The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next months midterm elections.

A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.

California mails ballots to all registered voters.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.

If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief, the letter states.

RELATED STORY | Records show ICE reviewed tens of millions of voter records looking for noncitizen voters

A separate, similar letter was sent to the registrar's office in Los Angeles County, which the U.S. attorney's office had investigated during the state's June primary.

Unclear how many names DOJ flagged

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan confirmed in a statement that his office received the letter and a thumb drive, along with a hand written note providing a password to access the list of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls.

He said he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device and hasn't yet accessed any files. The letter, which Logan made public, does not specify the number of individuals flagged by the federal government.

Logan said his office is working with the secretary of state and attorney general's offices to decide how to proceed. Neither of those two offices immediately responded to an emailed request for comment.

Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established, Logan wrote. And any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.

Nationwide search for alleged noncitizen voters

The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.

In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials there were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.

I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official, Weber said in response.

That same month, the Republican administration claimed Nevada had 1,500 noncitizen voters on its voter rolls. But after the federal government identified them to the state, the number of actual registered noncitizens turned out to be zero.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Young voter turnout could be pivotal in this year's midterms

As part of its project to find noncitizens on the voter rolls, the Justice Department has been seeking detailed voter information including dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers from the states. Some Republican-led states have turned over the information, which has been run through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database that has been criticized as inaccurately flagging U.S. citizens.

The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for that information, but so far has lost those cases in court. California is among the states that successfully sued, in part by arguing that turning over the data would violate state privacy laws.

Election official calls 48-hour deadline unreasonable

Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who is president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said she had not seen the letters but said the 48-hour deadline to vet voters flagged by the federal government was completely unreasonable.

She said when there is a report of an ineligible voter incorrectly on the rolls, her office does due diligence to investigate. That involves looking at the voters registration history, identifying whether that person had voted before and, most importantly, reaching out to the voter, she said.

It would take more than 48 hours to even begin to get the full picture, Webber said. She also questioned how the federal government came up with a list of alleged noncitizen voters since it doesnt have access to the state's detailed voter information.

Webber added that throughout the course of her decades-long career working for local election agencies, she has never seen anything that would make me believe that our voter records are filled with fraudulent voters.

Ukrainian drones lost some of their speed after restrictions were suddenly imposed on battlefield use of the country's U.S.-made Starlink communication terminals, officials said Wednesday as the capital endured a second consecutive night of missile attacks.

At the same time, Ukraine did not receive the usual advance warning from its Western partners about the devastating Russian ballistic missiles aimed at Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, triggering fears that Ukraine is being starved of vital intelligence, especially from the U.S.

Zelenskyy did not specify which partners he was talking about when referring to the lack of warning. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.

RELATED STORY | Trump claims Ukraine and Russia have agreed to energy ceasefire

The developments frustrated the Ukrainian military and deepened fears that Kyivs relationship with Washington is unraveling.

Ukrainian officials fear U.S. support for the war effort is falling away after Trump struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel despite international efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion and isolate Putin.

Trump has also leveled sharp criticism at Zelenskyy. He said Saturday that it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war with Russia and blaming him for high diesel prices in the U.S.

Trumps efforts to stop the fighting have yielded no progress.

Starlink is an essential tool for Ukraine

Ukrainian officials are concerned that U.S. support, especially related to the sharing of military intelligence and the use of Elon Musks Starlink satellite communications system, may be in jeopardy.

The American tech titan's SpaceX company overnight imposed a speed limit on Ukraines Starlink terminals mounted on drones, Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said on social media. The restriction disrupted operations, including making the slower-flying attack drones easier targets for Russian defenses.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | SpaceX puts new limits on Starlink internet to keep Russia from using it to target drone strikes

Musk said on X that the military version of Starlink is controlled by the U.S. military and Trump. The Pentagon and U.S. Space Force did not immediately respond to questions about any restrictions that the American military may have placed on satellite-communication services in Ukraine.

Starlink is a vital tool for the Ukrainian military, both in offensive and defensive operations. The network is used for long-range drone missions, interceptor air-defense systems and front-line logistics, Beskrestnov said.

Obviously, this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation, Beskrestnov said, without elaborating.

The White House did not offer any immediate comment.

Kyiv got no warning about initial ballistic missile attack, official says

Yurii Ihnat, Ukraines air force spokesman, said there was no warning of an initial Russian ballistic missile attack on Tuesday night, although Kyiv was warned about three later waves of missiles.

A lawmaker on Ukraines parliamentary Defense Committee told The Associated Press that intelligence sharing with international partners has not stopped. The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give statements to the press.

Five people were killed and 36 wounded in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital that lasted from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, Kyiv police said.

Russia keeps bombing Ukraine's power grid despite Trump's truce demand

Zelenskyy voiced outrage Wednesday over Russias continuing aerial bombardment of Ukraines energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of Trumps demand for a ceasefire.

We ask America and EVERYONE in the world who does not turn a blind eye to reality to respond and to respond forcefully to Russias ongoing aerial barrages, Zelenskyy said in a social media post.

Russia has squandered the opportunity for de-escalation and has clearly chosen to continue its insane war of annihilation, he said.

Moscows forces pounded the Ukrainian power grid, as well as oil and gas facilities, for the third straight night, Zelenskyy said, after Trump claimed that Russia and Ukraine had agreed not to strike energy infrastructure 4 years after Moscows forces invaded.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has agreed to halt Ukraine's monthslong campaign targeting Russian oil refineries that caused fuel shortages for Russians.

Ukraines last widely reported hit on an oil refinery was Friday. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak accused Ukraine of attacking more refineries Wednesday, something local officials and independent media did not report. Ukraine called it a false claim.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that details of the energy ceasefire are still being decided. The work in that direction is continuing, he told reporters.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its forces attacked Ukraines energy infrastructure in Kyiv, the wider Kyiv region and the northeastern Kharkiv region overnight, striking a total of six power plants.

Russian forces hit all three of Kyivs combined heat and power plants overnight into Wednesday, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said. At least 600,000 people were left without power, Zelenskyy said.

Russia fired 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones at energy and other infrastructure in Kyiv, the Kyiv region and Kharkiv overnight, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy visits London for talks on more help in the war

Zelenskyy arrived Wednesday in London for talks with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who announced the accelerated delivery of British-made air defenses for Ukraine.

Ahead of their hourlong meeting at Downing Street, Burnham told Zelenskyy that Britains support for Ukraine would not change as he acknowledged that recent days have been dark and difficult for Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.

European leaders fear Moscows wider ambitions on the continent and accuse Russia of sabotage as part of a hybrid war. They seek to keep Washington on Ukraine's side.

Ukraine claims it is pushing Russia back on the battlefield

Ukrainian officials say they are pushing back Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, which Russias bigger army has been trying to capture for years.

