UR MAG

Iran's new supreme leader has delivered his first written message, warning the US and Israel that they must pay "compensation" for their actions and that the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route will remain closed to apply pressure, as the conflict increasingly spreads to the seas.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the war is causing the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market," as a global body of countries agrees to release emergency oil reserves to help absorb the shock.

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And, US President Donald Trump continues to give conflicting comments about when the war might end.

Here's what to know on Day 13.

What's happening in the region?

• Supreme leader's written message: Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first message Thursday, calling for unity among the Iranian people and warning that the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route, will remain closed as a "tool of pressure." He warned the US and Israel that they must pay "compensation" for their actions.

• Strikes target oil: Two foreign oil tankers in Iraqi waters were set ablaze by an Iranian attack, killing at least one person, with 38 other crew members rescued. Iraq's oil ports subequently completely halted operations. Separately, emergency crews in Oman are battling a fire at fuel storage tanks, after a social media video geolocated by CNN appeared to show an Iranian drone hitting a tank at the port. And Bahrain said that Iranian attacks targeted fuel tanks in the country's north early Thursday local time.

• Attacks near strait: A container ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates was struck by an "unknown projectile" early Thursday – after another three vessels were hit by projectiles near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. So far six vessels have been struck in the Persian Gulf in the last two days. The straits carries roughly one-fifth of global crude oil shipments. Representatives of G7 nations met on Wednesday to discuss possibly escorting ships "when security conditions allow."

• Hezbollah and Israel: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it carried out a joint attack with the militant group Hezbollah on Israel, striking more than 50 targets across five hours of sustained fire on Wednesday. Israel later carried out a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon, its military said. One strike in the capital Beirut killed eight people, at a beach that was housing many displaced residents. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday instructed the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon.

• Iran strikes continue: Israeli drone strikes targeted IRGC and Basij checkpoints in Tehran, killing at least 10 "security defenders," Iranian state media said Thursday. A resident in Iran's capital Tehran recounted a night of terror overnight into Thursday, including drones flying low over residential buildings and a relentless bombing campaign. "I don't know how anyone can survive that kind of bombing. I really feel like they won't leave anything behind," they told CNN.

• Millions displaced: Up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the conflict with Israel and the US began on February 28, according to the United Nations' refugee agency. Most of them are reportedly fleeing from Tehran and other urban areas toward the north of the country and rural areas in search of safety, the UNHCR said in a statement. "This figure is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs," it said.

• Gulf nations: Kuwait's international airport was damaged in a drone attack Thursday morning, the country's civil aviation authority said. Other Gulf states intercepted new waves of Iranian drones and missiles early Thursday morning too, including in the global business hub of Dubai, where a drone fell on a building near the luxury neighborhood of Creek Harbour.

What are the other main headlines?

• Oil supply disruption: The flow of crude and oil products through the crucial Strait of Hormuz has reduced to "a trickle," the IEA said in its monthly oil report, as it warned of an unprecedented disruption to global oil supplies. Global oil supply would plunge by 8 million barrels per day this month, it said.

• Emergency reserves: Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil into the global market – the largest release of emergency oil stocks in history. Soon after, US President Trump authorized the US to release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning next week.

• Surging prices: Despite the IEA's announcement, oil prices rose past $100 per barrel again for a period overnight into Thursday – three days after it hit a four-year high.

• Emergency measures: Several Asian countries are taking drastic action to reduce their oil consumption. Universities in Bangladesh have closed to save energy. Austerity measures in Pakistan have shuttered schools and shifted services online. Vietnam is calling on companies to encourage remote working while Thailand has ordered government workers to work from home.

• Trump's speech: Speaking in Kentucky on Wednesday, Trump claimed that "we won" in Iran, without providing evidence. It also contradicts his earlier comment that "we're not finished yet" with the war. Later that night, he told reporters: "It's just a question of when, when do we stop?"

