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

Israel says it thwarted ‘terror attack,’ and other Middle East developments

Israel says it killed two gunmen and thwarted a “terror attack” against Israeli civilians. The Prime Minister’s Office said Friday it had instructed the army to close the West Bank, where the attack occurred.

The deadly shooting comes as Israeli voters will decide on Tuesday whether to grant Netanyahu yet another term as prime minister — or usher in a new era of Israeli politics. Also ahead of elections, Arab political parties asked Israel’s supreme court to ban election observers from carrying guns, and at least one person was killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Friday. Read our full coverage here.

Israel’s military said its soldiers shot and killed two men who had launched an attack near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning. At least five people were wounded, including some critically.

The army said it prevented a “terror attack against Israeli civilians” and that the gunmen had an M16 rifle and a handgun.

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A Ukrainian soldier lost his sight in war. Now he hopes to see his children again

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Mykola Kasiuk’s world plunged into near-total darkness when a land mine exploded on the battlefield with Russian troops.

The Ukrainian soldier lost an eye. He clings to hope that one day he will see with the other because he can still discern faint traces of light.

After two years and numerous operations, Kasiuk placed that hope with a visiting team of U.S. surgeons.

Kasiuk crossed himself as he lay on a hospital bed before a recent surgery in Kyiv, praying for one thing:

“I want to be able to see my children again.”

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In Netanyahu stronghold, signs of fraying loyalty emerge before election

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel (AP) — Kiryat Shmona has long been a bastion of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. But that loyalty is no longer ironclad.

Once a bustling commercial center, Israel’s northernmost city was temporarily evacuated three years ago after being battered by rockets from nearby Lebanon, and it still feels half-empty even though the attacks have mostly subsided. Although the town remains staunchly conservative, there are rumblings of displeasure with Netanyahu’s handling of the latest war against the militant group Hezbollah, and that could bode poorly for him in Israel’s election Tuesday.

Vowing to stop Hezbollah’s attacks, Netanyahu led a bombing campaign in Lebanon and invaded the country twice since 2023. More than 4,000 Lebanese have been killed, and Israeli troops have occupied a swath of southern Lebanon, leveling multiple towns and displacing an estimated 1 million people.

Still, Hezbollah remains active. Some in Kiryat Shmona say Israel should have been even tougher; others say they no longer trust that Netanyahu cares about them.

Eti Ben Shabat, 64, says in previous elections she had always followed her family in voting for Likud, almost without thinking. But in recent years, she said, something snapped. She pointed in part to Netanyahu’s broken promises to bring security to the north and dismantle Hezbollah.

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Pope Leo XIV cancels Assisi trip on doctors’ advice as he recovers from surgery

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will miss a planned trip to Assisi next week after doctors advised against the helicopter journey to the Italian town as he recovers from thoracic surgery, the Vatican said Friday.

The pope had been due to attend a gathering on Tuesday marking the 40th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s World Day of Prayer for Peace.

In a statement, the Vatican said Leo, 71, was advised not to travel “to facilitate his recovery” from the surgery to treat his lung cancer last week. The pope will instead send a message to organizers, Christian and other religious leaders, and guests attending the event, titled “Disarmed and Disarming Peace.”

In a separate statement, the pope’s doctors said a follow-up chest X-ray confirmed he was recovering well. However, given the short time that has elapsed since the operation, they recommended as a precaution that he not make the trip to Assisi by helicopter.

The Vatican said Leo wanted to express his closeness to participants and reaffirm his belief that the “spirit of Assisi,” dialogue and the search for words and gestures of peace remain valuable resources at a time of conflict.

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Immigrants seeking US citizenship targeted in Trump administration’s illegal voting crackdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalize.

One of them is José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, who applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the country for 40 years and spending his entire adult life as a legal permanent resident. The federal government has alleged in charging documents that he improperly claimed to be a citizen in 2007 when registering to vote, then later lied about it on his immigration paperwork. The government hasn’t accused him of casting a ballot.

Bañuelos-Díaz told The Associated Press he had no idea he had registered to vote until he was arrested Monday outside his Los Angeles home, though he recalls getting a driver’s license around 2007. In California, people are prompted to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license.

“I have never voted because I know I can’t vote,” he said. “If there was a mistake, they should have called me out right away, not 20 years later.”

He was released from custody after his arrest but faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

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Trump administration stopped sharing evidence in Good and Pretti killings, Minnesota officials say

The federal government has stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities who are investigating the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers, state officials said in recent court filings.

