AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

Hundreds of thousands without power after Isaias slams the Florida Panhandle and Alabama

GULF BREEZE, Fla. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were without power early Saturday after Isaias crashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast as a dangerous hurricane and left flooded roads and downed trees in its wake as it moved inland.

The storm made landfall Friday as a Category 2 hurricane, then quickly moved north through Alabama as its wind speeds dropped sharply. But the possibility of life-threatening storm surges still loomed for parts of the Florida Panhandle, along with heavy rain and potential flooding for much of the Southeast over the weekend.

Isaias was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south-southwest of Montgomery, Alabama and nearly 105 miles (170 kilometers) south of Birmingham, Alabama, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph), the NHC said Saturday.

Forecasters also warned that conditions could stir up tornadoes across parts of the Florida Panhandle and into Georgia and the Carolinas.

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Hurricane-force winds lashed the Gulf shoreline in the low-lying coastal area known for powdery white-sand beaches dotted with vacation homes, waterfront bars, and seafood shacks.

Trump strikes deal with Putin to get diesel in sharp reversal of US policy weeks before midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he has struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he was expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.

Trump’s shocking announcement was in stark contrast to a sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed last month that aimed at clamping down on the oil and gas revenues that fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners,” according to a statement released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.

Trump announced the deal as his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting with Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Panama rocked by 2 powerful earthquakes and multiple aftershocks, prompting evacuations

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Two powerful 7.7 and 6.6 magnitude earthquakes and a series of aftershocks roiled southern Panama Friday afternoon, collapsing buildings near the epicenter and prompting evacuations across the country.

The earlier quake, felt as far away as neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, the USGS said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The USGS initially reported the first quake as magnitude 8, then revised it to 7.6 and later to 7.7.

Visibly shaken residents of Panama City, the capital, gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake’s impact on Friday.

“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared,” Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press by phone. “Everyone is outside, scared.”

Trump and Iran agree on one thing. The US election calendar isn’t driving their decisions on the war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Iran’s leadership appear to agree on one thing about their seven-month-old war: they each insist the U.S. election calendar isn’t motivating them to find an end to it.

Persistent inflation and high gas prices fueled by the conflict have driven widespread American disapproval of the war — a sentiment casting a long shadow over the Nov. 3 election that will determine whether Trump’s party keeps control of Congress. And U.S. economic sanctions and a naval blockade on Iranian oil are causing profound shocks for Tehran’s economy.

Yet, Iranian officials remain insistent there won’t be a deal until the U.S. lifts the blockade and delivers sanctions relief. Trump, meanwhile, is vacillating. He has dispatched more military resources to the region and threatened to resume strikes — even as he also declares that the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior” to Nov. 3.

Speaking to fellow world leaders last month at the U.N. General Assembly, Trump insisted he “will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran.”

Now, more than a week into a 32-day campaign blitz for Republican candidates, Trump is doubling down on that message, telling voters he’s winning the war while darkly warning he’s ready to “finish it off” if Iran doesn’t capitulate.

Simon strengthens into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Mexico’s coast

MIAMI (AP) — Simon has strengthened into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it barrels toward Mexico’s coast.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Saturday Simon’s maximum sustained winds increased to 145 mph (230 kph). A storm of that strength or greater is considered a major hurricane. Simon could bring as much as 10 to 20 inches (25-50 cm) of rain over parts of southwestern Mexico, with some areas receiving up to 30 inches, the center said.

The bulletin also urged residents to take immediate action to prepare, saying the hurricane will make landfall late Saturday or early Sunday, but tropical storm-strength winds could arrive much sooner.

Simon is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of southwestern Mexico, possibly concentrated along Jalisco’s coast and in parts of Michoacan, Colima and Nayarit.

“This rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,” the NHC said.

Russian attacks kill 11 in Ukraine after Trump strikes diesel deal with Putin

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least 11 people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, officials said Saturday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel that Kyiv warned would help bankroll Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Three children were among the 11 people killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the regional military administration, said Saturday. At least 16 people were wounded in the attack, according to Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the region’s defense council.

