Iran’s Khamenei resurfaces to warn against future US attacks in first statement since ceasefire
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says his country has “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” with its strike on an American base in Qatar, and warned against any further U.S. attacks on Iran. The speech on Thursday marked Khamenei’s first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war with Israel. American forces on Sunday hit three Iranian nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs and cruise missiles, inserting the United States into the Israel-Iran war. Iran retaliated on Monday with a missile attack on the U.S. base in Qatar, which caused no casualties.
Pentagon leaders double down on the destruction from US attacks on Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s top leaders have doubled down on how destructive the U.S. attacks had been on Iran’s nuclear facilities. And they described in detail the study and planning behind the bombing mission. In a rare Pentagon press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine tried to shift the debate from whether the nuclear targets were “obliterated,” as President Donald Trump has said, and focus on what they portrayed as the heroism and extensive research and preparation that went into carrying them out. Hegseth said once more than an early assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency was preliminary.
Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s tax cut and spending bill is found to violate Senate rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate parliamentarian has advised a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill doesn’t adhere to procedural rules. It’s a blow to Republicans rushing to finish the package this week. The guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and forces GOP leaders to consider options. Republicans could try to revise it or strip it from the package. Otherwise, the provision could be challenged during floor votes. Democrats are unified against the Republican president’s bill. And even GOP senators warn the tax change would hurt rural hospitals.
Trump officials will give their first classified briefing to Congress on the Iran strikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are set to meet with top national security officials as some lawmakers question President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites and whether those strikes were successful. The classified briefing Thursday was originally scheduled for Tuesday. Meantime, the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump were to order another strike on Iran. Democrats, and some Republicans, have said the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress for the weekend military action.
States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina’s Republican governor is celebrating a Supreme Court ruling allowing states to block the country’s biggest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid money for health services such as contraception and cancer screenings. South Carolina argued no public money should go to Planned Parenthood, even if it’s not paying for abortions. Planned Parenthood says patients go there for other things, including pregnancy testing. Gov. Henry McMaster says Thursday’s 6-3 ruling is a victory for South Carolina. A research organization that supports abortion rights calls the ruling a “decimation of access to reproductive health care.”
Kennedy says US is pulling funding from global vaccine group Gavi
LONDON (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the country is ending support for the international vaccine alliance Gavi. Kennedy spoke Wednesday at a Gavi meeting in Brussels. He criticized the organization for “ignoring science” and losing public trust. The move garnered criticism from doctors, who said defunding vaccines would put millions of children at risk. Gavi is a public-private partnership including WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank. It has paid for more than 1 billion children to be vaccinated through routine immunization programs. The U.S. has contributed $8 billion to Gavi since 2001.
Prosecutor says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs thought he was above the law as he led a racketeering conspiracy
NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor has begun two days of closing arguments at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial by telling a jury that the music mogul used “power, violence and fear” to rule a criminal enterprise for two decades. The closing on Thursday was delivered by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik in Manhattan federal court. The defense will get its turn Friday. Afterward, another prosecutor will deliver a rebuttal closing argument before Judge Arun Subramanian instructs the jury on the law so it can begin deliberations. Combs has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. The trial is in its seventh week.
College graduates face toughest job market in more than a decade as hiring slows
WASHINGTON (AP) — Young people graduating from college this spring and summer are facing one of the toughest job markets in more than a decade. The unemployment rate for degree holders ages 22 to 27 has reached its highest level in a dozen years, excluding the coronavirus pandemic. Joblessness among that group is higher than the overall unemployment rate, and the gap is larger than it’s been in more than three decades. That worries many economists as well as officials at the Federal Reserve because it could be an early sign of trouble for the economy. It suggests businesses are holding off on hiring new workers because of rampant uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration’s tariff increases
US stocks climb to the brink of a record
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing toward the brink of another record. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Thursday and is just 0.3% below its all-time high, which was set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 280 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%. McCormick helped lead the market after the seller of cooking spices delivered a better-than-expected profit report. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market following a couple of better-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy, including on jobless claims and orders for long-lasting manufactured goods. Stock indexes were mixed across much of Europe and Asia.
Music history is littered with projects planned, anticipated, even completed — and then scrapped
NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Springsteen isn’t the only musician to complete or launch anticipated album projects, then to see it never see the light of day. Springsteen is releasing the “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” box set with reams of so-called lost music on Friday. There are many reasons for albums to be abandoned. Those include perfectionist or easily distracted artists, nervous record executives, and sometimes material that is literally lost. Dr. Dre, the Beach Boys, Prince, Green Day, Neil Young and others all had their stories. But as Springsteen notes in explaining while one of discs was dropped: “I always put them away, but I don’t throw them away.”
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