• Scrutiny back home: The Pentagon told US lawmakers in a private briefing Tuesday that preliminary estimates suggest the war cost at least $11 billion in the first six days. And in a rare show of GOP criticism, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski slammed Trump's handling of the war, demanding public hearings and saying that mixed messaging from the administration is leading to confusion.

• The school strike: The US military accidentally struck an Iranian elementary school likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base, according to sources who were briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation. The attack killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, Iran's state media reported.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — At least 50 people have died and 125 others are missing after landslides hit three districts in southern Ethiopia following a week of heavy rains, a local official said Thursday.

Ethiopia Landslide

The landslides happened in Gamo Zone and affected the Gacho Baba District, Kamba District and Bonke District, according to Gamo Zone director of disaster response Mesfin Manuqa.

Manuqa said that one person was pulled out of the mud alive during the rescue operation.

The Gacho Baba District communication chief, Abebe Agena, said most of those who died were found buried in the mud. It is not yet clear how many households were affected.

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Tilahun Kebede, president of the South Ethiopia Regional State, expressed his sorrow over the disaster and urged residents to move to higher ground as rains continue.

"Given that it is the rainy season and these types of disasters could happen again, I am calling on communities living in the highlands and flood-prone areas to take the necessary precautions," he said.

Mudslides and floods caused by heavy rainfall are common in Ethiopia, especially during the rainy season.

In July 2024, adeadly mudslidecaused by heavy rain claimed the lives of 229 people in southern Ethiopia.

The free speech rights of first graders are at the center of an ongoing legal fight in California.

In aMarch 10 opinion, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a lower court's previous ruling in favor of a school district accused of violating a student's First Amendment rights by punishing her for a Black Lives Matter drawing. The decision sends the case back down to the district court for further legal proceedings.

The student at Viejo Elementary School in Mission Viejo, California, identified only as B.B. in court documents, gave the drawing to an African American classmate, identified as M.C., after a class reading about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 2021, the court said in its opinion.

B.B. "felt bad" that "black people ... were put in a worse position," the opinion said. The drawing depicted "all her friends holding hands" along with the words "Black Lives Mater (sic) any life."

"B.B. did not know that 'Black Lives Matter' had any particular meaning but included the phrase because it was at the end of the book her teacher read to the class," the court said.

M.C.'s parent complained to Principal Jesus Becerra, saying that "while we can appreciate the sentiment of Black Lives Matter, my husband and I do not trust the place where the 'any life' is coming from."

In response, Becerra "allegedly told her (B.B.) that the picture was inappropriate and racist" and prompted her to apologize to the other student, the opinion said. B.B. testified that her recess was taken away for two weeks over the incident, though Becerra denied that any such punishment took place and that he described the drawing in that manner.

B.B.'s mother was unaware of the matter until nearly a year later, which eventually led to a lawsuit against Becerra and the Capistrano Unified School District. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleged that Becerra violated B.B.'s First Amendment rights.

The district court determined the drawing was not protected speech under the First Amendment and that teachers "are far better equipped than federal courts at identifying when speech crosses the line from harmless schoolyard banter to impermissible harassment," the opinion said.

The court grantedsummary judgment, a ruling without a full trial, in favor of the school district.

The appeals court said the lower court made a mistake in doing so, citing the "conflicting evidence about whether Becerra could reasonably conclude that the drawing interfered with M.C.'s rights and whether the actions taken were reasonably necessary."

Caleb Trotter, senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing B.B. and her mother, said they were "thrilled" with the decision but that it's "somewhat frustrating" the matter had to be litigated in the first place.

That sentiment was echoed by several First Amendment advocates in interviews with USA TODAY.

"When people say, 'don't make a federal case about this,' this is the kind of thing they're talking about not making a federal case out of," saidAdam Goldstein, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

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USA TODAY reached out to the school district and its legal counsel for comment.