Minnesota officials sued President Donald Trump’s administration in March for access to materials they said they needed to independently investigate the shootings during Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year. The Trump administration has suggested that state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers, while Minnesota officials have said they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself.

The state is still seeking the cell phones of the officers involved in both shootings and recordings of key interviews.

State prosecutors announced in July that the federal government had begun turning over evidence in the cases, including police body camera video and hard drives containing statements. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at the time that the state expected to receive “all the evidence.”

But Minnesota investigators said in October court filings that the transfer of evidence stopped soon after the July announcement. Moriarty said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota told her on Sept. 10 that evidence sharing would be on pause indefinitely “in light of challenges with D.C.,” according to the documents.

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World shares are mixed after Wall Street’s AI-related losses, while oil prices jump

World shares were mixed on Friday while oil prices hovered at their highest levels since May on worries about the war with Iran.

Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.8% to $114.02 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude oil added 1.1% to $100.60 per barrel.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX lost 0.4%, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.6% to 7,765.74. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 10,685.86.

Some Asian markets bounced back from early losses.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 62,693.16, while the Kospi in South Korea recovered from an early retreat, gaining 0.3% to close at 5,550.30.

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What to know about the weapons and tactics blamed for injuring French protesters

PARIS (AP) — Police across France are under pressure to maintain security during further protests expected in some cities, while facing scrutiny over their riot-control tactics used during previous unrest that left some teenagers seriously injured.

Officers have appeared outnumbered and overwhelmed during last weekend’s protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. Authorities have announced police reinforcements ahead of further protests expected on Saturday, amid fears of renewed violence.

A 17-year-old girl lost an eye while participating in a protest in Mulhouse last Saturday, while a 17-year-old boy lost a hand in Saint-Etienne. Other teenagers have suffered disabling injuries during weeks of high school blockades and street demonstrations.

Here’s a look at French police tactics and riot-control weapons.

French police forces are equipped with batons, tear gas, sound grenades and foam-round launchers, as well as riot shields equipped with powerful strobe lights designed to disorient protesters. Electric stun guns are prohibited in crowd-control operations.

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In India, police shootings of alleged cow smugglers raise alarm about impunity and bias

MEERUT, India (AP) — The police videos follow a predictable script: A man shot in the lower leg hobbles through darkness as officers escort him away.

Police across India’s most populous state have shot hundreds of suspects in near-identical encounters that often target Muslims accused of cow smuggling, an offense closely tied to cow protection laws rooted in Hindu religious belief, according to an Associated Press investigation.

Police have publicized the shootings as part of a broad crackdown on crime and characterize them as acts of self-defense. Activists, opposition leaders and local judges, however, say the violence amounts to extrajudicial punishment and intimidation that disproportionately impacts India’s large Muslim minority, and undermines the rule of law in the world’s largest democracy.

“This is a dangerous situation,” said Mangla Verma, a human rights lawyer based in New Delhi. “It’s become a routine police practice … Instead of investigating, police kill or injure a person and justice is done.”

The Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a Washington-based think tank, compiled records of nearly 650 cases of suspects accused of cow smuggling who have been shot and injured by Uttar Pradesh police since 2020. Its findings were shared exclusively with the AP, which independently reviewed a sample of more than 200. The overwhelming majority of cases involved Muslims, the center found.

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Rescuers search for survivors after deadly earthquake in China’s Tibet region

BEIJING (AP) — Rescuers combed through a remote area in the Chinese region of Tibet on Friday after a magnitude 7 earthquake that killed at least 16 people, injuring 54 and collapsing hundreds of homes, according to Chinese state media.

The disaster struck Nagqu, a city north of Tibet’s capital Lhasa that’s some 4,800 meters (5,249 yards) above sea level, on Thursday. At least 339 homes collapsed, and officials told journalists they were concerned about further building collapses from aftershocks, as well as casualties from rockslides.

Search and rescue efforts are complicated by the geography and low temperatures, officials said. As of Friday afternoon, rescuers had done three rounds of searches, going through each household, and each village, said Dunzhu, the acting mayor of Nagqu city, said in a press conference.

More than 5,000 people from three local counties were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including 2,000 prefabricated housing units, around 3,400 tents and 2,000 folding beds, as well as flashlights and winter clothing arrived in the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 10:33 p.m. local time on Thursday, with its epicenter 191 kilometers (119 miles) east-northeast of Nagqu. It put the earthquake’s depth at 18 kilometers (11 miles).