It's a fight to the finish in races that will determine control of Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — The final doors are being knocked, ads are blaring and candidates are making a last pitch to voters. Even with the high-energy final push, the races for control of Congress are at a stalemate, essentially a toss-up for the House and fight to the finish for the Senate.
The outcome of Tuesday's election will shape the country’s future, determining whether the new White House has allies or skeptics on Capitol Hill — or faces a divided Congress like this past session, which has been among the most tumultuous and unproductive in modern times.
As voters assess their presidential options between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, they also are sizing up who will represent them in Congress.
“This is why I’m an independent,” said voter Gary Motta of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who isn't happy with either choice for president, as he showed up at an early Sunday morning event for Republican Kevin Coughlin, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes.
The struggle for control of Congress has gone on for months. Candidates have tussled over the big issues — the economy, the border, reproductive health care and the future of democracy — but also over Congress itself, which had a chaotic session as the GOP-led House ousted its speaker and barely fended off government shutdowns.
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Harris and Trump focus on Sunbelt states during final weekend push for votes
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump zeroed in on the Sun Belt on Saturday as they embarked on one last weekend quest to sway every undecided voter in the battleground states. They pitched rival agendas on the economy — and more — that each insisted is what Americans want.
“We have overcome every attack, every abuse and even two assassination attempts,” Trump said at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. “And now it all comes down to this.”
Later, Trump headed to Virginia, which isn't considered a battleground state, but offered a similar message, telling supporters that there is no way he can lose and is on the cusp of “the greatest political victory in the history of our country.”
Trump predicted he would win not just the Electoral College count, but a majority of votes cast across the country, which he failed to do in two previous tries.
“We’re going to win the popular vote,” Trump told the crowd. “I think we have a really good chance to win the popular vote.”
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Israeli forces capture senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, Israeli military official says
BATROUN, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel showed few signs of easing.
Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast near the northern town of Batroun on Friday.
“The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated,” the military official said, without providing the name of the person in detention.
The operation marks the first time Israel has announced it deployed troops deep into northern Lebanon to take a senior Hezbollah operative captive since the conflict between the two sides escalated in late September. Since then, Israeli forces began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and intensified its airstrikes across the country, including southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley, killing most of Hezbollah's senior commanders.
Hezbollah issued a statement describing what happened as a “Zionist aggression in the Batroun area.” The statement did not give details or confirm whether a Hezbollah member was captured by Israel.
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Attack on central Israel injures 11 as Iran's leader promises a punishing response
JERUSALEM (AP) — An attack on a central Israeli town early Saturday injured 11 people as Iran's supreme leader vowed a punishing response to Israel's attack last week and Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza and Lebanon.
The predawn strike on Tira was one of several barrages fired from Lebanon. Many of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses as air raid sirens rang out in parts of the country throughout the day, while others landed in unpopulated areas.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel and glass shards in a direct strike on a building in Tira, a predominantly Israeli Arab town. Footage showed significant damage to the roof and top floor of the three-story building and cars below.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Saturday that it had used missiles and explosive drones to target military and intelligence facilities in northern and central Israel.
It claimed responsibility for firing missiles toward the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 base in Glilot, on the edge of Tel Aviv, and for firing rockets toward military facilities in Zvulun. Hezbollah also said it had targeted central Israel's Palmachim Air Base with explosive drones, saying they “scored precise hits on targets."
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'It is all in ruins.' The shattered lives of Paiporta at the epicenter of Spain's floods
PAIPORTA, Spain (AP) — The pictures of the smiling toddlers on the wall somehow survived.
Most everything else in the daycare — the cradles, the highchairs, the toys — was ruined when a crushing wall of water swept through Paiporta, turning the Valencia municipality of 30,000 into the likely epicenter of Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.
“We have lost everything,” Xavi Pons told The Associated Press. He said the water level was above his head inside what had been the daycare run by his wife’s family for half a century, and he pointed to the knee-high mark where the mud reached.
“I have lived here all my life. This had never happened and nobody could have imagined it would,” Pons said. “All of Paiporta is like this, it is all in ruins.”