Ukraine has liberated 277 square kilometers (107 square miles) in the operation that started in the summer, Ukraines Third Army Corps commander Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi said Wednesday.

It was not possible to independently verify the claim, and Russian officials did not comment.

Russian air defenses overnight downed 902 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, illegally annexed Crimea and the waters of the Azov Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones flew toward the capital region. Most were downed far away, and 180 were intercepted as they approached the Russian capital, he said. He did not report any damage or casualties.

Russias state-backed Sberbank confirmed an attack on its Saratov data center, once slated to become Europes biggest data center.

Russian state news agency Tass quoted a member of the bank's board as saying that Sberbank systems were operating normally.

More than a year after President Donald Trump deployed National Guard members to begin patrolling the streets of the nation's capital, a federal appeals court on Wednesday opened a hearing on the legality of his action by asking the government if there were any limits on a president's authority to do so.

The hearing began with the three-judge panel collectively questioning the government's attorney, Eric McArthur. Judge Cornelia T.L. Pillard asked how the government's argument about an administration's authorities was "not federalization and therefore running up against" the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 U.S. law forbidding the use of the federal military for domestic law enforcement unless authorized by the Constitution or Congress.

McArthur, answering Judge Judith Rogers' question on the limits of a president's action, said, "I think the limiting principle in our position is the president has to be calling out the guard in aid of the civil authorities."

Trump deployed the guard in August 2025 as part of what he said was a crime-fighting mission in Washington, D.C. The force, which rose to a peak of about 5,000 troops over the summer, has supported arrest operations, patrolled city streets and neighborhoods and participated in cleanup efforts.

DHS memo reveals plan to use National Guard in immigration enforcement

RELATED STORY | DHS memo shows Trump administration explored using National Guard in immigration enforcement

Trump's Republican administration says the deployment has contributed to a decrease in crime in the city, where crime was already on the decline before the National Guard arrived. Officials and activists in the overwhelmingly Democratic city say the deployment is a waste of taxpayer money and has normalized the militarization of a major American city.

Mitchell Reich, who was arguing for D.C., did not escape the hearing unscathed, with the panel concentrating on his argument that there are laws and guidelines that lay out a president's ability to call out the guard and there were circumstances when those steps would be unnecessary, including during an invasion or an insurrection.

"If there's any kind of organized violence in the district, the president can deploy the guard for the purpose of suppressing the same," he said.

The 90-minute hearing came months after a different three-judge panel paused a lower court's ruling that Trump's deployment of the guard was illegal.

Three judges who issued the stay last December two appointed by Trump and one appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat said in a unanimous 32-page ruling that a number of factors favored the Trump administration, including the "disruption to the lives of thousands of service members," as well as what it said was the president's interest "in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the nation's capital."

The three judges on the panel on Wednesday were nominated by Democratic presidents: Pillard by Obama, Rogers by Bill Clinton and Bradley Garcia by Joe Biden.

ICYMI | Judge says Trump administration's National Guard deployment in DC violates the Constitution

The case is about whether the president has the authority

At the heart of the court case, brought by D.C.'s attorney general, is whether the president has the authority to deploy the National Guard to the city, which, as a federal district, has limited autonomy over its own affairs. The U.S. Constitution gives federal lawmakers authority over the District of Columbia, while the Home Rule Act of 1973 lets residents elect a mayor, a council and neighborhood commissioners.

The city has argued that the mobilization is an illegal use of the military for domestic law enforcement, a point Reich made during the hearing.

Last December, the three-judge panel that paused the lower court's ruling said Trump might prevail in his argument that the president "possesses a unique power" to mobilize the guard in Washington.

Those judges found that the district "has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests."

Even if D.C. wins at the appeals court level, the Trump administration will undoubtedly go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already shown deference to the president in a number of cases.

Trump deploying National Guard to DC

A legal expert looks at the arguments

Syracuse law professor William Banks said D.C. might have a slim argument under its home rule, questioning whether National Guard units can be deployed to the city when it isn't authorized by local law.

But, he said, outside of that argument "there is no overarching federal principle that would bail out the district in this case."

Because D.C. is not a state and because the president is commander in chief, there's a "tremendous amount of leeway and discretion for the president" to control or delegate control of the local National Guard and out-of-state units, Banks said.

A judge said Trump couldn't unilaterally deploy the DC National Guard

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded last November that Trump's military takeover in Washington illegally intrudes on local officials' authority to direct law enforcement in the district.

Cobb, a Biden nominee, found that while the president does have authority to protect federal functioning and property, he can't unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he sees fit or call in troops from other states.

The appeals court stayed the order and has allowed the guard to remain in place while the case is pending.

The mobilization, extended until January 2029 by the Defense Department, has taken on a sense of permanence, despite the court case.

The federal government awarded a $292 million contract to a private company to provide members of the Joint Task Force-D.C. with apartments. The numbers have grown as well, ballooning to around 5,000 during the height of the semiquincentennial celebration. As of last week, that number had dropped to about 2,900.

DC residents rally against the National Guard's presence

Before the hearing began, several dozen people rallied outside the courthouse to oppose the continuing presence of the military in the city.

David Barrows, a retired office manager and city resident, was dressed in a Trump costume. "It's easier to boss around the people in Washington, D.C., because we don't have any representation in either House or Congress. So we're basically an abused people," he said. "We pay the highest federal taxes in the land, and we get no representation in both houses. So we're a cheated people, and we're scapegoats for Trump."

He also questioned the premise of the guard's presence: "There's no national emergency here in Washington," he said.

Jennifer Pace, a longtime resident and former banker, said she suspected the case would continue through the courts.

"But I really want it to move forward so they can just go home," Pace said. "I'm sure they want to go home, too, because it's clear they're bored. They're just standing around."

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace's former fianc and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina congresswoman described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly.

John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace's ex-fiance Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges.

The men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan's Island, an affluent suburb of Charleston, state agents said. The woman had fallen into a pool and was passed out on a couch covering herself with a pillow, agents said.

RELATED STORY | Rep. Nancy Mace accuses ex-fianc of assaulting her, raping others in House speech

Another woman who happened to be watching the feed saw the assault and took pictures and wrote about it in a journal, police said. Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged at the time of the October 2018 assault.

Osborne, 46, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant, 53, and Bowman, 46, are each charged with voyeurism.

Along with the voyeurism charge, Bowman was also charged with obstruction of justice after agents said he did a factory reset on a cellphone he knew investigators were seeking in a search warrant, and with publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct after posting the victim's name and a video of her on X.

RELATED STORY | Nancy Maces bid for South Carolina governor ends in primary defeat

Bryant didn't return a message seeking comment on Wednesday, and attorneys who have been listed as representing Bowman and Osborne in other cases did not immediately return messages.

