Pope Francis is welcomed during his arrival at SoekarnoHatta International Airport in Jakarta on Sept. 3, 2024. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)
(JAKARTA, Indonesia) — Pope Francis on Monday embarked on his 45th and most ambitious trip of his papacy, both in terms of distance and duration.
It’s a 12-day, four-country, two-continent odyssey; with stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
This is not his first journey to the region: Early in his pontificate, he made four long-distance trips to South Korea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Japan. In more recent years he has also visited Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and, last year, Mongolia.
The historic voyage comes amid recent concerns regarding his health. The Pope suffers from mobility issues and has been repeatedly hospitalized with respiratory illnesses.
As he often does, on Monday he boarded the Papal plane in a wheelchair, using a lift. He later used a cane to walk down the aisle to greet reporters, but appeared to be in good spirits. Francis turns 88 in just three months; this marks the first time he’s left Italy in almost a year.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, the Pope’s message will focus on interreligious dialogue and cultural plurality, according to the Vatican. Francis will deliver remarks at Jakarta’s famed Istiqlal Mosque, alongside Indonesia’s Grand Imam.
Later the Pope will visit the “Tunnel of Fraternity” linking the mosque to a nearby Catholic church. The underground lane was recently built as a symbol of religious harmony.
On the eve of this departure, Pope Francis appealed for “concrete commitment” to tackle climate change. Francis will also travel to more remote parts of the country to meet with missionaries. According to Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, some of the trip’s other themes include social and technological development, as we well as the environment and the need to combat climate change.
In Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s poorest countries, Pope Francis will stop in Port Moresby, one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
The Pope will then head to Timor-Leste, Asia’s newest country, where he’ll be confronted with the aftermath of another clergy sex abuse scandal. The Pope’s first visit to the country comes just two years after the Vatican sanctioned independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes for having sexually abused young boys.
Many in the deeply Catholic country have brushed aside the allegations, choosing instead to continue celebrating the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a figure who saved lives during the country’s bloody struggle for Independence. It’s unclear if Francis will address the issue or meet with some of the victims, as he has in the past in other countries.
And in Singapore, the pope will again focus on how different religions can live in harmony.
“Pope Francis will especially meet young people engaged in interreligious dialogue, entrusting them with the future of this path, so that they may become protagonists of a more fraternal and peaceful world,” Cardinal Piero Parolin told Vatican Media.
His trip to Singapore is also widely seen as an attempt to improve ties with China, a constant diplomatic push by the Vatican over recent years, in the hope of improving circumstances for Catholics in China. The pope has previously said it is his dream to visit the country. Three-quarters of the city state’s population of Singapore are ethnically Chinese, and Mandarin is one of four official languages.
(NEW YORK) — One person is dead and two people have been reported missing with several others injured in what authorities are describing as a “major marine incident” that has caused “mass casualty” in Connecticut, officials said.
The North Madison Volunteer Fire Department says that the three people reported missing do not have life jackets and that multiple personnel and ambulances from the towns surrounding Old Saybrook, where the incident is currently ongoing, are assisting with the operation.
Authorities responded to the boating accident at approximately 9:15 p.m. Monday and discovered a single motorboat floating, half-submerged, near the Harbor One Marina in Old Saybrook. There was significant damage to the boat, which hit the east-facing jetty at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
A total of nine people were on the boat. An adult male was recovered deceased, and six people were taken to the hospital for treatment. As of 1 a.m., two people were still being searched for.
“A mass casualty incident describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties,” the North Madison Volunteer Fire Department said in a follow up statement online describing the operation.
No other details about the cause of the accident or the identities of the victims have been made available and the incident is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions appears to have reached an impasse.
Meanwhile, after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, protests erupted in Israel. Protesters have demanded its government bring the hostages home.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Cease-fire protesters plan action near Tel Aviv Defense Ministry
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a fresh protest scheduled for 7 p.m. local time Tuesday in Tel Aviv, close to the entrance of the Defense Ministry building.
The action will be “led by the younger members of the families,” the Forum wrote in a post on X, who will “call for a deal to bring all 101 hostages home.”
Attendees will protest what the Forum called “the abandonment of the hostages in Hamas captivity.”
Additional demonstrations elsewhere will include a gathering outside the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, a protest outside Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s residence in Kfar Ahim, one in front of Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter’s home in Ashkelon and another outside Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modi’in.
