AP Top News at 11:53 p.m. EDT

Israel strikes Iran’s nuclear sites and kills top generals. Iran retaliates with missile barrages

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists Israel asserted the barrage was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the U.S. government have assessed that Iran was actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. Iran retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below.

The Latest: Israel attacks nuclear program in Iran, drawing waves of missiles

Marines take over some security in LA while cities across US prep for ‘No Kings’ rallies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After a week of protests over federal immigration raids, about 200 Marines moved into Los Angeles on Friday to guard a federal building in the city while communities across the country prepped for what’s anticipated to be a nationwide wave of large-scale demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s polices this weekend. The Marine troops wearing combat gear and carrying rifles took over some posts from National Guard members who were deployed to the city after the protests erupted last week. Those protests sparked dozens more over several days around the country, with some leading to clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.

US helps Israel shoot down barrage of Iranian missiles

WASHINGTON (AP) — American air defense systems and a Navy destroyer helped Israel shoot down incoming ballistic missiles Friday that Tehran launched in response to Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leaders, U.S. officials said. The U.S. has both ground-based Patriot missile defense systems and Terminal High Altitude Air Defense systems in the Middle East capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which Iran fired in multiple barrages in retaliation for Israel’s initial attack. A Navy destroyer in the eastern Mediterranean Sea also shot down Iranian missiles heading toward Israel, one official said. The United States also is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to the strikes.

Judge blocks Trump’s election executive order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to overhaul elections in the U.S., siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the effort as unconstitutional. The Republican president’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline. The attorneys general had argued the directive “usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.” The White House had defended the order as “standing up for free, fair and honest elections” and called proof of citizenship a “commonsense” requirement.

Air India black box recovered after crash that killed 241 onboard and several others on the ground

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered Friday in what likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident that killed 241 people on the plane and a number of others on the ground. The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel when the plane came down shortly after takeoff on Thursday in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad. The plane’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with “full force.” The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post.

Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, shows up for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial but can’t get in

NEW YORK (AP) — Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, briefly showed up to the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday to support the hip-hop mogul, a longtime friend. But he wasn’t allowed into the courtroom and left after briefly watching the trial on a video monitor in another room. Ye, dressed in white, arrived at Manhattan federal court before noon while the trial was on a break and spent about 40 minutes in the building. After emerging from an airport-style security screening, Ye was asked if he was at the courthouse to support Combs.

Oil prices leap 7% and US stocks slump more than 1% on worries about the crude market

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices leaped, and stocks slumped Friday on worries that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy. The S&P 500 sank 1.1% and wiped out what had been a modest gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 769 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.3%. The strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 7.3% to $72.98. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 7% to $74.23 for a barrel.

Jury begins deliberating whether Karen Read is guilty of murder in Boston police boyfriend’s death

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the murder trial of Karen Read began deliberations without a verdict Friday after weeks of testimony in a highly divisive case in which the prosecution’s theory of jaded love turned deadly was countered by a defense claim that a cast of tight-knit Boston-area law enforcement killed a fellow police officer. Read, 45, is accused of fatally striking her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a house party where other local police and a federal agent were closing out a night of drinking in 2022.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges in Tennessee federal court

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee. The hearing was the first chance the Maryland construction worker has had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration’s allegations since he was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt to justify the mistaken deportation. The investigation was launched weeks after the U.S. government deported Abrego Garcia and following a Supreme Court order and mounting pressure to return him.