Israel says it has struck Iran after taking missile fire

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes early Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire from Tehran, attacks that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a regional war.

Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched Feb. 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders. The war raged until reaching a nominal ceasefire on April 8, but a permanent end to the hostilities have been challenged by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime, as well as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

With global energy supplies threatened, Iran still holding a vast stockpile of highly enriched uranium and even Yemen’s Houthi rebels apparently getting involved in the fighting Monday, the risks of the war fully erupting again appears to be rising.

Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country’s capital city. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after the Israeli attack.

Sirens sounded across Israel on Monday after its military said a missile launched from Yemen targeted the country, without elaborating. Israel’s rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impacts from the launch from Yemen.

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Trump dismisses idea that Iran betrays his ‘no new wars’ campaign message

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of “No new wars” that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House.

Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he “didn’t guarantee” there would be no wars if he were back in office.

“First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” Trump said.

Trump also defended plans for a now-scrapped $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president and he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s drawn-out vote count from Tuesday’s primary. He ended the interview abruptly when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC’s Kristen Welker.

In his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly cast his Democratic opponents as warmongers and said he was a president who started “no new wars” and would bring an era of peace.

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Police search for suspects in Ohio shooting that wounded 12 near a street festival

A search for suspects in Ohio who opened fire near a busy street festival stretched into Sunday after 12 people were wounded in the weekend shooting that sent crowds scrambling for cover in a historic Toledo neighborhood.

Each of the dozen victims — ranging from teenagers to people in their 60s — were in stable condition, the Toledo Police Department said Sunday. No arrests have been made and authorities have not identified any potential suspects.

The gunfire erupted Saturday near the Old West End Festival, a popular annual summer gathering along streets dotted with Victorian homes. Videos posted to social media showed people running at the sound of gunfire and medics tending to the wounded in a park filled with event tents and food trucks.

Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan has said it appeared that at least two people fired weapons and were “probably shooting at each other.”

As the search for the shooters wore on, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates vowed “justice will be swift and strong.”

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A 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocks the southern Philippines, causing some damage and 1-meter tsunami

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A magnitude 7.8 earthquake centered at sea shook part of the southern Philippines early Monday, causing damage in a key coastal city, knocking down power and setting off 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami waves along nearby coasts, officials said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked people to immediately go to higher ground in Philippine areas vulnerable to a tsunami, and Indonesian and Malaysian authorities also issued warnings to their nearby coastal areas.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, and it was not clear if people were trapped or injured in the collapse of at least one small building in General Santos, a tuna-processing city of more than 700,000 people that is also a commercial hub in the south.

The strongest earthquake to hit the Philippines this year was was centered at sea about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of General Santos and was caused by movement in the Cotabato Trench at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. It struck at 7:37 a.m., the institute’s director, Teresito Bacolcol said.

“It’s a major earthquake and we’re expecting damages and we’ve already some damaged buildings based on videos we’ve seen,” Bacolcol told The Associated Press.

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Graham Platner gets a lift from friendly Maine crowd after week of damage control in Senate campaign

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Graham Platner was met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd Sunday at a town hall-style event in Maine as the Democrat looks to advance his Senate campaign after reports about his past treatment of women just days before the state’s crucial primary.

The Democratic primary is still seen as Platner’s to win, but he is facing questions about his past that could make it difficult to defeat longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

“We’re going to win on Tuesday and we’re going to win in November and we’re going to take power back for the people in this country,” Platner said to about 400 people clapping and cheering him on in Portland.

The New York Times on Thursday reported an ex-girlfriend’s allegations that Platner repeatedly grabbed her by the shoulders during arguments and once twisted her arm behind her back and locked her in a room. Platner has repeatedly called those allegations of violence untrue.

Other Platner ex-girlfriends interviewed by the Times described positive experiences, while some said he was volatile and insulting. That story came days after news reports revealing that Platner had exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married.

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Broadway revivals and ‘Liberation’ win big at the Tony Awards, hosted by Pink

NEW YORK (AP) — “Schmigadoon!,” an adaptation of an Apple TV series that gently mocks big, brassy Broadway shows, won the best new musical Tony Award on a night when actor John Lithgow and playwright Bess Wohl made history.

