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The distinctive buzz of Iranian-designed drones has become a familiar sound in Ukraine over the past four years. Now, it's increasingly heard across the Persian Gulf as Tehran strikes back with the cheap but effective weapons following theattack by the U.S. and Israelagainst Iran.

The Shahed droneshave made a transformative impact on modern warfare, with Russia sending swarms of the deadly weapons into the skies above Ukraine on nightly missions.

While ballistic and cruise missiles fly much faster and pack a bigger punch, they cost millions and are available only in limited quantities. A Shahed drone costs only tens of thousands of dollars — a tiny fraction of a ballistic missile.

Available in big numbers, the drones have shown their capability to oversaturate air defenses and inflict painful damage at a very low cost.

The debut in Ukraine

After Russia's botched attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital afterits full-scale invasionwith tanks, troops and missiles in February 2022, the fighting has turned into a war of attrition that has been increasingly shaped by drones.

While swarms of small drones have played a decisive role on the battlefield, both Russia and Ukraine also have increasingly relied on longer-range drones to attack deep into each other's territory.

After reaching a deal with Tehran to import Shahed drones early in the war — Shahed means "witness" in Farsi — Russia localized their production. Russian engineers have increased its altitude, made it more jamming-resistant and fitted it with more powerful warheads.

The Russian replica of the Shahed — called "Geran," or "geranium" — has been put in production at a plantin the Russian province of Tatarstanthat has exponentially increased output. Since then, Russia has battered Ukraine with hundreds of drones in a single night – more than were used during some entire months in 2024.

By using large numbers in a single attack, Moscow's strategists seek to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and distract them from engaging more expensive cruise and ballistic missiles that Moscow often uses alongside the drones to hit high-value targets.

And while it flies slow at 180 kph (just over 110 mph), it can range as far as 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and carry a relatively big load of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives. Ukrainians have dubbed them "mopeds" for their distinctive buzz.

Ukraine has relied on mobile teams armed with machine guns as a low-cost response to the drones to spare using more-expensive Western-supplied air defense missiles. It also has developed interceptor drones and is working to scale up production, but the steady rise in Russian attacks has strained its defenses.

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Attacks in the Gulf and beyond

Following the weekend U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran has struck Israel and also unleashed a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones on multiple targets in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

They included U.S. bases, ports, airports, oil facilities and oil tankers, as well as some high-rise buildings.

Officials in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates said Sunday that air defenses had dealt with 165 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and more than 540 Iranian drones over two days. While officials said they intercepted all air attacks Saturday, debris from the knocked-down weapons sparked blazes at some of Dubai's most iconic locations.

Some Iranian drones flew as far as a U.K. military base in Cyprus. The runway at the Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri was struck by an Iranian drone Sunday, according to U.K. officials, and sirens blared there again Monday when two more drones heading toward the base were intercepted.

State-of-the-art U.S. and Israeli air defense assets have proven efficient in intercepting most of Iran's ballistic missiles launched at Israel. But the attacks using large numbers of cheap drones hit some softer targets lacking the same level of protection.

Patrick Bury, a professor of security issues at the University of Bath, said drones have transformed warfare, thanks to the combination of "the persistent surveillance and the high-precision strike" coupled with improved targeting systems andartificial intelligence.

He noted the Shahed drones can be easily hidden in the back of a truck.

"What's taken people by surprise … is the ferocity and the scale with which Iran has retaliated this time," compared with its response to the June 2025 U.S. and Israeli attacks, Bury told The Associated Press. "What the U.S. and the Israelis are hoping, I think, and calculating, that they can degrade that enough to basically then take some of the steam out."

Many observers noted the U.S. and its allies could tap the experience that Ukraine gained in dealing with Russian drone attacks.

"Our military must do more ASAP to institutionalize defensive lessons from Ukraine," said Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, posting on X.

Jill Lawless in London contributed.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City paid more than $117 million last year to settle police misconduct lawsuits in cases ranging from the violent arrests of protesters in 2020 to bad police work that led to wrongful convictions in the 1980s, according to a newly published analysis of city data. Nearly $800 million in payouts were made over the last seven years.

The largest settlements last year, totaling $24.1 million, went to two men who spent more than 20 years in prison after they were wrongly arrested and convicted for a fatal 1986 robbery in midtown Manhattan robbery. Another settlement, for $5.75 million, went to a man who said policeblinded him in his left eyewith a stun gun.

The analysis, released Monday by the nonprofit public defender organization The Legal Aid Society, comes as the nation's largest city faces a $5.4 billion budget shortfall. Along with broader cuts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed trimming $22 million from the NYPD's $6.4 billion budget as itcontinues to tout lower crime numbers. Settlements are paid out of a separate part of the city's budget. Elsewhere, they're paid directly from a police department's operating budget.

