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BRUSSELS (AP) — World leaders urged peace and a return to talks as the military strikesby the United States and Israel on Iranraised concerns about whether the violence could spread across the region and tensions rose with Iran vowing devastating blows after the killing ofIran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Germany Iran US Israel

A massive explosion rocked the Iranian capital on Sunday morning as the Israeli military said it was targeting the "heart" of the city after stating it cleared the path to the capital Tehran the day before. Meanwhile, Iran pressed on with its retaliation campaign targeting U.S. military bases in Gulf states.

The demise of Khamenei, who had no designated successor, will likely throw Iran's future into uncertainty and exacerbate already growing concerns of a broader conflict. But it has also been giving hope to Iranians who have suffered from political repression.

Speaking on Sunday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recognized the complexities of the situation. In recognition of the legal ambiguity of the U.S. attack, Merz said that, globally, international law was being respected less and less and there was little point in lecturing allies.

He said the Iranian regime was a "terrorist" one, endangering its citizens and the region and therefore Germany essentially agreed with the goals of the U.S. action.

"The Federal Government shares the relief of many Iranians that this mullah regime is now coming to an end," Merz said. "Together with the United States and Israel, we share the interest in ending this regime's terror and stopping its dangerous nuclear and ballistic armament."

The evolution of the situation was hard to predict, the German chancellor said. Not only is it unclear how far Iran is willing to go with its counterattack, but also "we do not know whether the plan to bring about political change from within through external military strikes will succeed."

To reduce risks, Merz set out four principles his country would pursue in its further actions the region: creating a new order in the Middle East in which all neighbors recognize Israel's right to exist; pursuing a treaty that commits Iran to ending its nuclear and ballistic missile program; supporting the future economic development of Iran and helping Iranians to freely determine their future.

World leaders urge resumption of talks

Fears about the conflict spreading were amplified on Sunday, when British Defense Minister John Healey said Iranian missile and drone strikes came within a few hundred yards (meters) of a group of 300 British military personnel in Bahrain, and that two missiles were even fired in the direction of Cyprus, where the U.K. has bases.

"We don't believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless, it's an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act," Healey told Sky News.

He said British planes will intercept any Iranian drones and missiles they see.

Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis posted on X that reports suggesting missiles had been fired toward Cyprus are not valid and that "there is no indication whatsoever that any threat to the country has occurred."

Top diplomats from the 27 European Union nations are holding an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the situation around Iran and the next steps for the bloc.

"The death of Ali Khamenei is a defining moment in Iran's history. What comes next is uncertain," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Sunday. "But there is now an open path to a different Iran, one that its people may have greater freedom to shape."

Pope Leo XIV said Sunday he was "profoundly concerned" about the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and urged both sides to "stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss."

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During a U.N. Security Council on Saturday, the U.N. chief and many countries urged a halt toattacksand a return to negotiations to prevent the conflict from expanding further into the region and beyond.

Secretary-General António Guterres told the council that everything must be done to prevent an escalation. "The alternative," he warned, "is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability."

Perhaps cautious about upsetting already strained relations with Trump, many nations, including several in the Middle East, refrained from commenting directly or pointedly on the joint strikes but condemned Tehran's retaliation.

The 22-nation Arab League called the Iranian attacks "a blatant violation of the sovereignty of countries that advocate for peace and strive for stability." That coalition of nations has historically condemned both Israel and Iran for actions it says risk destabilizing the region.

"Return to your senses ... and deal with your neighbors with reason and responsibility before the circle of isolation and escalation widens," Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the United Arab Emirates' president, told the Iranian theocracy on Sunday.

Condolence messages

On Sunday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin blasted Khamenei's killing, which he called "a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law."

"The blatant killing of the leader of a sovereign state and the incitement of regime change are unacceptable," China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

"These actions violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations."

He said attacking a sovereign state without U.N. Security Council authorization undermines the foundation for peace established after World War II.