Mace, a Republican, described the assault at length in a nearly hourlong speech in February 2025 that named the men and described other photos and videos found when she looked at Bryant's cellphone when they were still together.

Mace said she "accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable. We're talking about rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district."

At the time, Bryant completely denied the allegations. "I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name," he told The Associated Press.

The State Law Enforcement Division didn't say if their investigation into any of the men is continuing.

After the arrests, Mace released a statement detailing the 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination, including in retaliatory defamation and libel lawsuits that may result from allegations they bring to light.

The Republican, who is leaving the House this term after losing her bid to be South Carolina governor, introduced a proposal this week to require that anyone who brings such a case and loses must pay attorney fees for the defendant.

"Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn't a slogan. It's been one of my top priorities in Congress. For too long, survivors have faced broken systems while predators exploited loopholes and walked free," Mace said in her statement.

Iran is trying to hit military sites in Britain and the suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in September is not unique," the head of the MI5 spy agency said Tuesday, as he warned that both Tehran and Moscow are expanding their attacks against the U.K.

Ken McCallum, who leads the U.K.s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country's Islamic authorities.

That has included arson and sabotage attacks on Jewish sites that Britain says were carried out by Iranian proxies.

McCallum said another major shift this year has been Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites.

The incident at RAF Fairford is not unique. There have been other examples, not just in the U.K. but around the world, McCallum said.

RELATED STORY | US removes all Air Force bombers from UK base following new threat

His comments came as Iran summoned British Ambassador Hugo Shorter to warn it could seriously reconsider bilateral relations unless the U.K. provides evidence linking Tehran to the alleged plot. Tehran told the ambassador it was protesting what it called Britains irresponsible and destructive approach.

The British government must provide documents and evidence supporting its accusations against Iran, Irans Foreign Ministry said, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

McCallum delivered his annual speech outlining major threats to the U.K. as counterterror detectives investigate a suspected terror plot against the U.S.-run base in western England, which has been used to bomb Iran during this years war.

Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant gasoline in three vans at the site, but no explosives.

Seven men in their 20s have been arrested and released on bail under investigation. In all, more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year, McCallum said.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Men arrested near a US-run air base in England will be released on bail, UK police say

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday that the apparent plot was almost certainly directed by Irans Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC. Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

The U.S. pulled its bombers from RAF Fairford after the incident, and the Trump administration said it believed the base faced Iranian threats intended to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible.

British officials have not confirmed that, and McCallum said that, in the U.K., Iran has so far used low-level criminal proxies who lack the capacity to mount a sophisticated large-scale attack. But he said Irans IRGC has shown stronger capabilities in countries closer to Iran, so it would be foolish for a person in a role like mine to discount the possibility.

MI5 says AI could bring bioweapon risk

In a stark speech, McCallum argued that the U.K. faces a new era of national security, with a generational shift equivalent to the 9/11 attacks a quarter century ago. He said the myriad threats to national security now range from arson, sabotage, cyberattacks, coercion, violence to what online algorithms are feeding your teenagers in their bedrooms.

McCallum said his agencys work countering state threats chiefly from Russia, Iran and China has quadrupled in the past decade, and claimed that both Russia and Iran are escalating hybrid warfare campaigns against the U.K. and other European countries.

He said Russia has been linked to attacks including an attempt to use an explosives-laden drone at Germany's Leipzig airport, and is using tactics that stop short though sometimes not much short of conventional conflict.

Meanwhile, technology is racing ahead, with artificial intelligence supercharging the cybersecurity battle between attackers and defenders, he said.

McCallum said terror plotters have used artificial intelligence for reconnaissance and attacks, including AI-enabled drones. Even more concerning, he said, is AIs potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons.

After the speech he told journalists at MI5's London headquarters that terror groups would dearly love to have chemical, biological or radiological weapons, but these are hard to obtain.

One risk is that AI could enable dangerous knowledge to get into the hands of people we would all rather didnt have that knowledge, he said. A second and different risk is the possibility that AI could generate novel pathogens not previously seen.

McCallum said MI5 has set up a new AI Threat Assessment Center to try to keep ahead of the risks.

Human history has given us no experience of facing an actor which is smarter than we are. It is capable of outthinking us. This is genuinely novel, and deserves the serious attention it is getting, including in MI5, he said.

The federal government is planning to dramatically shrink its most influential health survey, and some researchers worry that the changes will underestimate how many Americans are disabled.

At least half the survey questions could be axed. The cost-saving change is part of an ongoing effort to slim down the 69-year-old National Health Interview Survey, which for years has been suffering from declining response rates.

As many as a quarter of wheelchair users and more than a third of people who are blind or deaf could be miscategorized as not disabled because of the shorter survey, according to some advocates and researchers. That could leave the government unable to recognize the health needs of many disabled Americans, or the damage caused by changes to Medicaid or other health insurance programs, they say.

The cuts are being ironed out and officials predict the whittling won't be as severe as what's been suggested in earlier proposals.

RELATED STORY | New federal disability policies spark fears of institutionalization

Questions that have been proposed for removal deal with memory, fatigue, arthritis, difficulty walking and climbing stairs, as well as others about the use of hearing aids, canes, wheelchairs and scooters.

"We just won't know any of that anymore," said Scott Landes, a Syracuse University sociology professor who researches people with disabilities.

Officials are still determining exactly how much cutting will take place. Currently, the survey has 490 health questions for adults. U.S. officials expect that the 2028 questionnaire will have about 200 to 225 questions, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Stephen Blumberg, who oversees the survey.

U.S. Census Bureau workers conduct the survey every year on behalf of the CDC. It's a $40 million annual project, and around 30,000 households answer the questions each year.

Their answers have shaped the public's understanding of topics including how common chronic fatigue syndrome is, how many people get X-rays, what proportion of U.S. children suffer seizures, and how many Americans have health insurance. The survey's responses also are the foundation of how we measure the nation's progress or backsliding on problems such as obesity and smoking.

Fewer people are interested in participating in such surveys. And the National Health Interview Survey is particularly daunting, as it can take an hour or more and has traditionally involved an in-person interviewer asking the questions.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | The fight to get representation for invisible disabilities

The planned redesign should cut it to about a half hour, Blumberg said.

"People are busy. They're more protective of their privacy, and some don't trust the government to protect their data and use it only for statistical purposes," he said. "Fewer people see sharing information with the government as their civic duty."

The survey was first conducted in 1957, and has been updated every 15 to 20 years. The latest update was put into the field seven years ago, prompting some advocates to ask why it was being changed so quickly.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Office of Management and Budget were behind dramatic staff reductions, research funding overhauls and other federal health agency changes under the current Trump administration. But neither ordered this redesign, Blumberg said.

