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

A Russian missile and drone barrage kills at least 14 in Ukraine’s Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the surrounding region with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial attack that lasted for hours and killed at least 14 people, officials said Thursday.

Moscow’s forces have in recent months intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine’s chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for countries to send more Patriot interceptors but international stockpiles are low amid the Iran war and Ukraine’s more than four-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion.

Russia’s overnight barrage also included cruise missiles and fast-flying jet-powered drones that put further strain on air defenses, the Ukrainian air force said.

Explosions boomed across the city in the dark. Kyiv was the primary target, but hits were recorded at 28 locations across the country, according to the air force. About 40 people were wounded, Zelenskyy said, as air raid warnings remained in place until after dawn.

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Prices soar as Gaza smuggling booms. Officials, soldiers and middlemen are accused of cashing in

CAIRO (AP) — Palestinians face inflated prices for groceries and batteries, hospitals have turned to smugglers for medicine and equipment, and Israeli soldiers and other middlemen are accused of pocketing millions of dollars as the smuggling of goods restricted by Israel into the Gaza Strip has boomed, according to an Associated Press investigation based on court documents and interviews with traders, truckers and officials.

Cigarettes and tobacco — banned from entry to Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 — rake in the biggest profits for smugglers and merchants, officials and residents say. But everything from iPhones and solar panels to fuel and anesthetics are also brought into the tiny coastal territory illegally. Israel restricts quantities of some goods and bans others outright. It defines many as “dual use” — including concrete, vehicle parts and X-ray machines — asserting they could be repurposed by Hamas militants for military functions.

To build a picture of the illicit trade, The Associated Press analyzed Israeli court documents and spoke to five major traders who import smuggled goods, three merchants who sell them, and two truckers — all on condition of anonymity because of their roles in the illegal smuggling business and concerns about their safety in Gaza. AP also interviewed four Palestinian officials, two on condition of anonymity because of worries about retribution from Israel, Hamas or merchants; two U.N. officials, on condition of anonymity over concern for their jobs; and a dozen Palestinian residents, who spoke about how they get everyday items and their skyrocketing costs.

AP found a rush from all sides to profit off the tight restrictions imposed by Israel on Gaza and its 2 million residents, most of whom have been displaced by the war. Smuggling rings — which have long flourished, circumventing two decades of Israeli blockades and building a network of businessmen and collaborators — pull in millions of dollars. Payoffs go to Israeli troops, drivers, warehouse workers and others on both sides of the border, according to traders and court documents.

“The occupation has left no other option before us. Smuggling has become routine,” one trader said, noting that some in Israel’s military are willing to help — for a price. “We benefit, they benefit and the people in Gaza benefit because we provide goods, including food, to the market.”

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A quiet channel between ICE and Iran shaped deportation flights, newly released emails show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. immigration officials worked with Iran to deport Iranians in 2025, newly released emails show, revealing a working relationship between the U.S. and Iranian governments despite tensions mounting between the countries.

Hundreds of emails exchanged between U.S. immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, offer the most transparent play by play yet of how the two countries worked together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three separate immigration flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026.

The emails show that Iranian officials had some influence over which Iranian immigrants in the U.S. were sent back to their home country, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials apparently heeded some last-minute changes to deportation lists at the request of Iran.

“Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases,” one unnamed ICE official wrote in late August, a month before the first deportation flight in September. Just over a week later, someone with the same job title moved to make another, unspecified change to the deportation list after they said they met with the “Director at the Iranian Embassy.”

“Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process,” the official wrote.

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Israeli military launches criminal probes into killings of Hind Rajab and Palestinian paramedics

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military on Wednesday announced its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in Gaza, focusing on the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics.

The military said it would not probe three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. It said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made decisions on the five cases.

Chef José Andrés, founder of U.S.-based World Central Kitchen, condemned the decision on X as “wrong and painful.”

The investigations involve killings that drew a heavy international outcry. Hind was trapped in a vehicle with her slain relatives, pleading for help by phone before she too was killed in February 2024. After the shooting of the 15 medics in March 2025, troops bulldozed their bodies into a mass grave.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, including tens of thousands of women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Rights groups and U.N. commissions have said the campaign amounts to genocide and that Israeli forces have committed a litany of war crimes, including indiscriminate use of force and deliberate killings of civilians.

