AP News Summary at 12:54 a.m. EST

War widens to include Iranian-backed militias as Israeli and American planes pound Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked Israel have killed at least 31 people. That's according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday. The Hezbollah attack and the Israeli retaliatory strikes expand the ongoing war gripping the Mideast after America and Israel launched an airstrike campaign targeting Iran. The Health Ministry said that the strikes also wounded 149 people. It said about two thirds of the dead were in southern Lebanon.

What to know about Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a powerful force within the country's theocracy

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's Revolutionary Guard has become a powerful force within the country's theocracy, answering only to the supreme leader. The European Union declare the Guard a terrorist organization in January over its role in the recent crackdown on protests across Iran. The Guard was born out of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and steadily grew in power, especially after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Its Quds Force has been key in supporting groups like Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Guard also operates its own intelligence services and has been involved in arrests of foreigners. The force is crucial in suppressing protests in Iran.

What to know about the latest US-Israeli attacks on Iran

The U.S. and Israel have launched major attacks on Iran whose state media say Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. Iran counterattacked and exchanges of fire escalated. U.S. President Donald Trump said the attacks that began on Saturday aim to crush Iran’s military and stop the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran fired drones and missiles at Israel and aimed strikes at U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Several countries have closed their airspace. Three U.S. service members have been killed. Iranian state media says more than 200 people have been killed. Others have died in Israel and several countries.

Some celebrate in Iran after supreme leader's death, but deep fear and uncertainty remain

CAIRO (AP) — Some of the jubilation was open and even raucous. People danced in Iranian streets, honked car horns in celebration and screamed joyfully from windows and rooftops over the killing of the country’s supreme leader. But as bombardment by the United States and Israel fell from the air for a second day Sunday, many expressed fear and uncertainty over what direction Iran will take. The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who stood at the pinnacle of Iran’s Islamic Republic for nearly four decades, along with a number of top military leaders in the first day of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, stunned Iranians and stirred a mix of complex emotions in a divided nation.

US futures and Asian shares open lower, oil prices soar as US and Israel attack Iran

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have sent a chill through world markets, with U.S. futures initially falling more than 1%. Oil prices were sharply higher, with U.S. crude up 5.8% and Brent crude gaining 6%. Shares opened sharply lower in Tokyo early Monday and oil prices soared. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 1.4% by midday. Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt. On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to finish just its second losing month in the last 10. The Dow industrials dropped 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%.

FBI probes Texas bar shooting that killed 2 and wounded 14 as possible terrorist act

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah” killed two people and wounded 14 at a Texas bar. The FBI said the shooting in Austin is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. Police shot and killed the man, who had used both a pistol and a rifle early in the shooting early Sunday, a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran. The Department of Homeland Security identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. Multiple people briefed on the investigation say Diagne is originally from Senegal. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson says a fast police response in confronting the gunman saved lives.

Trump's Medicaid work mandates are meant to save money. But first states will have to spend millions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — New Medicaid work requirements signed into law by President Donald Trump are meant to save money. But states first will have to spend millions of dollars to implement them. An Associated Press analysis finds that states are projected to spend over $1 billion on technology improvements and additional staff needed to carry out the requirements. The Medicaid changes were included in Trump's big tax-cut law passed by Congress last year. States are still waiting on federal rules to provide further guidance. But they face a time crunch because the Medicaid work requirements are supposed to be enforced next January.

Trump expects his Fed pick and AI to deliver a replay of the '90s boom. Economists have doubts

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, his Treasury secretary and his choice to lead the Federal Reserve believe they can coax the U.S. economy into partying like it’s 1999. They are putting their faith in artificial intelligence to duplicate what happened when another technology arrived in the 1990s: the internet. Back then, the American economy surged as businesses became more productive, unemployment tumbled and inflation remained in check. Trump is confident that his nominee to become Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, can unleash an even greater economic bonanza by jettisoning what the president sees as the central bank’s hidebound reluctance to slash interest rates. But many economists are skeptical.

Gaza's ceasefire had some momentum. Now, some fear a new war will distract the world

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza are reacting to a possible shift in the world's attention from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to a new regional conflict with Iran. Israel closed all crossings into the territory of over 2 million people in the wake of its new strikes on Tehran. It's not clear how long they will be closed. Palestinians fear new lack of access to food and other basic necessities from the outside world. Memories of hunger during last year's Israeli blockade remain fresh. The latest conflict comes days after President Donald Trump rallied billions of dollars in pledges for Gaza’s reconstruction.

Rev. Jesse Jackson returns home to South Carolina to lie in state

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is returning to South Carolina for a final public farewell. On Monday, Jackson will lie in state at the capitol in Columbia. The tribute contrasts with his childhood in segregated Greenville. In 1960, Jackson led Black students into a whites-only library to read until police arrested them. That protest started his civil rights career. After the South Carolina services, Jackson's body is expected to be taken back to Chicago before a final set of services at his Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s Chicago headquarters. Jackson died on Feb. 17 at age 84.