessimism out there in the world. We have arrived at this very bleak view of relations between men and women, like we see the world differently, we’re just always at odds. And boy, when you come at relationships with this attachment frame, and you look at the things that make people happy, men and women can absolutely build beautiful things working together, and they often do. Because we are creatures who attach, there is so much potential for genuine connection over a sustained period of time.
Do you have any predictions for what the future of dating might look like?
It certainly feels like people are getting tired of the apps and that they’re looking for more ways to socialize in person. I think that’s wonderful. I worry about what AI is going to do, like, is that going to feel so real that it causes our interactional muscles to atrophy? That’s the big question mark on the horizon. I’m not here to be grandpa, but I also hope that we don’t totally lose the ability to interact with real people.
His new book “Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection” argues against evolutionary psychology’s philosophy of dating and relationships debunking ideas like money matters most to women, looks matter most to men and everyone has an inherent objective “mate value.” (Crown/TNS)
President Donald Trump on Sunday vowed to continue military operations against Iran following the deaths of three American soldiers.
In a video post on his Truth Social platform, the president sympathized with the families of the service members who died and five others who were seriously injured, but said that military operations in Iran must continue in order eliminate what he described as a "bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons."
"As one nation, we grieve for the true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives," he said. "We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen, and sadly, there will likely be more before it ends, that's the way it is. [There will] likely be more but we'll do everything possible where that won't be the case. But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically civilization."
"I once again urge the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian military police, to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death it will be certain death, it won't be pretty," President Trump added. "I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment. To be brave, be bold, be heroic and take back your country. America is with you."
President Trump had warned that American lives could be lost when he launched Operation Epic Fury on Saturday. It was not immediately clear where the service members that were killed or hurt were stationed, as their identities have not been released pending notification of next of kin. They are the first U.S. casualties since the military launched its operation against Iran that killed the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In addition to the American service members who were killed, at least eight people were killed in Israel after an Iranian rocket struck a village in the central part of the country. Iranian drones have also targeted Gulf Arab states, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
A top Iranian official said the U.S. and Israel "crossed a red line and must pay the price" for killing Supreme Leader Khamenei.
We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg," Irans parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
Trump had previously warned Iran against retaliation, saying it would be met with a force that has never been seen before. He said Sunday that nine Iranian ships have been destroyed as part of this operation.
"I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important," he said in a statement. "We are going after the rest They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters. Other than that, their Navy is doing very well!"
Trump also said heavy bombing would continue uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world. The major combat operation, Trump said, is intended to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
With Khamenei dead, a 66-year-old cleric has been chosen to join a three-member council that will govern the country until a new Supreme Leader is appointed. President Trump indicated Sunday that he has agreed to talk with Iran's new potential leadership, but did not give specifics on timing. For now the military operation in the Middle East will continue.
It’s the rare policy question that unites Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Democratic-led Maryland government against President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California: How should health insurers use AI?
Regulating artificial intelligence, especially its use by health insurers, is becoming a politically divisive topic, and it’s scrambling traditional partisan lines.
Boosters, led by Trump, are not only pushing its integration into government, as in Medicare’s experiment using AI in prior authorization, but also trying to stop others from building curbs and guardrails. A December executive order seeks to preempt most state efforts to govern AI, describing “a race with adversaries for supremacy” in a new “technological revolution.”
“To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” Trump’s order said. “But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.”
Across the nation, states are in revolt. At least four — Arizona, Maryland, Nebraska, and Texas — enacted legislation last year reining in the use of AI in health insurance. Two others, Illinois and California, enacted bills the year before.
Legislators in Rhode Island plan to try again this year after a bill requiring regulators to collect data on technology use failed to clear both chambers last year. A bill in North Carolina requiring insurers not to use AI as the sole basis of a coverage decision attracted significant interest from Republican legislators last year.
DeSantis, a former GOP presidential candidate, has rolled out an “AI Bill of Rights,” whose provisions include restrictions on its use in processing insurance claims and a requirement allowing a state regulatory body to inspect algorithms.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that new technologies develop in ways that are moral and ethical, in ways that reinforce our American values, not in ways that erode them,” DeSantis said during his State of the State address in January.
Ripe for Regulation
Polling shows Americans are skeptical of AI. A December poll from Fox News found 63% of voters describe themselves as “very” or “extremely” concerned about artificial intelligence, including majorities across the political spectrum. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats and just over 3 in 5 Republicans said they had qualms about AI.
