19 Killed in Israel Strike in Gaza Camp09/10 06:01
19 Killed in Israel Strike in Gaza Camp09/10 06:01 Gaza's Health Ministry says it has confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in a designated humanitarian zone. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Gaza's Health Ministry says it has confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in a designated humanitarian zone. The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, had earlier said that 40 people were killed in the strike early Tuesday. The Israeli military disputed that toll, saying it had used precise munitions against a group of militants. Gaza's Health Ministry is also part of the Hamas-run government but its figures are widely seen as generally reliable. It maintains detailed records and its tallies from previous wars have largely coincided with figures from independent researchers, the U.N. and even the Israeli military. The Health Ministry said the toll from Tuesday's strike could rise. The Health Ministry and the Civil Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 early on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted senior Hamas militants and disputed the death toll. The overnight strike was among the deadliest yet in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war. Gaza's Civil Defense said its first responders recovered 40 bodies from the strike and were still looking for people. It said entire families were killed in their tents. Associated Press footage shows three large craters at the scene. First responders dug through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands, using mobile phone flashlights until the sun came up. They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg. "We were told to go to Muwasi, to the safe area... Look around you and see this safe place," said Iyad Hamed Madi, who had been sheltering there. "This is for my son," he said, holding up a bag of diapers. "He's 4 months old. Is he a fighter? There's no humanity." One of three hospitals that took in casualties from the strike, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said around two dozen bodies were brought in. An Associated Press cameraman saw 10 bodies in the hospital's morgue, including two children and three women. "We were sleeping, and suddenly it was like a tornado," Samar Moamer told the AP at the hospital, where she was being treated for injuries from the strike. She said one of her daughters was killed and the other was pulled alive from the rubble. The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants in a command-and-control center embedded in the area. It identified three of the militants, saying they were senior operatives who were directly involved in the Oct. 7 attack and other recent attacks against Israel and Israeli forces. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, disputed the reported number of casualties in a post on the platform X, saying the reports "do not line up with the information available to the (Israeli army), the precise weapons used and the accuracy of the strike." Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area, calling the Israeli allegations a "blatant lie." Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims. Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians throughout the war and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques. In July, Israel carried out a strike in the humanitarian zone that killed at least 90 Palestinians. The military said it targeted and killed Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas' military wing, but Hamas says Deif is still alive. International law allows for strikes on military targets in areas where civilians are present, provided the force used is proportionate to the military objective -- something that is often disputed and would need to be settled in a court, which almost never happens. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover around 90% of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into Muwasi, where aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 40,900 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says that women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war. Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack on Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead. The United States and mediators Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, but the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Monday that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in the fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages still held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal. The war has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, and aid groups have struggled to operate because of ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order. The international authority on the severity of hunger crises said in June that the territory is at high risk of famine. The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians said Israeli troops stopped a convoy taking part in a polio vaccination campaign for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the military. UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been taking part in the campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City. He wrote on the social media platform X that the convoy was stopped at gunpoint and that "heavy damages was caused by bulldozers" to the U.N. armored vehicles. The Israeli military said it held up the convoy based on intelligence indicating the presence of suspected militants. It said the suspects were questioned and released. Israel has long accused UNRWA of having ties to militant groups, allegations the U.N. agency denies. The vaccination drive, launched after doctors discovered the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the health care system.
Trump Election Rhetoric Turns Ominous 09/10 06:07
