What to know about the Iran war today:Central Command also announced the creation of Task Force Iron Gate, which is supposed to extend the success of the naval blockade to overland routes of trade. The group will be tasked with preventing military technology and illegal revenue streams from entering or exiting Iranian borders, including via the Caspian Sea, but it was unclear if any military force would be brought to bear. Iran’s military on Sunday dismissed the new task force as “word play.”The U.S. military’s Central Command announced Friday it is offering up to $20 million and possible relocation in exchange for information about Iran’s nuclear program, its facilities, equipment or personnel.President Trump confirmed on Friday the U.S. carried out “minor strikes” on Iran, after local state media reported missiles striking Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz Houthis claim attack on Riyadh financial district damaged Aramco skyscraper Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack on the financial district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city, which witnesses said caused damage to a skyscraper belonging to oil giant Aramco. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis had said earlier Sunday that its air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other regions.In a statement, Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the Iran-backed group carried out four military operations using ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones. Saree said the Riyadh airport was targeted in addition to the financial center, Aramco oil storage tanks, and the eastern Saudi city of Abqaiq. He said the Houthis were responding to attacks in recent days on a village near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and at a market in southwestern Yemen, which he said left dozens dead or wounded and blamed on Saudi Arabia.Aramco facilities and infrastructure have been repeatedly struck by the Houthis in recent months, with tankers, refineries, storage areas and the company headquarters all targeted by the group.”Aramco tower in KAFD has been targeted, that’s the sure thing,” one witness told AFP, referring to the King Abdullah Financial District. Two other witnesses confirmed seeing damage to the building.One witness in the area of the Aramco skyscraper told AFP they saw a projectile strike the building but they were unsure what type of projectile it was.The Saudi Energy Ministry said there were no casualties at the Aramco facility.AP/AFP Israel’s defense minister says Iran mission “not complete” Israel’s defense minister hinted at a resuming attacks on Iran on Sunday, saying the “mission is not complete.””With regard to Iran, the mission is still not complete. Iran is trying to renew its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons — alongside other grave efforts that place the State of Israel in real danger,” Israel Katz said.He also warned the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon to not join Tehran in retaliating against Israel.”We will not withdraw from the security zones in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and if the terrorist organisation Hezbollah chooses to join Iran in an attack on Israel, it will suffer extremely severe blows,” Katz said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose political bloc failed to reach a majority in the country’s elections, has previously suggested he wants to resume attacks on Iran. However, on the eve of the midterm elections President Trump told the Financial Times newspaper he had no plans to strike Iran.CBS/AFP Saudi oil giant’s building damaged by intercepted rocket, authorities say Witnesses in the Saudi capital of Riyadh said they heard a loud explosion Sunday morning and described damage across multiple floors of an Aramco building in the King Abdullah Financial District Some floors appeared to be heavily damaged.The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.The Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other regions early Sunday, accusing the Houthis of launching the weapons.The Saudi Energy Ministry said the attempted attack resulted in “falling shrapnel that caused minor damage to the building.” It added that there were no casualties.CBS/AP Iran’s military dismisses new U.S. plan aimed at curbing ground shipping Iran’s military has dismissed the U.S.’s new task force which aims to disrupt Iranian ground shipping routes as “wordplay.”In a statement to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, a Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman said Tehran had made preparations and communicates closely with neighbours.”The Iron Gate plan is merely a wordplay, the Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing ‌severe economic pressure ‌to cause economic ⁠collapse in Iran ‌through ⁠this approach,” Mohebbi told the semi-official Fars news agency.CBS/AFP Dozens killed in Saudi strikes in Houthi-held region in Yemen, Houthis say Houthi authorities said Sunday that Saudi strikes killed 33 people, many of them women and children, in Yemen’s Sanaa province, as deaths mount in the country’s revived civil war.The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed in the impoverished country.The death toll from the Saudi-led coalition’s strikes on Al-Shariya village located east of Yemen’s capital Sanaa has risen to 33, with 39 people wounded, Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi said in a post on X.The Houthis’ Saba news agency said on Saturday that operations to recover victims from the rubble were ongoing and that “aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes.””According to the near-final figures, the dead include 12 men, 8 women and 13 children, while the injured include 16 men, 10 women and 13 children,” Alasbahi said.Saudi Arabia, fighting in Yemen in support of the internationally-recognized government, has not commented on the report. The Saudi-led coalition in a statement on Saturday said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi missile launched towards Riyadh province.The Iran-backed Houthis, meanwhile, said they had launched multiple missile and drone attacks against Saudi troops and infrastructure both in the Gulf kingdom and Yemen.Yemen slipped back into war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in July after years of relative calm, opening a new front in the conflict in the Middle East.Since then, Saudi Arabia has regularly bombed Houthi positions, while the group has expanded its attacks against the oil-rich kingdom. U.S. forces disabled commercial vessel in Gulf of Oman, CENTCOM says U.S. forces disabled a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday after the ship’s civilian crew ignored repeated warnings and attempted to violate the naval blockade against Iran multiple times, U.S. Central Command said.A U.S. military aircraft fired precision munitions at the stern of St.Kitts-flagged M/V Huda, which disabled the ship after the crew was directed to abandon targeted spaces. The cargo vessel tried to depart regional waters after visiting an Iranian port, CENTCOM said.”All mariners transiting near Iranian coastal areas or surrounding waters are advised to heed blockade warnings from U.S. forces,” CENTCOM said.Earlier Saturday, CENTCOM said “strict enforcement” of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz continues.Iran established a chokehold on the strait, a vital strategic waterway in global trade, at the beginning of the war, and has claimed attacks on tankers. The U.S. says its blockade had redirected 144 commercial vessels through the end of October.