Harris and Walz to Campaign across Battleground States This Week

 A supporter holds a placard during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
A supporter holds a placard during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
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Harris and Walz to Campaign across Battleground States This Week

 A supporter holds a placard during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
A supporter holds a placard during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 26, 2024. (Reuters)

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will crisscross the country to visit all seven battleground states in the coming days, part of a final blitz before the end of the presidential campaign.

The Democratic presidential nominee will spend Sunday in Philadelphia, attending church services in the morning and visiting a barbershop. Harris also plans to stop at a Puerto Rican restaurant and a youth basketball facility.

Election Day is Nov. 5.

On Monday, Walz, who is Minnesota's governor and Harris' running mate, will campaign in Manitowoc and Waukesha in Wisconsin before heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a joint rally with Harris. The singer Maggie Rogers is scheduled to perform.

Harris will be in Washington on Tuesday to deliver what her campaign calls her “closing argument” in a speech from the Ellipse, a grassy space adjacent to the National Mall. It's the same place where Republican former President Donald Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, when he called on his supporters to march on the US Capitol.

Meanwhile, Walz is scheduled to campaign in Savannah and Columbus in Georgia.

Harris is slated to visit North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Wednesday. The event in Wisconsin will be held in Madison, and it's expected to feature musical performances by Mumford & Sons and others.

Walz will campaign in Charlotte and Asheville in North Carolina that day.

On Thursday, Harris heads west for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas in Nevada and Phoenix in Arizona. The band Maná will perform in Las Vegas and Los Tigres del Norte will perform in Phoenix.

Walz plans to campaign in Harrisburg and Erie in Pennsylvania and Detroit in Michigan.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.