Health insurers’ tactics to hold down costs also trouble the public; a January poll from KFF found widespread discontent over issues like prior authorization. (KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.) Reporting from ProPublica and other news outlets in recent years has highlighted the use of algorithms to rapidly deny insurance claims or prior authorization requests, apparently with little review by a doctor.
Last month, the House Ways and Means Committee hauled in executives from Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, and other major health insurers to address concerns about affordability. When pressed, the executives either denied or avoided talking about using the most advanced technology to reject authorization requests or toss out claims.
AI is “never used for a denial,” Cigna CEO David Cordani told lawmakers. Like others in the health insurance industry, the company is being sued for its methods of denying claims, as spotlighted by ProPublica. Cigna spokesperson Justine Sessions said the company’s claims-denial process “is not powered by AI.”
Indeed, companies are at pains to frame AI as a loyal servant. Optum, part of health giant UnitedHealth Group, announced Feb. 4 that it was rolling out tech-powered prior authorization, with plenty of mentions of speedier approvals.
“We’re transforming the prior authorization process to address the friction it causes,” John Kontor, a senior vice president at Optum, said in a press release.
Still, Alex Bores, a computer scientist and New York Assembly member prominent in the state’s legislative debate over AI, which culminated in a comprehensive bill governing the technology, said AI is a natural field to regulate.
“So many people already find the answers that they’re getting from their insurance companies to be inscrutable,” said Bores, a Democrat who is running for Congress. “Adding in a layer that cannot by its nature explain itself doesn’t seem like it’ll be helpful there.”
At least some people in medicine — doctors, for example — are cheering legislators and regulators on. The American Medical Association “supports state regulations seeking greater accountability and transparency from commercial health insurers that use AI and machine learning tools to review prior authorization requests,” said John Whyte, the organization’s CEO.
Whyte said insurers already use AI and “doctors still face delayed patient care, opaque insurer decisions, inconsistent authorization rules, and crushing administrative work.”
Insurers Push Back
With legislation approved or pending in at least nine states, it’s unclear how much of an effect the state laws will have, said University of Minnesota law professor Daniel Schwarcz. States can’t regulate “self-insured” plans, which are used by many employers; only the federal government has that power.
But there are deeper issues, Schwarcz said: Most of the state legislation he’s seen would require a human to sign off on any decision proposed by AI but doesn’t specify what that means.
The laws don’t offer a clear framework for understanding how much review is enough, and over time humans tend to become a little lazy and simply sign off on any suggestions by a computer, he said.
Still, insurers view the spate of bills as a problem. “Broadly speaking, regulatory burden is real,” said Dan Jones, senior vice president for federal affairs at the Alliance of Community Health Plans, a trade group for some nonprofit health insurers. If insurers spend more time working through a patchwork of state and federal laws, he continued, that means “less time that can be spent and invested into what we’re intended to be doing, which is focusing on making sure that patients are getting the right access to care.”
Linda Ujifusa, a Democratic state senator in Rhode Island, said insurers came out last year against the bill she sponsored to restrict AI use in coverage denials. It passed in one chamber, though not the other.
“There’s tremendous opposition” to anything that regulates tactics such as prior authorization, she said, and “tremendous opposition” to identifying intermediaries such as private insurers or pharmacy benefit managers “as a problem.”
In a letter criticizing the bill, AHIP, an insurer trade group, advocated for “balanced policies that promote innovation while protecting patients.”
“Health plans recognize that AI has the potential to drive better health care outcomes — enhancing patient experience, closing gaps in care, accelerating innovation, and reducing administrative burden and costs to improve the focus on patient care,” Chris Bond, an AHIP spokesperson, told KFF Health News. And, he continued, they need a “consistent, national approach anchored in a comprehensive federal AI policy framework.”
Seeking Balance
In California, Newsom has signed some laws regulating AI, including one requiring health insurers to ensure their algorithms are fairly and equitably applied. But the Democratic governor has vetoed others with a broader approach, such as a bill including more mandates about how the technology must work and requirements to disclose its use to regulators, clinicians, and patients upon request.
Chris Micheli, a Sacramento-based lobbyist, said the governor likely wants to ensure the state budget — consistently powered by outsize stock market gains, especially from tech companies — stays flush. That necessitates balance.
Newsom is trying to “ensure that financial spigot continues, and at the same time ensure that there are some protections for California consumers,” he said. He added insurers believe they’re subject to a welter of regulations already.
The Trump administration seems persuaded. The president’s recent executive order proposed to sue and restrict certain federal funding for any state that enacts what it characterized as “excessive” state regulation — with some exceptions, including for policies that protect children.