-CBS/AP U.S. launches new task force to disrupt Iranian ground shipping routes In what the U.S. military is calling an expansion of the naval blockade, U.S. Central Command announced a new task force Saturday aimed at disrupting the illegal shipment of prohibited items like military technology or illegal revenue streams over ground transportation routes.”The establishment of Task Force Iron Gate reinforces the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea,” U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement. “Strengthening CENTCOM’s collaboration with U.S. interagency partners will further constrain Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military.”The U.S. said the task force will be made up of about 20 civilian and military personnel, based in Florida, and will be tasked with the goal of “preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea.”The announcement made no mention of how the task force would be carrying out its goal, including whether any military operations will be involved.China, Iran’s largest trade partner, has taken to conducting commerce over land, especially by train across central Asia due to the blockade on Iranian ports. The U.S. said the blockade has prevented some $25 billion in Iranian crude oil from being sold, much of it in Asia.In addition to China, Iran has conducted large amounts of trade over land and via the Caspian Sea with Russia. The landlocked Caspian Sea has proven especially advantageous with a direct route between southwest Russia and northern Iran. Tehran is located just 80 miles south of the Caspian Sea. Whether any U.S. ships could take to the Caspian Sea was again unclear. CBS News has reached out to the White House for more details. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard lifts self-imposed missile-range limit Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted a self-proclaimed limit of 1,200 miles on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets amid fears of renewed all-out war.The comments by the spokesman of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came days after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.Asked at a Tehran press conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said, “That restriction has been lifted for us.”He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements.Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 1,200-mile limit — a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach. However, U.S. officials have said technology from Iran’s space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a naval mine and caught fire. It did not identify the nationality or destination of the tanker, which it said had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.” 22 killed in Saudi strikes on Yemen’s Sanaa province, Houthis say Saudi strikes killed 22 people, most of them women and children, in Yemen’s Sanaa province, as deaths mount in the country’s civil war, Houthi media said on Saturday.More than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed in the impoverished country, according to the U.N.”The number of victims of the Saudi enemy warplane massacre in the Al-Shariyah area … has risen to 22 citizens, most of them children and women, while the number of wounded has risen to 30,” the Houthis’ Saba news agency said.The Iran-backed group’s Al-Masirah TV provided the same toll.Saba said earlier Saturday that operations to recover victims from the rubble were ongoing and that “aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes.”The Saudi-led coalition in a statement on Saturday said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi missile launched toward Riyadh province.On Friday, an attack on a market in Taiz province killed 30 people. The Houthis said Saudi airstrikes were to blame, while Yemen’s government forces accused the Iran-backed group of having fired a ballistic missile at the site.AFP/CBS Iranian army says forces learned from war with the U.S. Iran’s military is “stronger” and more motivated than it was when the United States and Israel started the war in February, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, citing an army spokesman.”Today, the Islamic Republic’s armed forces… having gained experience from direct confrontation with the United States and the Israeli regime, are on higher alert and are stronger than they were at the beginning of the war,” spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said, according to the state news agency IRNA.”They now possess greater motivation, commitment, and self-confidence.”CBS/AFP Trump confirms U.S. carried out more “minor strikes” on Iran President Trump confirmed on Friday the U.S. carried out “minor strikes” in Iran, after local state media reported missiles striking Qeshm Island on the Strait of Hormuz.Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr. Trump was asked whether the U.S. carried out more strikes on the island.”I don’t want to talk about it,” the president said. “We do minor strikes. They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe 5.”On Saturday, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that two missiles had struck Qeshm island, added that there was no official information on the damage. Iranian state television also reported two explosions on the island. White House offers up to $20 million reward for information on Iran’s nuclear program The Trump administration is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information about Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. military’s Central Command announced Friday.The reward, which is being administered through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice national security program, also comes with “possible relocation” for the tipster.The State Department said it is calling for “information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above.”Since the U.S. launched its war with Iran in February, President Trump has repeatedly reiterated that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.In its reward form, the State Department noted that according to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran’s uranium stockpile is believed to include uranium that has