By ROD McGUIRK

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.

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The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, concluded that Iran had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later, Albanese said.

Shortly before the announcement, the Australian government told Iran’s Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi that he will be expelled. It also withdrew Australian diplomats posted in Iran to a third country, Albanese said.

An alert to Australians in Iran noted the embassy’s closure and urged them to “strongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so.”

“Foreigners in Iran, including Australians and dual Australian-Iranian nationals, are at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest,” the warning read.

Australia updated its warning to travelers to its highest level: “Do not travel” to Iran.

Iran’s government denied the allegations, while its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called Albanese a “weak politician.”

“Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “Canberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by war criminals.”

Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also branded Albanese a “weak politician who had betrayed Israel” after an Aug. 11 announcement by Albanese that his government’s recognition of a Palestinian state will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

‘Dangerous acts of aggression’

Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.

Fire crews and police at the scene of a fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 6, 2024. (Con Chronis/AAP Image via AP)

Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, a 32-year-old Sydney-based former chapter president of the Nomads biker gang, has been charged with directing the fire bombings of the Sydney café as well as the nearby Curly Lewis Brewery. The brewery was apparently confused for the café and mistakenly targeted three days earlier for an antisemitic attack.

Giovanni Laulu, a 21-year-old man from Melbourne, was charged last month with being one of three masked arsonists who caused extensive damage to the synagogue in December.

A second alleged arsonist, a 20-year-old man also from Melbourne, is expected to appear in court Wednesday, a police statement said. He has not been publicly named.

“ASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion,” Albanese told reporters. “The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that Canberra would keep some diplomatic lines open to Tehran to advance Australia’s interests. She added that it was the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Terrorist organization

Albanese said that Australia will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Australia’s law makes providing support to a listed terrorist organization a crime.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, right, and Director-General of ASIO Mike Burgess speak to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)

The government has previously rejected calls to list the Revolutionary Guard under existing terrorism laws because it is a government entity.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has been accused of carrying out attacks abroad in the past, though it broadly denies any involvement. The Guard’s Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is its expeditionary arm and is accused by Western nations of using local militants and criminals in the past to target dissidents and Israelis abroad.

A spokesperson for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the terrorist designation for the Revolutionary Guard, adding in a statement that the group was “outraged” that a foreign actor was behind the crimes.

“Foremost, these were attacks that deliberately targeted Jewish Australians, destroyed a sacred house of worship, caused millions of dollars of damage, and terrified our community,” the statement said.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Israel has arrested several people on charges they had been paid or encouraged by Iran to carry out vandalism and monitor potential targets there.

‘A matter of community cohesion’

Iran denied Australia’s allegations through its Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who tried to link it to the challenges Australia faced with Israel after announcing it would recognize a Palestinian state.

“It looks like that the action, which is against Iran, diplomacy and the relations between the two nations, is a compensation for the criticism that the Australians had against the Zionist regime,” Baghaei claimed.

Albanese previously resisted calls to expel Iran’s envoy to Canberra before, analysts said, including in 2024 when Sadeghi was summoned for meetings with foreign ministry officials over his social media posts.

Michael Shoebridge, a former Australian defense and security official and director of the think tank Strategic Analysis Australia, said he didn’t believe the move was prompted by Israel’s complaints.

“I don’t think that’s a matter of Australia-Israel relations, but a matter of community cohesion here in Australia,” he said.

Suspected foreign actors

There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.

Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.

Neither ASIO director-general Mike Burgess nor Albanese explained what evidence there was of Iranian involvement.

Burgess said no Iranian diplomats in Australia were involved.

“This was directed by the IRGC through a series of overseas cut-out facilitators to coordinators that found their way to tasking Australians,” Burgess said.

While antisemitic incidents increased in Australian after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 2023, Iran was responsible for a transition in October last year when the violence more directly targeted people, businesses and places of worship, Burgess said.

“Iran started the first of those,” Burgess said.

Previous versions of this story incorrectly reported that Albanese accused Iran of directing an attack on a Melbourne mosque rather than a Melbourne synagogue, and incorrectly spelled the name of that synagogue. It was the Adass Israel Synagogue.

Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand; and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.

By KIKI SIDERIS and ISABELLA O’MALLEY

Having air conditioning at home is a luxury that keeps people comfortable during the hottest months of the year, and it’s debated whether the AC should stay blasting or be turned off when people head to work during the day.

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Some swear that turning off the AC when they’re gone for a few hours is the most energy-efficient, costing-saving method. Others say it’s better to leave it running continuously, preventing the system from straining to rapidly cool the house down after the home has gotten warmer throughout the day.

Three experts interviewed by The Associated Press agreed that setting the thermostat a few degrees higher than normal while you’re away is generally the best way to balance energy efficiency against comfort and humidity.

While turning an AC unit off for several hours and turning it back on typically saves money and energy compared to continuously running it, that approach can lead to mold problems in humid environments as well as wear and tear that can cause more frequent repairs. The equation can also vary depending on other factors including comfort level, AC unit type and building insulation.

Air conditioning strategies differ in humid or dry climates

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, adjusting your thermostat by 7-10 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours a day can save up to 10% a year on heating and cooling.

Experts say there are a lot of factors to consider when deciding what AC habits save the most energy and money.

