World/National Archives - Page 33 of 68

Two closing arguments show the stark choice between Trump and Harris

NEW YORK (AP) — In the shadow of the White House, Kamala Harris is vowing to put country over party. Inside a New York City sports arena, Trump called his Democratic opponent “a train wreck who has destroyed everything in her path.” Trump’s allies also labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and said Harris, who would be the first woman president, had begun her career as a prostitute. Two nights and 200 miles apart, the presidential candidates’ dueling closing arguments outlined in stark terms the choice U.S. voters face on Nov. 5 as they weigh two very different visions of leadership and America’s future. Voters will decide which vision they prefer in just six days.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Rising tech stocks send Nasdaq to a record as most of Wall Street stumbles

NEW YORK (AP) — Rising technology stocks sent the Nasdaq composite to a record, but trading was mixed along the rest of Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Tuesday, even though the majority of stocks in the index fell. Gains for Microsoft, Meta Platforms and other influential Big Tech stocks helped mask weakness elsewhere, and they pushed the Nasdaq up 0.8% to top its record set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, fell 0.4%. Homebuilders and Ford Motor dropped to some of the market’s sharpest losses following the latest profit reports. Treasury yields eased in the bond market.… Continue Reading

Harris reaches for a big moment in her closing argument for ‘turning the page’ on Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will pledge to Americans that she’ll work to improve their lives while Republican Donald Trump is in it for himself as she delivers her campaign’s closing argument Tuesday from the same site where the former president fomented the Capitol insurrection in 2021. One week out from Election Day, Harris’ address from the grassy Ellipse near the White House is designed to encourage Americans to visualize their alternate futures if she or Trump takes over the Oval Office in less than three months. Her campaign hopes to draw a massive crowd to Washington for the event.… Continue Reading

Fires set in drop boxes destroy hundreds of ballots in Washington and damage 3 in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Incendiary devices have been set off at two ballot drop boxes — one in Portland, Oregon, and another in nearby Vancouver, Washington — in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy.” The Monday morning fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished quickly thanks to a suppression system inside the box as well as a nearby security guard, and just three ballots were damaged there. But another fire at a transit center drop box in Vancouver destroyed hundreds of ballots. Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country.… Continue Reading

Owner Jeff Bezos defends Washington Post’s decision not to endorse as the right, ‘principled’ one

NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post has reportedly lost more than 200,000 subscribers following a decision announced last week not to endorse a candidate in the presidential race. That’s according to a report from NPR, which cited two people at the paper it said had knowledge of the newspaper’s internal matters. The Post would not comment on NPR’s story or discuss lost subscriptions. A story on the fallout from the decision on the Post’s website on Monday had more than 2,000 comments, many of them from people saying they were ending their subscriptions. The Post, with more than 2.5 million subscribers, is the country’s third-largest newspaper in circulation size.… Continue Reading

Democrats escalate attacks on Trump after comedian calls Puerto Rico ‘floating island of garbage’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are stepping up their attacks on Donald Trump a day after a comedian opening a Trump rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” The comment at Madison Square Garden drew wide condemnation and highlighted the rising power of a key Latino group in the swing state of Pennsylvania. The Trump campaign distanced itself from the remarks on Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. The political fallout underscores the importance of Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes and the last-minute efforts to court growing numbers of Hispanic voters there. Trump did not directly mention the controversy during his appearances in Georgia. At a rally in Atlanta, Trump criticized Harris for calling him a fascist, declaring: “I’m not a Nazi.”… Continue Reading

Harris calls on the United States ‘to turn the page on hatred and division’

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kamala Harris has told a church congregation in Philadelphia that the United States is “determined to turn the page on hatred and division.” The vice president visited the Church of Christian Compassion on Sunday. The pastor introduced her at a worship service as “the voice of the future.” It’s her first stop of the day in the largest city in swing state Pennsylvania and a critical Democratic stronghold. Harris is trying to energize supporters with a little more than a week to go before the Nov. 5 election. The Democratic presidential nominee later stopped at a barbershop, and she plans to visit a Puerto Rican restaurant and a youth basketball facility before speaking at a rally.… Continue Reading

Satellite images show damage from Israeli attack at 2 secretive Iranian military bases

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital that experts in the past have linked to Tehran’s onetime nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program. That’s according to satellite photos analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press. Some of the buildings damaged sat in Iran’s Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. The other damage could be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites. Iran’s military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin.… Continue Reading

Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Whisper is a popular transcription tool powered by artificial intelligence, but it has a major flaw. It makes things up that were never said. Whisper was created by OpenAI. It’s being used in many industries worldwide to translate and transcribe interviews, generate text in popular consumer technologies and create subtitles for videos. OpenAI has promoted Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.” But more than a dozen computer scientists and software developers tell The Associated Press that isn’t always the case and that it’s prone to making up chunks of text and even entire sentences. An OpenAI spokesperson says the company studies how to reduce that and updates its models incorporating feedback received.… Continue Reading

US approves $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan including advanced missile defense system

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States has approved $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, including the delivery for the first time to the island of an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system. The sale has angered China. Taiwan’s presidential office on Saturday thanked Washington for greenlighting the potential arms sales. Under the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, Taiwan has been stepping up defense measures as China increased its military threats against the island. Beijing last week held war games encircling Taiwan for the second time since Lai took office in May. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.… Continue Reading