been enriched to 60% purity – “a level that is a short technical step from” the 90% level required to produce nuclear weapons. “Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce uranium at such a high enrichment level,” the State Department said in its Rewards for Justice post. “Experts estimate this quantity, if enriched further, could be enough for several nuclear weapons.”Iran suspended IAEA inspections following the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities by the U.S. and Israel.”The regime’s lack of compliance with the IAEA on safeguards obligations has led to the agency’s loss of ‘continuity of knowledge’ regarding Iran’s production and inventory of key components like centrifuges,” the State Department said Friday. U.S. coordinates with Canada to target Iranian digital asset providers The Treasury Department on Friday targeted several firms exchanging Iranian rials and other currencies for allegedly helping Tehran evade sanctions and fund its proxies.Some of the providers dealt with Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges already sanctioned by Washington.The latest targets were coordinated with the Canadian government as several of the individuals and entities named are based in Vancouver and Toronto.”Anyone, anywhere in the world, who helps Tehran evade sanctions risks being held accountable,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. Rubio to likely face questions about Iran at G7 foreign ministers meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to embark on his first post-midterm foreign trip to attend a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in France next week.He’ll likely face questions about the Trump administration’s policies, namely in Iran, after huge Republican losses in elections that gave Democrats control of Congress.The State Department said Friday that Rubio would travel to Paris to meet his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Monday and Tuesday. Houthis say 30 people killed or wounded in Saudi strike on market Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said Friday that a Saudi strike on a market in southwestern Yemen had killed or wounded 30 people.The Houthis’ Saba news agency said the “horrific massacre” had “resulted in the martyrdom and injury of more than 30 citizens.”The Houthis’ political bureau said in a statement carried by Saba: “It is regrettable that these documented Saudi crimes have become like a forgotten file in the drawers of the United Nations and the so-called international community.” Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of killing and wounding “dozens of civilians” in attack on market Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Friday that the Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen’s internationally recognized government had targeted a market in the southwest of the country, killing and wounding “dozens of civilians.”Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a post on X that Saudi aircraft struck the Al-Hadara market in the Taiz governorate on Friday “with three airstrikes, leaving dozens of civilians dead and wounded.””These brutal crimes will not go unanswered and unpunished,” he added.The Saudi-led coalition said Friday, meanwhile, that air defense systems had intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis at Najran, a major city in southwest Saudi Arabia.  Iran’s Revolutionary Guard say they have intercepted a U.S. drone in the Strait of Hormuz Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed Friday to have destroyed another U.S. drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.In a statement carried by the state TV network IRIB, the IRGC said a U.S. MQ-1 drone was “intercepted and destroyed over Qeshm Island by the IRGC’s new advanced air defense system.”The IRGC claimed this was the 16th American MQ-1 drone it had intercepted during the war, and the second in two days. Iranian forces have also claimed to have shot down other U.S. drones, including more than two dozen of the more advanced, and more expensive MQ-9 Reapers. Greek shipping firm says crew member killed in suspected missile strike on oil tanker A seafarer was killed in an explosion caused by a suspected missile attack on an oil tanker Thursday in the Persian Gulf, a Greek company that manages the vessel said Friday.The MT Velos Sapphire, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, which was not carrying cargo, was hit Thursday as it sailed toward Bahrain, management firm Velos Tankers said in a statement, according to Reuters.”The company is greatly saddened to report the death of one of its seafarers, who was found fatally injured on board after having initially been reported missing in the aftermath of the explosion,” the statement said.Velos said, according to Reuters, that no crew members were injured and they managed to extinguish a fire on the ship caused by the blast.The vessel was brought to Khalifa Bin Salman Port in Bahrain, and the damage to its hull was still being assessed, Reuters said. Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen says drone intercepted in Mecca region The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis said Friday that it had intercepted a drone in the region of Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, following repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Yemeni rebels.”Interception and destruction of a drone in the Mecca region,” Turki al-Malki, the coalition’s spokesman, wrote on X, without elaborating.Since the breakdown of a truce in July, Saudi Arabia has traded blows with the Houthis, who have retaliated with strikes on Saudi airports, energy infrastructure and military sites that killed at least 20 people in October.The Houthis have repeatedly denied targeting the holy cities of Mecca or Medina in Saudi Arabia and said they would not do so.On Thursday, the Saudi coalition said it intercepted a missile fired by the Houthis at the Medina region, a claim rejected by the Iranian proxy group as a “blatant and grave falsehood.”CBS/AFP Adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says Tehran now “one of the main architects” of Mideast security The Iranian supreme leader’s adviser on international affairs, Aliakbar Velayati, said Friday that Iran was now “one of the main architects” of security in the Middle East.Referring to how the U.S.-Iran war has changed the region in a series of posts on X, Velayati said that a “tsunami of geopolitical changes in West Asia swept up the Israeli and U.S. elections,” and that “Iran is now one of the main architects of the regional order, a reality that cannot be erased or replaced.”Iran is a “bridge between the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Sea of Oman,” he added, saying that “any energy or transit corridor seeking to bypass us will either be costly or unstable.””The domino effect of crises, from Gaza to the Red Sea and from Lebanon to Iraq, has shown that regional security is indivisible,” Velayati said. “Either collective security is achieved, or everyone will experience collective insecurity.”Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since being wounded in the strikes that killed his father on Feb. 28. Tanker hit by explosion in Strait of Hormuz, U.K. naval agency says A tanker was hit by an explosion Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz, a British navy agency said Friday.The master of a tanker leaving the Strait of Hormuz near Oman’s coast reported “an explosion at the waterline” of the vessel, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said, adding that the crew were all safe and the ship was “still under its own power and is continuing on its voyage.”Iran’s state media reported Thursday that five oil tankers and a tugboat had caught on fire in or near the strait after hitting sea mines. It was unclear if the UKMTO report was in relation to one of those incidents claimed by Iran.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Friday, in a statement carried by state media, that two more oil tankers had hit mines and caught on fire in or near the strait.President Trump has accused Iran of lying about such incidents in an effort to drive up energy prices. Trump holds a phone call with Qatar’s emir, a key mediator in negotiations with Iran President Trump called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News Friday, amid a diplomatic push to avoid a new round of major hostilities.Their discussion, which the White House had not provided any information about by Friday morning, came as Iran’s top diplomat made his own calls Thursday to counterparts across the Persian Gulf aimed at maintaining “stability in the region” amid concerns in many Gulf capitals that Mr. Trump will order major new U.S. strikes.Al Thani received a call from Mr. Trump, according to a statement from the emir’s office, during which the pair discussed “the latest regional developments, particularly diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region.”The emir “emphasized the importance of continuing dialogue and relying on diplomatic means to settle disputes and prevent further escalation,” the statement said. U.S. gas prices could soon dip below $4 a gallon. Why are fuel costs falling? Motorists could soon see U.S. gas prices drop below $4 a gallon for the first time since July, according to energy experts.Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at price-tracking firm GasBuddy, told CBS News he expected the national average for gas, which the price-tracking firm put at $4.06 a gallon on Thursday and early Friday morning, to dip below the $4 threshold by next week. He also predicted diesel could fall below $6 a gallon by Thanksgiving.Gas and diesel prices have both dropped over the last week, thanks largely to market expectations that the U.S. midterm election results would underscore public dissatisfaction with the Iran war and pile pressure on the Trump administration to make a deal to end the conflict, De Haan said.”Oil prices have been falling in the run-up to the election,” he said. “My read is because there was optimism that after the midterms these problems would be addressed.”Read more here. Saudi-led coalition intercepts 2 missiles launched by Houthis The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government said Friday that air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels at Najran, a major city in southwest Saudi Arabia.”Debris fell as a result of the interception, and damage assessment is underway,” the statement said. Iran says 2 tankers hit mines, caught fire in and near Strait of Hormuz Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement carried by state media Friday that two oil tankers hit mines and caught fire in or near the Strait of Hormuz, a day after Tehran claimed five other tankers had met similar fates.”Two violating oil tankers — one east of the Strait of Hormuz and the other within the Strait itself — that attempted to transit via an unauthorized route struck mines,” the IRGC said in a statement, according to state news outlets.”These two tankers had deactivated all their navigation and identification systems. Supported by the aggressive and terrorist U.S. military, they attempted to exit the Strait of Hormuz via an unauthorized path; however, upon striking mines, they caught fire and were immobilized,” the statement said.On Thursday, Iranian media reported that five oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz in similar incidents.There has been no confirmation of any of the incidents from maritime officials, and President Trump has accused Iran of making up such attacks to drive up global energy prices.A U.K. naval agency said earlier this week, however, that despite repeated assurances from the U.S. that shipping lanes through the strait are open and safe, there were at least 30 attacks on commercial vessels in the region during October alone, a record high. Since the war began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran has sought to control traffic through the strait, a key passage through which, before the war, about a fifth of global crude oil supplies would typically pass. In response, the U.S. imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.The U.S. military has escorted tankers through the strait, which, along with other routes has helped bring shipments from the Gulf back up to or at least near to pre-war levels, but ships continue coming under attack.CBS/AFP Putin and Iran’s security chief discuss building an oil pipeline from Russia to Iran Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei in Moscow Thursday to discuss strengthening ties between the two countries, including with the potential construction of a pipeline for Iran to import Russian gas.Speaking with journalists after their meeting, Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, called it “an extremely important exchange,” according to the Iranian embassy in Moscow.”During the meeting with Mr. Vladimir Putin, discussions were held regarding the construction of gas pipelines from Russia to Iran,” Rezaei was quoted as saying by Iranian state TV.He noted the aim was to enable Iran “to address its own gas shortages while also facilitating the sale of Russian gas to neighboring countries.”Despite being a major producer, Iran has long suffered natural gas shortages, which have been exacerbated by the war with the United States and Israel.During the most intense phase of the fighting, which lasted nearly 40 days, the U.S. and Israel struck key Iranian infrastructure including natural gas refineries, according to Tehran.CBS/AFP Trump touts imminent decision on whether he’ll order new strikes on Iran President Trump said Thursday that people will soon know his decision on whether to order a new round of U.S. strikes on Iran.Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believed it would take Iran 25 years to rebuild the country from the damage already inflicted during the war.The president said he didn’t want to bring further destruction to the country, but he may not have a choice.Mr. Trump kept the possibility of a major new U.S. assault on Iran on the table in the run-up to the midterm elections this week, but hadn’t renewed the threat since his Republican Party’s dismal performance in the vote, which he acknowledged was, at least in part, a repudiation of the war.Mr. Trump told the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday evening, as U.S. ballots were counted, that he had no immediate plans to order new strikes on Iran. This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-trump-us-strait-hormuz-persian-gulf/

[Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Reuters] At least six people were killed and more than a dozen others injured when a gunman suspected to have ties to the far-right opened fire in central Krakow, the second largest city in Poland.Three bodies were found at his home when it was searched by police. Here is everything we know so far.How did the attack unfold?The attack began shortly before 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT) in Krakow’s Main Market Square, the bustling central point of the city which is popular with tourists.Police said a man drove into the square before beginning to fire “at random people from his car”.Footage shows scenes of panic as people fled, with the sound of gunfire clearly heard.A passing tram was shot at during the apparently random attack, shattering windows but no passengers were injured.Armed officers raced to the scene and engaged in a gunfight with the suspect, who was shot within three minutes of the attack beginning, preventing a further massacre, officials said.A 25-year-old man who was arrested remains in hospital after having surgery for a gunshot wound. The Krakow branch of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office in Poland has announced an investigation into what constitutes “a terrorist offence”. Distressing footage authenticated by BBC Verify shows the moment a police officer confronts the suspect on the ground before firing his weapon several times.The officer then falls to the ground, apparently having been injured himself.Shop windows in the square have signs of damage, seemingly from bullets, with glass shards scattered along the floor.City officials have urged people who live in the city and tourists to stay away from the area while an investigation continues.The suspect’s car, found at the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets, was checked for possible explosive devices, police said, but none were found. Residents of nearby buildings had been evacuated while the operation was under way.How many people have died and been injured?Six people – four women and two men – are confirmed to have been killed in central Krakow. Four victims are Polish, while a British national and an Austrian woman were also killed. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said three bodies – two women and one man – were found at the gunman’s house when it was searched after the attack.On Sunday, Polish police confirmed those three victims had been identified as the alleged gunman’s 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother and his sister, who was 21-years-old.Sixteen people, including five foreigners, two police officers and the attacker, were taken to hospital. The interior ministry later said they were from Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia.Tusk later named the injured officers as Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Morański.One of the police officers was described as being in a “very critical condition” by a Polish government minister after being shot three times while arresting the attacker. The officer is undergoing surgery, he added.In an update on Sunday, police spokesperson Katarzyna Cislo told Radio Krakow two women who were sent to hospital following the incident had been released and the remaining individuals in Krakow’s hospitals are in a stable condition.She said this included the two police officers who were injured.Polish authorities have not confirmed the names and ages of the other victims. [BBC] What do we know about the suspect and motive?Police have identified the attacker as a 25-year-old Polish man but have not confirmed his name.Local governor Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said the gunman remains in a critical condition at hospital.The suspect was wearing “military-style attire” and had a military-grade weapon, according to a police spokesperson. However, authorities said he was not a soldier.”Many pieces of weapons and ammunition were found in his vehicle”, the spokesperson added.Polish media has reported the suspect had a firearms permit and may have obtained the weapons from his family home.A minister has said early investigations indicate he was inspired by “far-right ideologies”. The minister also described him as an “ultra-nationalist” without giving further details.His home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city around 200km (125 miles) from Krakow, has been searched with support from counter-terrorism police.How did witnesses describe the attack?The shooting happened in one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, a busy location which is also a popular tourist destination.Jonathan Balshaw from Ipswich was there with his Polish girlfriend Dominika. The couple were outside St Mary’s Basilica, in the corner of the square, when the shooting started.Jonathan said: “We ran down the side of the church and through the side door and hid with several other people until the gunfire died down.”A lot of shots were fired, more than 20 with it sounding like multiple different firearms – there were two distinctly different noises.”Caitlin Shasby from Newcastle arrived in Krakow yesterday with her friend Jon for a long weekend.She said they heard shots from their hotel room but were not sure what was happening until their hotel rang them and told them to “stay in our rooms until further notice”.Local media outlet Gazeta Krakowska reported two surgeons rushed to help after the shooting stopped.Dr Mateusz Wierdak and Prof Michał Pędziwiatr spoke to the media outlet saying they helped the wounded after having lunch with their families.Pędziwiatr says two police officers “were conscious, in superficial contact with gunshot wounds to the chest”, adding: “The perpetrator was also conscious, expressed pain, and had gunshot wounds to the abdomen, thigh, and chest.””We don’t feel like heroes, but we did everything a paramedic would do at the scene of such an incident.”What has the reaction been in Poland and internationally? After travelling to Krakow, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said : “Until now in Poland we haven’t had such drastic cases of terrorism…that’s what we have to call this cruel attack on people’s lives here in Krakow.”Krakow Mayor Łukasz Gibała has signed an order declaring a period of mourning in the city which will last until Wednesday, 11 November.