“If you’re gone for like 15 minutes to go to the grocery store, you don’t get any gain” by turning off your AC said Elizabeth Hewitt, professor and urban planning expert at Stony Brook University.

But as a general rule, “if you’re going for your work day, say for eight hours or so, you’ll almost always save more energy and money by turning things off,” she said.

In some climates, however, turning off the AC might not be feasible, so residents can set back their AC a few degrees instead of blasting cold air all day.

In dry places like Arizona, you can let the home warm up more by raising the thermostat a few degrees higher. But in humid climates like Florida, air inside the home can become damp and harder to cool, and turning the AC off for long periods can increase the risk of mold since the system helps control indoor moisture.

Bumping up the thermostat by 1 degree Fahrenheit  yields about a 3% savings in cooling costs, said Patrick Phelan, mechanical engineering professor at Arizona State University.

Phelan also said leaving your AC off for hours and then turning it back on could lead to wear that results in more frequent repairs. That is because it can take AC systems 15 to 30 minutes after they are turned on to perform most efficiently.

How much energy and money you can save depends on the kind of home you live in, said Gregor Henze, an architectural engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Homes built with heavy materials like concrete or brick hold in cool air longer, while older, draftier houses heat up faster. In less insulated homes, Henze said, it makes sense to adjust the thermostat even if you’re stepping out for just a few hours, because the indoor temperature can rise quickly.

Some AC units save more energy than others

Whether you have a window unit, a smart thermometer or central air could influence your savings.

Window units are generally less efficient because they’re installed in an open window, making it difficult to seal out hot air completely, said Hewitt. She added that spraying “cheap foam spray insulation in open windows or areas that are drafty is a really low-hanging fruit that doesn’t cost a lot of money and really helps retain the indoor temperature in your home.”

Phelan says smart thermostats are a handy tool to remove the mental burden of tinkering with your manual thermostat multiple times a day. Smart thermostats “learn” by monitoring the occupancy with a sensor and raise the temperature when no one is home to conserve energy and lower it when people return.

“If you’re going from just an ordinary manual thermostat to installing a smart one like a Nest, then you can expect something like 10% savings,” said Phelan.

Air conditioning for residential and commercial buildings in the U.S. consumes about 4-7% of the nation’s total energy consumption, according to a study Phelan co-authored. “That is a lot. And that’s not counting, say, cooling going to data centers, which is a different category entirely,” he said.

How to cool your home without air conditioning

Each expert said simple steps like blocking sunlight can go a long way in keeping homes cool.

Henze pointed to “time-honored strategies” such as opening windows at night when it’s cooler. In dry climates, that night air doesn’t add much moisture, but in humid regions it can bring in dampness the AC will later need to remove.

Hewitt added that closing your blinds can make a difference of several degrees.

Phelan also noted that some blinds are designed to reflect sunlight and said tinted window films are another option.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By JALAL BWAITEL, Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli forces carried out a rare daytime raid on Tuesday in the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded, according to local medics, as people throwing stones scattered after gunfire and tear gas.

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Israel said it targeted money exchanges linked to Hamas. But the raid was likely to further undermine the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority as it seeks to capitalize on the recent decision by some major Western countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The Palestinian Authority, which is led by rivals of Hamas, did not immediately comment on the raid. It cooperates with Israel on security matters and exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank. Many Palestinians view it as a corrupt and autocratic entity.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 58 people were wounded in the raid, eight of them by live fire and 14 by rubber-coated bullets. A few dozen people hurled rocks at a line of Israeli armored vehicles as they rolled into the city center. The military said it detained five people “suspected of terrorist activity.”

Associated Press footage showed people running as tear gas canisters landed on busy streets and sidewalks, an Israeli soldier firing rifle shots into the air and people carrying a wounded youth to an ambulance.

Violence in the West Bank has surged during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting combatants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has also been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Israeli forces routinely operate in Ramallah and other cities administered by the Palestinian Authority, but daytime raids into downtown are rare.

Associated Press journalist Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire one of the seven governors of the Federal Reserve will likely end up in court and could more clearly define the limits of the president’s legal powers over the traditionally independent institution.

Legal experts say the Republican president’s claim that he can fire Lisa Cook, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, is on shaky ground. But it’s an unprecedented move that hasn’t played out in the courts before, and the Supreme Court this year has been much more willing to let the president remove agency officials than in the past.

If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the board, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. A less-independent Fed could leave Americans paying higher rates for mortgages, car loans and business loans, because investors could demand higher rates to own bonds to offset greater inflation, pushing up borrowing costs throughout the economy.

“It’s an illegal firing, but the president’s going to argue, ‘The Constitution lets me do it,’” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia University and author of a book about the Fed. “And that argument’s worked in a few other cases so far this year.”

Menand said the Supreme Court construes the Constitution’s meaning, and “it can make new constitutional law in this case.”

The most likely next steps for Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s board in 2022, are to seek an injunction against Trump’s order that would allow her to continue her work as a governor. But the situation puts the Fed in a difficult position.

“They have their own legal obligation to follow the law,” Menand said. “And that does not mean do whatever the president says. … The Fed is under an independent duty to reach its own conclusions about the legality of Lisa Cook’s removal.”

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Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform late Monday that he was removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud.

Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement. “I will not resign.”

Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those bought to rent.

Cook has retained Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney. Lowell said Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority,” adding, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.