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

Women gathered in a small Iranian town for a wedding. Then deadly strikes hit

KUHESTAK, Iran (AP) — Women with their children were gathered in the house and yard, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive to kick off a wedding celebration in this small town in southern Iran. Then an explosion turned the scene to carnage.

The town of Kuhestak is still reeling from a barrage of strikes that killed five people during an American bombardment of southern Iran on Tuesday evening. Lampposts at the entrance to the town displayed large posters of four of the dead — a 4-year-old boy, a 16-year-old and two women. Another woman, one of more than 60 people wounded in the blasts, died Thursday at a hospital.

On Friday, an Associated Press team made a rare visit to the town on the coast overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Within a densely built neighborhood of houses and unpaved alleys stood the compound of the Mallahi family, which was struck as relatives celebrated their daughter’s wedding.

A U.S. weapons expert who reviewed images from the scene said the evidence suggests the strikes were carried out with American guided bombs.

Ali Mallahi, a cousin of the bride, pointed to a gaping hole in the roof of a room that took a direct hit in one of the compound’s four houses. Big cracks ran through walls decorated with floral designs. Windows were shattered, and twisted sections of roofing and metal framework lay across the courtyard, among carpets and household appliances that the family had pulled out of other damaged rooms.

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Rescuers in Nepal pull 2 people alive from the debris 10 days after devastating floods

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers in Nepal pulled out a Chinese man and a woman in separate operations Saturday, 10 days after devastating floods hit the country, as teams continued searching for thousands of people still missing.

The man was rescued from a hydropower tunnel, according to a social media post by the country’s prime minister’s office, bringing the total to three workers pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project. Two Nepalese workers were rescued on Friday.

Nepal’s army said a joint rescue team of Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-meter (about 740-foot) tunnel and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Images showed him being evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic checking on him during the flight.

A photo released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed two rescuers carrying the man out of the tunnel.

Rescue efforts have increasingly focused on 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, where about 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped in various tunnels, authorities said. Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have been searching through debris, damaged structures and tunnels at the projects, hoping to find survivors.

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Masked men block traffic to UK’s port of Dover, site of past anti-immigrant protests

LONDON (AP) — A group of masked men blocked the entrance to Britain’s busiest ferry port on Saturday. Police said they were “engaging with the protesters.”

The Port of Dover said all traffic in and out “is stopped due to an ongoing public order incident.”

Footage on social media showed several dozen men in black, their faces covered, standing across a major road near the port.

It was not immediately clear what they were demanding.

The National Highways agency said the protests caused a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) traffic jam, causing delays of up to 45 minutes.

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For feminists, the deaths of Parton and Steinem days apart deliver a double dose of grief

One shaped and delivered the language of feminism. The other rejected the label but showed how feminism can be done: with a microphone dusted in rhinestones, and without apology.

Gloria Steinem and Dolly Parton embodied two towering versions of the same idea: that women should know themselves well enough to make their own choices about matters intimate and societal. Their deaths eight days apart sent a double dose of grief around the world and across generations as many women (and some men!) asked who would take their places at the forefront of women’s rights.

Steinem, overtly political, went undercover as a Playboy bunny to deliver an exposé, founded Ms. Magazine and spent the rest of her life urging women to support each other. Parton, on the other hand, defined herself as a larger-than-life daughter of the American South who told stories with music and included everybody — but refused to play politics or call herself a feminist.

“Dolly taught us to dream big. Gloria taught us to speak up,” wrote DeMond B Nason, a New York City singer. “Both reminded us that a woman could walk into a world that told her who she was supposed to be — and simply decide to become something else.”

Parton didn’t say so, but Steinem insisted more than three decades ago that the pair fit together under the same feminist flag.

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Months after ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah battle over a strategic hill in Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Since a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah more than two months ago, fighting has stopped in much of Lebanon, but not on a strategic hill overlooking parts of a main southern city.

In recent weeks, Ali Taher hill has been the scene of daily shelling and airstrikes by Israel’s military. Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran, has repeatedly attacked Israeli forces in the area with drones.

The United States, which is mediating talks between Lebanon and Israel, had wanted Hezbollah to hand over the hill to the Lebanese army as part of larger plan to disarm the militant group and dismantle its infrastructure. But Hezbollah has refused.

Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement in June stating Israel will withdraw from Lebanon as Hezbollah is disarmed. The militant group was not a party to the negotiations and has rejected calls to disarm in areas north of the Litani river, which is where Ali Taher is located.

A full-on battle over this hill near the city of Nabatiyeh could escalate fighting across the country, and unrest in Lebanon complicates efforts to resolve the war in Iran.

