US Launches Fresh Strikes on Iran as Oil Prices Jump

BELFAST - Police in Northern Ireland used water cannon Wednesday as masked protesters hurled rocks, bottles and fire at officers during a second night of anti-immigrant unrest. The violence, sparked by a stabbing attack and fed by false images online, has left families displaced and homes burned. Officials called it racist thuggery. The internet did its usual part.

LONDON - U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey resigned Thursday, saying the government was unwilling to fund the military properly as threats rise. In his letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Healey said the defense plan “falls well short” of what Britain needs. The move piles more pressure on Starmer, who is already under fire and still has no settled long-term spending plan.

GRAN CANARIA - Pope Leo XIV met migrants and aid groups at a port in Spain’s Canary Islands on Thursday, then cast flowers into the sea for those who died trying to reach Europe. He called on leaders to treat refugees with dignity and warned that history would judge those who let people fleeing war or poverty suffer. The islands know exactly what he means.

BANGKOK - A Thai court sentenced two Uyghur men to death Thursday for the 2015 bombing at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people and wounded more than 100. The decade-long trial was delayed by COVID and translation problems. The men denied the charges and plan to appeal. Survivors and rights advocates still say the bigger question is who ordered it.

WASHINGTON - President Trump said Thursday he will nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former SEC chairman, to lead national intelligence. The move comes after lawmakers pushed back on Trump’s earlier choice of Bill Pulte, who had no intelligence background and was set to take the job in an acting capacity. Trump urged the Senate to confirm Clayton as soon as possible.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans are set to take one last shot Thursday at extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires Friday and is likely to lapse. The short-term fix would push the deadline to July 2, but it needs a two-thirds vote and is expected to fail. Democrats are withholding support over Bill Pulte's planned role as acting intelligence chief, and the whole thing has turned into a familiar Washington mess.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing death row inmate Jeffrey Lee with nitrogen gas, ruling the method violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Lee had been set to die Thursday night. The state has already appealed, and the Supreme Court could still weigh in. For now, Alabama's newest execution method is on ice, and the clock ran out first.

LOS ANGELES - The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has suspended federal funding for a leading homeless services agency in Los Angeles, alleging a "clear pattern of fraud." The move lands in a city where more than 40,000 people are sleeping in tents, cars and other temporary shelter. HUD did not say when the money might resume. The agency now has a mess on its hands, and so does the city.

NEW YORK - SpaceX priced the biggest initial public offering in history on Thursday at $135 a share, raising $75 billion and valuing Elon Musk’s rocket company at about $1.77 trillion. The stock is set to start trading Friday, and the first hours could be messy. Investors in Asia, largely locked out, are already hunting for other ways in.

HONG KONG - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is offering $1.5 billion to acquire Chinese grocery delivery firm Pupu, kicking off a bidding war as it tries to claw back share from Meituan in online commerce. The deal would give Alibaba a bigger foothold in grocery delivery, one of the few corners of e-commerce where scale still matters and margins are still thin. The company is not being subtle about the fight.

NEW YORK - The Knicks erased a 29-point deficit and beat the Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, the biggest comeback in Finals history.

OG Anunoby tipped in Jalen Brunson’s missed 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to give New York a 3-1 series lead. Brunson finished with 36 points, Anunoby with 33. San Antonio, which led 76-49 at halftime, now has to answer for a collapse that will linger.

MEXICO CITY - Julián Quiñones scored in the ninth minute and Raúl Jiménez added another as Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in the World Cup opener at Estadio Azteca.

The match also produced three red cards, the most ever in an opening World Cup game. The Azteca, already soaked in history, became the first stadium to host three World Cup openers. Mexico finally broke its opening-day curse. South Africa did not.

KANSAS CITY - Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have reworked his deal again, adding two years and pushing the contract to $504.75 million through 2033. It is the first NFL contract worth more than half a billion dollars, and it puts Mahomes back atop the league's pay scale at $64 million a year starting in 2027. The quarterback said he is "here to stay."

NEW YORK - FX will release a standalone prequel episode of *Adults* on July 31, before Season 2 arrives in August. The episode, titled “Marathon Day,” introduces the central friend group and gives Paul Baker, played by Jack Innanen, an origin story. It was screened as a surprise Thursday night at Tribeca. Series creators Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw wrote it, and Jonathan Krisel directed. The show returns Aug. 27 on Hulu.

BURBANK - The psychological drama Crowbar has set its cast, with Patrick Walker, John Pyper-Ferguson and Emma Kenney leading Jordan Tortorello’s directorial debut. Rafael Cebrián, Josh Sussman, Briana Price, Briana Cuoco, Toby Hemingway and Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew also star. The film follows a struggling actor whose role in a war drama starts to swallow his real life as a volatile director pushes him to the edge. Production has wrapped in Burbank, and the movie is now in post.

LOS ANGELES - Tim Allen says a "Home Improvement" reboot is not moving ahead because the actors who played his on-screen sons have "personality problems" in real life.

Allen told Us Weekly the project keeps getting stuck when the conversation turns to Brad, Randy and Mark Taylor. Patricia Richardson has said she would come back as Jill, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas is no longer interested in acting, and Zachery Ty Bryan is dealing with a long list of legal troubles. The sitcom ran from 1991 to 1999. For now, the tool shed stays closed.