Court, experts say age is a relevant factor in student speech cases

The appeals court said the district court had misappliedTinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, a 1969U.S. Supreme Courtopinion that said a public school could not bar students from wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War under the First Amendment. The opinion famously said neither teachers nor students "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

It has since become the "lodestar for student speech," National Coalition Against Censorship Executive DirectorLee Rowlandsaid.

"In sum, elementary students' speech is protected by the First Amendment, Tinker applies in the elementary student speech context and elementary students' young age is a relevant factor," the panel said.

Though First Amendment rights are not dependent on age, whether a form of expression violates another person's rights can depend on the ages of those involved, saidDavid Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a California-based free speech group.

"Verbal insults have much different effects on someone 7 years old than on someone who's 17 years old or 18 years old," he said.

Though the school had "broader discretion" because of the young ages of the students involved, the 9th circuit panel said, "it does not relieve the school and Becerra from meeting their burden of showing that their actions were reasonably undertaken to protect the safety and well-being of the school's students."

'Don't react to the loudest voice in the room'

The matter reflects a broader trend Rowland said her organization has seen in recent years, which is student speech echoing political polarization among adults.

"It is rough and tumble, it is sometimes inappropriate ... and sometimes that environment gets replicated in schools," Rowland said.

The school's alleged action against B.B. came in response to a parent complaint, which demonstrates what Goldstein described as school officials' "tendency to want to appease people who are upset" over such speech. Knee-jerk reactions, however, can lead to unconstitutional actions, he said.

"The advice would be, don't react to the loudest voice in the room," Goldstein said. "Stop and consider the rights of students before deciding how to react."

Though the issue has likely been "challenging" for those involved, Trotter said B.B.'s family has "used it as an opportunity to teach B.B. and the rest of their family about the importance of standing up for one's rights."

BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her atbjfrank@usatoday.com.

USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.Funders do not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:First graders' free speech rights at center of revived lawsuit

CHARLOTTE -- Miami and No. 24-ranked Louisville will meet for the second time in six days on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The third-seeded Hurricanes (24-7) tied the school record for most victories in a regular season. But they will look to wipe away the taste of a 92-89 loss to Louisville on Saturday to end the regular season.

"(There's a) level of urgency from here on out that you have to play with and you have to have," first-year Miami coach Jai Lucas said.

Louisville (23-9), the tournament's sixth seed, reached the quarterfinals by overcoming No. 11 seed SMU 62-58 on Wednesday.

The Cardinals remain without injured freshman standout Mikel Brown Jr. (back) for the tournament.

"It changes their whole dynamic a little bit," Lucas said. "So you have to adjust and adapt to that, but still, the team is well built."

The Cardinals can cope with a reduction in personnel because there's an experience level that might benefit them.

"We've got a bunch of vets," coach Pat Kelsey said. "We've got one of the oldest, most mature teams in the country, and they've been through so many situations throughout the course of their career. They've logged so many minutes. They've played in big games."

Louisville's tussle with SMU brought satisfaction for Kelsey. The Cardinals shot 39.6% from the field in the victory.

"On a night we didn't shoot it our best, we just figured out a way to win," Kelsey said. "What do they say, in tournament play -- survive and advance. I think that applied."

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Late baskets from Ryan Conwell gave the Cardinals a boost against SMU. He is averaging a team-high 18.6 points per game this season.

"Just having the utmost confidence in him," teammate Adrian Wooley said. "Him being a senior, leader on the team, whatever he (does) is fine with me, as long as we are sticking to what we work on. He works on those shots each and every day, so I trust him with whatever he does."

Miami also has learned how to look ahead to the next task. As it turns out, the Hurricanes will have back-to-back games vs. Louisville -- but last weekend's result is in the past.

"Then just ready to turn the page," Lucas said. "You don't want to lose, but we got a lot of good film that we can use."

For Lucas, it will be important that the Hurricanes learn to play through the ebbs and flows of a game. There were plenty of twists when the teams met Saturday, and there could be more to come in the tournament.

