U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially including desalination plants that supply drinking water.

Iran’s secretive new leader has issued his first public statements, resolving to keep fighting.

Iran is launching more missiles at Israel as attacks in the Middle East commence for a sixth day.

Explosions are sounding in Iran's capital city as its war with the U.S. and Israel enters a fifth day.

Israel has killed multiple senior officials with Iran's armed proxies like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The United States has ordered nonessential diplomats to leave Lebanon as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.

Cracker Barrel posted lower-than-expected sales in its fiscal first quarter and lowered its revenue forecast for the year as it continued to feel the fallout from a botched plan to revamp its logo and restaurants.

Pope Leo XIV has shared his thoughts during the conclave that elected him, saying he resigned himself to the inevitable and put the rest in God’s hands.

State media and the Health Ministry in Lebanon say that an Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon has killed 13 people and wounded others.

The top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the Trump administration made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea amid an effort deport people to the West African country.

Former Associated Press journalist Mona Ziade has died.

Team Penske has confirmed the hiring of David Malukas to replace Will Power.

Israel has killed multiple senior officials with Hamas and its regional allies since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s air force has carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking a southern Lebanon city.

The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel.

Denny Hamlin says he is unfazed that a three-judge federal appellate panel vacated an injunction that required NASCAR to recognize 23XI, which he owns with Michael Jordan, and Front Row as chartered teams as part of an antitrust lawsuit.

Israel says it signed defense contracts worth nearly $15 billion last year, surpassing its all-time record.

As they spend their first Ramadan in their country in years, many Syrians who’ve recently returned from abroad to a homeland they were forced to flee have been celebrating the end of the Assad family’s rule.

Cyprus and the United Nations agency for refugees are clashing over allegations that the east Mediterranean island nation continues to engage in so-called pushbacks against migrant boats departing from neighboring Syria or Lebanon.

The Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid have defunded groups that campaign for LGBTQ+ communities and for democracy around the world.

Israeli and Hamas officials say they have reached an agreement to exchange the bodies of dead hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents are sharing details about a deadly clandestine operation that targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.

The fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of jihadi militants has set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm around the world.

A ceasefire has taken effect between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has officially stepped down in a ceremony that replaced him with Israel Katz, the former foreign minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this week.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says more than 3,000 people have been killed during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Joe Biden and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides have discussed a new effort by the U.S. administration and mediators in the Middle East to forge cease-fires to end fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.

With the U.S. presidential election just a week away, the Biden administration is not giving up hope for short-term deals for cease-fires between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

France’s government is defending its decision to bar Israeli companies supplying the wars in the Middle East from exhibiting at an upcoming trade fair outside Paris.

The Israeli military says one of its airstrikes in early October killed a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to become the group’s next leader.

Hezbollah's acting leader says the militant group will aim rockets into more areas of Israel.

Israel’s military says four soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base Sunday evening.

Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 22 people have been killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut.

The Pentagon says is sending a “few thousand” additional troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary.

In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The head of the United Nations is warning world leaders that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are driving modern civilization toward “a powder keg that risks engulfing the world."

The Biden administration is taking a more hands-off approach than usual during a week of dramatic escalation between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Human rights advocates are calling for an independent investigation into the deadly explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon and Syria.

U.S. officials say Israel warned U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon.

Three judicial officials have told the Associated Press that Lebanon has charged its embattled former central bank governor with the embezzlement of $42 million.

Israel's army says two airstrikes in the West Bank have killed nine Palestinian militants as violence flares again in the Israeli-occupied territory.

A pair of assassinations of anti-Israel militant leaders hours apart is threatening to set off a regional clash and upend already fragile talks toward ending the war in Gaza.

The Italian health ministry has placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning as a wave of hot air from Africa is baking southern Europe.

With cease-fire talks faltering in Gaza and no clear offramp for the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border, the daily exchanges of strikes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have sparked fires that are tearing through forests and farmland on both sides of the frontline.

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon has killed a senior Hezbollah commander as tensions continue to boil.

International donors meeting in Brussels say they will commit 7.5 billion euros, about $8.1 billion, in both grants and loans to support Syrians battered by war, poverty, and hunger for the rest of this year and beyond.

Syria's state media says a bomb attached to a car exploded in the western part of the Syrian capital that is home to several diplomatic missions, killing one person and causing material damage.

An independent panel reviewed the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees after Israel alleged that a dozen of its employees in Gaza had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

The Israel-Hamas war has stretched on for half a year and has become one of the most destructive, deadly, and intractable conflicts of the 21st century.

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $977 million for Friday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night.

Around 60,000 Israelis who evacuated from cities and towns along the border with Lebanon are grappling with the question of when they will be able to return home.

The slow-simmering cross-border conflict between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and Israeli forces has escalated, reviving fears that the daily clashes could expand into an all-out war.

