Donald Trump has chosen Republican representative Elise Stefanik to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations, the president-elect says in a statement shared with Reuters."I am honoured to nominate chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my cabinet as US ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter," Trump said.Stefanik, 40, a New York representative and House Republican Conference chair, has been a fierce Trump ally.She could not be immediately reached for comment.The United Nations has been planning for Trump's return and the cuts to US funding and engagement with the world body that are likely to come with his second term as president.Trump has offered few specifics about foreign policy in his second term but supporters say the force of his personality and his "peace through strength" approach will help bend foreign leaders to his will.He has vowed to solve the war in Ukraine and is expected to give support to Israel in its conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.Lee Zeldin has been appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency. (AP PHOTO)Trump also announced the appointment of Republican former Congressman Lee Zeldin, who often voted against legislation on green issues including a measure to stop oil companies from price gouging, to head the Environmental Protection Agency."He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet," Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.Trump, a Republican, will likely look to reverse many rules administered by the EPA on the burning of fossil fuels including one curbing carbon emissions from power plants and another slashing such emissions from vehicles.Trump has said he plans to begin rescinding EPA and Transportation Department vehicle pollution rules on his first day in office and is considering paring back or eliminating EV tax breaks and other incentives.Trump also plans to rescind California's ability to set its own vehicle emissions rules, as he did in 2019.President Joe Biden, a Democrat, reinstated California's authority. Trump will also decide how to spend billions of dollars in EV charging grants.As a candidate for New York governor in the 2022 election, Zeldin criticised the state's decision to join California's Zero Emission Vehicle program that vows to end the sale of gasoline-powered only vehicles by 2035.Zeldin also pressed in that unsuccessful campaign for a reversal of New York's ban on fracking, a drilling technique opposed by many environmentalists in the state, saying it would create jobs."We will restore US energy dominance, revitalise our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI," Zeldin said on the X social media platform, using the acronym for artificial intelligence.Zeldin will have to be approved by the Senate, which regained a Republican majority in this month's election.By Katharine Jackson in Washington, D. C.

One person is dead, and 16 others are injured after a shooting at Tuskegee University in Alabama.The victim of the shooting, an 18-year-old man, was not a university student, but some of those who were injured were, police said. No arrests were immediately announced.Twelve people were wounded by gunfire, and four others sustained injuries not related to the gunshots, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.The FBI joined the investigation and said it is seeking tips from the public, as well as any video witnesses might have. It set up a site online for people to upload video.The shooting happened as the historically Black university's 100th Homecoming Week was winding down.Tuskegee University announced that all classes on Monday have been cancelled. Grief counsellors will be available to help students in the university's chapel."The parents of this individual have been notified. Several others, including Tuskegee University students, were injured and are receiving treatment at East Alabama Medical Centre in Opelika and Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery," the university said in a statement.An autopsy on the 18-year-old was planned at the state's forensic centre in Montgomery, Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley told The Associated Press on Sunday.City police chief Patrick Mardis said the injured included a female student who was shot in the stomach and a male student who was shot in the arm.Police were responding to an unrelated double shooting off campus when officers got the call about the university shooting at the West Commons on-campus apartments, Mardis said."Some idiots started shooting," he told the news site Al.com. "You couldn't get the emergency vehicles in there, there were so many people there."Sunday's shooting comes just over a year after four people were injured in a shooting at a Tuskegee University student housing complex.In that shooting, two visitors to the campus were shot, and two students were hurt while trying to leave the scene of what campus officials described as an "unauthorised party" in September 2023, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.Tuskegee

US President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Biden's invitation, a White House spokesperson says.Biden and Trump will gather for a traditional post-election meeting in the Oval Office at 11am on Wednesday, officials said.Trump will take office on January 20 after defeating current Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election.Biden had initially sought re-election but dropped out of the race in July after a disastrous debate against Trump.Donald Trump will take office on January 20 after winning the presidential election. (AP PHOTO)"At President Biden's invitation, President Biden and President-elect Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.Biden, a Democrat, had initially sought re-election but dropped out of the race in July after a disastrous debate against the Republican Trump."I'm going to see him on Wednesday," Biden told reporters, when asked whether Trump was a threat to democracy.Biden spoke after leaving a church service in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he travelled for the weekend. The president did not respond to questions about what he would say to Trump.Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power.But Trump, a Republican, did not host Biden, a Democrat, for a sit-down after the 2020 election when Trump lost his re-election bid.The White House said Biden called Trump this week to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office.In a speech on Thursday, Biden said he had assured Trump "that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That's what the American people deserve".Separately, Trump said former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be asked to join his administration."I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation," Trump posted on social media. "I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country."Trump is meeting with potential candidates to serve in his administration before his January 20 inauguration as president. Reuters reported that Trump met with prominent investor Scott Bessent, who is a potential US Treasury Secretary nominee.Trump has overlooked former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to join his administration. (AP PHOTO)Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, endorsed Trump for president despite having criticised him harshly when she ran against him in the party primaries.Pompeo, who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Trump, has been mentioned in some media reports as a possible defence secretary and had been also seen a potential Republican presidential candidate, before he announced in April 2023 he would not run.Washington, D. C.