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Chinese court sentences founder of troubled property developer Evergrande to life in prison

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese property developer Hui Ka Yan, founder of the Evergrande real estate group, has been sentenced to life in prison and the companies were fined a total of more than $2 billion, a court in the southern city of Shenzhen said Thursday.

The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande’s saga after it collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry in 2020. That triggered a crunch among many developers and brought on a downturn in the property market that has weighed on the broader economy ever since.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hui, 67, and Evergrande of engaging in large-scale financial fraud in inflating the group’s assets and concealing its liabilities.

In a statement, the court also said Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, abused his position in orchestrating fraud and misappropriating company assets.

Evergrande group was fined 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion), the court said in the statement.

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Judge will consider new trial for Karmelo Anthony in Texas track meet killing

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A judge on Thursday will consider whether to grant Texas teenager Karmelo Anthony a new trial following his murder conviction earlier this summer in the stabbing death of a 17-year-old athlete at a high school track meet.

In a legal victory for Anthony, the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case Wednesday. Judge Michael Chitty was then assigned to consider the motion from Anthony’s attorneys asking for a retrial in killing of Austin Metcalf.

Anthony, now 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the case. He attended Wednesday’s hearing wearing a green prison jumpsuit. His parents and Metcalf’s also attending the hearing.

Anthony’s attorneys had asked for state District Judge John Roach to be removed in part because of a TV interview in which Roach said jurors “got it right” when they delivered a guilty verdict.

In seeking a new trial, Anthony’s attorneys have argued that the June proceedings were marred by strict courtroom rules and improper jury instructions. They have also said Anthony’s decision to not testify came after a dispute with prosecutors over an agreement to focus the trial on the events leading up to the stabbing.

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Former teacher, 93, among the deaths blamed on storm as Hawaii residents struggle to clean up

HONOLULU (AP) — A beloved former kindergarten teacher who taught generations of residents in a small town on Hawaii’s Big Island was among the two deaths authorities blamed on a hurricane that lashed the state over the weekend with heavy rain and strong winds.

May Doi, 93, was found dead Monday after she was reported missing, police said. Neighbors think she was escaping floodwaters in her home and trying to get to a nearby shelter, said ʻĀina Akamu, a former student of Doi’s who is now a vice principal at a local school.

She taught for so long at Naalehu Elementary on the island’s southern tip that “Mrs. Doi was my dad’s kindergarten teacher,” Akamu said Wednesday.

“She taught grandkids of her students,” he said. “She was a fixture in this community.”

Akamu often saw her taking walks around the small, rural, sugar plantation-era town: “She was so strong.”

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A timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family as they return to the UK

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will return to the United Kingdom, seemingly marking the end to a yearslong rift between them and the royal family.

The Daily Telegraph reported the couple won’t resume their roles as working members of the royal family, but returning to Britain means King Charles III, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, will get to spend more time with his grandchildren.

Harry and Meghan quit royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States, alleging hostility and racist attitudes by the press and royal establishment. But in recent months, there had been signs that the tumultuous relationship was beginning to thaw.

Here is a timeline of recent events involving Harry and the British royal family.

Prince Harry and American actor Meghan Markle meet on a blind date set up by a mutual friend.

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Former Meta engineer says Instagram took a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach on kids under 13

OAKLAND, California (AP) — A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a landmark trial that the company took a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach on kids under 13 on its platforms.

During his second day of testimony, Arturo Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.

“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.

The trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and is expected to last about six weeks. The four states were among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts, including one underway in Tennessee.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hide these harms from the public. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.

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Trump says US and Canada have a trade deal, but key terms remain unclear

WASHINGTON (AP) — Canada and the United States moved closer Wednesday to finalizing a trade agreement that would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs, with a senior Canadian official calling the emerging terms “a very good deal for Canada” while cautioning that negotiations were not complete.

President Donald Trump said the agreement was “very fair” to both sides and predicted U.S. farmers and manufacturers would benefit. The tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports have been postponed until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

The senior Canadian official said the emerging agreement would provide greater certainty, protect Canada’s dairy sector and jobs threatened by the new tariffs, and preserve what Ottawa considers favorable trade terms with the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney asked provincial premiers during a briefing to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said, a step aimed at addressing one of the Trump administration’s key trade complaints. Houston and two other premiers voiced support for the direction of the talks, though Houston said whether Canadians would actually buy U.S. alcohol again “is a whole other discussion.”

The senior official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly before an agreement is finalized.