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “I’m shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting in Kraków today.””My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives, everyone injured and all those affected by this senseless violence. The United Kingdom stands in solidarity with the people of Poland,” he added.British foreign secretary Ed Miliband said on social media the UK government “deeply mourns” those who died in the “appalling attack”.US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose described it as a “savage and murderous attack”. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said the shooting was “a tragedy that will be felt far beyond Poland”.President Volodymyr Zelensky of neighbouring Ukraine called the shooting “shocking.” “On behalf of the Ukrainian people, and personally, I extend my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims,” he wrote on social media.Additional reporting by Olivia IrelandThis article originally appeared on BBC at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmd7q15drwgeo?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog has officially given opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form the next government. After the formal announcement on Sunday evening, Eisenkot, who ran as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, now has to launch complicated negotiations with potential coalition partners. He has six weeks to form a government. The Oct. 27 elections gave neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot a clear majority in parliament. Among the kingmakers — and most politically fraught potential allies — are the Arab-led parties. They made historic gains in the election and have been a target of Netanyahu and his allies. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story follows below. Israel’s president has designated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, as his choice to form the next government. President Isaac Herzog announced his decision late Saturday after days of consultations with the parties elected to parliament on Oct. 27. Herzog’s decision is another blow to Netanyahu, who lost his parliamentary majority in the election. But it does not guarantee that Eisenkot will be the next prime minister. After an official ceremony Sunday, Eisenkot will launch complicated negotiations with potential coalition partners. He will have up to six weeks to form a government. At the same time, Netanyahu will try to prevent Eisenkot from succeeding. Here’s a closer look at what lies ahead: There was no clear winner In Israel, people vote for parties, which form alliances. A coalition needs to have a majority of at least 61 seats in the 120-member assembly, known as the Knesset, to form a government. Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot secured a majority in the election. Netanyahu’s coalition plunged from a peak of 68 seats to just 53. The opposition bloc, led by Eisenkot, won 48 seats, and Arab-led parties secured the other 19. But after his consultations last week, Herzog decided that Eisenkot has the best chance of cobbling together a coalition. That is because the Arab-led parties said they were ready to support him. It remains unclear, however, whether Eisenkot is willing or able to bring them into a future coalition. After three years of wars in Gaza and across the Middle East, cooperating with Arab-led parties is politically difficult. Eisenkot faces significant challenges on the road to becoming prime minister Eisenkot has three options: a power-sharing agreement with Netanyahu, support from Arab-led parties — something several members of his bloc do not support — or an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox parties, which demand military exemptions for their community. Eisenkot, a former army chief, and his partners made equal military service a central part of their campaign. Specifically, they are seeking an end to the long-standing draft exemptions enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox. After Herzog announced Saturday that he would tap Eisenkot, the candidate vowed to form a government as quickly as possible. But doing so will almost certainly require compromises or broken promises. Netanyahu presses unsubstantiated claims against Arab voters Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed the election was “stolen” by Arab parties, which rallied their supporters to vote in large numbers. But he has offered little evidence to support the claims. Netanyahu is expected to continue his pressure tactics against Eisenkot, saying any alliance with the Arab parties would be an act of betrayal. Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has launched an investigation into possible foreign interference in the vote, but the country’s Central Elections Commission — and Herzog — say the vote was valid and even if wrongdoing is found, it did not have a significant impact on the result. Netanyahu called for a “national unity” government with Eisenkot on Saturday night. But it remains unclear whether the two rivals could agree on a power-sharing agreement, and these coalitions are fragile and often collapse. Support from Arab-led parties faces opposition within Eisenkot’s bloc Eisenkot has the option of forming a coalition with the support of the two Arab-led parties, which won an unprecedented 19 seats in the highest Arab election turnout. Only one Arab party, Ra’am, has ever joined a governing coalition, in 2021. Ra’am has said it will support Eisenkot, but the party does not have enough seats on its own to push Eisenkot into the majority. Breaking with decades of precedent, the second Arab-led party, the Joint List, said it will support Eisenkot from outside the coalition to end Netanyahu’s grip on power. That cooperation is fraught for both sides. For the Joint List, it would mean backing a government unlikely to end Israel’s wars or curb settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. For Eisenkot and other opposition parties, it would mean aligning with parties that not only criticize Israel’s policies but reject its identity as a Jewish state. Eisenkot has laid out a series of conditions for any Arab party to join his coalition, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and declaring the Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist organization. One of Eisenkot’s partners, the more conservative Yisrael Beytenu party, already has said it will not join a coalition with Arab-led parties. Cooperation with ultra-Orthodox falters at anger over military exemptions Eisenkot also says that any party that joins him must support mandatory military service or civil service. It remains unclear whether the ultra-Orthodox