Donald Trump has been elected president, capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House and ushering in a new American leadership likely to test democratic institutions at home and relations abroad.Trump, 78, recaptured the White House on Wednesday by securing more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, Edison Research projected, following a campaign of dark rhetoric that deepened the polarisation in the country.The former president's victory in the swing state of Wisconsin pushed him over the threshold. Trump had won 279 electoral votes to Harris' 223 with several states yet to be counted as of 5.45am US eastern time (1045 GMT).He also led Harris by about five million votes in the popular count.Donald Trump, pictured with wife Melania Trump, was flanked by his family as he claimed victory. (AP PHOTO)"America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate," Trump said early on Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida, his family by his side.Trump's political career had appeared to be over after his false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed bid to overturn his 2020 defeat.But he swept away challengers inside his Republican Party and then beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris by capitalising on voter concerns about high prices and what Trump claimed, without evidence, was a rise in crime due to illegal immigration.Harris did not speak to supporters who had gathered at her alma mater Howard University. Her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, briefly addressed the crowd after midnight, saying Harris would speak publicly later on Wednesday."We still have votes to count," he said.Republicans won a US Senate majority, but neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.Voters identified jobs and the economy as the country's most pressing problem, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls. Many Americans remained frustrated by higher prices even amid record-high stock markets, fast-growing wages and low unemployment. Voters identified jobs and the economy as the country's most pressing problem, polls show. (EPA PHOTO)With the administration of President Joe Biden taking much of the blame, a majority of voters said they trusted Trump more than Harris to address the issue.Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and lower-income households hit hardest by inflation helped fuel Trump's election victory. His loyal base of rural, white and non-college-educated voters again showed up in force.Trump prevailed despite persistently low approval ratings. Impeached twice, he has been criminally indicted four times and found civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation. In May, Trump was convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.His victory will have major implications for US trade and climate change policies, the war in Ukraine, Americans' taxes and immigration.His tariff proposals could spark a fiercer trade war with China and US allies, while his pledges to reduce corporate taxes and implement a spate of new cuts could balloon US debt, economists say.Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting immigrants in the country illegally.He has said he wants the authority to fire civil servants he views as disloyal. His opponents fear he will turn the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies into political weapons to investigate perceived enemies.Vice President Kamala Harris had warned that Donald Trump posed a danger to democracy. (AP PHOTO)A second Trump presidency could drive a bigger wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues such as race, gender, what and how children are taught, and reproductive rights.Vice President Harris fell short in her 15-week sprint as a candidate, failing to galvanise enough support to defeat Trump, who occupied the White House from 2017-2021, or to allay voters' concerns about the economy and immigration.Harris had warned that Trump wanted unchecked presidential power and posed a danger to democracy.Despite legal woes and controversies, Trump is only the second former president to win a second term after leaving the White House. In May, Trump was convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. Two months later, a would-be assassin's bullet grazed his right ear during a campaign rally, exacerbating fears about political violence. Another assassination attempt was thwarted in September at his Florida golf course. Barely eight days after the July shooting, Biden, 81, dropped out of the race, finally bowing to weeks of pressure from his fellow Democrats after a poor performance during his debate with Trump called into question his mental acuity and the viability of his re-election bid.Harris re-energised despondent Democrats and raised more than $US1 billion ($A1.5 billion) in less than three months while erasing what had been a solid Trump lead in opinion polls.Her financial advantage was partly countered by the intervention of the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who poured more than $US100 million ($A152 million) into a super PAC mobilising Trump voters and used his social media site X to amplify pro-Trump messaging.By Steve Holland, Nandita Bose, Stephanie Kelly and Joseph Ax in West Palm Beach