Trump Election Rhetoric Turns Ominous 09/10 06:07 (AP) -- With early voting fast approaching, the rhetoric by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has turned more ominous with a pledge to prosecute anyone who "cheats" in the election in the same way he believes they did in 2020, when he falsely claimed he won and attacked those who stood by their accurate vote tallies. He also told a gathering of police officers last Friday that they should "watch for the voter fraud," an apparent attempt to enlist law enforcement that would be legally dubious. Trump has contended, without providing evidence, that he lost the 2020 election only because of cheating by Democrats, election officials and other, unspecified forces. On Saturday, Trump promised that this year those who cheat "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law" should he win in November. He said he was referencing everyone from election officials to attorneys, political staffers and donors. "Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country," Trump wrote in the post on his social media network Truth Social that he later also posted on X, the site once known as Twitter. The former President's warning -- he prefaced it with the words "CEASE & DESIST" -- is the latest increase in rhetoric that mimics that used by authoritarian leaders. Election experts and several state and local election officials were quick to condemn the former president's comment, which they viewed in part as an attempt at intimidation as offices are preparing for the start of voting. Barb Byrum, the clerk of Ingham County, Michigan, said she thinks Trump's post is an attack on democracy aimed at driving election officials out of the profession. "But I know that we are not going to be bullied," said Byrum, a Democrat. "We are civil servants that signed up to make sure every qualified registered voter has the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, and we will do that." To be clear, Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden in both the Electoral College and in the popular vote, where Biden received 7 million more votes. Trump's own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud, Trump lost dozens of lawsuits challenging the results and an Associated Press investigation showed there was no level of fraud that could have tipped the election. Additionally, multiple reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss all confirmed Biden's win. Trump, who has spoken warmly of authoritarians and mused recently that "sometimes you need a strongman," has already pledged to prosecute his political adversaries if he returns to power. His allies have drawn up plans to make federal prosecutors more able to target the president's opponents. In one possible conservative outline for a new Trump administration known as Project 2025, a former Trump Justice Department official writes that Pennsylvania's top election official should have been prosecuted for a policy dispute --- in deciding that voters there have a chance to fix signature errors on their mail ballots. Trump has disavowed Project 2025, but his rhetoric matches that example, said Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official and Biden White House staffer who now teaches law at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. "He is increasingly showing us what type of president he hopes to be, and that involves using the Justice Department to punish people he disagrees with -- whether they committed crimes or not," Levitt said. Levitt said he was skeptical that a Trump Justice Department would be able to simply file charges against people who contradicted his election lies, but he and others said the suggestion was dangerous nevertheless. "Threatening people with punishment for cheating is deeply disturbing if 'cheating' simply means that you don't like the outcome of the election," Steve Simon, a Democrat who is Minnesota's secretary of state and the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said in a post on X. Trump's campaign said the former president was simply talking about the importance of clean elections. "President Trump believes anyone who breaks the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including criminals who engage in election fraud. Without free and fair elections, you can't have a country," campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Trump already has lodged threats against people who engaged in no apparent illegal activity during the 2020 election. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg, in 2020 donated more than $400 million to local election offices to help them deal with the pandemic. In a book released earlier this month, Trump threatened that Zuckerberg will " spend the rest of his life in prison " if he makes any more contributions. Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's Democratic Secretary of State, said in an interview Monday that Trump's comments have prompted election officials, already reeling from years of threats due to Trump's false claims of 2020 corruption, to increase their level of vigilance and security planning. "That is a level of vitriol and threats that we have not seen before, and it is very alarming and concerning," Benson said. "We worry that individuals will read that rhetoric and take it on themselves to exact the vengeance prior to the election -- or immediately following, if their candidate doesn't win -- that their candidate has called for." White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Trump's rhetoric was dangerous: "This is not who we are as a country. This is a democracy." Stephen Richer, the Republican Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who's been repeatedly attacked by Trump and his supporters for standing by the accuracy of that county's 2020 vote count, took to X to point to one election official who has been charged for her actions that year -- Tina Peters. The former clerk of Mesa County in Colorado was convicted in August of helping activists access her county's voting machines to try to prove Trump's lies. "She was on your side of this," Richer wrote to Trump in his post. Earlier this summer, Richer was defeated in the Republican primary in his bid for reelection. Trump's call for police officers to watch polling stations in case of fraud in November came Friday as he addressed a gathering of the Fraternal Order of Police, an organization that has endorsed him. "I hope you can watch and you're all over the place. Watch for the voter fraud. Because we win. Without voter fraud, we win so easily," he told the officers. "You can keep it down just by watching. Because believe it or not, they're afraid of that badge. They're afraid of you people." What he's suggesting could violate several federal and state laws against voter intimidation -- some of which specifically prohibit uniformed officers from being at the polls unless they are responding to an emergency or casting a ballot themselves, according to Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Campaign Legal Center. Diaz said those laws emerged from the nation's fraught history of law enforcement officers abusing their power to stop Black people from voting. "We have to remember that history when we think of the presence of law enforcement at the polls," he said. "Even the best-intentioned officers who are there really just to keep people safe with no ill will, their presence might be perceived by voters in a way that is different than they intended."