"This analysis is really about transparency around what the NYPD is costing us," said Jennvine Wong, the supervising attorney with the organization's Cop Accountability Project. "And from what we can tell here, I think it means that meaningful accountability has been lacking in the police department. It's a chronic problem that needs to be addressed."

NYPD says it's increasing accountability, helping right wrongs

In all, the city settled 1,044 police misconduct lawsuits in 2025, the most since 2019, when 1,276 were resolved. It was the fourth straight year with settlements exceeding $100 million. Last year's total was nearly double the $62.1 million the city paid in 2020 to settle 929 lawsuits. In 2024, the city paid $206.4 million in 980 lawsuits.

Those amounts are just a part of the city's overall police misconduct toll. The Legal Aid Society's analysis only includes lawsuit settlements, not claims that the city comptroller, the official in charge of financial matters, resolved prior to formal litigation.

Of last year's settlements, about $42 million were for wrongful convictions and $28 million — nearly a quarter of the payout total — involved incidents that occurred more than two decades ago. Such cases have also accounted for a substantial portion of the $796 million the city has paid to resolve police misconduct lawsuits since 2019, the NYPD said.

"While these cases are very important to address, they tell you nothing about the state of policing today," the department said in a statement.

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Under Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the NYPD "has taken significant steps to increase accountability, compliance, and change outdated policies that might create greater risk," the statement said. The department said it also works closely with the city's district attorneys' offices, providing material to facilitate their review of cases involving wrongful arrest and conviction claims.

Multimillion-dollar payouts for wrongful convictions and brutality

The men wrongly convicted in the fatal 1986 robbery, Eric Smokes and David Warren, received $13 million and $11.1 million, respectively. In a lawsuit filed in 2024 in federal court, they alleged that a corrupt detective relied on the word of an emotionally handicapped and drug-addled 17-year-old who was seeking a way out of his own separate robbery rap. Three of the four witnesses who identified Smokes and Warren as the killers only did so after being threatened with criminal charges, the lawsuits said.

Another settlement, for $3.9 million, went to Steven Lopez,a sixth man arrested with the so-called Central Park Five, now known as the Exonerated Five, after their convictions in the 1989 rape of a female jogger were overturned. The Five went to trial but Lopez, under intense police and public pressure, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge that he mugged a male jogger the same night.

Other settlements included $1.7 million for four protesters who said officers beat them with batons or threw them to the ground during a June 2020 demonstration in Brooklyn over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

The city paid $5.2 million to nine people who said they were framed in cases from 2014 to 2016 by two officers who were later convicted of falsifying testimony or paperwork.

Stop-and-frisk continues to be a concern, police monitor says

Last week, a court-appointed monitor criticized the NYPD for poorly supervising and underreporting officers' use of the tactic known as stop-and-frisk. In 2013, a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's frequent use of the tactic to search for guns and drugs violated the civil rights of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers.

Since then, the department has sharply cut down on stop-and-frisks, but continues to have "unacceptably low compliance rates" with constitutional protections, said the monitor, Mylan L. Denerstein.

The NYPD's staggering settlement costs suggest more needs to be done to drive down misconduct, and a "lack of accountability has continued to contribute to a culture of impunity," Wong said.

"These judgments and settlement costs are costing the city so much money and are costing the victims of police misconduct not just monetary losses and financial losses, but also causing real human trauma that they carry with them," she added.

Iran's leaders are scrambling to replace Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years before he was killed in the surpriseU.S. and Israeli bombardment.

Iran US Next Supreme Leader

It's only the second time sincethe 1979 Islamic Revolutionthat a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country'sdisputed nuclear program.

In the meantime, a provisional governing council composed of President Masoud Pezeshkian, hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi is guiding the country through its biggest crisis in decades. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that a new supreme leader would be chosen early this week.

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The supreme leader is appointed by an 88-member panel called theAssembly of Experts, who by law are supposed to quickly name a successor. The panel consists of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected after their candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog.

Khamenei had major influence over both clerical bodies, making it unlikely the next leader will mark a radical departure.

Here are the top contenders.

Mojtaba Khamenei

The son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.

Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi

Arafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.

Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trumpscrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians' political participation.Hassan KhomeiniKhomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather's mausoleum in Tehran.Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi MirbagheriMirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce "special weapons," a veiled reference to nuclear arms.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a "conspiracy."He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.

Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trumpscrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians' political participation.

Hassan Khomeini

Khomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather's mausoleum in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi Mirbagheri

Mirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.

He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce "special weapons," a veiled reference to nuclear arms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a "conspiracy."

He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.