Rather, the factors driving the current redesign include tightening budgets and difficulties fielding enough workers to do so many in-person interviews which was affected last year by a federal hiring freeze.

Another factor: The Census Bureau is reconfiguring its data collection platforms for the 2030 census in a way that affected the health survey, he said.

Related to all that is a proposed change in how the health survey is conducted. Instead of starting with in-person or telephone interviews, people will receive an invitation to fill out the survey online or to fill out a paper questionnaire. That's because in-person interviews have proven difficult with the proliferation of gated communities, locked buildings without door attendants and doorbell cameras, according to officials.

However, Census Bureau staff will visit homes for a smaller second round of surveying, Blumberg said.

A notice about the survey redesign appeared in the Federal Register in August, opening a public comment period that runs through Oct. 20.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday that its imposing $1.2 billion in fines on Bank of America for allegedly violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

The fines on Americas second-biggest bank amount to the third-largest in the departments history.

When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Todays actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law.

Treasury said Bank of America also reached an $11.6 million settlement with the departments Office of Foreign Assets Control over apparent violations of numerous sanctions programs, including on Iran, Russia, narcotics, and global terrorism."

In a statement, Treasury said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed the $1.2 billion penalty for Bank of America's "failure to mitigate and report priority national security risks, including Chinese Money Laundering Networks and illicit finance along the southwest border.''

RELATED STORY | Bank of America to settle with Epstein survivors for $72.5 million

The penalty includes $750 million that will go to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the largest fine ever imposed by that federal bank regulatory agency.

Treasury said that Bank of America "admits that it willfully violated'' the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, which requires banks to help the government detect and prevent money laundering.

Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right, Bank of America said in a statement. We worked with regulators to reach these penalty resolutions stemming from violations cited in the previously reported 2024 (Comptroller of the Currency) Consent Order and FinCENs investigation.

We have invested billions of dollars in technology and dedicated thousands of employees to combat financial crime, and our team is far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators.

The latest action is the third-largest penalty ever issued by the Treasury Department, behind a roughly $4 billion settlement in 2023 with Binance, the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange, and an approximately $3 billion settlement with Canada-based TD Bank the following year. Both those historic actions happened as part of the Biden administrations focus on anti-money laundering and efforts to promote compliance with the then-emerging virtual currency industry.

RELATED STORY | Trump accounts were closed in 2021 due to concerns over possible money laundering, Capital One says

Months later, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison over charges that he looking the other way as criminals used his platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

Its a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn't backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years.

Yet President Donald Trump on Tuesday devoted a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head to Alaska attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3.

Trump headlined a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles north of Anchorage famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.

Trump's stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.

The president noted to the crowd that he had flown eight hours to rally for Sullivan, whom he called one of the best and most respected senators in D.C. Sullivan, seeking a third term, faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman who is running to put Alaska first and emphasizing cost-of-living issues.

During Tuesday's rally, Trump announced that Taiwan would purchase gas from a proposed mega-gas project that he has been highlighting amid Sullivan's campaign and that it would invest more than $4 billion. There was no immediate confirmation from Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own. The White House did not immediately provide further details.

Trump also said the Federal Communications Commission would vote in the coming weeks on investing an additional $162 million in expanding high-speed internet access in Alaska. And he announced pardons for two men who had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Clean Air Act violations for tampering with federally mandated monitoring devices on certain vehicles.

Trump and Vance have been trying to boost Sullivan repeatedly

Democrats last won a Senate seat in Alaska in 2008, and the state hasnt elected a governor from that party since 1998. The only time Alaska didnt vote Republican for president was during Lyndon B. Johnsons landslide 1964 reelection.

Yet high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistently elevated inflation have damaged Trumps approval ratings enough to leave Democrats dreaming of Alaska upsets.

Alaska pollster Ivan Moore said he's seen a decline in Trump's support statewide that mirrors the president's falling approval ratings nationally. That means the Senate race may be decided by Trump 2024 voters who are now unsure they still back him.

The visit is certainly appropriate. Whether the visit will be effective or not is another matter," said Moore, who said when he first heard that Trump would visit Alaska, he didn't believe it would actually happen.

The Trump administration has prioritized expanding oil and gas drilling in the state. Vice President JD Vance last week campaigned in Fairbanks for Sullivan and Republican Rep. Nick Begich.

Sullivan recently joined Trump in the Oval Office, where the president announced a $54 billion investment by South Korea's government into the proposed Alaska gas project. That's despite South Korea saying the deal, and its total value, haven't been finalized.

Versions of a gas project have been proposed in Alaska for decades.

Trump trekking four time zones west to get to Sullivans home turf an unusually long trip so close to the midterms is his strongest show of support for the incumbent.

Trump last campaigned in Alaska to try to defeat a fellow Republican

Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, making it slightly less populous than Denver. It ranks 48th out of 50 states in population, smaller than all but Vermont and Wyoming.

Trump nonetheless headlined a 2022 rally in Anchorage opposing Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, who challenged Murkowski that year, but that didn't stop incumbent Murkowski from winning reelection.

In Wasilla, Max Christensen was waiting in line for the rally and said he hoped to hear more specifics from Trump about the natural gas project, and said he was really curious just to see how hes going to handle things like inflation and gas prices and things like that.

Christensen, 22, said he thinks Trump has been a great president despite all his flaws and stuff," adding, I think he really does genuinely care about the people of the United States of America.

This year, there are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot

Trump has complained about Alaskas unique elections system. The state has open primaries, in which the four top vote-getters regardless of party affiliation advance to the general election, which uses ranked choice voting.

RELATED STORY | Republicans are flooding Senate races with ad money, but paying a premium

That's led to a scenario where there also will be another Dan Sullivan on the November ballot: retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Trump and other allies of Sen. Sullivan have called a sham candidate. Dan J. Sullivan has denied this, but Trump continued to hammer the other Sullivan at his rally.

They found a guy named Dan Sullivan, they put him up to get things a little confused, Trump said, as he repeatedly urged his supporters to vote for the real Dan Sullivan.

Trump also touted Begich, who is facing a competitive challenge from Bill Hill, an independent.

Alaska has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak something Vance acknowledged during his trip to Fairbanks last week.

"In very deep red years, Alaska is competitive. In very deep blue years, Alaska is still competitive, Vance said. I think its just a reality of the politics of the state.

Independence has been hard to find in the Republican Party, where Trump for years has had total control. Some Republicans facing tough elections have begun tiptoeing away from the president on key issues such as Iran and tariffs, but not Sullivan, who has been vocal in supporting both.

Trump also questioned why three Republicans were running against a Democrat for governor and endorsed Bernadette Wilson, who finished third in the August primary but was the top vote-getting Republican. This came at the same time state GOP leaders including outgoing Gov. Mike Dunleavy are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot.