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have both predicted victory as they campaigned across Pennsylvania in the final, frantic day of an exceptionally close US presidential election.The campaign has seen head-spinning twists: two assassination attempts and a felony conviction for Republican former president Trump, and the surprise elevation of Democratic Vice President Harris to the top of the ticket.The latter came after President Joe Biden, 81, dropped his re-election bid under pressure from his own party. More than $US2.6 billion ($A4 billion) has been spent to sway voters' minds since March, according to analytics firm AdImpact.Nevertheless, opinion polls show Trump, 78, and Harris, 60, virtually even. The winner may not be known for days after Tuesday's vote, though Trump has already signalled he will attempt to fight any defeat, as he did in 2020.Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pushed economic themes in a speech on election eve. (AP PHOTO)Both candidates converged on Pennsylvania on Monday to urge supporters who have not yet cast their ballots to show up on election day. The state offers the largest share of votes in the Electoral College of any of the seven battleground states expected to determine the outcome.In Pittsburgh, Trump appeared before a large crowd in an arena and offered what his campaign called his final closing message to voters in the last hours before election day."We've been waiting four years for this," said Trump, who mounted a 2024 comeback bid after losing the 2020 election to Biden.Trump pushed economic themes in his Pittsburgh speech, saying Harris would bring economic misery if elected."We're going to win the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it's going to be over," said Trump, who later announced on stage he had been endorsed by podcaster Joe Rogan.Trump led his fourth and final rally after midnight before a packed arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the third presidential election in a row that he has used the city for his last event.He promoted his signature issues of increasing border security while attacking the economic record of the Biden-Harris years.It was also likely the last campaign rally of his career, since Trump has said he does not plan to run for president again should he fail attain the high office in Tuesday's election."This is the last one," said Trump, estimating he had conducted 930 rallies since he began his first campaign in 2015."The momentum is on our side," Kamala Harris told a rally in Philadelphia. (AP PHOTO)Harris scheduled five campaign stops in Pennsylvania, including two cities where Trump also visited, Reading and Pittsburgh.She ended the day in Philadelphia with a star-studded event at the "Rocky steps" of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the site of a famous scene from the movie Rocky.Despite enjoying the support of A-list celebrities including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey, both of whom rallied the Philadelphia crowd before Harris took the stage, Harris called herself the underdog who like Rocky was ready to "climb to victory.""The momentum is on our side," Harris told a crowd that chanted back, "We will win."In Allentown, Harris predicted victory and promised to be a president for "all Americans", as she appealed to the city's substantial Puerto Rican community who were outraged by insults from a comedian at a Trump rally last week.Harris' campaign team said its volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in each of the battleground states this weekend.The campaign says its internal data shows that undecided voters are breaking in their favour, and says it has seen an increase in early voting among core parts of its coalition, including young voters and voters of colour.(Election campaigners and analysts note high enthusiasm and more early voters among women. (AP PHOTO)Tom Bonier, head of the Democratic analytics firm TargetSmart, said the early vote showed high enthusiasm among Democratic-leaning groups, especially women.He said there was no indication of a similar surge among young men, a key target of the Trump campaign's outreach.Trump campaign officials said they were monitoring early-voting results that show more women have voted than men. That is significant given that Harris led Trump by 50 per cent to 38 per cent among female registered voters, according to an October Reuters/Ipsos poll, while Trump led among men 48 per cent to 41 per cent.By Steve Holland and Nandita Bose in Pittsburgh

The race for the White House has been the closest and most unpredictable election in American history, a former Australian ambassador to the US says.As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump make their final pitches to voters ahead of the election on Wednesday, Australian time, former ambassador Joe Hockey said most Americans had already made up their mind on who they want to run the country.With polling still showing a tight race for the presidency, Mr Hockey said it was possible it would take days after the election to determine who would win the vote."Unlike Australia, where we have compulsory turnouts and elections here, it is a mystery how many new voters will come out and how they're going to vote," he told ABC's Insiders program on Sunday."It's going to come as a surprise to Australians, given there are so many polls that we're in a position where we can't pick the winner, but the fact is, no one knows how big the turnout is going to be."It is the most unpredictable and closest election in American history, and no one knows the result. No one knows the implications of it with any certainty."More than 70 million Americans have already cast their ballot ahead of election day, while the outcome set to come down to just a handful of swing states.(Former Australian ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, says the election is going to be close. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)Mr Hockey said a second Trump presidency would not be different to that of his original term."Donald Trump 2.0 won't be a hell of a lot different to Donald Trump 1.0, and that's good for us," he said."It offers some measure of predictability, whereas Harris will be a little less predictable because she needs to differentiate herself from the Biden presidency."Education Minister Jason Clare assured the relationship between Australia and the US would remain the same, regardless of which party wins office."If the polls are right, it's likely to be a very close result. I think whatever happens, it would be good if it's a clear result for the United States," he told Sky News."The United States is our closest ally, and that is a matter of bipartisan support ."Opposition Foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham said the government needed to work with whoever comes into the White House."I hope the Albanese government has got comprehensive plans there for how they ensure that Australia's interests are safeguarded," he told Sky News."It's critical that as strong as our relationship is, we don't take any of those equities for granted in the way in which we engage with whoever the next US, president and their administration may be."Senator Birmingham said it was critical bipartisanship around the AUKUS partnership, which will have Australia acquire nuclear submarines from the US, continues.Mr Hockey said advocacy in the US on the submarine deal would remain the same."Donald Trump sees Australia very favourably when it comes to issues like national security. I think that will flow through to AUKUS, that he won't want to change the relationship with AUKUS," he said.By Andrew Brown in Canberra