religious parties are prepared to compromise. These religious parties, which were part of Netanyahu’s outgoing coalition, want to preserve their military exemptions, which they say are needed to preserve their devout lifestyle. But the exemptions have grown especially controversial among the broader public during the past three years of war. Anticipating its position as a swing vote, the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism has left the door open to cooperating with Eisenkot. What’s expected this week in Israel Eisenkot will officially receive the mandate to build a coalition during a ceremony on Sunday. It comes after two days of meetings last week between Herzog and the political parties. Eisenkot has 28 days to form a coalition, with a possible two-week extension from the president. If he is unable to form a government, Netanyahu could then be given a chance put together a coalition. If Netanyahu is also unable to do so, the country will return to elections early next spring. Israel’s new members of Knesset will be sworn in on Tuesday evening. Netanyahu and his Cabinet will remain in office in a caretaker capacity, with limited powers, until a coalition is formed. This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/netanyahu-rival-given-first-chance-112410767.html

During the first two years of President Donald Trump’s second term, the Justice Department has been on the front lines of some of his most contentious actions, pursuing his perceived foes and agenda with relish and little pushback or oversight from Congressional leaders.The next two years will likely be dramatically different.Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.As Democrats prepare to take control of the House and Senate following sweeping victories in the midterm elections, the Justice Department is bracing for a barrage of subpoenas and investigative inquiries as lawmakers say they will aggressively scrutinize the agency in a way Republicans did not while in the majority.Attorney General Todd Blanche will face that opposition with a diminished workforce and withered trust from lawmakers, the public and the courts.Under the Trump administration’s stewardship, the department has been rocked by mass firings and an exodus of career staffers; an obliteration of the traditional distance between the agency and the White House; and several controversial cases brought against Trump’s adversaries. Congressional Democrats have been eager to explore these areas during their years in the minority.Now in control, they aim to make the remaining two years of Trump’s term a reckoning, putting Blanche and his advisers on the defensive and holding them to account for what the lawmakers have framed as the complete perversion of the Justice Department’s mission during this administration.Relevant committees are already building their investigative ranks and have been hiring from the large pool of former career prosecutors who were fired or departed from the Justice Department since the start of Trump’s second term.Several prominent department officials, meanwhile, have left the agency in the election’s wake, including John Eisenberg, head of the national security division; Harmeet K. Dhillon, leader of civil rights division; and Jason Reding Quiñones, the top prosecutor in South Florida.These Senate-confirmed officials were all involved in some of the Justice Department’s most high-profile efforts, including a push to investigate Trump’s nemeses, and the White House and Blanche had grown increasingly frustrated with their performances.In the weeks before the midterms, Blanche had one of his busiest stretches as attorney general, unleashing a flurry of prosecutions and investigations into Trump’s foes and jumping into politically fraught election-related cases.Since the election’s outcome became clear, Blanche has signaled he’s digging in for the fights to come.”They’re being extraordinarily transparent in what they want to do,” he said of congressional Democrats in a Fox News interview Friday, his first public comments about the post-election environment since the midterms.”It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, any Republican, who lived through the last several years before Trump was reelected,” Blanche said. “It’s so disgusting to see them not even wait before the week is out.”Trump, in the years before winning another term, was indicted four times – including twice by the Justice Department – and Blanche served as his defense attorney.It seems unlikely that the White House will be eager to walk back the sea change it has ushered in at the department or step away from some of its controversial criminal probes.Trump has been vocal about wanting the Justice Department to carry out a campaign of retribution against his foes, even as cases have faltered in court or been rejected by grand juries.On Friday, Trump announced that his longtime aide Stephen Miller would become his new chief of staff. The pugilistic adviser, who as deputy chief of staff was the White House official most directly involved with overseeing the Justice Department’s work, has been a driving force in shaping some of the agency’s most sharp-elbowed, far-right stances on immigration and cultural issues.Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), who is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee in the next Congress, reacted to the announcement of Miller’s new title with in a statement suggesting he should “lawyer up.”Blanche responded on social media, writing: “The Chief of Staff already has a lawyer. The Attorney General of the United States and the Department of Justice.”The expected heads of the House and Senate Judiciary committees – Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) – have also signaled a lengthy list of investigative targets.Among the areas of likely inquiry is the deal Blanche signed off on earlier this year to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.The agreement drew bipartisan condemnation in Congress for its proposed nearly $1.8 billion fund to reward people who claimed they were victims of political prosecutions. Facing congressional opposition, Blanche this summer said the fund would not proceed.Democrats have condemned another, still intact aspect of the deal, which granted immunity to Trump, his sons and several associated entities from inquiries into their past tax returns, a potentially lucrative benefit for a president who has frequently complained of onerous IRS audits.The department’s handling of the investigation into deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, those who associated with him and the congressionally compelled release last winter of its investigative files last winter will also be a focus of lawmakers.And Democrats have expressed eagerness to probe the cottage lobbying industry that has sprung up around Trump’s extensions of pardons to allies and explore the prosecutions of the president’s