The Associated Press

Cuba's Ministry of Energy and Mines says a total disconnection of the National Electric System has occurred, marking the second nationwide blackout reported in a week. That's according to a statement posted on social media Saturday. The ministry says protocols to restore electricity service across the country are already being implemented.

Officials in Cuba report an islandwide blackout in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. The Ministry of Energy and Mines notes a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and says it is investigating. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday warned that the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and that it was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump warned in January of tariffs on any country that would sell or provide oil to the island.

UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina are the top four teams in The Associated Press women's basketball Top 25, matching the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The top-ranked Huskies are the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA women's bracket. UConn received 29 first-place votes from a national media panel while UCLA got the other two. The team that was No. 1 in the poll heading into March Madness has won the NCAA championship 17 times out of 43 early March polls dating to 1982, the first year of the women's tournament.

Duke is the top overall seed in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, with Arizona, Michigan, and Florida also landing on the No. 1 line. Miami (Ohio), which opened the season 31-0 before a loss early its conference tournament, got in as an 11 seed despite a weak schedule. They play a First Four game on Wednesday against SMU. The tournament begins Tuesday with other play-in games, including Texas versus North Carolina State.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday would be the most intense day yet of U.S. strikes inside Iran. The Islamic Republic, its firepower diminished, vowed to fight on. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war's aim is a popular overthrow of Iran's government, and "we are breaking their bones." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said U.S. President Donald Trump "is not making anything up" as he offers varying justifications for launching the war.

Oil prices have eclipsed $100 per barrel for the first time in more than three and a half years as the Iran war hinders production and shipping in the Middle East.

A South Florida university has launched an investigation into a group chat started by an official with the Miami-Dade chapter of the Republican Party that included violently racist slurs, antisemitic comments and misogynistic language. The chat, which was denounced by the state GOP, involved students and several top conservative leaders at Florida International University, according to the Miami Herald, which viewed and independently verified the conversations.

President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration's immigration crackdown and disaster response. Trump says he'll nominate in Noem's place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin. Trump made the announcement on social media Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats. Trump says he'll make Noem a "Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas," a new security initiative he says will focus on the Western Hemisphere.

An American soldier from Winter Haven, Florida, has been identified as one of the six U.S. casualties in the Iran war. Three other soldiers were also identified. Israel stepped up airstrikes on Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site, and Iran retaliated against Israel and across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel. As explosions rang out in Tehran and in Lebanon — where Israel said it struck Hezbollah militants — the American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks. Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks but perhaps longer, hundreds of people have been killed in Iran, including people Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.

The U.S. and Israel have launched a major attack on targets across Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to "take over your government." That was an extraordinary appeal that suggested the allies could be seeking to end of the country's theocracy after decades of tensions. The first strikes of the attack Saturday appeared to target the compound home to Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear if he was there at the time. Iran launched a wave of drones and missiles targeting Israel. Several countries around the region reported explosions or being targeted. Explosions could be be heard in Qatar.