Harris, Trump Differ on Top Issues 09/10 06:08
Harris, Trump Differ on Top Issues 09/10 06:08 This year's presidential race is a genuine contest of ideas between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump -- with clear differences on taxes, abortion, immigration, global alliances, climate change and democracy itself. WASHINGTON (AP) -- This year's presidential race is a genuine contest of ideas between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump -- with clear differences on taxes, abortion, immigration, global alliances, climate change and democracy itself. Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Harris has pledged to chart a new way forward even as she has embraced many of his ideas. She wants middle class tax cuts, tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, a restoration of abortion rights and a government that aggressively addresses climate change, among other stances. Seeking a return to the White House, Trump wants to accomplish much of what he couldn't do during a term that was sidetracked by the global pandemic. The Republican wants the extension and expansion of his 2017 tax cuts, a massive increase in tariffs, more support for fossil fuels and a greater concentration of government power in the White House. The two candidates have spelled out their ideas in speeches, advertisements and other venues. Many of their proposals lack specifics, making it difficult to judge exactly how they would translate their intentions into law or pay for them. While the candidates agree on not taxing workers' tips, the outcome in November could drastically change the tax code, America's support for Ukraine, abortion access and the commitments made to limit the damage caused by climate change. Here's where each candidate stands on 10 top issues: Abortion HARRIS: The vice president has called on Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing in federal law abortion access, a right that stood for nearly 50 years before being overturned by the Supreme Court. Like Biden, Harris has criticized bans on abortion in Republican-controlled states and promised as president to block any potential nationwide ban should one clear a future GOP-run Congress. Harris was the Democrats' most visible champion of abortion rights even while Biden was still in the race. She has promoted the administration's efforts short of federal law -- including steps to protect women who travel to access the procedure and limit how law enforcement collects medical records. TRUMP: The former president often brags about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. After dodging questions about when in pregnancy he believes the procedure should be restricted, Trump announced last spring that decisions on access and cutoffs should be left to the states. He has said he would not sign a national abortion ban into law if one landed on his desk and recently said he would not try to block access to abortion medication. He told Time magazine that it should also be left up to states to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies. He has also said that, if he wins, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women. Climate/Energy HARRIS: As a senator from California, the vice president was an early sponsor of the Green New Deal, a sweeping series of proposals meant to swiftly move the U.S. to fully green energy that is championed by the Democratic Party's most progressive wing. Harris also said during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign that she opposed offshore drilling for oil and hydraulic fracturing. But during her three and a half years as vice president, Harris has adopted more moderate positions, focusing instead on implementing the climate provisions of the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act. That provided nearly $375 billion for things like financial incentives for electric cars and clean energy projects. The Biden administration has also enlisted more than 20,000 young people in a national "Climate Corps," a Peace Corps-like program to promote conservation through tasks such as weatherizing homes and repairing wetlands. Despite that, it's unlikely that the U.S. will be on track to meet Biden's goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 -- a benchmark that Harris hasn't talked about in the early part of her own White House bid. TRUMP: His mantra for one of his top policy priorities: "DRILL, BABY, DRILL." Trump, who in the past cast climate change as a "hoax" and harbors a particular disdain for wind power, says it's his goal for the U.S. to have the cheapest energy and electricity in the world and has claimed he can cut prices in half within a year of his potential return to office. He'd increase oil drilling on public lands, offer tax breaks to oil, gas and coal producers, speed the approval of natural gas pipelines, open dozens of new power plants, including nuclear facilities, and roll back the Biden administration's aggressive efforts to get people to switch to electric cars, which he argues have a place but shouldn't be forced on consumers. He has also pledged to re-exit the Paris Climate Accords, end wind subsidies and eliminate regulations imposed and proposed by the Biden administration targeting energy-inefficient kinds of lightbulbs, stoves, dishwashers and shower heads. Democracy/Rule of Law HARRIS: Like Biden, Harris has decried Trump as a threat to the nation's democracy. But, in attacking her opponent, the vice president has leaned more heavily into her personal background as a prosecutor and contrasted that with Trump being found guilty of 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case and in being found liable for fraudulent business practices and sexual abuse in civil court. The vice president has also talked less frequently than Biden did about Trump's denial that he lost the 2020 presidential election and his spurring on the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. When she's interrupted during rallies with supporters' "Lock him up!" chants directed at Trump, Harris responds that the courts can "handle that" and that "our job is to beat him in November." TRUMP: After refusing to accept his loss to Biden in 2020, Trump hasn't committed to accepting the results this time around. He's repeatedly promised to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants jailed for assaulting police officers and other crimes during the attack on the Capitol, and recently threatened to jail lawyers, election officials, donors and others "involved in unscrupulous behavior" surrounding November's vote, again stoking unfounded fears. He vows to overhaul the Justice Department and FBI "from the ground up," aggrieved by the criminal charges the department has brought against him. He also promises to deploy the National Guard to cities such as Chicago that are struggling with violent crime and in response to protests, and has also vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Biden. Federal government HARRIS: Like Biden, Harris has campaigned hard against "Project 2025," a plan authored by leading conservatives to move as swiftly as possible to dramatically remake the federal government and push it to the right if Trump wins back the White House. She is also part of an administration that is already taking steps to make it harder for any