Gaza polio vaccination drive reaches 160,000 children
Some 160,000 Gaza children received their first vaccination for polio on Sunday and Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The emergency rollout began on Sunday, facilitated by a partial pause in fighting in the strip. Medical teams in the central part of the territory said they were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies said they were hoping to vaccinate 640,000 children during the push. Israel agreed to some pauses in fighting to support the campaign, though airstrikes have continued in its first two days.
Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.
Polio is among the illnesses feared to be thriving in Gaza after 10 months of war. The strip’s long-standing humanitarian difficulties have been exacerbated by the destruction of health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and the displacement — sometimes repeated displacement — of most of the territory’s residents.
Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization said the case suggests there could be hundreds more infected who are not symptomatic.
Netanyahu asks hostage families for forgiveness, says pressure should be directed at Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for forgiveness from the families of the six slain hostages whose bodies were recovered this weekend.
“I ask you for forgiveness that we did not succeed to bring your loved ones back alive. We were close, but we did not succeed,” Netanyahu said at a Monday news conference.
Netanyahu again said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain a presence on the Egyptian border, but he said the IDF does not need a “large” presence of forces there. It needs groups of forces in key areas all along the border, he said. Netanyahu also reiterated that the IDF must maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor to reach the goals of the war.
When asked how he would define “total victory” in the war, Netanyahu responded, “When Hamas no longer rules Gaza — we throw them out. I would define the end of the war of World War II when the Nazis no longer ruled Germany. To do that you need to have a military victory and you have to have also a political victory to destroy their governance.”
Netanyahu also said that international “pressure” must be directed at Hamas, not Israel.
“These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head. And now after this we’re asked to show seriousness, we’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?” he said.
Netanyahu added, “I don’t believe President [Joe] Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of hostages] can seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We’ve already made them. Hamas has to make concessions.”
A Hamas military spokesman said in a new statement the Israeli hostages won’t be freed by force.
“Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive,” the spokesperson said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Biden: ‘We’re in the middle of negotiations’ on hostage, cease-fire deal
President Joe Biden told reporters “we’re still negotiating” when asked if there will be a final hostage and cease-fire deal proposed this week.
Asked what he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do, Biden replied, “We’re in the middle of negotiations.”
“We’re still in negotiations. Not with him [Netanyahu], with my colleagues from Qatar and from Egypt,” Biden said.
Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone Monday morning with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a U.S. official said. They discussed efforts to conclude a deal for the release of the hostages and for a cease-fire in Gaza, the official said.
-ABC News’ Karen Travers, Elizabeth Schulze and Lauren Peller
Protesters break through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence
Protesters broke through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday as they demanded progress on a deal to return the hostages in Gaza.
Monday marks the second day of large protests across Israel after six murdered hostages were recovered in Gaza this weekend.
Israeli defense minister ‘deeply disheartened’ by UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement he was “deeply disheartened” to learn of the United Kingdom’s new restrictions on some arms exports to Israel.
“This comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts — a war that was launched by a savage terrorist organization, unprovoked,” Gallant said. “At a time when we mourn 6 hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside tunnels in Gaza. At a time when we fight to bring 101 hostages home.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday about 30 of 350 export licenses are suspended because “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
29 Palestinians killed in West Bank since IDF operation began
Twenty-nine Palestinians have been killed and 121 have been injured in the West Bank since the Israeli military’s operation began last Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Monday.
Eighteen people were killed in the Jenin governate of the West Bank, four in the Tubas governate, four in the Tulkarm governate and three in the Hebron governate, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Biden, Harris meet with US hostage deal negotiating team
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room on Monday, according to the White House.
Biden and Harris received an update from the negotiation team on the “status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar and Egypt” and “they discussed next steps” in the release of the hostages, the White House said.
Biden also “expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder” of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages and he “reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” the White House said.
Officials participating in the briefing included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director Bill Burns and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Netanyahu doubles down on Israeli troops remaining in Philadelphi corridor
In an Israeli cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his stance that he will not agree to a cease-fire and hostage deal that includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor in Gaza, according to an Israeli official.
