AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

The US and Iran trade missile barrages as hopes dim for a quick resolution

CAIRO (AP) — The U.S. and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution.

After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries: Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The spiraling violence underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has sent the price of fuel and other basics soaring, jolted the world economy, and added to concerns about American stockpiles of weapons needed to defend its bases and allies. After an earlier hiatus had given hope that diplomatic efforts were moving forward, there was no public sign of progress.

An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defenses shot down five missiles launched from Iran.

No casualties were reported from Jordan’s interception, Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said, quoting the spokesman for the country’s armed forces. Both countries are U.S. allies and host American troops.

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US-Iran conflict enters new phase as Saudi Arabia helps hit proxies and diplomacy stalls again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia has publicly joined military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries.

Despite several days of relative calm, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war — and further expansion in the region — while little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward.

While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks.

Following a thwarted attack on the U.S. base in Jordan, Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while sustaining the prospect of continued talks.

“They’ve already apologized, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. He added: “It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we’re going to hit them very hard.”

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How views on Trump’s handling of Iran have shifted, according to a new AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.

The poll was conducted July 23-27, as the U.S. and Iran paused attacks following a nearly two-week escalation in the war. During the escalation, the U.S. targeted Iranian military and commercial sites while Iran attacked U.S. military facilities in the Middle East, resulting in additional deaths of American service members. Since the war began, 18 U.S. service members have been killed, but the Trump administration has sought to revise those numbers.

The survey reinforces how unpopular the Iran war has become at home, a potential problem for congressional Republicans up for reelection in November who have defended Trump’s military actions. Just 28% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight decline from 34% last month. Even Republicans appear to be increasingly unhappy with the prolonged conflict. Roughly 61% of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71% in June. The margin of sampling error for Republicans is 6 points, so the decline is considered slight, but it’s still noteworthy given Republicans’ much higher approval of how Trump is handling the presidency overall.

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Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 25

KUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — Rural communities in southwestern Japan were struggling to get their lives back to normal Thursday, two days after a powerful earthquake set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes, killing at least 25 people.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday.

The number of those missing was unclear. Of the deaths given in the latest tally, 25 have been confirmed as related to the disaster, but there were nine more deaths under investigation as likely to be connected, the Kumamoto prefectural government said. The quake left at least 86 people injured, five of them seriously, it said.

Survivors spoke about coming home and desperately pulling family members out of the wreckage. Some had suffered injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centers set up throughout the area in gymnasiums and other big spaces. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were simply afraid to go back.

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Tens of thousands of French wildfire evacuees allowed to return home as cooler weather moves in

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — French authorities gave the go-ahead Thursday for 84,000 evacuees forced out by a monster wildfire to go back to their homes in southwest France, the strongest sign yet that firefighters are turning a corner in their battle against the flames that have burned an area four times the size of Paris.

The authorized returns announced Thursday covered nine localities that had been evacuated. In all, more than 220,000 people were forced to flee their homes since last week.

Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and slight rain raised hopes that Thursday could be a decisive step on the way to vanquishing the fire.

The regional prefecture said returning evacuees must keep their phones on for evacuation alerts and should pack in case they need to leave again.

Nearly two-thirds of the 224,000 people initially ordered to evacuate have now been allowed to go home. Some 60,000 people who had been evacuated from three suburbs of the city of Bordeaux, to the east, were given the go-ahead to return on Tuesday.

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Wildfires near Bordeaux bring more troubles to France’s wine industry

SADIRAC, France (AP) — From his vineyards in Bordeaux wine country, Edouard le Grix de la Salle can sometimes smell the burning forests far away. The smoke brings a whiff of hardship for the region’s economic fortunes.

Wildfires that have burned an area four times the size of Paris and driven 220,000 people from homes and some of the region’s tourist attractions promise to sting France’s already squeezed economy.

“It’s a physical apocalypse when you see all these sites where there’s nothing left aside from burnt homes and forests, and then there’s the economic apocalypse,” said Patrick Seguin, president of the regional chamber of commerce, his voice choking with emotion in a phone interview.

It’s “going to be a stab in the back for what remains of our economy.”

Le Grix de la Salle is among entrepreneurs bracing for pain. French government appeals for people to avoid the region are causing consternation.

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Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine kill at least 8 civilians and wound dozens

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight into Thursday killed at least eight civilians, including children, and wounded dozens of others, officials said.

The blitz expanded Russia’s almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses.

NATO member Poland, meanwhile, was looking into Ukrainian reports that a Russian cruise missile entered its airspace during the onslaught.

The barrage spanned regions across Ukraine, including areas by the border with Poland that are far from the front line in the east of the country and where Ukraine is believed to store and manufacture weapons for its fight against Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion. Its long-range drones and missiles have battered Russia’s oil sector, causing a fuel crisis.

The attack came two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump and representatives of American defense companies, as he pleads for swifter and bigger deliveries of Patriot air defense systems that are the best way to stop Russia’s ballistic assaults.

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Australian watchdog files legal action against Telegram, saying it failed to remove violent content

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s online safety watchdog has filed legal action against messaging app Telegram, saying the platform failed to remove extremist content including videos of white supremacist mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and the New Zealand city of Christchurch as well as Islamic State group beheadings.

The United Arab Emirates-based app, which reports having 1 billion users worldwide, faces a fine of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars ($38 million) if convicted in the Australian Federal Court for “alleged failure to detect and remove pro-terror material,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Thursday.

The civil action is a test of Australia’s 2021 law requiring tech platforms to work to keep illegal and pro-terrorism material off their networks.

Telegram denied the claims. “We reject these allegations and will contest them in court,” a spokesperson said in a written statement sent on Telegram.

The platform is one of the world’s most popular messaging apps. The Australian regulator is taking issue with what’s shared in group chats of up to 200 people and channels with unlimited reach.

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Trump touted his tariffs in Michigan despite rising costs. Even some of his supporters are worried

MILFORD, Mich. (AP) — Flying to a rally at General Motors this week, President Donald Trump declared that “car companies are doing better than they’ve ever done” thanks to his tariffs.

“All because of Trump,” he said.

It was a message the president repeated while touring a collection of new vehicles, predicting that “it’s amazing what tariffs will do for General Motors” before autographing a white Corvette commemorating America’s 250th anniversary. He later told a crowd of cheering supporters that “Michigan is thriving.”

That’s not exactly true, at least according to many metrics. Tariffs have cost businesses in Michigan and across the country billions of dollars while helping to stoke inflation that has continued to run hot — despite Trump’s assurances that his business background would wipe it out.

Many Americans believe tariffs have pushed prices higher and the war in Iran has also increased gasoline prices, hurting consumer confidence in the economy while keeping Trump’s approval ratings low.

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Senate panel delays vote on Blanche attorney general nomination as key Republicans withhold support

WASHINGTON (AP) — Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general stalled Wednesday as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote after key Republicans demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full chamber. But resistance from two Republican senators on the committee who could block Blanche’s nomination threw his confirmation into doubt.

A spokesperson for the committee said in a statement Wednesday night that the vote would be postponed “as work continues to secure sufficient support.” The delay came after hours of negotiations between the Justice Department and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over the controversial settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.

At the center of the fight is the resolution of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. It included a deal to drop tax claims against the president and a now-scrapped plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who believe they were wronged by the Justice Department. The department said in June that it was no longer moving forward with the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” amid bipartisan outrage, but officials have said the audit immunity agreement remains in place.

Cornyn and Tillis have demanded additional assurances in writing that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is dead and have pressed for clarification on the scope of the tax immunity deal. Cornyn has said he wants the administration to modify that piece of the settlement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.