mass firings of civil servants to occur. In April, the Office of Personnel Management issued a new rule that would ban federal workers from being reclassified as political appointees or other at-will employees, thus making them easier to dismiss. That was in response to Schedule F, a 2020 executive order from Trump that reclassified tens of thousands of federal workers to make firing them easier. TRUMP: The former president has sought to distance himself from "Project 2025," despite his close ties to many of its key architects. He has nonetheless vowed his own overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, which he has long blamed for blocking his first term agenda, saying: "I will totally obliterate the deep state." The former president plans to reissue the Schedule F order stripping civil service protections. He says he'd then move to fire "rogue bureaucrats," including those who "weaponized our justice system," and the "warmongers and America-Last globalists in the Deep State, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the national security industrial complex." Trump has also pledged to terminate the Education Department and wants to curtail the independence of regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission. As part of his effort to cut government waste and red tape, he has also pledged to eliminate at least 10 federal regulations for every new one imposed. Immigration HARRIS: Attempting to defuse a GOP line of political attack, the vice president has talked up her experience as California attorney general, saying she walked drug smuggler tunnels and successfully prosecuted gangs that moved narcotics and people across the border. Early in his term, Biden made Harris his administration's point person on the root causes of migration. Trump and top Republicans now blame Harris for a situation at the U.S.-Mexico border that they say is out of control due to policies that were too lenient. Harris has countered that Trump worsened the situation by killing a bipartisan Senate compromise that would have included tougher asylum standards and hiring more border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers. She said she would bring back that bill and sign that law, saying that Trump "talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk" on immigration. The vice president has endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, seeking pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. without legal status, with a faster track for young immigrants living in the country illegally who arrived as children. TRUMP: The former president promises to mount the largest domestic deportation in U.S. history -- an operation that could involve detention camps and the National Guard. He'd bring back policies he put in place during his first term, like the Remain in Mexico program and Title 42, which placed curbs on migrants on public health grounds. And he'd revive and expand the travel ban that originally targeted citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, he pledged new "ideological screening" for immigrants to bar "dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs." He'd also try to deport people who are in the U.S. legally but harbor "jihadist sympathies." He'd seek to end birthright citizenship for people born in the U.S. whose parents are both in the country illegally. Israel/Gaza HARRIS: Harris says Israel has a right to defend itself, and she's repeatedly decried Hamas as a terrorist organization. But the vice president might also have helped defuse some backlash from progressives by being more vocal about the need to better protect civilians during fighting in Gaza. More than 40,900 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says that women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war. Like Biden, Harris supports a proposed hostage for extended cease-fire deal that aims to bring all remaining hostages and Israeli dead home. Biden and Harris say the deal could lead to a permanent end to the grinding war and they have endorsed a two-state solution, which would have Israel existing alongside an independent Palestinian state. TRUMP: The former president has expressed support for Israel's efforts to "destroy" Hamas, but he's also been critical of some of Israel's tactics. He says the country must finish the job quickly and get back to peace. He has called for more aggressive responses to pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses and applauded police efforts to clear encampments. Trump also proposes to revoke the student visas of those who espouse antisemitic or anti-American views and deport those who support Hamas. LGBTQ+ issues HARRIS: During her rallies, Harris accuses Trump and his party of seeking to roll back a long list of freedoms including the ability "to love who you love openly and with pride." She leads audiences in chants of "We're not going back." While her campaign has yet to produce specifics on its plans, she's been part of a Biden administration that regularly denounces discrimination and attacks against the LGBTQ+ community. Early in Biden's term, his administration reversed an executive order from Trump that had largely banned transgender people from military service, and his Education Department issued a rule that says Title IX, the 1972 law that was passed to protect women's rights, also bars discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That rule was silent on the issue of transgender athletes. TRUMP: The former president has pledged to keep transgender women out of women's sports and says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that "only two genders," as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States. He promises to "defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology." As part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, he would declare that any health care provider that participates in the "chemical or physical mutilation of minor youth" no longer meets federal health and safety standards and bar them from receiving federal money. He'd take similarly punitive steps in schools against any teacher or school official who "suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body." Trump would support a national prohibition of hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors and bar transgender people from military service. NATO/Ukraine HARRIS: The vice president has yet to specify how her positions on Russia's war with Ukraine might differ from Biden's, other than to praise the president's efforts to rebuild alliances unraveled by Trump, particularly NATO, a critical bulwark against Russian aggression. The Biden administration has pledged unceasing support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion. The government has sent tens of billions of dollars in military and other aid to Ukraine, including a tranche of aid that totaled $61 billion in weapons, ammunition and other assistance that is expected to last through the end of this year. The administration has maintained that continuing U.S. assistance is critical because Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not stop at invading Ukraine. Harris has said previously that it would be foolish to risk global alliances the U.S. has established and decried Putin's "brutality." TRUMP: The former president