That order is possibly unconstitutional, said Carmel Shachar, a health policy scholar at Harvard Law School. The source of preemption authority is generally Congress, she said, and federal lawmakers twice took up, but ultimately declined to pass, a provision barring states from regulating AI.
“Based on our previous understanding of federalism and the balance of powers between Congress and the executive, a challenge here would be very likely to succeed,” Shachar said.
Some lawmakers view Trump’s order skeptically at best, noting the administration has been removing guardrails, and preventing others from erecting them, to an extreme degree.
“There isn’t really a question of, should it be federal or should it be state right now?” Bores said. “The question is, should it be state or not at all?”
From left to right: White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US President Donald Trump and Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz participate in an event on “Making Health Technology Great Again,” in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS)
The U.S. and Israel military strikes are hitting close to home for many Metro Detroiters.
Watch Tiarra's report below
Metro Detroit's Arab and Jewish communities react to escalating Middle East conflict with Iran
Nazi Shokoohi, a Wayne resident originally from Iran, said the strikes brought a complicated mix of feelings.
"It was a very emotional day, not only for me but also for many Iranians around the world. It's a mix of happiness, hope, and concern," Shokoohi said.
Shokoohi said she hopes the U.S. and Israel's strikes on Iran will lead to new leadership being implemented in the country.
"We think our voice is heard, and Mr. President Donald Trump, he helps us," Shokoohi said.
Jason Issacson from the American-Jewish Committee shared similar thoughts.
"War is hell, but what was the alternative? The alternative was a continuation of a regime that threatens the region, that oppressed its people," Issacson said.
Imam M.A. Elahi, co-chair of the Imams Council of Michigan, condemned the strikes, saying innocent Iranians are losing their lives.
"They are saying that, 'well, we are targeting the military bases', but we saw that so many schools were attacked," Elahi said.
Elahi also called for an end to the fighting.
"We are also calling for an immediate ceasefire stop this fire, we don't want anybody to be hurt," Elahi said.
I also spoke with Peter Trumbore, a professor and chair of political science at Oakland University, about the potential economic impact of the conflict.
"The more significant and the broader the conflict becomes, I think the greater the impact is going to be," Trumbore said.
Trumbore said the conflict could have a direct impact on gas prices. The concern centers around the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway controlled by Iran. Any disruption to shipping through the strait could tighten global oil supplies.
"I think we will wake up Monday morning and see that gasoline prices have skyrocketed and that the prices of oil have skyrocketed. If Iran, we've seen this in the past, right? Anytime there's been significant conflict in the Middle East, oil prices spike," Trumbore said.
Trumbore added that the world will now have to wait and see what the larger fallout from the conflict will be.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
A Pittsburgh man is stuck in Dubai and Michigan residents with ties to the region face uncertainty as the US-Israel offensive against Iran enters its second day.
Watch Faraz's report below
US and Israel launch strikes on Iran; Americans stranded as Middle East erupts
More than 24 hours after the United States and Israel launched major daylight strikes on Iran, the Middle East remains in chaos. Iranian counterstrikes have intensified across the region especially following the killing of the country's supreme leader and flight operations across key hubs have been suspended, leaving travelers stranded and families on edge.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the US and Israel launched the strikes aiming to cripple Iran's military and wipe out its nuclear program. Experts say unlike June's overnight raids, this offensive could last for days.
In response, Iran has launched a wave of attacks across the region, targeting Israel and areas near US bases in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan.
The latest round of talks between Iran and the US on Thursday ended without a deal, though Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, who served as a mediator, said the talks made significant progress and that a "peace deal is within our reach ... if we just allow diplomacy the space it needs to get there."
To understand the implications and possible fallout, 7 News Detroit's Faraz Javed spoke with Dr. Saeed Khan, associate professor at Wayne State University with 22 years of experience in geopolitics.
"Over the next 24 to 48 hours, I would look at, first of all, what is going to be the American and the Israeli military posture. Is there going to be an escalation? Is there going to be sustained attacks on Iran? And then, of course, taking a look and seeing what are going to be Iranian responses and retaliations," Khan said.
Khan also addressed the danger facing Americans in the region and the disruption hitting travelers with ties to Michigan.
"I don't think that Americans, per se, are necessarily going to be targeted by what's going on in this. They may be, unfortunately, collateral damage depending on the missiles and the attacks. At the same time, as you mentioned, there is going to be tremendous disruption to aviation because at least two of the world's largest airlines, Emirates, which is hubbed in Dubai, Qatar Airways, which is hubbed in Doha, the airspace over Qatar and the UAE have been suspended, particularly for those in the Detroit metro area. There are a lot of people who have ties to the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond, and Doha and Dubai are very, very popular sites for people to use," Khan said.