North Korea has flexed its military muscle with the test of a huge new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Hwasong-19, state media says, amid international uproar over its troops deployed to aid Russia in Ukraine.The launch on Thursday flew higher than any previous North Korean missile, according to the North as well as militaries in South Korea and Japan that tracked its flight deep into space before it splashed down in the ocean between Japan and Russia.State news agency KCNA lauded it as "the world's strongest strategic missile".While questions remain over North Korea's ability to guide such a missile and protect a nuclear warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere, the Hwasong-19, like North Korea's other latest ICBMs, demonstrated the range to strike nearly anywhere in the United States."The new-type ICBM proved before the world that the hegemonic position we have secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery means of the same kind is absolutely irreversible," North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said while overseeing the launch, KCNA reported.(Photos released by the North Korean government show Kim Jong-un observing the missile launch. (AP PHOTO)The launch, days before Tuesday's US presidential election, drew swift condemnation from Washington and its allies in South Korea, Japan and Europe, as well as the United Nations secretary-general."The missile continues to underwrite the growing credibility of North Korea's strategic deterrent capabilities," said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, adding that Kim appeared specifically interested in communicating that message to the United States.On Friday, South Korea imposed new sanctions on 11 North Korean individuals and four entities over the ICBM test, naming officials for contributing to missile and nuclear development and channelling illegal foreign funds back to the country.South Korea's unification ministry, which handles relations with the North, said the launch could have been for several purposes, including demonstrating military technology, pressuring Washington and diverting attention from the issue of sending North Korean troops to Russia.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blasted what he called his allies' "zero" response to Russia's deployment of North Korean troops for the war in Ukraine, which has also sparked worries that Moscow could provide sensitive military technology to Pyongyang in return.Russia and North Korea have not denied the troop deployments and have defended their right to help each other.(The missile flew more than 1000km for an hour and 26 minutes before dropping into the sea. (AP PHOTO)US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon was very early in its assessment phase of the missile launch "and we don't see any indication at this point that there was Russian involvement".KCNA said the launch did not affect the safety of neighbouring countries and was an appropriate military step in the face of threats from North Korea's enemies.The Hwasong-19 would deploy alongside the Hwasong-18, which was first launched in 2023 and was also powered by solid fuel, KCNA said.Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fuelled immediately before launch, are often easier and safer to operate, and require less logistical support than liquid-fuel weapons.Photos released by KCNA showed a large, multi-stage missile launched from a canister carried by a transporter-erector-launcher vehicle. The Hwasong-19 flew of 1001.2km for 85 minutes and 56 seconds before landing in the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, with a maximum altitude of 7687.5km, KCNA said.By Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith in Seoul

One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and blanketing villages with debris, but no casualties have been reported.Mount Marapi, in Agam district of the province of West Sumatra, is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because they are not caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors that register on seismic monitors.In Sunday's eruption, it unleashed hot ash clouds that spread for several kilometres, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, said Ahmad Rifandi, an official with Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.Rifandi said the nearly 2900-metre volcano had stayed at the second highest of four alert levels since January, prohibiting climbers and villagers within three kilometres of the crater's mouth because of potential lava.Marapi erupted in December 2023, killing 24 climbers and injuring several others who were caught by its sudden event. Two climbing routes in the mountain have been closed since then.Sunday's eruption came five months after monsoon rains triggered a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages and swept away people and dozens of homes, killing 67 people."Villagers are still haunted by the flash floods of cold lava as rainy season is coming," Rifandi said, "But they have learned an important lesson on how to avoid the danger of eruption."Indonesia, an archipelago of 282 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.By John Nedy in Padang

A gang attack in Port-au-Prince forced residents to flee their homes as the gangs operating in and around the Haitian capital ramp up attacks on areas they don't yet control.Smoke from gunfights billowed above the capital's Solino neighbourhood on Saturday, where fleeing residents strapped mattresses, furniture, cooking supplies and other possessions to trucks.Others fled on foot, carrying what belongings they could.(The number of displaced people in Haiti has doubled in the past three months to almost 700,000. (AP PHOTO)Gangs have been escalating their attacks on a number of towns in and around the capital, where much of the city and its suburbs are under the control of various violent armed groups united under a common alliance known as Viv Ansanm.In Solino, thousands of residents have been displaced in recent days, including people who had previously been displaced from other neighbourhoods, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said in a press conference on Friday.The total number of displaced people in Haiti has doubled in the past three months to almost 700,000, the WFP said.Haiti's security crisis continues to fuel the Caribbean nation's humanitarian disaster.The World Food Programme said on Friday that 5.4 million Haitians, or roughly half of the population, is suffering from acute hunger, with pockets of famine-level hunger being reported among internally displaced people.A UN helicopter aiding humanitarian efforts was hit by gunfire on Thursday while flying over Port-au-Prince, later landing safely, the WFP said.While the UN authorised an international force to help Haiti's police take back control from the gangs, the mission has been poorly resourced and has produced scant results.Port-au-Prince