Protests and celebrations

At least nine people were killed in clashes with police Sunday after hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

Hundreds of Iraqis wore black and waved flags belonging to Iran-backed Iraqi militias and red flags that symbolize vengeance in the Shiite Muslim faith as they marched across Sadr City to decry the killing of Khamenei.

Demonstrations were also held from New York to Berlin and beyond by members of the Iranian diaspora and their supporters, celebrating the end of Khamenei's rule.

Iranians in Berlin and Vienna were seen cheering and dancing on Sunday in celebration. Some of the demonstrators waved flags of the Iranian monarchy, with Israeli and U.S. flags also on display. Hopeful Iranians also took to the streets in multiple U.S. cities.

Ciobanu reported from Warsaw and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Reporters around the world contributed to this report.

In early 2025, as measles began to tear through West Texas, Katherine Wells knew she needed money.

Though the outbreak was concentrated in Gaines County, a community an hour away, Wells, who heads Lubbock's public health department, needed more staff to respond to numerous exposures at local pediatricians' offices, urgent care centers, restaurants and day cares.

"We were really relying on staff that aren't hourly, because I can work them for 80 hours if I have to, which is horrible," Wells said. In emergency planning meetings with the Texas Department of State Health Services, she pleaded for roughly $100,000 to hire temporary workers to help her exhausted staff.

"I was like, can I just have money so that if I need a few hours of work from a retired school nurse who we've worked with before, I can just pay them?" Wells said.

The answer, she said, was consistently "no." The state did send a few travel nurses from other areas to help, but no extra funding.

To stop a measles outbreak from escalating out of control, public health workers have to snap into action, contacting every person exposed to the virus as fast as possible, determining their vaccination status or health risk, and then try to woo them into either getting vaccinated or staying home for three weeks in quarantine.

Wells pulled at least half of her staff to work the outbreak response on top of their other daily duties.

What's the real cost of a measles outbreak?

Wells couldn't estimate what it cost the Lubbock Health Department to contain the virus before the outbreak, which began in a mostly unvaccinated Mennonite community in late January of last year, ended months later.

Since 2019, more than two-thirds of counties and jurisdictions have reportednotable drops in vaccination rates, an NBC News/Stanford University investigation found. Among states that track MMR rates, more than half their counties — 67% — fall below the level needed to stop a measles outbreak.

An alarming new report calculates the price tag for the U.S. if those rates continue to fall.

If measles vaccination rates continue to drop just 1% annually for the next five years, the cost to the U.S. could reach $1.5 billion a year, according to a new report from theYale School of Public Health.

Armed with existing county-level vaccination coverage data, Yale researchers used mathematical models to calculate predicted increases in measles cases, hospitalizations and their associated medical and societal costs.

Based on their projections, $41.1 million would be needed each year to cover patients' basic medical needs, including health insurance, and $947 million for public health response efforts such as surveillance and contact tracing. Lost productivity in the workforce, the report found, could reach $510.4 million each year.

Dr. Dave Chokshi, chair of Common Health Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health group that partnered with Yale for the project, said a measles outbreak reverberates through all parts of "the health ecosystem."

The human consequences of measles outbreaks "are important for us to face very squarely," said Chokshi, who was previously health commissioner of New York City. "But we also wanted to make it clear that there are economic consequences, including employees absorbing lost work, public health departments that are stretched too thin to respond, and health care systems straining to shoulder the burden of emergency response."

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. Since then, outbreaks here and there have generally been stopped quickly. But backsliding vaccination rates have increased the risk of massive eruptions and now threaten the nation's measles elimination status.

In late January 2025, as President Donald Trump was taking his second oath of office, measles cases were beginning to spread in West Texas. Under his presidency, following the guidance of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the administration has not strongly endorsed vaccines as a way to end such outbreaks.

Instead, the messaging on childhood vaccination has focused on "personal choice" rather than public health necessity.