Israeli troops remaining in the Philadelphi corridor has been a key sticking point in the ongoing negotiations. Hamas wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
“Everyone who says that it is possible to leave Philadelphi for 42 days, knows very well that it will be for 42 years. The world will not allow us to return,” Netanyahu said during Sunday night’s cabinet meeting, according to an Israeli official. “Everyone understands the importance of Philadelphi, and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar understands it best. That is why he insists. All smuggling the weapons to Gaza were through Philadelphi. If we change the cabinet’s decision, it will be a terrorist award, you will not return the hostages.”
The Hostages Families Forum said in a statement that Netanyahu’s comments are “dangerous.” The families said Netanyahu’s statement means “there will be no deal, and the families will not get to see their loved ones return home.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Dana Savir
Israeli president apologizes to Hersh Goldberg-Polin and his parents for not keeping him safe
As Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a eulogy at the funeral of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, he apologized to the slain 23-year-old.
“I apologize that the country you immigrated to at the age of 7, wrapped in the Israeli flag, could not keep you safe,” Herzog said Monday, two days after the Israeli-American’s body was recovered in Gaza, along with five others.
The president also asked for forgiveness from Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, for not bringing their son home alive.
He said he learned of “a mother’s and father’s limitless love” from Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin.
“Jon and Rachel, against the senseless hatred, and unthinkable brutality of Hamas terror, pure barbaric evil, you have taught the world about human dignity,” Herzog said. “As a human being, as a father, and as the President of the State of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am. How sorry I am that we didn’t protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home.”
Though he said Israel will “continue fighting relentlessly against” Hamas, Herzog stressed that the remaining 101 hostages must be released.
“The time to act is now: Bring them home,” Herzog said.
“Decision-makers must do everything possible, with determination and courage, to save those who can still be saved,” he said. “This is not a political goal, and it must not become a political dispute. It is a supreme moral, Jewish, and human duty of the State of Israel to its citizens.”
-ABC News’ Becky Perlow
Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough, says ‘we are very close’ to presenting final deal
When asked by reporters if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough on the hostage deal, President Joe Biden on Monday replied, “No.”
Asked about presenting a final hostage deal this week, Biden said, “We are very close to that.”
“Hope springs eternal,” Biden said, when asked what makes this final deal different, but he declined to provide details.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are meeting with the U.S. hostage negotiation team Monday morning.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
‘We failed you,’ dad of slain hostage says
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was curious, self-assured and a deep, independent thinker, his dad, Jon Polin, said at his funeral on Monday.
The 23-year-old, who was found dead in Gaza this weekend, was “always seeking to understand the other, and always with dignity and respect,” Polin said.
“Hersh, we failed you. We all failed you,” Polin said with a “332” on his shirt, marking how many days his son was held hostage. “You would not have failed you. You would’ve pushed harder for justice … to bridge differences. … What you would be pushing for now is to ensure your death … [and the others’ deaths are] not in vain.”
“Maybe, just maybe, your death … is the fuel that will bring home the remaining 101 hostages,” Polin said.
“You have become a global symbol of bringing improvement to our world,” he said.
“The 23 years of life that we had with you were a blessing. We now will work to make your legacy a similar blessing,” he said.
Funeral underway for slain American hostage
A funeral procession is underway in Jerusalem for slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The 23-year-old was one of six murdered hostages recovered this weekend.
The Israeli Ministry of Health said the six hostages were killed “in a number of short-range shots” between Thursday and Friday morning.
The funeral comes one day after thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest the deaths of the six hostages.
2 hours and 31 minutes ago Tel Aviv braces for fresh protests
More than 1,000 people have gathered in the northern Israeli city of Tel Aviv for continued anti-government protests, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
Other marches are taking place elsewhere in Israel. A general strike — called by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union — also began on Monday morning in protest of the government’s failure to free those still held hostage inside Gaza.
Police reported violent clashes with anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, saying officers had arrested 29 people.
The current wave of demonstrations was sparked by the recovery of the bodies of six of Hamas’ hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and David Brennan
3 hours and 57 minutes ago Israel Police accuses Tel Aviv marchers of ‘brutal’ vandalism, violence
The Israel Police has condemned what it called “brutal vandalism” during a night of anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv, sparked by the deaths in captivity of six of Hamas’ Gaza hostages.
In a statement, the Police Spokesperson’s Unit said officers arrested 29 suspects for a range of offenses including disorderly conduct, assaulting officers and vandalism.