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have taken a detour from barnstorming the battleground states that will decide November's election with stops in Texas, a conservative state that was the first to implement a near-total abortion ban.Texas hasn't backed a Democratic president since 1976, and Republican Trump is almost certain to win the state's 40 electoral college votes.But Democrats are betting it will provide a powerful backdrop for Vice President Harris to talk about abortion rights in the final days before the November 5 election.Superstar singer Beyoncé who was born in Houston, fired up the crowd on Friday by introducing Harris, who came on stage to a recording of Beyonce's song Freedom, which has made her campaign anthem. She did not sing, however.Harris spoke about the danger former president Trump and Republicans could present to abortion rights across the country if he's elected, a campaign source said, and be joined by women who have suffered after Texas' anti-abortion regulations were passed and their family members."Texas, what is happening across this state and our country is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of it," Harris said.Texas implemented a first-of-its kind law in September 2021 that banned abortion after six weeks and allowed anyone to sue abortion patients in violation and those who assisted them.The US Supreme Court, with a conservative majority formed by Trump's judicial appointments, allowed the law to stand, and then gutted federal abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022.In between personal stories of abortion-related tragedy, and before Beyonce took the stage, the rally took on the air of a dance party, with people swaying and singing along to a DJ.While Beyoncé appealed to a younger crowd, 91-year-old Willie Nelson showed earlier in the event that he still has cachet in his native Texas."Are we ready to say Madam President?" Nelson asked the crowd before launching into Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, to which the audience sang along.He closed with On the Road Again.(Country music legend Willie Nelson, 91, is right behind Kamala Harris for US President. (AP PHOTO)Trump was also campaigning in Texas on Friday, making a stop in Austin to record an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, a popular podcaster with tens of millions of social media followers, most of them men.After a three-hour interview with Rogan in Texas, Trump arrived late to a rally in battleground state Michigan."We've got a war going and she's out partying," Trump said Friday night, a reference to Israel's attacks on Iran.Trump has lost ground with women voters since Harris became the Democratic candidate, polls show, although the two are in a tight race in the battleground states.(Kamala Harris has reiterated the dangers of a second Donald Trump term as US president. (AP PHOTO)Harris led Trump by 49 to 36 per cent, or 13 percentage points, among women voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published late in August, compared to her nine-point lead in polls conducted in July.Trump has taken credit for appointing the justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.The majority of Americans disagreed with the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe, which fuelled a wave of Democratic wins in the 2022 midterm elections and left Republicans scrambling to find a winning message on the issue.(Donald Trump kept his Michigan rally crowd waiting three hours while he did the Joe Rogan podcast. (AP PHOTO)A recent survey of women voters by KFF, a health policy research and news organisation, found that abortion was the top issue for women voters under age 30.Harris led the Biden administration's reproductive rights initiatives and has made the issue a cornerstone of her presidential campaign.Democrats have highlighted personal stories to show the impact of abortion being almost entirely banned in 16 states.By Trevor Hunnicutt, Gabriella Borter and Georgina McCartney in Houston

