FAYETTEVILLE: Donald Trump is heading to North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month, as the Republican presidential candidate tries to firm up support in a state he was winning handily a few months ago but is now among the most competitive in the race.
The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms.
Once-in-a-generation floods triggered by Hurricane Helene killed dozens in the state’s western mountains, while the Republican candidate for governor has faced damaging reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.
Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they think he still has a slight leg up on Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
By some metrics, the vice president is doing marginally better here than she is in Arizona and Georgia, even though Trump lost both of those states in 2020. Those three states are among a handful of battlegrounds that both candidates have a legitimate shot of winning next month.
“I’m freaking out about North Carolina,” said one major Trump donor, who was granted anonymity to give his candid assessment of the race. “Georgia and Arizona are not in the bag, but heading in the right direction.”
Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage points in North Carolina, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis website. The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of those figures are within the margin of error for major polls, meaning either candidate could walk away with a victory.
Trump will also travel on Friday to Georgia, where his campaign said he will receive a briefing with Governor Brian Kemp on local storm recovery efforts and then speak to the media.
Trump had been leading Biden by several percentage points in North Carolina before the Democratic president dropped his re-election bid in July and passed the baton to Harris, who has steadily closed the gap with Trump.
While Trump’s ad spending in the state has been relatively modest compared to most other battleground states, he has hit the campaign trail hard. His four campaign events in North Carolina, including stops in Wilmington and Mint Hill, in the last month are more than those in any other state except for Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a Reuters tally.
The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to North Carolina’s Republican Party. Matt Mercer, the party’s communications director, said the Trump campaign was going as planned in the Southern state.
“North Carolina is close and has been for several cycles,” Mercer said. “However, President Trump has won the state twice, and we are confident we will deliver a third time.”
The vice president also has made frequent trips to North Carolina and is expected in the state again on Saturday.
Dory MacMillan, a communications official for her campaign, said Harris “is gaining momentum as voters continue to learn more about Vice President Harris’ vision for a New Way Forward where our freedoms are protected and everyone has the chance to not just get by, but get ahead.”
Among the potential headwinds Trump faces is the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, a Trump ally.
In September, CNN reported that Robinson, a Black man, had advocated bringing back slavery and said he enjoyed transsexual pornography in an online chatroom. Robinson denied making the comments.
Analysts say it is unclear if the Robinson scandal will depress turnout among Republicans on Election Day, potentially hurting Trump. But it will certainly not help.
“It hasn’t necessarily changed voters’ minds, but where I would be concerned is that you want everyone rowing in the same direction,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and North Carolina native, who noted the disarray around Robinson’s campaign was hampering its ability to drive voters to the polls.
Election officials, in the meantime, are scrambling to make sure voters in the western part of the state can cast a ballot after Helene destroyed towns and roads and left many residents displaced.
It is too early to measure the storm’s impact on the race, but analysts said the event has made new opinion polls going forward unreliable, as many potential respondents lack phone service or are preoccupied with recovery efforts.
Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina
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Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina
- The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms
Sweden detains suspected spy, TV reports diplomat in custody
SAPO was investigating a potential connection between the suspect and the resignation of the government’s national security adviser last week
STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s security service has detained a Swedish diplomat on suspicion of espionage, public television SVT reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.
The security service (SAPO) said it had detained a person on suspicion of spying after an operation in the Stockholm area in the last few days, but declined to give further information.
“It is correct that we have a case where the suspicion is spying,” SAPO spokesperson Karin Lutz told Reuters. “One person has been taken into custody.”
SVT said the suspect had been posted to a number of embassies around the world and that SAPO was investigating a potential connection between the suspect and the resignation of the government’s national security adviser last week.
A security service spokesperson said SAPO had noted the media report but declined to comment further.
“The investigation is at an early stage and we cannot say anything due to secrecy considerations,” the spokesperson said.
Tobias Thyberg, a foreign service veteran who in previous roles served as ambassador to both Ukraine and Afghanistan, resigned a day after being named as national security adviser.
Thyberg is not suspect in a crime, SVT said. Thyberg’s predecessor stepped down in January and was then charged with negligent handling of classified information.
Anton Strand, the lawyer appointed to defend the person in custody, told newspaper Aftonbladet his client denied wrong-doing and had filed a criminal complaint against the police over the arrest. He did not immediately respond to Reuters’ attempts to reach him by phone and email.
Swedish authorities have fretted in recent years about increasing threats from both foreign powers like Russia, China and Iran and groups engaging in actions ranging from violent attacks and hybrid warfare to corporate espionage.
In March, SAPO warned that foreign powers are operating in ways that threaten security, using hybrid activities to destabilize Sweden and Europe.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told SVT the government had been informed of SAPO’s operation and the person in custody was suspected “on reasonable grounds” of espionage. Reasonable grounds is the lower of two grades of suspicion in Sweden.
“The investigation has to be carried out and I don’t want to preempt it,” Strommer said in a statement to SVT.
Man in jail for nearly four decades for murder acquitted by London court
- Peter Sullivan was sentenced to life in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall
- “Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK,” said his lawyer
LONDON: A man who has spent nearly 40 years in jail for murder had his conviction overturned by a London court on Tuesday after advancements in DNA testing techniques cast doubt on his guilt.