WASHINGTON – A push by Republican states to ban panhandling was sidelined at theSupreme Court, which rejected on March 2 an invitation from Alabama to rule that begging is not protected speech under the First Amendment.

In an appealbackedby 19 Republican attorneys general from other states, Alabama hadasked the court to decidewhether the Constitution allows criminalizing panhandling.

A homeless man from Montgomery, Jonathan Singleton, successfully challenged the state's panhandling bans as a violation of his free speech rights.

'Today it is me. Tomorrow it could be you'

Singleton was cited six times for violating a state law against soliciting contributions, including for holding a sign that read "HOMELESS. Today it is me, tomorrow it could be you" while standing in the grass near a highway exit.

Violators could be punished with fines up to $500 or three months in jail under one anti-begging law.Another measure sets fines up to $100 or as many as 10 days in jail for soliciting contributions from people in cars.

After Singleton filed a class-action lawsuit in 2020, lower courts blocked enforcement of the laws.

A federal appeals court based in Atlanta cited its previous decision in a different case from Florida that begging is speech protected by the First Amendment.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said Alabama's laws are different from a ban on panhandling on Fort Lauderdale's beaches upheld in 1999,since those restrictions weren't citywide.

Alabama told theSupreme Courtthat officials need more leeway to address panhandling amid the homelessness crisis and a "dramatic growth" in policies aimed at dealing with the problem.

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'Be practical.'Obama says Democrats need to change approach on homelessness

At the birth of the nation, states banned 'idleness' and 'wandering'

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall argued that begging was a crime at the start of the nation. So it should not be protected speech under the First Amendment.

"At the founding, States commonly prohibited idleness, wandering about with no course of business or fixed residence, begging in the streets, and the like," Marshall wrote in his appeal. "The basic theory, inherited from the English, was to distinguish those who could work [but refused] from those who could not."

More:20 US states sue to block Trump from restricting homelessness funding

Is begging communication? Courts have said it is protected by First Amendment

Lawyers for Singleton, some of whom work for the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Homelessness Law Center, countered that the historic laws Alabama cites "criminalized the conduct of voluntary idleness, not the communicative aspect of begging."

And even if they did cover begging, Singleton's lawyers said, First Amendment protections aren't determined by what laws were on the books at a single moment in time.

That's why Alabama's argument cuts against the position taken by courts across the country and against the Supreme Court's "long and unbroken line of precedent recognizing that speech seeking charitable relief is protected by the First Amendment," his lawyers wrote.

When initiating the lawsuit in 2020, theSouthern Poverty Law Center saidAlabama "should dedicate more resources to housing, shelter and health care that would meet those needs rather than jailing or ticketing people that ask for help."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Supreme Court won't hear Alabama's bid to end protections for begging

Amy Schumer attended the New York Knicks Game against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, March 1

NEED TO KNOW

• She showed off her "mom dance" moves on the big screen alongside actress Francis Benhamou

• Schumer, a longtime Knicks fan, featured the Knicks City Dancers in her 2015 film Trainwreck

Amy Schumer's still got the moves!

The comedian, 44, had some fun at a New York Knicks game on Sunday, March 1, which got her featured on the "Mom Moves Dance Cam" alongside pal, Francis Benhamou.

Schumer appeared to be ready when the camera panned to her, showing off her moves while decked out in Knicks gear.

"Mom Dance Cam coming in hard," theLife & Bethstar wrote on herInstagram Story.

She also shared aselfiefrom the game at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks took on the San Antonio Spurs, beating them 114 to 89.

"Said go New York @nyknicks," Schumer captioned the pic with her pals.

Schumer is a longtime Knicks fan, highlighting the team and particularly the Knicks City Dancers, who she featured in her 2015 comedyTrainwreck.

In the film, Schumer famously joined the dance troupe in a grand gesture to her boyfriend Aaron, played byBill Hader.

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Sherecreated her dance numberat a Feb. 2025 game, taking her moves to the court with the rest of the City Dancers.

Schumer wasn't the only comedian in attendance at Sunday's game.Larry David,Ben Stiller,Whoopi Goldberg,Christine Baranskiand more were seen in aInstagram postshared by the Knicks.

The outing comes amid a time of highs and lows for Schumer, whofiled for divorcefrom husband Chris Fischer in January after more than seven years of marriage. The former couple shares son Gene, 6.

Schumer has also been celebrating her recent weight loss after shedding 50 lbs.

"Pics of yourself when you're finally feeling strong and beautiful are not a cry for help," shepreviously wrote on Instagramafter posting pics of a photo shoot. "They are a celebration of life and health. Love to the single moms out there."

She previously shared, "This year is about self-care and self-love."

Read the original article onPeople