has repeatedly taken issue with U.S. aid to Ukraine and says he will continue to "fundamentally reevaluate" the mission and purpose of the NATO alliance if he returns to office. He has claimed, without explanation, that he will be able to end the war before his inauguration by bringing both sides to the negotiating table. (His approach seems to hinge on Ukraine giving up at least some of its Russian-occupied territory in exchange for a cease-fire.) On NATO, he has assailed member nations for years for failing to hit agreed-upon military spending targets. Trump drew alarms this year when he said that, as president, he had warned leaders that he would not only refuse to defend nations that don't hit those targets, but "would encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to countries that are "delinquent." Tariffs/Trade HARRIS: The Biden-Harris administration has sought to boost trade with allies in Europe, Asia and North America, while using tariffs and other tools to go after rivals such as China. The Democratic administration kept Trump's tariffs on China in place, while adding a ban on exporting advanced computer chips to that country and providing incentives to boost U.S. industries. In May, the Biden-Harris administration specifically targeted China with increased tariffs on electric vehicles and steel and aluminum, among other products. TRUMP: The former president wants a dramatic expansion of tariffs on nearly all imported foreign goods, saying that "we're going to have 10% to 20% tariffs on foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years." He's suggested tariffs as high as 100% on Chinese goods. He treats these taxes as a way to fund other tax cuts, lower the deficit and possibly fund child care -- though the tariffs could raise prices for consumers without generating the revenues Trump promises. He would also urge Congress to pass legislation giving the president authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any country that imposes one on the U.S. Much of his trade agenda has focused on China. Trump has proposed phasing out Chinese imports of essential goods including electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals and wants to ban Chinese companies from owning U.S. infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and farmland. Taxes HARRIS: With much of the 2017 tax overhaul expiring at end of next year, Harris is pledging tax cuts for more than 100 million working and middle class households. In addition to preserving some of the expiring cuts, she wants to make permanent a tax credit of as much as $3,600 per child and offer a special $6,000 tax credit for new parents. Harris says her administration would expand tax credits for first-time homebuyers and push to build 3 million new housing units in four years, while wiping out taxes on tips and endorsing tax breaks for entrepreneurs. Like Biden, she wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and the corporate minimum tax to 21%. The current corporate rate is 21% and the corporate minimum, raised under the Inflation Reduction Act, is at 15% for companies making more than $1 billion a year. But Harris would not increase the capital gains tax as much as Biden had proposed on investors with more than $1 million in income. TRUMP: The former president has promised to extend and even expand all of the 2017 tax cuts that he signed into law, while also paying down the debt. He has proposed cutting the overall corporate tax rate to 15% from 21% -- but only for companies that make their products in the U.S. He would repeal any tax increases signed into law by Biden. He also aims to gut some of the tax breaks that Biden put into law to encourage the development of renewable energy and EVs. Trump has proposed eliminating taxes on tips received by workers -- a policy embraced by Harris, who would also raise the minimum wage for tipped workers -- as well as eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits. He also wants to lower the cost of housing by opening up federal land to development. Outside analyses suggest that Trump's ideas would do much more to increase budget deficits than what Harris would do, without delivering the growth needed to minimize any additional debt.
GOP Likely to Trust Trump, Not Election09/10 06:11
GOP Likely to Trust Trump, Not Election09/10 06:11 CHICAGO (AP) -- For Christopher Pugh, the 2020 election was a turning point. He already distrusted the government. But as he watched Fox News coverage in the immediate aftermath of the election and read posts on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X, that distrust grew. He now believes the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen and trusts few people other than former President Donald Trump to deliver him news about election results. "I trust Donald Trump, not the government," said the 38-year-old Republican from Gulfport, Mississippi. "That's it." While most Americans trust government-certified election results at least a "moderate" amount, Republicans are more likely to trust Trump and his campaign, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts. Americans also are heading into the November election with concerns about misinformation. Many have low trust that the information they receive from presidential candidates -- particularly Trump, but also Vice President Kamala Harris -- is based on factual information. Trump continues to lie about the outcome of the 2020 election, saying it was rigged against him even after dozens of his court challenges failed, reviews, recounts and audits in battleground states all affirmed President Joe Biden's win, and Trump's own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Despite no evidence of any widespread fraud, a 2023 poll found that most Republicans believe Biden was not legitimately elected president. As Trump runs as the Republican candidate for the third time, he also is signaling that he can only lose through widespread fraud. Over the weekend he threatened to prosecute those "involved in unscrupulous behavior" this election should he win in November. "The only way they can beat us is to cheat," Trump said at a Las Vegas rally in June. The recent findings from the AP-NORC survey show that a significant chunk of Trump's supporters might be more inclined to believe what he says about the upcoming election results than they are to trust government certifications of election results. About two-thirds of Republicans trust Trump's campaign at least a moderate amount to provide accurate information about the results of the 2024 election, while only about half say the same about the official certifications of results, the survey found. By contrast, about 9 in 10 Democrats trust the government certification at least a moderate amount, and an overwhelming majority, 82%, also have at least a moderate amount of trust in Harris and her campaign. Most Americans -- around 7 in 10 -- trust the government certifications of election results at least a moderate amount, according to the survey. Majorities also trust national and local TV news networks, as well as local or national newspapers, to provide accurate information about the outcome of this year's presidential election. Danielle Almeida, a 45-year-old Democrat from Briarcliff Manor, New York, said she trusts government-certified election