Many Republicans despite reservations with ranked voting have seen a ranking strategy in that race as crucial for Republicans trying to win the seat.

Trump's trade war with Canada may also be a factor

Trump has also triggered a trade war with Canada, which shares a 1,500-plus-mile border with Alaska and is among the state's most important trading partners.

The U.S. banned nearly $1 billion worth of imports from its neighbor including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles after previously imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products. Canada has responded with reciprocal bans and its own import levies, and the back-and-forth could raise prices for Alaska consumers.

RELATED STORY | 'I had the flu': Talarico returns to campaign trail, dismisses online rumors

Making Canada an enemy of sorts is "discomforting" for many Alaskans, said pollster Moore.

We associate, I think, probably more closely with the Canadians more than a lot of the Lower 48," he said.

U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas, clothes, and air fares got more expensive, evidence that rising prices remain an economic challenge just a few weeks before the midterm elections that have focused heavily on issues related to affordability.

The consumer price index rose 3.7% in September compared with a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.4% in August. On a monthly basis, costs jumped 0.6% from August to September, the biggest gain in five months, up from a 0.4% increase the previous month.

The figures underscore the lingering impact of the Iran war on gas prices and the stubborn persistence of inflation, which fell sharply from a 9.1% peak in 2022 but this year has ticked higher since the war began in late February. The rise isn't all linked to gas prices, as surging investment in data centers and AI has also pushed up prices for computer chips and the consumer electronics that also use them. Elevated inflation has posed political problems for Republicans in Congress and is a challenge for the Federal Reserve, which is required by Congress to seek stable prices.

WATCH: Inflation and Iran War costs are causing headaches for GOP ahead of midterms

Iran War complicates Republicans' midterm message

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in September from a year ago, up from 2.4% the previous month. And they climbed 0.3% from August to September, an elevated pace that, if it continued for a year, would run well above the Fed's 2% target.

RELATED STORY | Nobel goes to American economists who redefined economic shocks

Ongoing inflation has taken a toll on Trumps standing with U.S. voters. A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 17% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the cost of living issue. And only 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, a new low.

Federal Reserve officials are watching inflation data closely to determine whether they need to raise their short-term interest rate further, and by how much.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said last month that inflation isn't moving quickly enough back to the central bank's target, causing the Fed to hike rates for the first time in three years, to about 3.9%.

Yet some key Fed officials have suggested the central bank can wait before increasing rates again. The Fed has a policy meeting Oct. 27-28, but most Wall Street investors expect it to hold rates then, and potentially implement another hike in December. Fed officials have penciled in just one more rate hike this year.

By raising borrowing costs, the Fed hopes to slow spending and growth and cool price increases. Yet much of the current inflation comes from supply shocks, such as the Iran war's disruption to oil and gas supplies, and higher interest rates can't address those bottlenecks.

Warsh has said his goal is to keep the gas price spike from seeping into more areas of the economy. It's already pushed up the price of air fares about 22% from a year ago.

RELATED STORY | Another interest rate hike could be coming before the end of year

Gas prices jumped more than 9% from August to September, Wednesday's report said. Rising gas costs are a highly visible sign of inflation and often drive down measures of consumer sentiment about the economy.

Prices at the pump have ticked lower in the past two weeks to a nationwide average of $4.33 a gallon, according to AAA, though they remain higher than a month ago.

Those costs raise shipping and other expenses for many large and small businesses, some of which are forced to pass the cost to consumers. Last week, PepsiCo said that it will raise prices for its snack foods, including Doritos, Ruffles, Sun Chips, and some sodas to offset higher costs for fuel, aluminum, and food ingredients.

The artificial intelligence buildout has also sharply elevated the cost of semiconductors, computer equipment, and electrical components, which have been passed on to consumers in the form of more expensive electronics such as gaming devices, laptops, and smartphones.

Goldman Sachs estimated in a report Tuesday that the AI buildout has added about a half-percentage point to the annual inflation rate, according to the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

On September 1, Nintendo increased the price for its Switch 2 gaming system by 11% to $499.99. And Apple's newest iPhone, the iPhone 17, cost about 10% more than its previous upgrade, though some of that likely reflects greater capabilities.

A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking President Donald Trump's administration from banning reporters for three news outlets from the White House, a pivotal operational development for the organizations as the extraordinary case pitting the president against the media that cover him makes its way through the legal system.

In a victory for media organizations at a time when tension between the White House and journalists is high, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are likely to succeed in their constitutional free speech and due process claims.

Still, he added in his late-night order, no one should interpret the Courts decision to suggest that President Trumps concerns about accuracy and fairness in the medias reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed.

But Kelly agreed with the plaintiffs that the national security arguments came after the fact and were unsupported by the administration.

The judge also wrote that without a preliminary injunction the outlets are likely to suffer irreparable harm, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest tip in their favor.

An email to the Justice Department, which is arguing the case on behalf of the administration, was not immediately returned. The White House also did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the three media organizations, hailed the judge's ruling.

RELATED STORY | Kimberly Guilfoyle steps down as US ambassador to Greece amid donor controversy

When the President issued his ban on the free press, he blatantly and explicitly violated due process and the First Amendment, Boutrous said in a statement. The harm this ban did to our clients, the First Amendment, and the public as a whole is profound. The Court was right to enjoin the White House from enforcing this unconstitutional ban on the free press for the foreseeable future.

Judge says no warning given before banishment

Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, previously ordered the White House to restore the reporters hard pass press credentials while he weighed their claims. With that temporary order expiring Tuesday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction that preserves the status quo indefinitely while the case is pending.

Kelly said that, to put it mildly, the White House didnt give the plaintiffs any warning that they were in danger of losing their hard passes before Trumps Sept. 18 social media post about their bans.

The judge also said the impact of the White House ban goes far beyond a single reporter's ability to do their job.

The ban threatens to cut off all Plaintiffs access to the White House press areaa space open to many of their competitorsthereby restricting their ability to observe happenings there firsthand, immediately report on those activities, and try to engage with government officials, the judge wrote.

Hard passes give journalists who regularly cover the White House longer term access to its campus without having to get permission ahead of time.

The government asked Kelly to suspend his own decision pending an appeal, but the judge said it didnt justify that request. Kelly said the bans impacted a total of 78 reporters at the three news organizations.

Earlier judicial action against White House had been only temporary

Trump provided no notice before announcing the bans in a Sept. 18 social media post, which criticized their reporting as fake news. Kelly temporarily blocked the bans on Sept. 24 at the request of the news outlets, which jointly filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C.

RELATED STORY | Trump taps Katie Zacharia to be the new Press Secretary

Attorneys for the outlets have described Trumps move as unprecedented and blatantly unconstitutional under the First and Fifth amendments. They argued that its illegal for Trump to punish the journalists because he doesnt like the content of their reporting.

