Harris and Trump offer new details about policies and strategy in dueling interviews

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the presidential race moves into its final weeks, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump embarked on an interview blitz that offered new details about their policy priorities and their political strategies.

In recent days, Harris has sat with Charlamagne tha God, whose radio show is especially popular among younger and Black audiences, and appeared in a combative 30-minute interview on Fox News, typically a safe haven for Republicans. Trump, meanwhile, participated in a contentious interview with the editor of Bloomberg News at an economic forum in Chicago, though the crowd was friendly to him, and participated in town halls on Fox News and the Spanish-language network Univision.

Here are some takeaways from the cascade of appearances:

Both candidates have largely avoided traditional interviews during the campaign, preferring to sit before friendly hosts, often in nontraditional media settings. The two-day interview marathon was a noteworthy partial break from that strategy.

Harris, whom the Trump campaign hammered for not doing interviews after replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, has ramped up the pace this month. The vice president appeared on ABC's “The View,” spoke with radio host Howard Stern and taped a show with late-night comedian Stephen Colbert, among other appearances. She also sat down with the newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” as is traditional for presidential candidates, while Trump canceled his appearance with the show.

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Harris calls on Republican voters to put 'country first' as Trump woos Latino voters

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — Surrounded by more than 100 former Republican officeholders and officials, Democrat Kamala Harris urged GOP voters on Wednesday to put “country first” and abandon Donald Trump.

The Democratic presidential candidate made her case to Republican voters that the patriotic choice was her party in next month's election because Trump is “unstable” and “unhinged" and would eviscerate democratic norms if given a second White House term.

“America must heed this warning," said Harris, speaking at a rally near where Gen. George Washington led hundreds of troops across the Delaware River to a major victory in the Revolutionary War.

Joined by the former lawmakers and government officials for a rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, Harris said, “Anyone who tramples on our democratic values as Donald Trump has, anyone who has called for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution of the United States as Donald Trump has, must never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States."

The rally was part of Harris' effort to appeal to a swath of Republican voters in battleground states that she believes still can be swayed.

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Israeli strikes kill 27 in Lebanon, including in a town with a dark history of civilian deaths

QANA, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across Lebanon, killing at least 27 people over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday, including more than a dozen in a southern town where Israeli bombardments in previous conflicts are seared into local memory.

Elsewhere in the south, a city’s mayor was among the dead in a strike that Lebanese officials said targeted a meeting to coordinate relief efforts.

The Israeli military said they were targeting a Hezbollah commander in the strikes late Tuesday on the southern town of Qana, where 15 people were killed. Associated Press photos and video of the scene showed several flattened buildings and others with their top floors collapsed. Rescue workers carried away the remains of dead people and used a bulldozer to remove rubble, as they searched for more victims.

Israel said the target was Jalal Mustafa Hariri, a Hezbollah commander in charge of the Qana area.

In 1996, Israeli artillery shelling on a United Nations compound housing hundreds of displaced people in Qana killed at least 100 civilians and wounded scores more people, including four U.N. peacekeepers. During the 2006 war, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed nearly three dozen people, a third of them children. Israel said at the time that it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher behind the building.

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Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dies at 31 in Argentina hotel fall

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne, 31, whose chart-topping British boy band generated a global following of swooning fans, was found dead Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, local officials said.

Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Argentina's capital, resulting in “extremely serious injuries.” Medics confirmed his death on the spot, the statement said.

Pablo Policicchio, the communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.” Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time, he said, warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

The hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call obtained by the AP saying they had "a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol ... He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.” The manager's voice became more anxious as the call went on, noting the room had a balcony.

Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, told Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel that authorities were investigating the circumstances of his death and conducting an autopsy.

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Judge invalidates election rules passed by Trump-backed board in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge has declared that seven new election rules recently passed by the State Election Board are “illegal, unconstitutional and void.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox issued the order Wednesday after holding a hearing on challenges to the rules. The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention — one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.

Cox found that the rules are “unsupported by Georgia's Election Code and are in fact contrary to the Election Code.” He also wrote that the State Election Board did not have authority to pass them. He ordered the board to immediately remove the rules and to inform all state and local election officials that the rules are void and not to be followed.

The Associated Press has reached out to the lawyers for the State Election Board, as well as the three Republican members who had supported the rules, seeking comment on the judge’s ruling. They could appeal but time is running short with less than three weeks to go until Election Day.