results and finds it alarming that some Americans don't. "In order to have a democracy, we have to trust the system and the results of our elections," she said, adding that she thinks Trump "does not care about fact-checking because he believes his supporters don't care, either." Americans are less likely to trust the campaigns overall -- compared to sources such as the government and the media -- but they have a higher level of trust in Harris and her campaign than in Trump and his campaign to provide accurate information about the outcome of the election. About half have at least a "moderate" amount of trust in Harris and her campaign. By contrast, about 4 in 10 have at least a moderate amount of trust in Trump and his campaign. Some Republicans' distrust of election results started far before the 2020 election. Richard Baum, 60, a conservative independent from Odessa, Texas, said his suspicions began in the 2000 U.S. presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. After Bush won by a slim margin, "hanging chads" became an unlikely symbol of a disputed presidential election as small anomalies common in elections ballooned into major national controversies. "There was some stuff there that didn't seem right that made a lot of doubts in my mind about if you can trust the government," Baum said. Baum said he would trust election results only if voting took place on only a single day, early voting and mail-in ballots were banned and photo IDs were required at all polling places. Many Americans doubt the veracity of both presidential candidates' campaign messages, but skepticism about Trump's campaign is higher, the USAFacts/AP-NORC survey found. About 6 in 10 Americans believe that Trump's campaign messages are "rarely" or "never" based on factual information, compared to 45% who say that about Harris' campaign messages. Many Americans also say it's hard to discern fact from fiction when it comes to the candidates. Slightly less than half of Americans say it's "very easy" or "somewhat easy" to find factual information about the candidates and their positions, and only about one-third say it's easy to know if what candidates are saying is true or not. About 6 in 10 Americans say it's easy for them to understand the difference between fact and opinion when it comes to information about the upcoming presidential election, but only about 4 in 10 say it's easy to know whether information is true or not. Americans are, however, more confident about factual information related to election logistics: About 7 in 10 Americans say it's easy to find information about how to register to vote, and about 6 in 10 say it's easy to find information about how to cast their ballot. Michele Martin, a 56-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat, said she is "very concerned" about misinformation from politicians but finds it much easier to access basic voter information. "It's online. It's mailed to you. It's not hard to find," she said. About 8 in 10 Americans say that when it comes to getting information about the government, the spread of misinformation is a "major problem." That is essentially unchanged from when the question was asked in 2020. Lisa Kuda, a 57-year-old Republican from Palm Harbor, Florida, said she gets most of her news from social media and friends. She said she feels alienated from most news sources other than Fox News. "Misinformation is everywhere," she said. "It's really difficult to find information about candidates." When Americans see news about the election and want to find out whether it's true, 40% say they turn to an internet search first. Much smaller shares -- around 1 in 10 for each -- say they first check cable news, national TV news or social media. Baum, from Texas, said he finds it difficult to easily access information about candidates because he believes social media platforms "are censoring conservative ideologies." He also doesn't trust Google and instead turns to conservative networks and podcasts such One America News and conservative podcasters to fact-check claims he's unsure about. Almeida's process looks much different. She starts with a Google search and wades through multiple articles from news outlets such as The New York Times and NBC News, making note of any differences. If multiple articles have the same information, she said, she's more likely to trust it. "Misinformation is a huge problem," she said. "You have to take time to do your research."
Over 140 Ukrainian Drones Target Russia09/10 06:13
Over 140 Ukrainian Drones Target Russia09/10 06:13 (AP) -- Over 140 Ukrainian drones targeted multiple Russian regions overnight, including Moscow and surrounding areas, killing at least one person, officials said Tuesday, in one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian soil in the 2 1/2-year war. A woman died and three people were injured in the town of Ramenskoye, just outside Moscow, where drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. Five residential buildings were evacuated due to falling drone debris, Vorobyov said. The attack also prompted the authorities to temporarily shut down three airports just outside Moscow -- Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. A total of 48 flights were diverted to other airports, according to Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia. It was the second massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia this month. On Sept. 1, the Russian military said it intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones over more than a dozen Russian regions in what Russian media described as the biggest Ukrainian drone barrage since the start of the war. Russia's Investigative Committee announced a criminal investigation into what it described as a terror attack. Russia, meanwhile, has pummeled Ukraine with missiles, glide bombs and its own drones, killing over 10,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. Ukraine has invested a lot of effort in developing domestic drone production, extending the drones' range, payload and uses. It has increasingly used drone blitzes to slow Russia's war machine, disrupt Russian society and poke the Kremlin. Ukrainian officials have complained that weapons pledged by the country's Western partners fall short of what the Ukrainian military needs and commonly arrive long after they were promised. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged defense companies to increase their output. On the battlefield's 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, Ukrainian troops are up against Russia's larger and better-equipped army. The two sides are especially contesting parts of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, fighting over towns and villages that are bombed-out wrecks, while Ukraine last month launched a bold incursion into Russia's Kursk border region. In Moscow on Monday night, drone debris fell on a private house on the outskirts of the city, but no one was hurt, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. He counted over a dozen drones heading toward Moscow that were shot down by air defenses as they were approaching the city. Overall, Russia's Defense Ministry said it "intercepted and destroyed" 144 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, including those on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia.