The ban also inflicts an injury on all news media organizations which now risk a similar fate if they engage in fact-based, independent reporting the President deems insufficiently favorable, plaintiffs lawyers wrote.

Government lawyers argued that access to the White House is a privilege not a right and said the president can impose the bans to protect national security and to stem the spread of misinformation.

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President, Justice Department attorneys wrote. Presidents have had a relationship with the press since the beginning. They have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially from administration to administration.

Its a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn't backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years.

Yet President Donald Trump on Tuesday will devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head all the way to Alaska attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3.

Trump is headlining a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles north of Anchorage famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.

Trump's stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.

Im right now going to Alaska to try and help Dan Sullivan. Thats a long way away," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for the trip on Tuesday. "I would only do it if I thought he was good. And hes very good. And so, Im going to Alaska to help Dan Sullivan, and then Im stopping in numerous places.

Democrats last won a Senate seat in Alaska in 2008, and the state hasn't elected a governor from that party since 1998. The only time Alaska didnt vote Republican for president was during Lyndon B. Johnsons landslide 1964 reelection.

Yet high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistently elevated inflation have damaged Trump's approval ratings enough to leave Democrats dreaming of Alaska upsets.

RELATED STORY | Barack Obama to campaign with Ohio Democrats as he expands his outreach ahead of Election Day

Trump and Vance have been trying to boost Sullivan repeatedly

Seeking his third Senate term, Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman running to put Alaska First, emphasizing cost-of-living issues.

Alaska pollster Ivan Moore said he's seen a decline in Trump's support statewide that mirrors the president's falling approval ratings nationally meaning the Senate race may be decided by Trump 2024 voters who are now unsure they still back him.

The visit is certainly appropriate. Whether the visit will be effective or not is another matter," said Moore, who said when he first heard that Trump would visit Alaska, he didn't believe it would actually happen.

The Trump administration has prioritized the opening of more of Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Vice President JD Vance already campaigned in Fairbanks for Sullivan.

The senator also recently joined Trump in the Oval Office where the president announced a $54 billion investment by South Korea's government into an Alaska natural gas project. That's despite South Korea saying the deal, and its total value, haven't been finalized.

Still, Trump trekking four time zones west to get to Sullivans home turf an unusually long trip so close to the midterms is his strongest show of support.

MORE ON MIDTERMS | Republicans make midterm appeal to Hispanic voters as polls show erosion in Trump support among Latinos

Trump last campaigned in Alaska to try to defeat a fellow Republican

Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, making it slightly less populous than Denver. It ranks 48th out of 50 states in population, smaller than all but Vermont and Wyoming.

Trump nonetheless headlined a 2022 rally in Anchorage opposing Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, who challenged Murkowski that year, but that didn't stop incumbent Murkowski from winning reelection.

In Wasilla, Max Christensen was waiting in line for the rally and said he hoped to hear more specifics from Trump about the natural gas project, and said he was really curious just to see how hes going to handle things like inflation and gas prices and things like that.

Christensen, 22, said he thinks Trump has been a great president despite all his flaws and stuff" adding that I think he really does genuinely care about the people of the United States of America.

This year, there are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot

Trump has complained about Alaskas unique elections system. The state has open primaries, in which the four top vote-getters regardless of party affiliation advance to the general election, which uses ranked choice voting.

That's led to a scenario where there also will be another Dan Sullivan on the ballot on Nov. 3: retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Trump and other allies of Sen. Sullivan have called a sham candidate. Dan J. Sullivan has denied this.

At his rally, Trump also plans to stump for Republican Rep. Nick Begich. Begich is facing a competitive challenge from Bill Hill, an independent.

Alaska has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak something Vance acknowledged during his trip to Fairbanks last week. In very deep red years, Alaska is competitive. In very deep blue years, Alaska is still competitive, Vance said. I think its just a reality of the politics of the state.

Independence has been hard to find in the Republican Party where Trump for years had total control. Some Republicans facing tough elections have begun tiptoeing away from Trump on key issues like Iran and tariffs, but not Sullivan, who has been vocal in supporting both.

In a post last week, Trump questioned why three Republicans were running against a Democrat for governor. How stupid are we to do this? he said on social media. This comes at the same time state Republican party leaders are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot and leave the Democrats blank.

We want to be clear: we do not support ranked choice voting. It is a confusing, burdensome and costly voting scheme, party leaders, including GOP chair Carmela Warfield, said in a statement Saturday. That said, ranked choice voting is the system Alaska will use for the 2026 General Election, and we must work within it for this election to keep Alaskas recent momentum going strong.

Midterm influence: The changing politics of young voters

Trump's trade war with Canada may also be a factor

Trump has also triggered a trade war with Canada, which shares a 1,500-plus-mile border with Alaska and is among the state's most important trading partners.

The U.S. banned nearly $1 billion worth of imports from its neighbor to the north including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles after previously imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products. Canada has responded with reciprocal bans and its own import levies, and the back-and-forth could raise prices for Alaska consumers.

Making Canada an enemy of sorts is "discomforting" for many Alaskans, said pollster Moore.

We associate, I think, probably more closely with the Canadians more than a lot of the Lower 48," he said.

Saudi Arabia has one of the worlds most expensive and sophisticated arsenals, filled with American warplanes, missile defenses and other cutting-edge technology.

But in recent days it has appeared helpless in the face of barrages of missiles and drones fired by the Houthi rebel group from neighboring Yemen. The attacks have struck Saudi airports, killed at least 14 people and forced schoolchildren and businesspeople to stay indoors and work from home.

The Iran-backed Houthis, once seen as little more than a ragtag militia, have grown into a formidable fighting force. They have inflicted damage on the regions top oil producer, threatened critical supply routes in the Red Sea and now risk reigniting a full-scale war on the Arabian Peninsula that displaced millions and killed tens of thousands.

Fighting between Saudis and Houthi rebel group escalates

The Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia because it supports government forces in Yemen the rebels seek to overthrow. As Saudi Arabia investigates how its air defenses failed to stop the Houthis' attacks, it must also consider how to respond and what the rebels might do next.

Heres what we know and dont know about the Saudi and Houthi conflict:

Saudi Arabia has a vast arsenal of US weapons

Saudi Arabia is the worlds top purchaser of American weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says the Saudis received 12% of all U.S. arms exports from 2021-2025.

Over the years, the Saudis have purchased American F-15 warplanes, Patriot air defense systems, as well as advanced radars and offensive missile systems, according to the think tank, which tracks global arms transfers.

Saudi Arabia's annual budget for 2026 listed $83 billion for military expenditures. Earlier this year, it struck a $9 billion deal with Washington for 730 Patriot missiles.

But it has a huge area to defend

The Houthis have been able to exploit Saudi Arabia's large size.