The musical parodies golden-age Broadway classics like “The Music Man” and “Oklahoma!” centered on a modern-day couple finding themselves in a “Brigadoon”-like fantasyland where the wholesome townspeople keep breaking into song. The win is a redemption for creator Cinco Paul, whose TV series was canceled after two seasons. He won Tonys for the score and the book Sunday.

“Sometimes singing, dancing, jokes and a happy ending are all you need,” said producer Lorne Michaels, the creator of “Saturday Night Live,” after the win.

The win for “Schmigadoon!” also completes what some unofficially call a “studio EGOT,” giving the producing company credits for winning awards at all four major ceremonies. Apple already has Emmys for comedies “Ted Lasso” and “The Studio,” the Oscar for best picture for “CODA” and a Grammy via Chris Stapleton’s contribution to the “F1” soundtrack.

The prize for the best new play went to Wohl’s “Liberation,” about a consciousness-raising women’s group in 1970s Ohio, which earlier this year also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

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Maverick Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon, who resigned after sexual harassment scandal, dies

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Former Sen. Bob Packwood, a moderate Oregon Republican whose reputation as a champion of abortion and women’s rights was spoiled at the end of his career by allegations of sexual harassment, has died. He was 93.

Packwood’s death on Saturday was announced in an obituary sent to media outlets by his family. The release didn’t include additional details.

Packwood was a political scrapper who first refused to quit the chamber in which he had served for 27 years, saying he didn’t want to be remembered only for that controversy.

Before the #MeToo era, Packwood stood out as an example of private behavior undermining a man’s public image. He had been praised by Planned Parenthood and others.

The great-grandson of a member of the 1857 Oregon Constitutional Convention, Packwood established himself as a social moderate and fiscal conservative who often voted across party lines. He considered running for president in 1980.

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Pope Leo XIV draws 1.2 million to Mass and challenges Europe to acknowledge its Christian roots

MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV challenged Europe to acknowledge Christianity’s contributions to its cultural identity Sunday, as he presided over a Mass in Madrid attended by more than a million people and honored Spain’s centuries-old traditions of religious devotion and culture.

Leo celebrated Spain’s Christian roots and culture with the huge morning Mass in downtown Madrid and an evening spectacle that featured flamenco dancers, classical guitar and a moving meditation by Spanish actor Antonio Banderas on art, faith and beauty.

In his remarks, Leo challenged Europe to consider what the continent’s identity would be without the influence of Christianity. He cited its art, culture and the role played by Christians — “motivated by their faith” — to build its schools, hospitals and other institutions.

“Is it seriously possible to believe that Europe — which we deeply love — would be the same without the influence of faith?” Leo asked, in demanding that religious expression be allowed to keep its place in the public sphere.

Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his weeklong visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Christian culture and devotion here to encourage especially young generations to find their faith. It’s a tall order in a once-staunchly Catholic country where religious observance has largely been on the wane.

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Health workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak labor with little pay or rest

MONGBWALU, Congo (AP) — Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director of Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, has received barely any compensation for his work on the front line of one of Congo’s deadliest Ebola virus outbreaks.

Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night.

“I have not received my allowance (and) what happened to others could happen to me as well,” Lokudu told The Associated Press. “Despite all the infection prevention and control measures we are implementing, we do not know what may happen.”

Health authorities believe the outbreak, which took the eastern region of Congo by surprise after spreading silently for weeks without detection, started in the bustling mining area of Mongbwalu in Ituri province.

Mongbwalu has emerged as the epicenter of the rare Bundibugyo type. The town attracts large numbers of laborers who work in large gold mines with muddy pools of gold deposits, narrow pits and caves. They live in low-income areas including crowded camps and have little access to proper health protocols.

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A select list of winners at the 2026 Tony Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Here are a selection of the winners at the 2026 Tony Awards.

“Schmigadoon!”

“Liberation,” by Bess Wohl

Lesley Manville, “Oedipus”

John Lithgow, “Giant”