Officials in Cyrpus say police have rescued 60 Syrian migrants from a rickety wooden boat that had been at sea six days and appeared to have run short of food and water.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling on Israel to work with moderate Palestinians and neighboring countries on plans for postwar Gaza.

Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have traded fire in one of the heaviest days of cross-border fighting in recent weeks.

For Lebanon’s Christians, the cedars are sacred, these tough evergreen trees that survive the mountain’s harsh snowy winters.

The militant Hezbollah group has fired more than 50 rockets at military posts in northern Israel.

Makram Daboub may be struggling to prepare his Palestinian team for the start of 2026 World Cup qualification but he takes some comfort — for now at least — that his players stuck in Gaza are safe.

An Israeli shell has landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing a Reuters videographer and leaving six other journalists injured.

The International Monetary Fund says Middle East economies are gradually recovering as external shocks from the war in Ukraine and global inflation fade.

Carlos Ghosn, the former rock star businessman who fell from grace and fled authorities smuggled in a music instrument box, is getting what his dramatic story deserves — a multi-part Apple TV+ documentary series.

Sweden has raised its terrorism alert level one notch, to the second highest following recent Quran burnings in the Scandinavian country, which sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim nations.

Nearly two months after a dilapidated fishing trawler crammed with people heading from north Africa to Italy sank in the central Mediterranean, killing hundreds, relatives are still frantically searching for loved ones among the missing and dead.

Officials in Kuwait and Lebanon have moved to ban “Barbie” as the film is set to open across the Middle East.

Now that July’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin.

Only a single municipality, the Village of Pingree Grove in Illinois, has signed a contract so far with the U.S. Census Bureau to have the agency conduct a repeat head count following the 2020 census.

Egypt and other lower-income Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Pakistan are worried about what comes next after Russia pulled out of a crucial wartime grain deal.

A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said.

The head of a leading aid group says an impasse at the United Nations over a border crossing with Syria’s last rebel-held enclave is endangering 4.1 million Syrians living there.

Lebanon’s caretaker transportation minister says the contract for a new terminal at the country's main airport is cancelled, following an uproar over the lack of public bidding for the $122 million project.

A rights group says in a new report that security agencies and government officials across several countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been using social media platforms and mobile dating apps to crack down on LGBTQ people.

Pope Francis has marked the second anniversary of the Lebanon port explosion by insisting that truth and justice “can never be hidden.”.

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain has set out from the port of Odesa.

As inflation surges around the world, politicians are scrambling for ways to keep food affordable as people increasingly protest the soaring cost of living.

A central Indiana man charged with murder in connection with the March death of his wife is one of three candidates who advanced in a primary election this week for a township board.

Food plays a central role in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, from the daytime fasting to celebratory iftar meals to break the fast.

Two Americans imprisoned in Japan for helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn avoid trial and escape to Lebanon are hoping to serve the rest of their time in the U.S. Paul Kelly, the attorney for Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, said the elder man was suffering from serious back pain and frostbite.

The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands known as the “breadbasket of the world.”.

Health authorities around the U.S. are increasingly taking the extraordinary step of allowing nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus to stay on the job if they have mild symptoms or none at all.

Norway’s data privacy watchdog fined gay dating app Grindr $7.16 million for sending sensitive personal data to hundreds of potential advertising partners without users’ consent.

Lebanon’s central bank governor says he asked an auditing firm to look into transactions and investments and that contrary to media reports, the results showed no public money has been misused.

They can make cakes sparkle, but decorative glitters can contain toxic metals and aren’t always safe to eat.

Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia are meeting at a conference hosted by Iraq.

A Tokyo court has handed down prison terms for the American father and son accused of helping Nissan's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, escape to Lebanon while awaiting trial in Japan.

Two Americans charged in Japan with helping Nissan's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, jump bail and escape Japan for Lebanon have apologized in a Tokyo court.

William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott paced the first ever Cup Series practice at Nashville Superspeedway in yet another display of how dominant Hendrick Motorsports is right now.

Lebanon has vaccinated a daily record of people against COVID-19, raising the total number of shots administered around the country against the virus to more than 1 million.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, former star auto executive Carlos Ghosn has shared his frustrations surrounding his stunning downfall and delved into his legal troubles in Japan, France and the Netherlands.

South Korea’s daily increase in coronavirus infections exceeded 500 for the fourth straight day, a pace unseen since January, as experts raise concern about another viral surge amid a slow rollout in vaccines.

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)BEIJING — Sinovac said on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac is safe and effective in children ages 3-17. State-owned Sinopharm, who has two COVID-19 vaccines, is also investigating the effectiveness of its vaccines in children. The House vote came just before the state health department reported that more than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered within the state. State officials say about 2.9 million vaccine doses have been given to about 1.1 million people so far in Arizona. ___LISBON, Portugal — Portugal resumed administering AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, a week after temporarily halting its use.