Vulnerable energy, civilian and military assets are scattered across the country's sparsely populated territory roughly three times the size of Texas. Its border with Yemen stretches more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) through rugged desert areas.

Expecting a country the size of Saudi Arabia to intercept every missile is simply unrealistic. No defense can guarantee complete protection, Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst, said in a post online Monday.

At the same time, regional officials say that Saudi Arabia is running low on interceptors and has reached out to allies for help.

Saudi Arabia recently struck a joint defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey. But so far, the two countries appear to be largely staying on the sidelines or limiting their support.

President Donald Trump said this week he is evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. But he has not yet announced a decision.

RELATED STORY | Trump administration approves sale of stealth F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia

Houthi weapons and tactics are battle-tested

Like their patron Iran, the Houthis have deployed asymmetric warfare for the 21st century by capitalizing on their strengths primarily drones and missiles. For the Houthis, success on the battlefield doesnt require toppling Saudi Arabia; disrupting the Saudi economy and sowing fear within its society may be enough to give the Houthis leverage in any possible negotiations to end the fighting.

The Houthis have a large arsenal capable of striking targets well over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Some warheads change direction during flight and pose an extra challenge to air defenses.

The group has fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel since its war in Gaza erupted in October 2023. While most were intercepted, a handful managed to land, in one case killing an Israeli man. Another strike hit an Israeli airport last year.

Andreas Krieg, a professor at Kings College London, said this experience in challenging Israels cutting-edge air defenses has given the Houthis confidence and expertise as they now strike Saudi Arabia.

Theyve learned how to over-saturate the radars, he said.

The Houthis, working with allied militias in Iraq, have also targeted Saudi oil installations, including a vital pipeline used to export oil through the Red Sea while movement through the Strait of Hormuz is limited. The Houthis have also seized territory in Yemen near the Bab el-Mandeb, a key Red Sea waterway, putting additional pressure on Saudi oil exports.

Saudi Arabia appears to have miscalculated

Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, says the kingdom assumed the Houthis wouldnt strike civilian targets like airports. Doing so marked a paradigm shift, he said.

Ratney, now an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Saudis now find themselves in a position where they have to respond while also trying to prevent the fighting from spinning out of control.

They cant not strike back they were attacked in a very brutal way by their archenemies, he said. They need to exert military pressure on the Houthis and then find a way to kind of deescalate.

Rather than sending troops into Yemen, the Saudis will likely launch airstrikes against the Houthis and ramp up support of nationalist forces, several analysts said.

It will be surrogate warfare, Krieg said.

REMATED STORY | US has lost or sustained damage to 81 aircraft in the Iran war, worth up to $3.3 billion, report says

The Houthis are now a formidable force

While the Houthis don't have the firepower of Saudi Arabia, they have grown into a fearsome force controlling roughly one-third of Yemen thanks to help from Iran.

The United Nations estimates that the Houthis by 2024 had recruited up to 350,000 fighters. That's up from just 30,000 in 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in the internationally recognized Yemeni government's civil war against the Houthis and imposed a naval blockade.

Ratney says the Houthis now have a symbiotic relationship with Iran and should not be seen as an Iranian puppet.

The strikes on Saudi airports and economic assets symbolize a sharing of lessons in asymmetric warfare between the Houthis and the Iranians: how to not just puncture expensive air defenses, but also damage vulnerable energy installations and threaten global maritime routes.

Over the course of the past few years, the Iranians have been innovating and sharing that with the Houthis and its gone both ways. The Houthis have been innovating, and sharing it with the Iranians, Ratney said. Its no coincidence that theyve ended up with a similar approach.

Their recent military successes have made the Houthis feel untouchable, said Farea Al-Muslimi, a fellow at Chatham House focused on Yemen.

Its very hard to convince a man hes going on the wrong side if he just moved forward and he has a gun in his hand, he said. But the Houthis are now likely to suffer a brutal Saudi counterattack, he said.

Former President Barack Obama is heading to Ohio to shore up support for Democratic candidates in the Senate and governor's races, both of which have been highly competitive and brought a flood of campaign cash into the state.

Obama is set to campaign in Cleveland on Oct. 24 with three-term former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is looking to oust Republican Sen. Jon Husted from the seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance.

He's also set to appear with Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor, who has been focusing her campaign on parts of the state that have been voting Republican in recent elections. She and tech billionaire and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are vying to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

RELATED STORY | New midterm polling gives Democrats an edge in battleground states

A former swing state, Ohio has emerged as a battleground for control of the Senate, with Vance and President Donald Trump visiting recently. As Trump stumped for Husted on Monday, much of his focus was on one of his signature issues: immigration.

The trip is part of Obama's expanded outreach into some of the midterm races deemed most consequential and possibly some of the closest in his party's quest to return to power in Congress. On the same day, Obama will campaign with Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit, lending his support to the progressive nominee after a bruising Democratic primary exposed divisions within the party.

That event also will feature other top Democratic candidates in Michigan, including Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the partys nominee for governor.

According to plans shared first with The Associated Press, the former president is getting significantly more involved in the midterm elections, with additional campaign stops and advertisements expected to come in the closing weeks.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump prepares for a monthlong campaign tour ahead of midterms

Ousted two years ago by Republican Bernie Moreno in a bitter reelection battle, Brown remains one of Ohios winningest politicians, prompting Democrats to recruit him back into politics to try again. In a new video, Obama reminds voters of how Brown worked with me to protect Ohio jobs."

This race is going to be close. It could determine which party controls the Senate and whether Ohioans can count on the people in Washington to be fighting for you," Obama says in the video. "Please join me in supporting Sherrod Brown. Hell always fight for Ohio.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Tuesday ordered a halt to tree-cutting at the East Potomac Golf Course until Oct. 26, putting a further pause on work at the historic D.C. course that has been part of President Donald Trumps plans to remake the city.

Reyes issued the order one day after a tense three-hour hearing in which she harshly criticized the government for having deceived her with its actions over the holiday weekend.

At the Monday hearing, Reyes ordered a 24-hour pause that could be extended to 14 days if necessary. It was limited to one day while the government tried to find a key Trump administration official to discuss why a massive tree-cutting at the park needed to occur over the holiday weekend, with little notification to plaintiffs in a lawsuit trying to halt renovation plans or the judge.

The judge also ordered during that period the government must provide the court and plaintiffs three business days written advance notice prior to making any irreparable modification to any permanent form or feature of the East Potomac Golf Course.

The DC Preservation League and two local golfers are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The co-counsel in the case, Democracy Forward, thanked Reyes for stepping in and halting what the group called the mad rush to turn the public recreation space course into a high-end golf course. We are pleased that the court intervened and will prevent additional work while we seek more lasting relief, the group said in a statement.