NKorea's Kim Vows to Ready Nuke Force 09/10 06:16
NKorea's Kim Vows to Ready Nuke Force 09/10 06:16 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday, after the country disclosed a new platform likely designed to fire more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the mainland U.S. Kim has repeatedly made similar pledges, but his latest threat comes as outside experts believe Kim will perform provocative weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. In recent days, North Korea has also resumed launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea. In a speech marking the 76th founding anniversary for his government on Monday, Kim said North Korea faces "a grave threat" because of what he called "the reckless expansion" of a U.S.-led regional military bloc that is now developing into a nuclear-based one. Kim said such a development is pushing North Korea to boost its military capability, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim said North Korea will "redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat," KCNA said. North Korea has been protesting the July signing of a new U.S.-South Korean defense guideline meant to integrate U.S. nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats. North Korea said the guideline revealed its adversaries' plots to invade the country. U.S. and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they don't intend to attack the country. Since 2022, North Korea has significantly accelerated its weapons testing activities in a bid to perfect its capabilities to launch strikes on the U.S. and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea have responded by expanding military drills that North Korea calls invasion rehearsals. Many analysts believe North Korea has some last remaining technological barriers to overcome to acquire long-range nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland, though it likely already possesses missiles that can hit key targets in South Korea and Japan. South Korean officials and experts say North Korea could conduct nuclear tests or ICBM test-launches before the U.S. election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. Observers say North Korea likely thinks a greater nuclear capability would help it win U.S. concessions like sanctions relief. North Korea as of Tuesday morning did not appear to have staged any major military demonstration to mark this year's anniversary. But the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday published a photo of Kim inspecting what appeared to be a 12-axle missile launch vehicle, which would be the largest the country has shown so far, during a visit to a munitions plant. This sparked speculation that the North could be developing a new ICBM that is bigger than its current Hwasong-17 ICBM, which is launched on an 11-axle vehicle. When asked about the photo on Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder refused to provide a specific assessment of North Korea's missile capabilities and reiterated that Washington was working closely with Seoul, Tokyo and other partners to preserve regional security and deter potential attacks. "It's not unusual for North Korea to use media reports and imagery to try to telegraph, you know, to the world," he said. North Korea flew hundreds of huge balloons carrying rubbish toward South Korea for five straight days through Sunday, extending a Cold War-style psychological warfare campaign that has further stoked animosities on the Korean Peninsula. The balloons largely contained waste papers and vinyl, and there has been no repots of major damage. North Korea began its balloon campaign in late May, calling it a response to South Korean civilians flying propaganda leaflets across the border via their own balloons. South Korea later restarted its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along the rivals' tense land border. Observers say North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean leafleting activities and loudspeaker broadcasts as they could hamper its efforts to ban foreign news to its 26 million people.
Jeffries Rejects GOP Spending Bill 09/10 06:18
Jeffries Rejects GOP Spending Bill 09/10 06:18 Calling it "unserious and unacceptable," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries rejected on Monday a proposal from Speaker Mike Johnson that links continued government funding for six months with a measure to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Calling it "unserious and unacceptable," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries rejected on Monday a proposal from Speaker Mike Johnson that links continued government funding for six months with a measure to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The response frames the spending battle to come over the next weeks as lawmakers work to reach consensus on a short-term spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Lawmakers hope to avoid a shutdown just weeks before voters go to the polls. Johnson is punting the final decisions on full-year spending into next year when a new president and Congress take over. He's doing so at the urging of members within his conference who believe that Republicans will be in a better position next year to secure the funding and policy priorities they want. But Democrats said the appropriations process should be wrapped up by this Congress, and the short-term measure should reflect that. It also needs to be free of "partisan policy changes," Jeffries said. "There is no other viable path forward that protects the health, safety and economic well-being of hardworking American taxpayers," Jeffries wrote in a letter to House Democrats released Monday. Lawmakers are returning to Washington this week following a traditional August recess spent mostly working in their home states and districts. They are not close to completing work on the dozen annual appropriations bills that will fund the agencies during the next fiscal year, so they'll need to approve a stopgap measure. Johnson's proposal is not only running into resistance from Democrats, but it was clear Monday night that there are also some in the GOP conference who won't vote for any stopgap bill, let alone one they say spends too much. Johnson can afford to lose only four dissenters from within his conference if Democrats are united in opposition. "We need to stop spending at a level that is untenable for the American people," said Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who also predicted the bill would not have the votes to pass. The House bill including the proof of citizenship mandate for voter registration complicates the effort. The voter registration measure is popular with House Republicans and has already passed once before in that chamber. The House Freedom Caucus, which generally includes the chamber's most conservative members, called for it to be attached to the spending bill. But Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed. Republicans say that requiring proof of citizenship would ensure that U.S. elections are only for American citizens, improving