Japanese prosecutors have charged two Americans, Michael Taylor and his son Peter, in connection with the escape of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn to Lebanon. (DHA via AP, File)TOKYO – Japanese prosecutors charged two Americans, Michael Taylor and his son Peter, Monday in the escape of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn to Lebanon, while he was out on bail. Prosecutors said the Taylors were formally charged with helping a criminal escape, although dates and other details of a trial were undecided. Japan has put Ghosn on Interpol’s wanted list, but Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan. Peter Taylor, 28, is accused of meeting with Ghosn and helping his father carry out the escape.

Francis said the idea of a trip “cooks over time in my conscience,” and that the pandemic was the issue that weighed most heavily on him. Francis, the Vatican delegation and traveling media were vaccinated against COVID-19, while most Iraqis haven't been. Francis said he wasn’t sure if he would have to slow down his usual whirlwind pace on future trips. Otherwise, the only other trip Francis has promised to make is to Lebanon, though he offered no time frame. He said the country's patriarch had asked him to add a Beirut leg onto his Iraq trip but that he had declined, thinking it would be like tossing the country “crumbs," given all Lebanon’s current problems.

Two Americans suspected of helping Ghosn skip bail and escape to Lebanon in December 2019 have been extradited to Japan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)TOKYO – Two Americans suspected of helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn skip bail and escape to Lebanon in December 2019 have been extradited to Japan. The box passed through airport security in Osaka, central Japan, and was loaded onto a private jet that flew Ghosn to Turkey. Peter Taylor is accused of meeting with Ghosn and helping his father carry out the escape. Japan has put Ghosn on Interpol's wanted list, but Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan.

(AP Photo/Channi Anand)NEW DELHI — Health officials in India say cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa and Brazil have been found in India. Over 150 cases of another variant first detected in the United Kingdom have previously been found in India. ___SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea is reporting 621 new coronavirus cases. State health officials on Tuesday reported 1,132 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths. Spain has officially reported more than 3 million virus cases -- just over 6% of the population -- and attributed more than 65,400 deaths to the virus.

Fauci won a $1 million award from the Israeli Dan David Foundation for courageously defending science during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)TEL AVIV, Israel — Dr. Anthony Fauci has won the $1 million Dan David Prize for “defending science” and advocating for vaccines now being administered worldwide to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The shots were supplied by Pfizer, which has a contract to sell 10 million vaccines to Colombia. The U.K.’s rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines to the most at-risk groups has also helped. The good news: Many of the new COVID-19 vaccines are made with new, flexible technology that’s easy to upgrade.

Taylor is accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges. The flight went first to Turkey, and then to Lebanon, where Ghosn has citizenship but which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Lawyers for the Taylors argue the men can’t legally be extradited and will be treated unfairly in the Japan. Their lawyers told the Supreme Court in a brief filed Friday that the men would face harsh treatment in the Japanese criminal justice system. U.S. authorities had said they would not hand the men over to Japan while their bid for a stay was pending before Breyer, an attorney for the Taylors said.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani rejected a request to block the U.S. from handing Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, over to Japan. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani rejected a request to block the U.S. from handing Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, over to Japan. AdGhosn is now in Lebanon, where he has citizenship but which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Meanwhile, Ghosn headed to the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and met up with Peter Taylor, who was already in Japan. Peter Taylor hopped on a flight to China, authorities say.

(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)BEIRUT – Lebanon finalized a deal with Pfizer on Sunday for 2.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine amid surge in infections that has overwhelmed the country's health care system. The doses are to arrive in Lebanon starting early February, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The government's statement said the Pfizer vaccines will be complemented with another 2.7 million doses from the U.N.-led program to provide for countries in need. Another 2 million doses are being negotiated in coordination with Lebanon's private sector and the other international pharmaceutical companies that have developed the vaccines, the ministry said. Iraq said it will secure Pfizer vaccines by early this year, but has not released any more information, including inoculation plans.

The lockdown in Lebanon is the third since the first case was reported in late February. Also on Thursday, Lebanon broke its single-day record of new coronavirus cases for the third straight day, with 4,774 reported infections over the past 24 hours. The shortage of hard currency in Lebanon has severely curbed imports to the import-dependent country, including of medicine and medical supplies. In Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Christians were barred from attending Mass on Christmas Eve as the country fights a surge in coronavirus cases. Egypt has reported more than 145,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, including nearly 8,000 deaths.

(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)BEIRUT – Lebanon’s economy faces an “arduous and prolonged depression,” with real GPD projected to plunge by nearly 20% because its politicians refuse to implement reforms that would speed up the country’s recovery, the World Bank said Tuesday. “Lack of effective policy action by authorities has subjected the economy to an arduous and prolonged depression,” the World Bank report said. “One year into the economic crisis, such policies have not yet been decided, let alone implemented. “Lack of political consensus on national priorities severely impedes Lebanon’s ability to implement long-term and visionary development policies,” said Saroj Kumar Jha, the World Bank regional director. “Without reforms, there can be no sustainable recovery and reconstruction, and the social and economic situation will continue to worsen,” the World Bank warned.