The violence followed a planned protest at the Kaplan Junction in Tel Aviv, the statement said, after which “hundreds of protesters” left the approved demonstration area and moved to the Ayalon Highway, “with the intent to disrupt traffic and public order.”
Some marchers “violently pushed against barricades and officers, leading to a confrontation during which a policewoman was injured and lost consciousness,” the statement said. The officer was evacuated for medical treatment.
As officers attempted to clear the area, some protesters “breached security perimeters, blocked the Ayalon Highway, and set fires, while firing fireworks that nearly hit officers,” police said.
“The Israel Police strongly condemns the acts of vandalism and violence directed at officers,” the statement read. “We will pursue legal action against those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”
The protesters were demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government agree to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
A general strike called by Israel’s largest trade union — Histadrut — began on Monday morning in a bid to pressure the government into reaching an accord with the militant group.
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who was found dead in Gaza on Saturday along with five other Oct. 7 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The vice president and her husband called parents Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin on Sunday to “express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists,” Harris said in a statement on X.
“My heart breaks for their pain and anguish,” Harris continued.
“I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them,” Harris said.
4:59 PM EDT Protest erupts in Tel Aviv as demonstrators demand cease-fire deal
Protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv Sunday night, demanding a cease-fire agreement and the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas terrorists.
The demonstration came a day after Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages in tunnels under the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Protesters were seen waving Israeli flags as they demanded a cease-fire agreement, chanting “Deal. Now.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
3:25 PM EDT 6 killed in IDF strike on Gaza school, says Gaza Civil Defense
At least six people were killed on Sunday when Israel Defense Forces conducted an airstrike on a school in Gaza City, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
The IDF said in a statement that the strike was aimed at Hamas terrorists they allege were operating a command-and-control center inside the Safad school to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against the IDF and Israel.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.
The Gaza Civil Defense confirmed the Safad school was hit in the IDF strike, but said the school houses displaced people from the Al-Zeitoun area east of Gaza City.
(NEW YORK) — Police are investigating five separate shootings that occurred Monday night on Interstate 5 in Washington, authorities said.
Police have not confirmed if all of the shootings are connected but have confirmed that several people have been injured across all five incidents, according to a statement from the Washington State Patrol. A suspect was arrested, police said, although it was not immediately clear whether the suspect was connected to all the incidents.
Two women were taken to the hospital and I-5 was briefly closed for police to collect evidence, but it is now reopened and will not be affecting morning traffic, police said.
Trooper Rick Johnson, who is the Washington State Patrol District 2 public information officer for King County, initially posted about the first shooting incident at 9:27 p.m. local time, saying that it had taken place on northbound I-5 at 320th where a single passenger was injured.
Just 15 minutes after the initial report, police said they received another call, this time regarding a shooting on northbound I-5 at MLK. Nobody was injured in that incident but a vehicle did sustain damage.
A third shooting then took place shortly after and Washington State Patrol received a call saying that incident had occurred at northbound I-5 at I-90. One passenger was injured in that instance and the Seattle Fire Department said their crews treated a 20-year-old woman who was reported to be in critical condition, according to ABC News’ Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV.
The fourth and fifth shootings — one that took place on southbound I-5 near State Route 18 and the other on southbound I-5 near 54th in Pierce County — injured two more people but police were able to match the suspect’s vehicle in these incidents to the first shooting that took place on northbound I-5 near 320th, Johnson said.
A suspect was subsequently identified and arrested in the Tacoma area, according to police officials.
“Pierce County Sheriff and Fircrest PD who was the agency that made the arrest after locating the suspect vehicle,” police said.
No other injuries are known at this time and authorities said they will be giving out more information on this case later Tuesday morning.
(WASHINGTON) — Every election cycle, political observers speculate about the power and prevalence of ticket-splitters: voters who support one party for president and another on down-ballot races. This year, their influence is unquestioned: they hold the House and Senate majorities in their hands.
Given the congressional maps and margins, both chambers are set for flips. In the Republican-controlled House, if Democratic House candidates win every district that President Joe Biden won in 2020, the party will regain control there. And if states with Senate races follow the expected presidential results, Republicans will retake the Democratic-controlled upper chamber in November.
That leaves the already influential but dwindling tribe of voters willing to split their tickets with a particularly uncommon amount of sway this November, underscoring the unsteady footing Democrats and Republicans hold in Washington and the vast importance of candidates’ ability to reach beyond partisan loyalties.
