Vice President Kamala Harris was making her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump met in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Harris was scheduled to appear in Douglas, Arizona, as Trump and his fellow Republicans pound her relentlessly over the Biden administration’s record on migration.
Zelenskyy's visit with Trump came as public tensions have been rising between the two over Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.
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MADISON, Wis. — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued two small Wisconsin towns for not having voting machines accessible to people with disabilities.
The department reached an agreement with Lawrence to resolve its complaint, but the one against Thornapple is pending. The lawsuits were filed Sept. 20.
The complaints allege that neither town had accessible voting systems, as required under federal law, for the April 2 presidential primary. The Justice Department also alleges that Thornapple did not have accessible voting system in the Aug. 13 primary.
Both towns' boards voted in 2023 to stop using the accessible voting machines they previously used, according to the complaint.
The agreement with Lawrence calls for the town to make an accessible voting machine available at every polling place it operates in future federal elections. The town must also train staff on how to operate the equipment.
WALKER, Michigan — Donald Trump is expected to headline a campaign event at a manufacturing plant in Kent County, a Democratic leaning county in western Michigan surrounded by more conservative rural areas.
Awaiting Trump, hundreds, decked in the campaign’s red “Make America Great” hats, T-shirts and other items promoting Trump.
The event is billed as being aimed at the economy, where Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have focused in the past week. It will be held in the loading dock of Falk Production in Walker, Michigan, outside of Grand Rapids, a plant that produces prefabricated walls and partitions.
Trump’s and Harris’ campaign have been focusing heavily on Michigan, where Trump won in 2016 but Biden won back in 2020. Trump is scheduled to campaign in Warren, Michigan, near Detroit later Friday.
The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations.
The indictment comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran as Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel escalate attacks against each other, raising concerns about the prospect of an all-out war, and as U.S. officials say they continue to track physical threats by Iran against a number of officials including Trump.
The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents.
Democrats looking to stay in the Senate majority are going on the offense in two U.S. Senate races in the Republican-leaning states of Texas and Florida.
Sen. Gary Peters, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, says the group is making a “multi-million dollar investment” in television advertising in the two states and that he’s “very confident there’s going to be more coming.”
Republicans are portraying the investments as a sign that Democrats are worried that incumbent Sen. Jon Tester is in trouble in his bid to win reelection in Montana.
Former President Donald Trump recently reissued his loyalty test to religious Americans, declaring that he can best protect their freedoms while preemptively blaming some if he loses the presidential election in November.
He said Jews and Catholics can vote for him and ace the test, but those who don’t — in his words — “need their head examined.” If he’s defeated, Trump added, Jewish people would bear blame for that result.
Among the Jewish leaders appalled at Trump’s remarks was Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Jacobs said: “It puts a target on American Jews. ... Stop.”
This combination of images shows Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, at left in Erie, Pa., Aug. 28, 2024, and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaking at the DNC in Chicago, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo)
Vice President Kamala Harris greets guests in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, following an even on gun violence in the United States. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu signaled to the world from the United Nations on Friday that the multiple conflicts in the Middle East were far from resolved, and he vowed to continue battling the Lebanese Hezbollah and defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip until “total victory."
Shortly after the prime minister spoke, blasts rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah's headquarters. The exact target wasn't immediately clear, but it appeared to be significant enough to prompt Netanyahu to cut short his trip to New York by a day and make unusual travel on the Jewish Sabbath to get home.
“Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Netanyahu said, eliciting applause from supporters in the gallery of the General Assembly. “We’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met,” he said.
Netanyahu spoke as international mediation efforts were underway to try to rein in the escalating conflict in Lebanon, where Israel has been striking Hezbollah targets intensively for the past week, sending the death toll in Lebanon soaring into the hundreds and raising fears that the conflict could spiral into all-out war.
Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations. Israel said Thursday that discussions were ongoing and Hezbollah hasn’t officially responded to the cease-fire proposal, but has said it won't stop firing until the Gaza war ends.
Hezbollah began striking Israel a day after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in an act of solidarity with the Palestinians. The sides have exchanged relatively low-level fire since then on almost a daily basis, volleys that intensified sharply after a wave of exploding communication devices targeted Hezbollah operatives - an attack widely blamed on Israel. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Netanyahu has faced increasing pressure from within his own government and from Israelis displaced by the fighting to deal Hezbollah a heavy blow. Recent strikes have targeted the group's senior leadership.
“Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns ... How long would the American government tolerate that?” he said, shaking his fist in emphasis. “Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for almost a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say: Enough is enough.”
Netanyahu pointed a finger at Iran for being a destabilizing force in the region, noting its support for both Hamas and Hezbollah. He warned Tehran that “if you strike us, we will strike you.” As he spoke, the seats in the Iran delegation sat empty. Outside, protesters against Netanyahu and Israel’s policies demonstrated behind police barricades.
Armed with visual aids as he has been in the past, the prime minister defended his nation’s response to Hamas' attack on Israel that triggered the war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. He said Israel had destroyed much of Hamas' rocket arsenal, killed or captured half of its fighting force and dismantled many of its underground tunnels. He said Israel was “focused on mopping up Hamas’ remaining fighting capabilities.”
But the war in Gaza will soon stretch into its second year with still no end in sight. Multiple attempts at bringing about a cease-fire have stalled over Hamas' demand that Israel withdraw all troops and end the war, and over Israel's insistence on maintaining a presence in some areas. All the while, civilians have borne a staggering toll in the continuing violence; roughly 100 hostages remain captive in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of 2.
Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself.
“This war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages,” Netanyahu said. “But if they don’t – if they don’t – we will fight until we achieve total victory. Total victory. There is no substitute for it. “
In an address steeped in talk of conflict, Netanyahu also made a lengthy appeal for Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, echoing the content of his speech last year, when efforts toward that goal were underway. But the U.S.-backed normalization talks were derailed by Hamas' attacks, which refocused a spotlight on Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, casting doubt on Netanyahu's argument that ties with Saudi Arabia are not contingent on Palestinian statehood.
As Netanyahu took the stage Friday morning, there was enough ruckus in the audience that the presiding diplomat had to shout, “Order, please.”
The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of calling out Israel for its actions. “Mr. Netanyahu, stop this war now,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium. And Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking just before the Israeli leader, declared of Gaza: “This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine." He thumped the rostrum to audible applause.
It wasn't just Friday, either. On Thursday, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and a top Lebanese official both made their cases to fellow leaders — cases that included harsh words for Israel as well. Mahmoud Abbas' first words to the General Assembly were a sentence repeated three times in reference to Gaza: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.” He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And Abdallah Bouhabib, Lebanon's foreign minister, decried Israel's “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”
“The crisis in Lebanon threatens the entire Middle East,” Bouhabib said. “We wish today to reiterate our call for a cease-fire on all fronts.”
See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations
Chairs for the Iranian delegation sit empty as Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Haredi Jews step on the Israeli flag to protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu in front of his hotel during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Police stand guard near Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's hotel during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu enters the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Delegates leave the General Assembly as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