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 60 people over the past four days.

The latest attacks came a day after Trump said he had struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he had been expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia.

A US-brokered ceasefire was supposed to end the war in Gaza. A year later, progress has stalled

It’s been a year since a ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and Arab allies promised to end the war in Gaza, and Israel is still launching deadly strikes on the devastated territory.

The agreement halted major military operations, freed all remaining hostages and increased humanitarian access. But it has failed to deliver on promises of a new Palestinian administration aided by international forces, the disarmament of Hamas and an end to Israel’s control over more than half the territory. Almost nothing has been rebuilt.

Israel has tied any progress on the other issues to Hamas’ complete disarmament, while the militant group — and the Trump administration — say they should happen simultaneously. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hardened his stance over the summer, openly defying Trump, his most important ally, ahead of Israeli elections later this month.

The wrangling has left Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians in limbo. Most are sheltering in rodent-infested tent camps, the rubble of their former neighborhoods or war-damaged buildings at risk of collapse.

In the Jabaliya area of the northern Gaza Strip, Abdullah Abu Zubaida’s family lives in a makeshift shelter built from the debris of their house.

India cracks down on youth protests as anger grows against Modi and election chief

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities deployed a sweeping security crackdown across New Delhi and detained thousands of protesters Saturday as India’s youth “Cockroach” movement sought to intensify a nationwide campaign against a contentious voter list revision that has fueled anger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and election authorities.

Police intercepted demonstrators before they could reach Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the heart of India’s capital, chasing off some and detaining many others. Some were dragged away before being bundled into police vehicles and taken to temporary detention centers. Several “Cockroach” movement leaders were detained before arriving, effectively crippling the protest ahead of its start.

The crackdown extended beyond the protest venue, with police stopping buses, cars and other vehicles at checkpoints on routes into the capital and searching for demonstrators.

Jantar Mantar was barricaded, while anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear gas launchers were stationed along key routes. Restrictions on mobile internet and access to parts of the city added to the hurdles facing protesters.

Police said Friday they had denied permission for the protest because the request was submitted late.

Spain’s slow response to the crisis in Ceuta leaves teen migrants on the streets

CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of teenage migrants lined up outside a church in Ceuta in early October, hoping Spain’s visiting minister of youth would bring them some good news: passage to continental Europe or at least a spot in a shelter.

For two months, they had slept on cardboard sheets and ripped sofas in squalid tent camps, or on the streets of the Spanish city in North Africa that juts into the Mediterranean like a thumb. On clear days, southern Spain is visible on the horizon.

Among them was a 17-year-old aspiring model from northern Morocco. In late July, he crossed into Ceuta with around 80,000 others in what would become Spain’s deadliest border crisis.

“Pray for me!” he told an Associated Press reporter. But instead, the teens were led down a steep hill to a soccer field so as not to overwhelm the minister. Within hours, many were back on the streets and hillsides.

Another setback for the young migrants, the scene also illustrated the Spanish government’s slow, often improvised response to the migration crisis in the territory. Thousands of minors reached Ceuta alone and, under Spanish law, are entitled to shelter, healthcare and education. Experts acknowledge the difficulties authorities face, but say the government may simply be hoping that many of them give up and head home.

Videos show ICE shooting in NYC unfolded in a few chaotic seconds

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security officials said Friday that immigration officers feared for their lives when they shot a man driving with his young son in New York, wounding him and sparking protests in the city.

Local police released surveillance camera and body camera footage of the chaotic moments before and after the gunfire, but those videos didn’t immediately answer questions about whether the officers were justified in opening fire.

The 28-year-old Dominican national wounded in the ICE operation was being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn with a bullet still in his body, according to his lawyers, and was in pain, afraid for himself and deeply concerned for his unhurt but terrified 5-year-old son.

“You’re not supposed to get shot in your car with your child sitting in the back. Period,” his lawyer, Harold Solis, said following a court hearing.

The federal officers who opened fire weren’t aware that the child was in the car, senior immigration officials said Friday.

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