“I don’t recall any time in our history where it’s been this way, especially not in my lifetime,” said former Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Bishop, who was swept out of office in the 2018 blue wave. “It’s going to be razor thin.”
Republicans are defending their tissue-thin majority in the House, with 17 Republicans holding the line in districts that Biden took four years ago — 10 of which are in sapphire blue California and New York. And Democrats can afford to suffer only one loss in the Senate — and with a surefire defeat in West Virginia’s open Senate race, they’ll need battle-tested incumbents to hang on in ruby red Montana and Ohio.
That’ll leave both parties leaning on a trend that has precipitously dropped in recent years.
In 1988, the first of a series of consecutive, competitive election years, half the states with Senate races supported the same party for president and Senate, a number that grew to around 70% by 2000. By 2016, there was no difference between the Senate and presidential map, and in 2020, only Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, bucked her state’s presidential results, winning reelection on the back of a longstanding brand of pragmatism.
The trend has bucked the historic mantra that “all politics is local,” leaving national politics to rule the day and margins in statewide and House races to more closely track presidential election results.
“With ticket-splitting, you’re dancing on the head of a pin,” said Mike Madrid, a GOP strategist based in California, which is home to several House Republicans in Biden-won districts.
The key to winning over enough of the remaining ticket-splitters, Democrats and Republicans said, is establishing a candidate’s unique brand, which lawmakers this year are hard at work trying to accomplish.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, makes a concerted effort at bolstering his just-like-you reputation as a farmer, while Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown doubled down on his blue-collar appeal as a pre-Trump era populist.
And in California, Republican Reps. David Valadao and Mike Duarte have highlighted their own experience as farmers, for instance, while Republican Rep. Mike Garcia has promoted his time as a naval combat pilot.
All the while, the lawmakers have avoided hammering away at the other party, instead focusing on flaws specifically with their leaders, while working to push bipartisan measures in Congress that could address local issues and constituents’ concerns.
“It’s the way you act and the way you speak,” said New York GOP strategist Tom Doherty. “Work with the other side. Everything you do can’t be, ‘they’re bad people because they’re Democrats,’ or ‘they’re bad people because they’re Republicans.'”
“It’s incredibly important that the brand is built on authenticity, and that’s really why people split tickets,” added one Democratic strategist working on Senate races. “Partisanship tells us a lot, but ultimately, people tend to vote for the candidate who they think is A, on their side, and B, giving it to them straight.”
For some lawmakers in particularly hostile political territory, having a high-profile break with your party or staking out a big claim on an unconventional issue given a candidate’s partisanship could also prove beneficial.
New York Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro used his opening ad to discuss abortion, saying that “I believe health decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not Washington.” Tester stayed away from his party’s national convention in Chicago this month. And Brown is out with an ad featuring a Republican sheriff highlighting efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl across the southern border.
“You need to have something that people don’t expect,” said former Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, a former chair of House Republicans’ campaign arm. “It doesn’t need to be a giant disagreement, but it needs to be unexpected, I think, to really catch people’s attention and build an independent brand.”
“You have to have those disagreements,” agreed former Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall, whose opposition to abortion and A+ rating from the National Rifle Association helped protect him in a red district in Ohio until Republicans finally unseated him in 2014. But, he warned, “it’s not a guarantee.”
Already, the country saw some candidates defy political gravity.
Despite having a disappointing 2022 cycle overall, Republicans were able to win and flip several Biden-won House districts in California and New York — the same seats that make up the path to the House majority — on messages on crime and the border while keeping former President Donald Trump at arm’s length.
But that was then. This year, the matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump will be the gravitational force in elections.
“Republicans in Biden districts found an issue that resonated with persuadable voters,” said former New York Rep. Steve Israel, who chaired House Democrats’ campaign arm for two cycles.
Replicating that success, though, will be “more difficult in a presidential year for Republicans,” Israel said.
This year’s presidential election is shaping up as another test of how much the rubber band between presidential and down-ballot margins can stretch — before it snaps.
“There are elections where the top the ticket is so overwhelming that everybody gets washed away. That is certainly something that can happen. But the only defense is to control your own persona and your own message,” said William O’Reilly, a GOP strategist who has worked on down-ballot races in New York. “You have to swim the tide, do the best you can and hope it’s not too overwhelming.”