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Trump calls Iran conflict ‘small potatoes’ and defends Vance’s position that it’s not a ‘war’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said the conflict in Iran is “small potatoes” as he defended Vice President JD Vance for asserting that months of on-and-off attacks in the Middle East are not a “war.”

Asked during an Oval Office exchange about Vance’s comments made a day earlier, Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and “a lot of people don’t call it a war.” The conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead.

“I can understand what he’s saying,” said Trump. He added: “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”

Vance, during a White House press briefing Thursday, rejected the use of the word “war” to describe the U.S. fighting with Iran and steered clear of predicting that the 6-month-old conflict would be over by November’s midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their narrow majorities in Congress.

“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said after being asked about whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 elections. “Right now, there is no active shooting.”

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Federal judge extends block on Trump executive order seeking to limit mail voting in the midterms

A federal judge on Friday extended her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting during the midterms, putting another major obstacle in the way of the administration as the first states begin sending out mail ballots.

The preliminary injunction from U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani replaces a temporary order she granted blocking the Postal Service’s plan.

The Trump administration had already asked the Supreme Court to lift Talwani’s temporary order, and on Friday it informed her that it would appeal her latest decision to the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

The administration is running out of time to make big changes in voting procedures, though. North Carolina began sending out its first mail ballots Friday and more states will swiftly follow.

The legal battle could have major ramifications for this year’s elections, when control of Congress is at stake. Nearly one-third of voters in the U.S. cast mail ballots and election officials contend there isn’t enough time to revise their systems to comply with the new Postal Service directives.

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Key moments in the Lindsay Clancy case: the 911 call, mental health care, mistrial

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A mistrial was declared in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after jurors failed to reach a verdict on whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three young children at her Massachusetts home.

Judge William Sullivan declared the mistrial on the seventh day of deliberations after jurors sent a note saying: “It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to.”

The emotionally charged case has sharply divided many Americans and generated intense interest for over a month as it’s drawn attention to issues around maternal mental health after childbirth.

Clancy, 36, never disputed that she killed her children. But her attorney said she had a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids, the youngest just 8 months old, then tried to take her own life in 2023. Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing.

Here are some key moments from the trial:

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Nearly 2,000 fall ill in suspected food poisoning linked to Indonesia’s free school meals program

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Nearly 2,000 people, most of them students, fell ill in suspected food poisoning outbreaks linked to President Prabowo Subianto ’s flagship Free Nutritious Meals program this week, raising fresh concerns about food safety as the government rapidly expands the multibillion-dollar initiative nationwide, officials said Saturday.

The incidents, reported between Tuesday and Thursday in East Java, Central Java, West Sumatra, Aceh and South Sulawesi, affected about 1,950 students, teachers and Islamic boarding school pupils who became sick after consuming meals distributed under the government program, known by its Indonesian acronym MBG.

The outbreaks are the latest setback for Prabowo’s signature free meals program, which has been rolled out across the archipelago despite repeated food poisoning incidents and corruption allegations.

The largest outbreak was reported in Central Java’s Rembang regency, where 752 students and 25 teachers at State Senior High School 1 Lasem, suffered diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain after eating meals provided through the program, according to Rembang Health Office head Ali Syofi’i.

In Sidoarjo, East Java, 730 people, most of them students at the Manbaul Hikam Islamic boarding school, were affected in another suspected food poisoning incident linked to the program. Sidoarjo health office chief Lakhsmie Herawati Yuwantina said 706 victims had been discharged and were recovering at home.

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Missouri asks US Supreme Court to allow use of new Trump-backed congressional districts in midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) — Missouri appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to allow the use of new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump in the fast-approaching midterm election.

The appeal comes after Missouri’s highest court blocked the new map and ordered a statewide vote in November on whether to keep or reject it.

It’s part of a national redistricting battle that Trump launched last year. Missouri’s new congressional boundaries were drawn to help Republicans win an additional seat and hold onto their slim House majority in November’s midterm elections.

The Missouri Supreme Court weighed in after redistricting opponents submitted over 300,000 petition signatures seeking to put the map to a vote of the people. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petition on primary Election Day, asserting that Missouri’s constitution doesn’t allow referendum petitions on congressional redistricting. He successfully defended his decision in a lower court, but on Thursday lost in front of the state’s highest court.

The court said the referendum petition effectively suspended the new districts, retroactive to last December, pending voter approval. Although the new districts were used in the August primary, Missouri’s top court said the previous districts enacted after the 2020 census must be used in the general election.