As soon as the strikes began, neighboring countries closed their airspace leaving travelers like Pittsburgh native Brian Kolowitz stranded. Kolowitz had just wrapped up his second golf trip in the UAE and was preparing to fly home from Dubai International Airport when the attacks began.
"Number of rockets flying from Iran into Abu Dhabi, which is where we at earlier in the week, and those rockets being intercepted over the city and debris falling," Kolowitz said.
I spoke with Kolowitz on Saturday evening as he sat on the plane, watching international news coverage of the strikes unfold.
"You know, because we were still in the plane, I thought we would be able to get out. But as the time went on, we all knew we would not make it today," Kolowitz said.
Kolowitz is now back in his hotel room in Dubai, waiting for further instructions.
"It's a very concerning situation, I think my biggest concern is kind of understanding, how long the situation is going to unfold, and how long I will be stranded," Kolowitz said.
Kolowitz said he has already reached out to US officials for guidance.
"Yes, I left a voicemail with contact information, and right now it's shelter in place," Kolowitz said.
I spoke with Kolowitz again Sunday morning and he remains stranded in Dubai. Flight operations in the UAE are suspended until Monday evening.
The moment is also being felt deeply by members of Michigan's Iranian-American community. Dr. Armand Ash-Rafzadh, a University of Detroit Mercy professor who moved to the US from Iran in 1978, called the moment historic.
"Currently I feel very well, because of the activities that is being conducted by the people inside of Iran. Who are demonstrating for a change," Ash-Rafzadh said.
Ash-Rafzadh said he hopes the upheaval leads to lasting political change in Iran.
"I like the establishment of democracy and freedom in Iran," Ash-Rafzadh said.
He acknowledged, however, that not everyone in Iran shares that view.
"Our point of view is based on democracy and freedom and separation of religion from the government; they want religion to be involved with the government," Ash-Rafzadh said.
With family and friends in the Middle East, Javed is also hearing about continuous missile alert warnings and shelter-in-place advisories being issued to the public. The UAE is considered one of the safest countries in the world, and authorities there are working with the US and other countries to de-escalate the situation as well as keep residents and visitors safe. Channel 7 will continue following developments in the Middle East closely.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
The gunman who killed two people at a bar in Texas early Sunday in a mass shooting that left 14 others wounded was wearing a sweatshirt that said Property of Allah, and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
The shooter has been identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the law enforcement official and another person familiar with the matter said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
Diagne is originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation. One of the people told the AP that Diagne came to the U.S. in 2006 and was a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Officers in Austin shot and killed the gunman, who used both a pistol and a rifle to carry out the attack, police said. The FBI said the shooting was being investigated as a potential act of terrorism.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hinted that the attack may have been in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and said he has directed the Texas Military Department to activate service members who will work alongside state and federal partners to "safeguard our communities and critical infrastructure."
"This act of violence will not define us, nor will it shake the resolve of Texans," Abbott said in a statement obtained by Scripps News. "To anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure, understand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state."
The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting a pistol out the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar, said Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
The gunman then parked the vehicle, got out with a rifle, and began shooting at people walking in the area before officers who rushed to the intersection shot him, Davis said.
There have been at least two other high-profile shootings in Austins Sixth Street entertainment district within the past five years, including one in the summer of 2021 that left 14 people wounded. Although this weekends shooting doesnt meet the definition of a mass killing, there have been five of those so far this year.
The FBI is investigating whether the shooting early Sunday was act of terrorism because of indicators found on the gunman and in his vehicle, said Alex Doran, the acting agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio office.
Its still too early to make a determination on that, Doran said.
The shooting happened outside Bufords Backyard Beer Garden just before 2 a.m. along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs and only a few miles from the University of Texas.
The school's president said on social media that some of those impacted included members of our Longhorn family.
Our prayers are with the victims and all those impacted, said university President Jim Davis.
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, Davis said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson praised the fast response by police and rescuers.
They definitely saved lives, he said.
One of the victims was found in the street between two parked cars. Inside the multi-story bar, there were overturned tables and drinks left behind by fleeing customers.
Another shooting early Sunday at a Cincinnati nightclub and concert venue wounded nine people, police in Ohio said.
All nine had gunshot wounds, but none were non-life threatening, said Adam Hennie, the citys interim police chief.
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