The Israeli military says one of its airstrikes outside Beirut has killed a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to be the group's next leader. There was no immediate confirmation from the militant group about the fate of Hashem Safieddine.Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group's founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.(Israel is claiming the killing of senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine in an airstrike. (AP PHOTO)Israel said Safieddine was killed by an airstrike in early October in a southern suburb of Beirut. Around 25 other Hezbollah leaders were killed during the strike, Israel said.Israeli strikes in recent months have killed much of Hezbollah's top leadership, leaving the group in disarray.The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummelled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday. The Israeli military levelled a building in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut that it said housed Hezbollah facilities.The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred metres from where the militant group had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged the Israeli prime minister's house.Hezbollah's chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in the coastal town of Caesarea and hinted that it might attempt future strikes there. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with Netanyahu as part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. After Israel's killing last week of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Blinken is trying to revive efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. So far, both Israel and Hamas appear to be digging in. Blinken stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and said Israel should "capitalise" on Sinwar's death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages there. (US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to revive efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. (EPA PHOTO)Blinken landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries. An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Monday night destroyed several buildings across the street from the country's largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn't targeted the hospital itself.Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence.The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital. Reporters saw no sign of anything out of the ordinary."We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours," hospital director Mazen Alame said. "There is nothing under the hospital."Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff. Lebanon's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 63 people had been killed over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,546.The US, Egypt and Qatar have brokered months of talks between Israel and Hamas, trying to strike a deal in which the militants would release dozens of hostages in return for an end to the war, a lasting ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.But both sides have accused each other of making new demands and the talks ground to a halt in August. Israel said it launched its ground invasion of Lebanon to try to stop near daily rocket attacks from Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has said it plans to strike Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month.On October 7, 2023 Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Around 100 of the captives are still held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands, according to local health authorities. It has also caused major devastation across the territory and displaced around 90 per cent of its population of 2.3 million.By SARAH EL DEEB, FARNOUSH AMIRI, and TIA GOLDENBERG in Beirut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on allies "not to hide" and to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement into Russia's war in Ukraine.He said in his nightly address that Ukraine had information about the preparation of two units - possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops - to take part in the war alongside Russian forces."This is a challenge, but we know how to respond to this challenge. It is important that partners do not hide from this challenge as well," Zelenskiy said.(Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the West is "not to hide" from North Korea's involvement. (EPA PHOTO)Neither North Korea nor Russia, he said, took any account of the number of dead in a conflict."But all of us in the world have an equal interest in ending the war, not in prolonging it. We must therefore stop Russia and its accomplices," he said."If North Korea can intervene in a war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely insufficient."British Defence Secretary John Healey said on Tuesday it was "highly likely" that North Korea had begun sending hundreds of troops to help Russia in the more than two-and-a-half-year-old conflict.A top US diplomat said on Monday that Washington was consulting with its allies on the implications of North Korean involvement and added that such a development would be a "dangerous and highly concerning development" if true.NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday the dispatch of North Korean troops would significantly escalate the conflict.

Sean "Diddy" Combs has been hit with seven new sexual abuse lawsuits, as his lawyers asked the judge overseeing the music mogul's criminal sex trafficking case for a gag order against Combs' accusers and their lawyers.The civil lawsuits were made public on Sunday and Monday by four men and three women over alleged misconduct in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas dating to 2000 but mainly in 2022, the accusers' lawyer Tony Buzbee said on Facebook.Some lawsuits said unidentified celebrities also assaulted Combs' accusers.Combs, 54, faces at least two dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct, including 13 from Buzbee's firm.He has denied wrongdoing. The Bad Boy record label founder has also pleaded not guilty in the criminal case, and is appealing his now five-week detention in a Brooklyn jail known for poor living conditions after being denied bail twice.The new lawsuits compound the legal problems for Combs, who according to prosecutors coerced victims into participating in sex acts against their will, bribing and intimidating them into keeping quiet, and employing his staff to hide it all.In one new lawsuit, the plaintiff Jane Doe said she was 13 when Combs drugged and assaulted her at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York.She said Combs and an unnamed male celebrity vaginally raped her while an unnamed female celebrity looked on, after Combs proclaimed "You are ready to party!"Another accuser, John Doe, said he was a 17-year-old aspiring artist making small talk with Combs at a 2022 party in a Manhattan hotel penthouse, with Combs assuring him that "he could make him a star."Doe said Combs drugged him with a drink and later assaulted him, including by grabbing his genitals, in a room where others engaged in group sex.In response to the lawsuits, Combs' lawyers referred to a statement addressing Buzbee's earlier lawsuits."Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defences, and the integrity of the judicial process," the lawyers said."In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone - adult or minor, man or woman."Buzbee's firm said it represents more than 150 of Combs' accusers.Combs faces a May 5, 2025 criminal trial on three felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.The gag order request from Marc Agnifilo, Combs' primary lawyer, seeks to block potential government witnesses and their lawyers from making statements that substantially interfere with Combs' right to a fair trial.Agnifilo objected to numerous statements "aimed at assassinating Mr Combs' character in the press," including false allegations of sexual abuse of children.He asked the judge to order prosecutors to reveal whether they authorised such statements, and to order the witnesses and lawyers to take down online statements under their control.US District Judge Arun Subramanian, who oversees the criminal case, ordered prosecutors to respond by October 30.A spokesperson for US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan, whose office is prosecuting Combs, declined to comment.Five of the new lawsuits were filed in federal court, and two were filed in a New York state court, all in Manhattan.NEW YORK