In the first two months of 2026, there have beenmore than 1,000 confirmed cases of measles, nearly half of the 2,281 in all of 2025. Ninety-four percent of the people infected were unvaccinated.

According to a recent analysis from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the initial financial hit to a community from a measles outbreak is about $244,480. That's the money local and state public health departments can expect to pay for resources like vaccine clinics and staffing until the outbreak is over, said study author Bryan Patenaude, an associate professor of health economics.

"We know the ingredients that go into dealing with a measles outbreak, how many cases wind up becoming severe and seeking care, because they have to be really well-traced and documented," Patenaude said.

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The report, which was posted in Octoberon medRxiv, a site that releases research before it's gone through peer review, tracked measles outbreaks in 18 states since 2004 (not including the 2025 cases in Texas, Utah and Arizona).

On top of the upfront cost, each additional case of measles averages $16,000 a pop for contact tracing, medical expenses and quarantine monitoring. Five measles cases could reach $324,480, while an outbreak of 50 might cost $1 million, the Johns Hopkins report estimated.

In 2019, Clark County, Washington, experienced an outbreak of 72 measles cases. Health officials spent hours making certain that people adhered to quarantines.

"We brought in staff from the state, the CDC, even from other jurisdictions as far away as Idaho to help us with the case investigation and contact tracing," said Dr. Alan Melnick, the public health director for Clark County. The team contacted people who were quarantined every day. Ultimately, 87% of subsequent measles cases occurred among people who'd been quarantined, Melnick said.

An assessmentfound that productivity losses from the relatively small outbreak in Clark County soared to over a million dollars.

The measles vaccine is free in the U.S.

"The public should be aware of what a good deal vaccines are," Melnick said, "because they save a lot of money in addition to saving lives."

As a former California legislator, pediatrician Dr. Richard Pan helped strengthen state vaccine requirements following a 2015 measles outbreak linked to Disneyland. "People need to recognize that there's a tremendous cost to these outbreaks," he said. "That cost, by the way, is being borne by American families."

South Carolina is wrestling to contain the country's largest single outbreak in more than a generation. Spartanburg County has been on high alert since fall, with at least 1,000 cases and possible exposures in fast food restaurants, stores, medical clinics and a government office.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health wouldn't divulge how much contact tracing, mobile vaccine clinics and increased staffing have cost.

A department official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had approved a request to redirect several hundred thousand dollars previously allocated for emergencies.

"Additionally, South Carolina requested and received $100k from CDC available for vaccine-preventable disease responses," Louis Eubank, deputy incident commander for the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said in a statement to NBC News. "South Carolina and the CDC continue to discuss additional funding needs and resource support."

A senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the CDC sent $8.5 million to seven areas of the country experiencing measles outbreaks over the past year, but declined to say where or give additional details.

"Amounts were awarded based on requests from the state or local health agency and availability of funding at CDC," the person said.

As the South Carolina outbreak spilled over into North Carolina, Dr. David Wohl, a global health and infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has scrambled to prevent a surge beyond the 23 cases already confirmed.

"There's so many people working on this in my health care system," Wohl said. "I can't tell you how many calls, how many hours, how stretched people are."

Intangible, indirect costs

The potential economic burden of measles outbreaks is easily calculated. The personal cost of having children unprotected against the world's most contagious virus is impossible to measure.

Hundreds of people infected with measles over the past year — more than 1 in 10, according to the CDC — have been hospitalized with dangerously high fever, pneumonia, trouble breathing and dehydration.

Mothers and fathers have spent countless, blurry hours by their child's bedside. Most recovered. Some are left with the long-term consequences of encephalitis — inflammation of the brain that can lead to seizures, blindness, deafness and learning disabilities.

Rarely, measles can hide in the body for a decade before re-emerging by attacking the brain and nervous system. The condition, calledsubacute sclerosing panencephalitis, is almost always fatal.

Two little girls in Texas, ages 6 and 8, died of measles much sooner, within weeks of their diagnosis.