There’s no way to know precisely how far a candidate can run ahead of the top of the ticket, but Madrid, who is also a senior fellow at the University of California, Irvine, studying the state’s competitive Orange County, said, “anything over 5-7 points is stretching the rubber band pretty tight.”
That’s on top of the increasing tribalism of modern politics.
Bishop, the former Michigan congressman who lost in 2018, said more and more people are less eager to split tickets and more than willing to simply pull a lever against a party they dislike — and there’s virtually nothing a candidate can do to reach those voters.
“There was nothing that I could say,” Bishop said of his 2018 race. “It didn’t matter who I was, what I stood for, whether or not they had confidence in my ability to represent them. It was an absolute protest vote, and for the first time I almost lost my hometown that I used to drag through at 60%, 70%.”
When asked if there’s anything down-ballot candidates can do to distance themselves from the party standard bearers, Bishop sounded a pessimistic tone.
“I just think the current is so strong at the top of the ticket that they’re getting pulled along,” Bishop said of the presidential candidates’ pull. “These personalities are bigger than life.”
A view of the heavily damaged cars and partially collapsed building after the Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 2, 2024. (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russian missiles and drones again crisscrossed Ukrainian skies on Monday night in a strike that killed at least three people.
Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that Russia fired three Iskander ballistic missiles from occupied Crimea, one Kh-59/69 air-launched missile from Russia’s western Kursk region and 35 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones from two areas in Kursk and Crimea.
Ukrainian air defenses downed 27 drones, the air force said, with six more “lost.”
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said that two people — a 38-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son — were killed in a strike on a hotel complex in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Two other members of the family — the father and a 13-year-old girl — were buried under rubble but later recovered. Both are in a “serious condition” and have been hospitalized, the ministry said.
Further north, in the city of Dnipro, one person was killed and at least six injured by a Russian missile attack, the Interior Ministry wrote on Telegram.
Air raid sirens also sounded in the central city of Poltava early on Tuesday.
Vladimir Rogov — the chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement, which cooperates with Moscow’s occupation of southern Ukraine — said on his Telegram channel that Russia’s strikes had targeted a military communications school in Poltava.
Ukraine’s air defense units were active overnight in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Poltava and the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the air force said.
Russia’s intensifying long-range attacks on Ukrainian military, infrastructure and civilian targets have prompted Kyiv to push its Western partners — chief among them the U.S. — for permission to use Western weapons against airfields and launch sites within Russian borders.
Ukraine has scored notable successes within Russia with its own domestically produced drones and missiles, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said Kyiv needs more advanced capabilities.
“The terrorist state must feel what war is,” the president said on Sunday. “To force Russia into peace, to move them from deceitful rhetoric about negotiations to taking steps to end the war, to clear our land of occupation and occupiers, we need effective tools.”
Following a deadly Russian guided bomb strike on the city of Kharkiv last week, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that such attacks can only be stopped “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.”
“We talk about this every day with our partners,” he said. “We persuade. We present arguments.”
Curtailing Russia’s ability to strike from the air, Zelenskyy added, would be “a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace.”
(LONDON) — American forces in Syria have captured an ISIS leader who U.S. Central Command said facilitated a recent prison break by detained foreign fighters.
Khaled Ahmed al-Dandal was captured in a joint U.S.-Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) operation in the early hours of Sunday, CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM linked al-Dandal to the escape of five ISIS foreign fighters — two Russians, two Afghans and one Libyan — from a detention facility in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa on Aug. 29.
The SDF has already recaptured two of the escapees — Imam Abdulwahed Akhwan from Russia and Muhammad Noh Muhammad from Libya — CENTCOM said.
“The search continues for the three who remain at large,” it added, naming Russian Timor Talbrken Abdash, and Shuab Muhammad Al-Abdli and Atal Khaled Zar, both from Afghanistan.
“A primary objective of ISIS remains to free their fighters currently held in detention and subsequently fuel an ISIS revival,” CENTCOM said. “CENTCOM forces, in coordination with SDF, will continue to mitigate threats of future escapes and to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
There are more than 9,000 ISIS detainees spread across 20 SDF-run detention facilities in Syria. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said the prisoners represent “a literal and figurative ‘ISIS Army’ in detention.”