The Monday hearing and Tuesday order were prompted by the National Park Service ordering the cutting of hundreds of trees at the golf course after filing the court notification only minutes before the close of business on Oct. 9 on a holiday weekend, giving the plaintiffs little time to respond. At least 400 trees were cutdown over the weekend with plans for several hundred more.

The historic park, especially the golf course, caught the eye of Trump, who wants to turn it into a world-class golf venue. Its part of his grand vision for Washington, D.C., where he has multiple projects underway, including a $400 million White House ballroom and the soon-to-begin construction of his triumphal arch. He began talking about the city's public courses in late 2025.

When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events, Trump posted on social media in June.

The course has been the subject of multiple emergency hearings, including one in May in which Reyes was out of the country, because of concerns from the plaintiffs that the administration would move ahead with work despite the pending lawsuit. In each instance Reyes declined issuing temporary stop orders out of trust for the government's attorney in the case.

Every single time I have given the government the benefit of the doubt and every single time I made absolutely clear that I want notice, Reyes said. What has happened has cost the government all credibility with me.

Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday that confirmed that he has lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery. It said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.

The 71-year-old was in the operating room for about 3 hours, the statement said. The surgery itself lasted approximately 90 minutes. "The surgery was successful, and there were no complications," the statement said.

Dr. explains how nonsmokers can develop same type of lung cancer as Pope Leo

Leo had walked into Rome's Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli's chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.

RELATED STORY | Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery to remove a nodule on his lung

The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the small, localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.

Oncologists said prior to the operation that even if the nodule turned out to be cancerous, Leo's prognosis is "excellent" since it will have been removed at an early stage.

The Vatican on Monday canceled all Leo's audiences through Oct. 20.

While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment that past popes have used, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will actually be staying in a nearby room since the papal apartment is currently undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.

Cornell University is suspending parties and other social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year and will give the New York State Police a role in investigating sex crimes on campus, university officials announced Tuesday, amid mounting outrage over its handling of allegations that a female student was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024.

The measures announced by Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff include a suspension of all parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year and a new zero tolerance policy for violations that would result in the immediate emergency suspension of a chapter.

These measures will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue, Kotlikoff wrote in a letter to the campus community.

He also committed to adding a case manager to the schools Office of Civil Rights to help those who report sexual misconduct on the Cornell campus navigate the process, and to working with the New York State Police to allow their criminal investigators who are independent of Cornell to investigate allegations.

RELATED STORY | New text messages linked to Jane Doe rape case at Cornell University

Crimes reported on Cornells campus are generally investigated by campus police, a department that has full law enforcement powers but is controlled by the university. The campus police force operates independently from municipal police in Ithaca, New York, where the university is located. Its officers investigated the 2024 gang rape allegations and presented their initial findings to the Tompkins County district attorney, who declined to prosecute within weeks of the woman making her first report to police.

RELATED STORY | Cornell sexual assault accuser living in fear after threats, attorney says

New Yorks governor removed the district attorney from the case this month after a public outcry over the lack of charges.

The investigation is now being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, while Cornell has hired former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates to conduct an independent review of the universitys response. New York State Police sometimes handle major crime investigations for small municipal police agencies, bringing in expertise that isnt available locally.

Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a frequent target of Trump administration criticism, as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations agents, said the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. More details about the investigation were not immediately clear, though Vice President JD Vance has in the past accused Omar of committing immigration fraud an allegation she has denied and has said he and a top White House official were trying to figure out how to investigate the Minnesota congresswoman.

An email seeking comment was sent Monday to a representative for Omar.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Man who sprayed vinegar at Rep. Ilhan Omar during town hall pleads guilty to assault

The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that HSI agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department in the Washington, D.C., area but provided no other details. The street was blocked off Monday morning as HSI agents remained near the home.

This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, the department said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, of which Homeland Security Investigations is part, referred questions about the search to the Justice Department.

Omar represents Minnesotas 5th District, including Minneapolis. She was first elected to the House in 2018 and has been a member of what's called The Squad of female lawmakers known for their progressive views and pointed opposition to President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Republicans have raised questions about Omar's past since before she was even elected, including asserting that she had married her brother and committed immigration fraud. Omar has broadly denied the allegations as disgusting lies.

It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody's entitled to equal justice under the laws, Vance told reporters in May. So we're going to investigate it. We're going to take a look at it. If we think there's a crime, we're going to prosecute that crime.

In a separate interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance said without offering evidence that we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.

He said that he and deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller had been discussing it and trying to look at what the remedies are.

Thats the thing that were trying to figure out," he said. "What are the legal remedies now that we know that shes committed immigration fraud. How do you go after her? How do you investigate her? How do you actually do the thing? How do you build the case necessary to get some, some, some justice for the American people?

Omars office in March dismissed Vances claims as fabricated and defamatory.

This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to create stories to redirect the media, Omars chief of staff, Connor McNutt, said in a statement.

This is a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from the pedophile protection partys unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers, McNutt said of the vice presidents allegations and comments.

Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a nodular lesion on his lung that was recently discovered during medical checks.

The 71-year-old pope said the nodule was found at an early stage and was circumscribed or well-localized. The Vatican later said Leo would undergo surgery in the first days of the week, with an expected recovery time of a week.

The American pope made the announcement during his Sunday noon blessing. He thanked the crowd for their closeness and entrusted himself to their prayers.

A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1 inch) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen, according to the American Cancer Society. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | One year in: How Chicago's Pope Leo XIV has led the Catholic Church and challenged Washington

Leo has no previously known health problems and is considered physically active, with weekly tennis games and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

The pope has a major trip planned Nov. 6-17 to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It's unclear whether the planned surgery and recovery would affect the itinerary, but Leo said earlier in his remarks Sunday that he planned to go.

In his remarks, delivered in Italian, Leo said during a recent medical check, doctors found a small, localized nodule in my lung. It was detected at a very early stage and is circumscribed. The doctors believe its best to take action, so, following their advice, Ive decided to have surgery to remove it."

The surgery is already scheduled for the coming days. Thank you for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers, he said.

Leos predecessor, Pope Francis, died April 21, 2025, of a stroke following a long hospitalization brought on by a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. Francis suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.

Leo is expected to undergo surgery at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where Francis and popes before him were treated and where there is a special apartment for pontiffs.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, among the few outsiders to visit Francis during his long final hospitalization, expressed her support, and that of the Italian government, to Leo as he faces this challenge in the coming days. In a statement, she added that the serenity and calm with which he spoke about it were reassuring.

Christa Pike, who survived Tennessees attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, according to a statement released by her attorneys.

Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the womens prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said in a statement.

She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery, her attorneys said in a statement released Saturday.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her by lethal injection on Sept. 30 for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike had been in a hospital since the failed execution.