Peter Sullivan, believed to be the victim of the longest miscarriage of justice in Britain, was sentenced to life in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, who was found dead after leaving her place of work in the northwest England town of Bebington, close to Liverpool, the previous year.
He applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission — an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice — in 2021, raising concerns about his police interviews, bite-mark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon, the commission said in a statement.
The commission then obtained DNA information from samples taken at the time of the offense and found that the profile did not match that of Sullivan. His case was then sent to London’s Court of Appeal, which quashed the conviction on Tuesday based on the new evidence.
“This is an unprecedented and historic moment. Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK,” his lawyer told reporters outside the court.
Reading a message from Sullivan, the lawyer said: “What happened to me was very wrong, but it does not detract or minimize that all of this happened off the back of a heinous and most terrible loss of life.”
Sullivan had applied to the CCRC questioning DNA evidence in 2008, but forensic experts advised at the time that any further testing would be very unlikely to produce a DNA profile.
The techniques used in the testing that led to his case being referred were not available at the time of his first application, the CCRC said.
Merseyside Police, which reopened the investigation in 2023, said there was no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database, adding that they were committed to doing “everything within our power” to find to whom it belonged.
“The truth shall set you free ... As we advance toward resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter,” Sullivan said in his message.
Over 84,000 people affected by Somalia floods since mid-April: UN
- “Since mid-April, flash floods caused by heavy seasonal rains have killed 17 people and affected over 84,000 people in several areas,” OCHA said
- “Critical infrastructure has been damaged“
NAIROBI: More than 84,000 people have been affected by flash floods in Somalia since mid-April, the United Nations said Tuesday, leaving at least 17 people killed.
The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense.
“Since mid-April, flash floods caused by heavy seasonal rains have killed 17 people and affected over 84,000 people in several areas,” UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
The figure includes people who have displaced, lost shelter, now have a lack of access to humanitarian assistance, or suffer water shortages.
Jubaland, Hirshabelle, South West, Galmudug, Puntland states and Banadir region — which includes capital Mogadishu — were most impacted, OCHA said, leaving more than 8,100 people displaced.
“Critical infrastructure has been damaged,” it added, noting that water points had been submerged and almost 200 latrines were destroyed.
It comes just days after torrential rain in southeastern Banadir killed at least nine people and affected approximately 24,600 others.
“The rains significantly impacted internally displaced people,” OCHA said, citing local authorities.
According to the UN report, meteorologists have warned that more rain is expected in the coming days across southern and central Somalia.
Somalia was hit by intense floods in 2023. More than 100 people were killed and over a million displaced after severe flooding caused by torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather pattern.
Harvard loses another $450 million in grants in escalating battle with Trump administration
- A federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies
- Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.
In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.
The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.
“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” the letter said.
It was signed by officials at the Education Department, Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration.
University officials did not immediately provide comment on the letter.
Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism and end diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Trump, a Republican, has said he wants Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke the school’s eligibility to host foreign students.
Last week, the Education Department said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it meets the government’s demands.
The Trump administration has demanded Harvard make broad leadership changes, revise its admissions policies and audit its faculty and student body to ensure the campus is home to many viewpoints.
The demands are part of a pressure campaign targeting several other high-profile universities. The administration has cut off money to colleges including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, seeking compliance with Trump’s agenda.
Harvard is suing to block the federal funding freeze.
Harvard President Alan Garber disputed the government’s allegations in a Monday letter, saying Harvard is nonpartisan and has taken steps to root out antisemitism on campus. He insisted that Harvard is in compliance with the law, calling the federal sanctions an “unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations.”
The government’s letter on Tuesday said Harvard has repeatedly failed to address racial discrimination and antisemitism on campus. It cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down Harvard’s use of race in the admissions process, along with a recent internal report at Harvard detailing cases of antisemitic harassment.
___ Collin Binkley has covered Harvard for nearly a decade — most of the time living half a mile from its campus.
Bulgarian parliament rejects president’s euro referendum proposal
- Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution
- The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro
The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro
SOFIA: The speaker of the Bulgarian national assembly Nataliya Kiselova has dismissed President Rumen Radev’s proposal for a national referendum on adopting the euro, saying it violated the constitution, the BTA news agency reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, Radev had suggested a referendum on Bulgaria’s plans to adopt the euro next year with the question: “Do you agree that Bulgaria should introduce the single European currency ‘euro’ in 2026?” His proposal was criticized by the government, with one minister saying it was an attempt to sabotage its efforts to join the single currency.
Sending back the proposal, Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution and related European Union treaties, and was inconsistent with rulings from the country’s constitutional court.
The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro.
The government aims to adopt the euro next January, pending confirmation from the European Commission and the European Central Bank in June that all membership criteria have been met.
Economists say that Bulgaria, whose lev currency has long been pegged to the euro, would attract more foreign investment if it adopted the single currency and would secure credit ratings upgrades that could cut its debt financing costs.
However, Bulgarians are split on the euro’s adoption, with concerns that it might lead to price hikes, similar to what occurred in Croatia when it switched to the euro in 2023.