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make another push for a ceasefire when he heads to the Middle East, seeking to kick-start negotiations to end the Gaza war and also defuse the spillover conflict in Lebanon.Blinken's trip to the region on Monday, his 11th since the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war, comes as Israel intensifies its military campaign in Gaza, and in Lebanon against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia.Israel has raised the stakes by assassinating the leaders of Hezbollah in Lebanon, including its veteran secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and of Hamas in Gaza while showing no sign of reining in its ground and aerial offensives.Killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week after a year-long search was a major victory for Israel. But its leaders say the war must go on until the Islamist group is eliminated as a military and security threat to Israel.Iran and its allies have said Sinwar's death in a gunbattle with Israeli soldiers in Gaza will strengthen their resolve.Blinken will discuss with regional leaders the importance of ending the war in Gaza, ways to chart a post-conflict plan for the Palestinian enclave, and how to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the State Department said in a statement.US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday on conditions for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after Israel struck branches across Lebanon of a financial institution linked to the group.He said that it was "not enough" for both sides to commit to UN resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.Hochstein said that neither Hezbollah nor Israel had adequately implemented the resolution, and that while it would be the basis for the end to current hostilities, the US was seeking to determine what more needed to be done to make sure it was implemented "fairly, accurately and transparently.""We are working with government of Lebanon, the state of Lebanon, as well as the government of Israel to get to a formula that brings an end to this conflict once and for all," he said.Israel has pursued a ground campaign over the past month after a year of border clashes touched off by Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.The Israeli military said before its overnight attacks that it was targeting the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, a financial institution with over 30 outlets across Lebanon which the US has said is used by Hezbollah to manage its finances.There was no immediate statement from the organisation, Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.(The result of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs in Lebanon. (AP PHOTO)The ground outside the wrecked Al-Qard Al-Hassan branch in the city of Tyre was strewn with rubble, shattered glass and scattered papers.At least two people were killed and three others injured on Monday in an apparent guided missile attack on a car in the heart of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Syrian state television said, quoting a military source who attributed the attack to Israel.The Israeli military did not immediately comment.Lebanon's health ministry on Monday said the death toll since Israel's offensive began had risen to 2483, with 11,628 injured.Fifty-nine people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period, say Israeli authorities.Israel's campaign in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. It says its aim is to drive Hezbollah fighters from the border region so tens of thousands of Israelis can return to homes they were forced to flee over the past year due to Hezbollah cross-border fire in solidarity with Palestinians.By Humeyra Pamuk and Timour Azhari in Washington/Beirut

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has died outside a hotel in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, local newspaper La Nacion reports.The 31-year-old British musician was found dead after falling from the hotel's third floor, the newspaper said, citing emergency services.Payne was one of the founding members of One Direction, one of the most successful boy bands of the past decade.The group was formed during the British talent show The X Factor and quickly gained international fame with hits like What Makes You Beautiful and Story of My Life. Alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, Payne helped the British band rise to global stardom.Buenos Aires

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has defended his protectionist trade policies and other fiscal proposals, dismissing suggestions that they could drive up the federal debt, antagonise allies and harm the US economy."We're all about growth. We're going to bring companies back to our country," the former US president said in a sometimes-tense interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.The interviewer, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, cited projections by budget analysts that Trump's plans would add $US7.5 trillion to the federal debt through the year 2035, more than twice that of policies favoured by Trump's Democratic opponent in the November 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris.Trump maintained that his trade policies - which call for pricey tariffs on goods not only from rivals such as China but allies such as the European Union - would revitalise American manufacturing and yield enough revenue to ease concerns about ballooning the deficit.(Trump's interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait was often tense. (AP PHOTO)Some trade experts have argued those tariffs could damage the US economy, jeopardise jobs and drive up consumer prices."All you have to do is build your plants in the United States, and you won't have any tariffs," Trump said. "I agree it's going to have a massive effect, a positive effect, not a negative."Trump reiterated that he would levy a high tariff on vehicles assembled in and imported from Mexico - as high as 200 per cent. And he said he would impose duties on imported cars from countries such as Germany in order to force foreign companies to manufacture their products in the US.When Trump was told that his efforts might annoy allies the US needs to compete against China, he responded by saying, "Our allies have taken advantage of us more than our enemies."Trump also refused to say whether he's spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office, as reported in journalist Bob Woodward's latest book.Woodward reports in his book War that Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Putin since leaving the White House and secretly sent the Russian president COVID-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic.A Trump campaign spokesperson previously denied the report. During Tuesday's interview, Micklethwait posed the question to Trump directly: "Can you say yes or no whether you have talked to Vladimir Putin since you stopped being president?(A new book claims Trump had up to seven private calls with Vladimir Putin since leaving office. (EPA PHOTO)"I don't comment on that," Trump responded. "But I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing. If I'm friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that's a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country."Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the book's reporting as false. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the reporting about the calls was "not true."Meanwhile Kamala Harris defended her record as a prosecutor, pledged to decriminalise marijuana and to push for police reform, as she aimed to shore up support among Black men in an interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God in Detroit.One of his first questions was asking Harris to address a rumour - that she disproportionately locked up Black men over her more than a dozen years as San Francisco's district attorney."It's just simply not true," Harris said, adding she was described as "one of the most progressive prosecutors" on marijuana cases.She said as president she would work to decriminalise marijuana because she knew how the laws have hurt certain populations, especially Black men.(Kamala Harris during an interview with Charlamagne Tha God in Detroit. (AP PHOTO)Harris said one of the biggest challenges she faces is misinformation from the Trump team aimed at Black voters."They are trying to scare people away because they know that otherwise they have nothing to run on," she said. Asked about how she would curb police brutality and murders of Black men, Harris said she would work to pass the George Floyd Policing Act, which stalled in Congress in 2021.By James Oliphant in Chicagowith AP