Authorities say at least 62 people died in Paiporta, of the 213 confirmed deaths from flash floods in Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday. The majority of those deaths happened in the eastern region of Valencia, and local media have labeled Paiporta the “ground zero” of the floods.
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Trump is using election lies to lay the groundwork for challenging 2024 results if he loses
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has spent months laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the 2024 election if he loses — just as he did four years ago.
At rally after rally, he urges his supporters to deliver a victory “too big to rig," telling them the only way he can lose is if Democrats cheat. He has refused to say, repeatedly, whether he will accept the results regardless of the outcome. And he's claimed cheating is already underway, citing debunked claims or outrageous theories with no basis in reality.
“The only thing that can stop us is the cheating. It’s the only thing that can stop us," he said at an event in Arizona late Thursday night.
In 2020, Trump prematurely declared victory from the White House. He launched a legal and political effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden that culminated in the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Democrats fear he may do the same thing this year before the race is called. He wouldn't answer a question Friday in Dearborn, Michigan, about those Democratic concerns, instead pivoting to attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Local sheriff asks FBI to investigate death of Black man found hanging in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The FBI is investigating the death of a Black man in Alabama, who was found hanging in an abandoned house, following a request from a local sheriff amid fears among community members who accuse local law enforcement of longstanding, unchecked misconduct.
Sheriff's deputies found Dennoriss Richardson, 39, in September in a rural part of Colbert County, miles away from his home in Sheffield, a city of approximately 10,000 people near the Tennessee River.
The Colbert County Sheriff's Office ruled Richardson’s death a suicide. But Richardson’s wife, Leigh Richardson, has said that is not true, explaining her husband did not leave a note and had no connection to the house where he was found.
Instead, the 40-year-old fears her husband’s death was related to a lawsuit he filed against the local police department in February. Dennoriss Richardson, who coached kids in baseball and football, had alleged he was assaulted, denied medical attention, sprayed with tear gas and shocked with a Taser while in jail.
Leigh Richardson said she is not accusing a specific person but is adamant her husband didn't kill himself.
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Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges allies to act before North Korean troops reach the front
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged its allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield, and the country's army chief warned that his troops are facing “one of the most powerful offensives” by Moscow since the all-out war started more than two years ago.
Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.
“But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Zelenskyy said in a post late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
The Biden administration said Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.
On Saturday, Ukraine's military intelligence said that more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian gear and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine. The agency, known by its acronym GUR, said that North Korean troops were being trained at five locations in Russia's Far East. It did not specify its source of information.
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How to choose the best personal trainer for your fitness goals — and budget
Irv Rubenstein holds a doctorate in exercise science and has run a personal fitness training studio for 35 years in Nashville, Tennessee. Obviously, he speaks positively about the benefits of using a personal trainer, and this goes for grizzled-gym goers as well as beginners.
“Most anybody can teach you how to do a bicep curl,” Rubenstein said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But only a few people can tell you how to do it if your shoulder's hurting.”
It can be a maze finding the trainer who is best for you, Rubenstein acknowledged.
How much should credentials and education matter, or are personality and motivational skills more important? What about the cost? And how frequently should you use a personal trainer? These are just a few of the questions anyone who is searching for a trainer should ask.
“How do you discern who is best?" Rubenstein asked. "That which works best for you is the best. But finding that is the challenge.”
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At U.N. summit, historic agreement to give Indigenous groups voice on nature conservation decisions
CALI, Colombia (AP) — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates on Saturday agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation, a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of the descendants of some regions' original inhabitants in protecting land and combating climate change.
The delegates also agreed to oblige major corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources.
Indigenous delegations erupted into cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subidiary body was annouced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, Executive Director of the Rights and Communities Global Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
“It strengthens representation, coordination, inclusive decision making, and creates a space for dialogue with parties to the COP,” Raj told The Associated Press, referring to the formal name of the gathering, Conference of Parties.
Negotiators had struggled to find common ground on some key issues in the final week but came to a consensus after talks went late into Friday.
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