“If a large number of these ISIS fighters escaped, it would pose an extreme danger to the region and beyond,” Kurilla said in the CENTCOM release. “We will continue to work with the international community to repatriate these ISIS fighters to their countries of origin for final adjudication.”
(RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.) — An ongoing crisis stemming from a widening landslide is threatening multimillion-dollar homes in the Southern California city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
The landslide grew worse over the weekend and prompted an evacuation warning for more than 100 homes in the oceanside community, officials said.
Residents in the growing landslide zone, which has spread about 680 acres over the past year the community has been dealing with the issue, were advised Sunday to leave the area after the Southern California Edison (SCE) utility company shut off power to 140 homes and said another 105 residents were poised to lose electricity by Monday night.
“SCE has determined there is a public safety threat,” the utility company said in a statement. “Electricity service will be discontinued in these zones effective Sunday, September 1 at 12 p.m. PST. DO NOT USE WATER OR PLUMBING AFTER THE POWER IS SHUT OFF — THIS COULD RESULT IN A SEWER SPILL.”
Rancho Palos Verdes is located about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
City officials said homes, roads and infrastructure have already been damaged by the landslide, which has been shifting for decades, but began to accelerate following heavy rains in the spring of 2023.
“There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents the area, said at a news conference Sunday. “We’re sparing no expense. This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging, that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.”
Hahn said the county has committed $5 million to respond to the disaster.
Hahn called on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to visit the area in hopes he will declare a state of emergency.
“Yes, this landslide has been moving for decades, but the acceleration that’s happening currently is beyond what any of us could have foretold, and it demands more response from the state, more response from the federal government,” Hahn said.
Officials said the shifting land has caused water and gas pipes to leak and the city has been forced to red-tag at least two homes that have been made uninhabitable by damage.
Officials said that earlier this month the landslide caused a 10,000-gallon sewer spill on private property.
“It’s just kind of mind-blowing,” one resident told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. “It doesn’t feel legal.”
(VICKSBURG, Miss.) — Seven Mexican nationals killed in a Mississippi bus crash over the weekend were identified Monday, including a 16-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother, authorities said.
The names were released to ABC News by Warren County Coroner Doug L. Huskey a day after the National Transportation Safety Board announced that the preliminary investigation showed a tire failure caused the motor coach to run off the road and overturn.
Huskey identified those killed in the crash as 8-year-old Kain Gutierrez and his 16-year-old sister, Perla Gutierrez. Another 16-year-old girl who died was identified as Angelica Palomino, according to Huskey.
Also killed were Miguel Ariaga, 61; Elia Guzman, 63; and Victor Aviles Garcia, 32, and his 30-year-old brother, Moises Aviles Garcia, according to Huskey.
Huskey said that due to a language barrier, Kain Gutierrez was initially identified as 6 years old.
The crash happened early Saturday, east of Vicksburg, and left 37 other people injured, according to the highway patrol.
The 2018 Volvo commercial passenger bus, traveling from Atlanta to Dallas, was driving westbound on Interstate 20 when it drove off the road Saturday just before 1 a.m. local time, according to the highway patrol.
Six people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person died at Merit Heath Hospital in Vicksburg, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol. The co-driver was not transported to a hospital, authorities said.
The Mexican consulate said in its statement that it has contacted a legal firm to help obtain detailed information about the crash.
(IZMIR, Turkey) — Two U.S. service members were assaulted in Izmir, Turkey, on Monday “and are now safe,” the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the local governor’s office said in statements on X.
“We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in İzmir today and are now safe. We thank Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation,” the U.S. Embassy in Turkey said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“A group of 15 people, 2 women and 13 men, members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB), physically attacked 2 U.S. military personnel in civilian clothes,” the Izmir Governorship, the local governor’s office, said in a post on X.
“In addition, 5 plain clothes US soldiers saw the incident from a distance, and got involved. Our police forces quickly responded to the incident,” the Izmir Governorship added.
The local authorities took 15 suspects into custody and a “judicial investigation has been initiated regarding the matter,” the Izmir Governorship said.
The Turkish Youth Union is a national youth and student group that has an anti-American and anti-imperialist stance. They are linked to the Turkish “Vatan Party,” a nationalist political party in Turkey.
The USS Wasp arrived in Izmir on Sunday for a “regularly scheduled port visit,” the Department of Defense said.