The State Election Board, which is controlled by three Republicans endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has passed numerous rules in recent months mostly dealing with the processes that happen after ballots are cast. Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election but claimed without proof that widespread fraud cost him victory in the state.

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A Texas board rejects clemency plea from a man facing execution in shaken baby syndrome case

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas state board on Wednesday declined to stop what could be the first execution in the U.S. in a case tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, rejecting clemency pleas from a man whose claims of innocence have drawn wide support, including from Republican lawmakers and a detective who say the conviction was based on faulty science.

The parole board voted unanimously, 6-0, to not recommend that Robert Roberson’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison or that his execution be delayed.

The decision is a major setback for efforts by Roberson's attorneys and a diverse coalition of individuals and groups to stop his lethal injection on Thursday. Roberson, who has long proclaimed his innocence, has few options left.

Gov. Greg Abbott can only grant clemency after receiving a recommendation from the board. Abbott does have the power to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve without a board recommendation. All members of the board are appointed by the governor.

But in his nearly 10 years as governor, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, in 2018 when he spared the life of Thomas Whitaker, who had masterminded the fatal shootings of his mother and brother. Abbott said he commuted the sentence in part because Whitaker's father, who survived the shooting, indicated he would be victimized again if the state put to death his last remaining immediate family member.

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Zelenskyy outlines his 'victory plan' to Ukraine's lawmakers, including a call to join NATO

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told lawmakers Wednesday that Ukraine’s Western partners are increasing pressure to negotiate with Russia, but he hinted such talks would be unfavorable to Kyiv as he unveiled what he called his “victory plan” for the war.

Major points of the plan include an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory — steps that have been met with reluctance by Kyiv's allies so far.

“If we start moving according to this victory plan now, it may be possible to end the war no later than next year,” Zelenskyy told the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament. He will present the five-point plan to the European Council on Thursday.

Zelenskyy also said that in private communications with Ukraine, its partners are increasingly mentioning “negotiations” and much less frequently using the word “justice.”

But he reiterated that Ukraine is not prepared for a “frozen conflict” or any “trade-offs involving territory or sovereignty,” which drew sustained applause from the lawmakers.

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Kidney transplants are safe between people with HIV, new US study shows

People with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors with the virus, according to a large study that comes as the U.S. government moves to expand the practice. That could shorten the wait for organs for all, regardless of HIV status.

The new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 198 kidney transplants performed across the U.S. Researchers found similar results whether the donated organ came from a person with or without the AIDS virus.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule change that would allow these types of kidney and liver transplants outside of research studies. A final rule would apply to both living and deceased donors. If approved, it could take effect in the coming year.

Participants in the study were HIV positive, had kidney failure and agreed to receive an organ from either an HIV-positive deceased donor or an HIV-negative deceased donor, whichever kidney became available first.

Researchers followed the organ recipients for up to four years. They compared the half who received kidneys from HIV-positive donors to those whose kidneys came from donors without HIV.

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Italy expands its ban on surrogacy to overseas as critics say it targets same-sex couples

ROME (AP) — Italy on Wednesday criminalized citizens who go abroad to have children through surrogacy, a measure slammed by opponents as “medieval" and discriminatory to same-sex couples.

The measure extending a surrogacy ban in place since 2004 was promoted by Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party and its conservative coalition partner, the League, asserting that it protects women’s dignity.

The Senate after a seven-hour debate passed the bill 84-58, the final step in the process after the Lower House's approval last year.

Italians seeking surrogacy in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the practice is legal, can face up to two years in jail and up to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in fines.

The surrogacy ban applies equally to all couples. But same-sex parent advocates say it hits gay families particularly hard in a country struggling with record-low birthrates and where only heterosexual couples are allowed to adopt.

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Billie Jean King and 100 athletes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Women's Sports Foundation

NEW YORK (AP) — Billie Jean King started the Women’s Sports Foundation with a $5,000 check.

She’s turned that investment into $100 million and a half century of helping girls and women achieve their dreams through travel and training grants, local sports programs and mentoring athletes and coaches.

King will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation by honoring the 1999 U.S. women’s World Cup champions, PWHL and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and the 2024 WNBA rookie class on Wednesday night in New York.

“What makes me happy is creating opportunities and dreams for others,” King told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “I look back and that’s what drives me.”

Nearly 100 female athletes will attend the awards dinner to celebrate the milestone and King, a tireless advocate for equal pay and more investment in women’s sports.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024