AP Afternoon Wire

"Kristi Noem fired, Intensifying Iran War, China's 5-year plan."

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By Amy Langfield

March 05, 2026

Good afternoon and welcome to your afternoon news update from AP. Today, U.S. President Trump says he’s replacing Homeland Security Secretary Noem; the chaos sown by Iran’s attacks across the Persian Gulf is key to its strategy; and China has set an economic growth target at the slowest level since 1991.

UP FIRST

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump says he’s replacing Homeland Security Secretary Noem with GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin

President Donald Trump says he’s replacing his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and will nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin. Trump made the announcement on social media on 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 that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere. Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Noem's departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

TOP STORIES

Chaos sown by Iran’s attacks across the Persian Gulf is key to its strategy

For years, Iran’s theocratic government warned it would blanket the Middle East with missile and drone fire if it felt its existence was threatened. Now, it's doing just that. Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war Saturday, Iran has unleashed thousands of missiles and drones at Israel, American military bases and embassies, and energy facilities across the Gulf. Its basic strategy is to instill fear about the dangers of a widening war in hopes that allies of the U.S. and Israel will apply enough pressure to halt their campaign. There is a risk, though, that the barrage-thy-neighbors strategy could backfire. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Key takeaways from China’s new 5-year economic blueprint and growth target

China has set an economic growth target at the slowest since 1991, in what some economists interpreted as a reflection of pragmatism as a weak domestic economy bites. China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday also released the full draft of its five-year plan for until 2030 outlining its economic and political policy priorities, which focused on technological advancements and self-reliance in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics and other advanced technologies as its rivalry with the U.S. heats up. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

IN OTHER NEWS

Beau, a bloodhound puppy, licks the face of his handler, North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Dustin Pattengale, in February, outside the Highway Patrol office in Fargo, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)

‘Everybody loves a dog’: Bloodhounds in North Dakota are blazing a trail in the Midwest

Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskyy says he’s reluctant to repair pipeline that brings Russian oil to Central Europe

Two hikers killed: Suspect in custody in Colorado in the case of 3 women found dead in Utah

Arizona disappearance: Savannah Guthrie makes offscreen visit to ‘Today’ show, first since her mother went missing

California: Britney Spears arrested and released, records show, though charge is not clear

Job cuts continue in financial sector: Morgan Stanley to lay off about 3% of its workforce

Talking about sobriety: What to say if you’re in recovery and your workplace encourages social drinking

WATCH: Tourists’ sweat creates a salty film coating Michelangelo’s ’The Last Judgment’

TRENDING

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Chase Infiniti and Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from "One Battle After Another." (Michael Bauman/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

VistaVision, a vintage format left for dead, is revived in ‘One Battle After Another’ and more

When Paul Thomas Anderson told his cinematographer Michael Bauman that he wanted to shoot “One Battle After Another” on VistaVision — a large-scale film format born in the 1950s — he had some questions. For much of the past 60 years, the few remaining VistaVision cameras have been mostly collecting dust on shelves. Though the format was widely used in the 1950s, when Alfred Hitchcock shot “Vertigo” on it and Cecil B. DeMille used it for “The Ten Commandments,” VistaVision went dormant by the early 1960s.

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