"We have different styles, styles make fights, so in the first half, their style kind of got the best," Lucas said. "And in the second half, and toward the end of the game, we started to show what we're about."

All-ACC first-team member Malik Reneau, who averages 19.1 points per game, and second team member Tre Donaldson often spark the Hurricanes.

It's time for the Hurricanes to build on what they've accomplished so far.

"To finish in the top three of the ACC to get a double bye with a league that's getting eight, nine, 10 teams in the (NCAA) tournament, hopefully. is impressive," Lucas said.

--Bob Sutton, Field Level Media

Taiwan's military has grown used to the daily task of tracking Chinese warplanes flying near the island. Some days there are a handful. On others, many more. But they are a near-constant presence.

So when the aircraft suddenly stopped coming for nearly two weeks, the silence was both striking and deeply puzzling.

That spell was broken on Thursday with five People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft operating around the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours, according to Taiwan's military, with several flying near the median line that divides the waterway.

Analysts say it was the longest pause in Chinese air activity since Taiwan began publicly releasing daily military data.

"This is frankly unlike anything we've seen in recent history in terms of PLA activity around Taiwan," Ben Lewis, founder of PLATracker, an open data platform that tracks Chinese military movements around Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea, told CNN.

"Since Taiwan's defense ministry began releasing this data in 2020 the trend has been up, up, up," Lewis said. "And now this lull, which maybe has ended today, maybe not, represents a very significant change in the pattern."

Beginning February 27, Taiwan recorded 13 consecutive days without Chinese warplanes flying near the island.

One brief exception came on March 6 when two aircraft were detected in the far southwestern corner of Taiwan's air defense identification zone, but analysts say the broader pattern still represented a striking break from recent years of steadily increasing Chinese military activity.

The sudden quiet puzzled analysts and raised a range of possible explanations.

One theory is that Beijing may be trying to avoid escalating tensions ahead of a planned meeting later this month between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, where trade, technology and Taiwan are expected to feature prominently.

"If I was in Vegas, I would put it on the Trump visit," Lewis said.

Others have pointed tothe war involving Iranand the potential impact on global energy markets, though analysts say that connection is less certain.

Some observers also note that China's annual parliamentary meetings, known as the "Two Sessions," are concluding this week, a period when military activity has occasionally slowed in the past.

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Taiwan's defense minister Wellington Koo urged caution about drawing conclusions from the lull, noting that Chinese naval activity around Taiwan has continued throughout the period.

"There are a lot of theories out there," Koo told reporters on Wednesday. "But we still see Chinese naval vessels operating around Taiwan on a daily basis, and these efforts to turn the Taiwan Strait into China's internal waters have not stopped."

Indeed, Taiwan continued to track several Chinese warships operating around the island throughout the period, even as the skies above remained unusually quiet.

Lewis said the limited number of aircraft detected Thursday may not signal a full return to normal activity.

The flights came the same day a US Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft transited the Taiwan Strait, in what the 7th Fleet says is a demonstration of Washington's "commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," and the Chinese planes may have been deployed simply to monitor the American aircraft.

Even then, the response appeared muted compared with past incidents when US ships or aircraft passed through the waterway.

"Relative to previous incidents when the US Navy transited the Taiwan Strait, the number of Chinese aircraft deployed today was actually quite low," Lewis said.

That uncertainty leaves analysts watching closely to see what happens next.

Over the past five years, Beijing has dramatically increased the number of aircraft it sends near Taiwan, gradually normalizing what once would have been considered major military incursions.

On some days, Taiwan has reported dozens of Chinese aircraft operating near the island.

In that context, Lewis said, the sudden disappearance of the flights has been just as striking as their return.

"It used to be that five aircraft would make headlines," he said. "Now we're talking about zero, and that's what's unusual."

For now, the mystery remains unsolved.

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