foes, such as former FBI director James B. Comey, who faced a third set of criminal charges weeks before the midterms.How intensely Blanche and other top Justice officials resist those oversight efforts remains to be seen.The Justice Department and Congress often have an uneasy relationship, with lawmakers wanting more information about criminal investigations than law enforcement officials are typically willing to give up.Traditionally, the Justice Department would help determine whether subpoenas sent to the executive branch and private companies it dealt with should be complied with or contested on grounds of executive privilege, which allows presidents to keep certain communications and internal deliberations secret.But the Trump administration risks further exacerbating these already fraught conflicts because of its expansive view of executive power. The department is expected to fight to keep executive branch information protected from congressional investigations.The department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides counsel on legal matters to the executive branch, concluded in an opinion released earlier this year that executive privilege extends beyond just government officials and also includes certain communications Trump “or his direct advisers” have with figures outside the government. Legal observers say this perspective will probably be challenged in court.When Democrats won back control of the House after the midterms in Trump’s first term, initially antagonistic relations between the Justice Department and Congressional Democrats developed over time into an uneasy working relationship, said John S. Moran, who served as a senior department official during the period.”There’s a natural inclination to feel like ‘I need to fight, and assert the prerogatives of my side,'” said Moran, now co-chair of the congressional investigations practice at McGuireWoods. “Over time, though, if this is the 10th time there’s a fight over a congressional request [with] the deals that have been worked out, the accommodations that have been reached, the issues that have been conceded … it gets a bit easier.”Trump initially struck a conciliatory tone as midterm results came in, telling reporters Tuesday that he would find ways to work with the new Congress.But on Saturday, Trump posted on social media that Democrats were “going around threatening a lot of people,” including Blanche, saying this was extortion and “Weaponization and Lawfare at another level.” Calling this a “criminal act,” Trump said he was ordering the Justice Department to investigate the matter.Multiple people interviewed said it would be tough for Blanche to build a productive relationship with Democrats on the Hill.During the Trump administration so far, the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) – which is the Justice Department section that serves as its liaison with Congress – has been largely sidelined. Blanche’s office has made many of the big decisions on how to deal with Congress, according to multiple people familiar with the department, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss internal workings of the section.Typically, according to Carlos Uriarte, who headed that office during the Biden administration, the staff at OLA is responsible for building relationships with both parties in Congress. But the people familiar with OLA said many of the experienced career staffers there have left and the office did not work on making headway with Democrats while they were in the minority party.That strategy could hurt them the next two years.”I suspect there is a path for DOJ to repair some of those relationships on the Hill,” Uriarte said, “if the administration is willing to take a more conciliatory approach, at least with Congress.”Related ContentThis article originally appeared on Washington Post at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/justice-department-braces-congressional-scrutiny-110000317.html

WASHINGTON − Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Nov. 7 said she hopes the court will reverse some of the “crazy things” it’s done, including the blockbuster 2024 decision that presidents have immunity for their official actions. “There’s some opinions that I hope in my lifetime will get overturned. The immunity case is one of them,” said Sotomayor, who authored the dissent from the court’s three liberal justices to that decision. She made the comments during a public discussion about civics education at the Washington Library at Mount Vernon. More: After standing ovation for blistering dissent, Sotomayor urges people to read both sides Sotomayor said she has sympathy for teachers whose job it is to explain what’s happening with the law, because “there’s been some systemic changes in my court’s jurisprudence.” “I’m hoping that the court will take back some of the crazy things that it’s done. I’m only joking,” she said, before adding, “Maybe not,” and singling out the immunity decision. In her vehement 2024 dissent, Sotomayor wrote that the decision “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.” More: What’s next for Trump and the Supreme Court after Democratic blue wave The 6-3 ruling upended the case against President Donald Trump over his attempts to subvert his 2020 election loss. “The President is not above the law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s conservative majority. “But under our system of separated powers, the President may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for his official acts.” Sotomayor’s public appearance came days after Trump’s party lost control of the House and the Senate and a majority of governorships as voters expressed dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. The loss of the Senate means it will be difficult for Trump − who nominated three Supreme Court justices during his first term − to get an additional nominee confirmed if there’s a vacancy. More: Democratic Senate could shake up Trump nominations, legislative priorities Asked at the public event how hopeful she is about the rule of law, Sotomayor said that it’s going through a “rough patch.” “So many challenges to it on so many different levels. This is a really critical point in our history,” she said. “Every election now seems really important to people, because they are. And that sense of fear, I know, is not comfortable for many people.” Sotomayor said the nation will “come out of this,” though it will be changed. “There are some norms we may have lost forever,” she said. “But I don’t think that we will fail as a democracy. But I think we’re going to have a hard patch figuring out what that means.” This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Crazy things’: Sotomayor hopes Supreme Court will reverse some of its rulingsThis article originally appeared on USA TODAY at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/07/supreme-court-sotomayor-trump-immunity/92668430007/