While the economic consequences of measles outbreaks are real, the human impact cannot be ignored, Chokshi said. "Behind every number is a child struggling with a devastating illness, or a family reckoning with an unexpected hospitalization, and, in the worst circumstances, a death or a long-term consequence from what is a preventable disease."

CINCINNATI – Nine people were injured in amass shooting during an event at concert venue in Cincinnatiearly Sunday, March 1, police said.

The people injured atRiverfront Livewere taken to local hospitals and their injuries are not considered life-threatening, according to Adam Hennie, interim chief of the Cincinnati Police Department.

The call for the shooting came in about 1 a.m. ET, Hennie said. The music venue and the area around it were blocked off as police investigated at 3 a.m. ET.

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Police have not said anything about suspects or what led up to the shooting. An event was in progress at the venue, Hennie said, but he did not say what it was.

The shooting occurred the same day at least three people died and 14 were injured during amass shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas. There have been 56 mass shootings, in which four or more people are injured, so far in 2026, according to theGun Violence Archive.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer:9 people injured in Cincinnati mass shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — Villanova starting forward Matt Hodge injured his right leg Saturday night against No. 15 St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

Villanova St Johns Basketball

With the Wildcats trailing by 24 early in the second half, Hodge lost the ball as he tried to make a move and went down in a heap clutching his right knee in obvious pain near the basket.

After the Red Storm scored quickly at the other end, a whistle blew and play was stopped. Hodge received attention from the athletic training staff as he remained on the floor. He didn't put any pressure on his right leg as he was helped off the court, and the 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman from Belgium never returned to the game.

Hodge finished with six points and two rebounds in the89-57 loss.Following the game, Villanova coach Kevin Willard said he didn't have any update on the injury yet.

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Hodge began the night averaging 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He was shooting 36.4% on 132 attempts from 3-point range.

It could be a costly loss for Villanova, which entered 22-6 andappears headed to the NCAA Tournamentfor the first time in four years. In their first season under Willard, the Wildcats sit third in the Big East standings and are assured the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP News mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr issued a mea culpa on Saturday after appearing to question one of his newest players' medical issues.

The Warriorsacquired center Kristaps Porziņģis from the Atlanta Hawks at the NBA trade deadline, only a few months after the 7-footerrevealed he dealt with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)while playing for the Boston Celtics in last year's playoffs.POTS is a non-life-threatening blood circulation disorder in which a number of symptoms can emerge when the subject stands up.

Porziņģis had missed three straight games due to "illness" up to Fridaym leading to Kerr being asked about the POTS issue during an appearance on 95.7 The Game. His answer,via the San Francisco Chronicle:

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"When I heard about the trade, I read about the POTS diagnosis and I called [Hawks GM] Onsi [Saleh]… and said, 'Is this POTS story real?' And he said, 'It's actually not POTS.' That was some misinformation that was out there. I don't know if anybody's asked him about it. Bottom line is, whatever was bothering him in Atlanta that was keeping him out had nothing to do with the illness (this) week. He was just sick. … He was sick enough where he was losing a lot of fluid and contagious so we just kept him home and he's doing a lot better now."

A day later, Kerr acknowledged he made an errorwhile speaking with reporters before Saturday's gameagainst the Los Angeles Lakers:

"It was a stupid mistake by me to talk about something that I'm not qualified to talk about. I regretted even trying to discuss the diagnosis. That was my mistake. I need to leave that to professionals."

When asked for details about what Porziņģis is dealing with, Kerr said, "It's a medical issue way behind my capabilities of explaining anything. He's sick, he won't play, we'll keep monitoring."

Porziņģis has been a member of the Warriors for more than three weeks now, but has only played one game. He was dealing with an Achilles injury at the time of his trade, delaying his Golden State debut to Feb. 19., and he missed the three games after that with the illness.

He was again out Saturday,a 129-101 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, though he did practice Friday. Kerr indicated an appearance in Monday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers is a possibility.