confidence in the nation's federal election system, something that former President Donald Trump has sought to undermine over the years. Opponents say it is already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and that the document requirements would disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have the necessary documents readily available when they get a chance to register. Trump and other Republicans have revved up their complaints about the issue of noncitizens voting with the influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border under President Joe Biden's administration. They are contending Democrats let them in to add them to the voter rolls. But the available evidence shows that noncitizen voting in federal elections is incredibly rare. Johnson called the proof of citizenship mandate a "righteous fight" as he entered the Capitol Monday afternoon. He said that even if a small percentage of people who have entered the U.S. illegally end up registering to vote, "they can throw the election. This is serious business." Senate Democrats have also come out against Johnson's proposal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill "pure partisan posturing." "Speaker Johnson knows deep down that he needs to work with Democrats to get anything done," Schumer said. The White House said that if the bill reached Biden's desk he will veto it. The veto threat said states already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters' eligibility and maintain accurate voter rolls. "Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to keep the Government open and provide emergency funding for disaster needs, House Republicans have chosen brinksmanship," the White House statement said. The bill does provide an additional $10 billion for a disaster relief fund administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the White House said it did not cover the full amount needed through other disaster relief programs, such as for highways and bridges damaged by disasters in 38 states. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that long-term continuing resolutions, such as the current one before the House this week, harm military readiness. Austin said in a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees that, if passed, the bill would mark the second year in a row and the seventh time in the past 15 years that the department is delayed in moving forward with some critical priorities. "These actions subject Service members and their families to unnecessary stress, empower our adversaries, misalign billions of dollars, damage our readiness, and impede our ability to react to emergent events," Austin wrote.
Financial Markets 09/10 15:24
Financial Markets 09/10 15:24 NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Tuesday following several weeks of sharp swings. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to pull within 3% of its record set in July. It flipped between small gains and losses through the day, but the moves were nothing like its careens since the summer, driven by worries about the slowing U.S. economy and whether coming cuts to interest rates will keep it out of a possible recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%. Oracle jumped 11.4% to an all-time high and helped lead the market after delivering better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Gains for several influential Big Tech stocks also helped drive indexes, including rises of 2.1% for Microsoft and 2.4% for Amazon. But banks weighed on the market following discouraging comments from several executives at an industry conference. JPMorgan Chase fell 5.2% after its chief operating officer said analysts' expectations for an underlying measure of its profit may be "too high." Goldman Sachs dropped 4.4% after its chief executive said its trading revenue for the current quarter is trending down at the moment. And Ally Financial sank 17.6% after its chief financial officer warned that borrowers are "struggling with a high inflation and cost of living and now, more recently, a weakening employment picture." Stocks of energy producers were also weak after oil prices fell. A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, is near its lowest price since 2021, and it's been sinking amid worries about how much fuel a fragile global economy will burn. That helped drag Exxon Mobil down 3.6% and Chevron down 1.5%. All told, the S&P 500 rose 24.47 points to 5,495.52. The Dow dropped 92.63 to 40,736.96, and the Nasdaq composite added 141.28 to 17,025.88. In the bond market, Treasury yields eased. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.64% from 3.70% late Monday. Like stocks, Treasury yields have been swinging sharply ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting next week, where the widespread expectation is for it to cut its main interest rate for the first time since the COVID crash of 2020. The Fed is turning its focus away from stifling high inflation and toward protecting the economy. The debate on Wall Street is now focused on how much the Fed will cut the federal funds rate, which has been sitting at a two-decade high, and whether the easing will ultimately prove to be too late to prevent a recession. Reports coming this week on inflation could influence the size of the Fed's upcoming cuts. The worst case for the Fed would be if inflation were to reaccelerate when the job market is weakening, because helping either of those would require opposing moves. On Wednesday, though, economists expect the latest report on inflation to show prices for U.S. consumers were 2.6% higher in August than a year earlier. That would be a slowdown from July's inflation rate of 2.9% Ahead of that will be Tuesday evening's debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Foreign-exchange strategists at Bank of America say it could be the next catalyst for the market. The value of the U.S. dollar has increased against peers in the past when expectations for a Trump re-election have strengthened, among other moves that have come to be known as part of the "Trump trade," due in part to his calling for tariffs. But economists are debating what impact either candidate's proposed policies would ultimately have on the economy, and the bigger deal may be whether one party is able to sweep into control of both Congress and the White House. Strategists at Wells Fargo Investment Institute are looking for gridlock to continue, with neither party getting big enough majorities to pass transformative legislation. Because of that, "we think the economy is much more likely to move markets than elections," said Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy, and Jennifer Timmerman, investment strategy analyst. In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia. Stocks rose 0.2% in Hong Kong and 0.3% in Shanghai after China's customs office reported the country's exports grew for a fifth consecutive month, in a sign of growing demand abroad. ___ AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed. --------- itemid:813cae6e0fef23f2c4a7a6ecc736489c