Lawyers for Sean 'Diddy' Combs have asked a New York judge to force prosecutors to disclose the names of his accusers in his sex trafficking case.The lawyers wrote in a letter to a Manhattan federal court judge that the hip-hop star needs to know the identities of his alleged victims so he can prepare adequately for trial.Last week, a May 5 trial date was set for Combs. He has pleaded not guilty.A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.Combs, 54, remains incarcerated without bail after his September 16 federal sex trafficking arrest. His lawyers have asked an appeals court to let him be freed to home detention so he can more easily meet with lawyers and prepare for trial.So far, judges have concluded he is a danger to the community and cannot be freed.The request to identify accusers comes a day after six new lawsuits were filed against Combs anonymously to protect the identities of the alleged victims. Two of the accusers were identified as Jane Does while four men were listed in the lawsuits as John Does. The lawsuits claimed he used his fame and promises of boosting their own prospects in the music industry to persuade victims to attend lavish parties or drug-fuelled hangouts where he then assaulted them.The plaintiffs in the lawsuits are part of what their lawyers say is a group of more than 100 accusers who are in the process of taking legal action against Combs.In their letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, lawyers for Combs said the case against their client is unique in part because of the number of accusers. They attributed the quantity to "his celebrity status, wealth and the publicity of his previously settled lawsuit."That reference appeared to cite a November lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. Combs settled the lawsuit the next day, but its allegations of sexual and physical abuse have followed him since.The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.Combs' lawyers said the settlement of Cassie's lawsuit, along with "false inflammatory statements" by federal agents and Combs' fame have "had a pervasive ripple effect, resulting in a torrent of allegations by unidentified complainants, spanning from the false to outright absurd."

A man with a shotgun, a loaded handgun and ammunition in his vehicle was arrested at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump's rally in California.The 49-year-old Las Vegas resident was driving a black SUV that was stopped by deputies assigned to the Saturday night rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.The man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, the department said.He was released on $US5000 ($A7400) bail."This incident did not impact the safety of former president Trump or attendees of the event," the statement said.(Security has been ramped up at Trump's rallies after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. (AP PHOTO)The man is scheduled to appear in court in early 2025, according to online records.Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July when a gunman's bullet grazed his ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.In September, another man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump after Secret Service agents discovered him hiding with a rifle near the former president's Palm Beach golf course. He pleaded not guilty.Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest arrest.With Reuters

US officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran's recent attack to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reports.The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in a year of war as Israel battles Iran-backed groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.Tehran, a major oil producer, has threatened Israel with severe consequences if the Islamic Republic is attacked.(Israel's military says it is dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. (AP PHOTO)Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on October 1, which was launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, citing unnamed US officials and adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.According to the report, US and Israeli officials said a response could occur during the current Yom Kippur holiday.Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the report.The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants erupted a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel at the start of the Gaza war, and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure."Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.(Israel's operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government. (AP PHOTO)Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.The Israeli military added in a statement on Sunday that one of its reservists and an officer were severely injured in two separate incidents during combat in southern Lebanon, with additional soldiers suffering light to moderate injuries.The Israeli military also said it captured a Hezbollah militant in southern Lebanon after discovering an underground tunnel leading to a hideout, where an area with weapons and supplies for extended use was found.Hezbollah announced a rocket strike on the Tirat HaCarmel transport base in southern Haifa, in a statement on Sunday.Israel has intensified its military operations in recent weeks, bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders, and sending ground troops across the border.Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.Israel's expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government, which says more than 2100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in more than a year of fighting.The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but includes scores of women and children.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, expressed "deep concern" about reports that Israeli forces had fired on United Nations peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.Five peacekeepers have been injured in three separate incidents since Thursday, peacekeeping mission the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said.The fighting in the region which includes all of Tehran's allied militant groups - Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq - has raised fears that the US and Iran will be sucked into a full-scale conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement on Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones as part of its support of the Palestinian people and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.Israel's military campaign in Gaza, aimed at eliminating the militant group Hamas, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.By Amina Ismail and Ahmed Tolba in BEIRUT/CAIRO