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Final US Campaign Blitz for Harris and Trump

This combination of pictures created on November 03, 2024 shows former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024, and US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 2, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS and CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on November 03, 2024 shows former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024, and US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 2, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS and CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
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Final US Campaign Blitz for Harris and Trump

This combination of pictures created on November 03, 2024 shows former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024, and US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 2, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS and CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on November 03, 2024 shows former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024, and US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 2, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS and CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

Bitter rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump embark on a final frenzied campaign blitz Monday with both hitting must-win Pennsylvania on the last day of the tightest and most volatile US presidential election in memory.
Republican Trump has promised a "landslide" as he seeks a sensational return to the White House, while Democrat Harris said the "momentum" was on the side of her bid to be America's first woman president, AFP reported.
But the polls suggest a different story on the eve of Election Day -- total deadlock in surveys nationally and in the seven swing states where the result is expected to be decided.
Now a race of dramatic twists, including two bids to kill Trump and Harris's shock late entrance, is coming down to the most viciously fought-over battleground.
Harris will spend the whole day campaigning in the rust-belt state of Pennsylvania, culminating in a huge rally in its biggest city Philadelphia featuring singer Lady Gaga. Trump will travel to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and then Michigan.
In a sign of how crucial Pennsylvania is to their chances of occupying the Oval Office, Trump and Harris will even hold dueling rallies in the industrial city of Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania is the single biggest swing state prize under the US Electoral College system, which awards influence in line with population.
'You're fired'
Both sides say they are encouraged by huge early turnout numbers, with over 78 million people having voted already, around half of the total number of ballots cast in 2020.
The incredible closeness of the 2024 White House race reflects a deeply divided United States, as it chooses between two candidates whose visions could scarcely be more different.
Former president Trump has doubled down on his dark and violent rhetoric in his pursuit of a second term which would make him, at 78, the oldest major party candidate ever elected.
Vice President Harris has meanwhile made an astonishing rise to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July.
Harris is hoping abortion is a key issue that can hurt Trump, especially with woman voters, while Trump has focused on migrants and the economy and dubbed political opponents the "enemy from within."
They have both embarked on a frenetic zig-zag through the swing states, with raucous rallies and even an appearance by Harris on the famed television show "Saturday Night Live."
On the campaign trail Sunday, Trump mused to supporters that he wouldn't mind if journalists were shot, raised baseless allegations of election fraud and dwelt in gory detail on crimes by undocumented immigrants.
"Kamala -- you're fired, get out," Trump told cheering supporters in Macon, Georgia.
Trump also said he "shouldn't have left" the White House after he lost his 2020 reelection bid to Biden, and then tried to overturn the results, culminating in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
Fears are mounting that he would again refuse to accept defeat.
'We have momentum'
For Harris's part, after a series of more encouraging recent polls, she told a raucous rally in Michigan on Sunday that "we have momentum -- it's on our side."
Harris also courted the large Arab-American community in Michigan that has denounced US handling of the Israel-Hamas war, saying she would do "everything in my power to end the war in Gaza."
The world is anxiously watching the election, which could have profound implications for conflicts in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine.
The final days of the campaign have meanwhile seen both candidates roll out high-profile surrogates.
Right-wing tech tycoon Elon Musk has been making controversial $1 million giveaways to registered voters, while Harris has relied on the star power of former president Barack Obama and ex-first lady Michelle Obama and singer Beyonce.
But outgoing President Biden has been notably absent from the trail since a gaffe in which he referred to Trump's supporters as "garbage" last week.
Biden will spend most of the last day of the campaign at the White House, while Harris will start her day with an event in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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World

Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
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Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

Japan's lower house formally reappointed Sanae Takaichi as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.

Takaichi, 64, became Japan's first woman premier in October and won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8.

She has pledged to bolster Japan's defenses to protect its territory and waters, likely further straining relations with Beijing, and to boost the flagging economy.

Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.

Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that forces in Japan were seeking to "revive militarism".

In a policy speech expected for Friday, Takaichi will pledge to update Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategic framework, local media reported.

"Compared with when FOIP was first proposed, the international situation and security environment surrounding Japan have become significantly more severe," chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Monday.

In practice this will likely mean strengthening supply chains and promoting free trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Britain joined in 2024.

Takaichi's government also plans to pass legislation to establish a National Intelligence Agency and to begin concrete discussions towards an anti-espionage law, the reports said.

Takaichi has promised too to tighten rules surrounding immigration, even though Asia's number two economy is struggling with labor shortages and a falling population.

On Friday Takaichi will repeat her campaign pledge to suspend consumption tax on food for two years in order to ease inflationary pressures on households, local media said, according to AFP.

This promise has exacerbated market worries about Japan's colossal debt, with yields on long-dated government bonds hitting record highs last month.

Rahul Anand, the International Monetary Fund chief of mission in Japan, said Wednesday that debt interest payments would double between 2025 and 2031.

"Removing the consumption tax (on food) would weaken the tax revenue base, since the consumption tax is an important way to raise revenues without creating distortions in the economy," Anand said.

To ease such concerns, Takaichi will on Friday repeat her mantra of having a "responsible, proactive" fiscal policy and set a target on reducing government debt, the reports said.

She will also announce the creation of a cross-party "national council" to discuss taxation and how to fund ageing Japan's ballooning social security bill.

But Takaichi's first order of business will be obtaining approval for Japan's budget for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 after the process was delayed by the election.

The ruling coalition also wants to pass legislation that will outlaw destroying the Japanese flag, according to the media reports.

It wants too to accelerate debate on changing the constitution and on revising the imperial family's rules to ease a looming succession crisis.

Takaichi and many within her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) oppose making it possible for a woman to become emperor, but rules could be changed to "adopt" new male members.

World

Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
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Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)

The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, has said that the Ankara-PKK peace process has entered its “second phase,” as the Turkish parliament sets the stage to vote on a draft report proposing legal reforms tied to peace efforts.

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), including lawmakers Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar, and Ocalan’s lawyer Ozgur Faik, met with the jailed PKK leader on Monday on the secluded Imrali island.

Sancar said that the second phase will be focused on democratic integration into
Türkiye’s political system.

According to the lawmaker, the PKK leader considered the first phase the “negative dimension” concerned with ending the decades-old conflict between the armed group and Ankara.

“Now we are facing the positive phase,” Ocalan said, “the integration phase is the positive phase; it is the phase of construction.”

For the second phase to be implemented, Ocalan called on Turkish authorities to provide conditions that would allow him to put his “theoretical and practical capacity” to work.

The 60-page draft report on peace with the PKK was completed by a five-member writing team, which is chaired by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, and is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday.

The report is organized into seven sections.

In July last year, Ocalan said the group's armed struggle against Türkiye has ended and called for a full shift to democratic politics.

World

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
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Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)

Iranians shouted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday as they gathered to commemorate protesters killed in a crackdown on nationwide demonstrations that rights groups said left thousands dead, according to videos verified by AFP.

The country's clerical authorities also staged a commemoration in the capital Tehran to mark the 40th day since the deaths at the peak of the protests on January 8 and 9.

Officials acknowledge more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, but attribute the violence to "terrorist acts", while rights groups say many more thousands of people were killed, shot dead by security forces in a violent crackdown.

The protests, sparked by anger over the rising cost of living before exploding in size and anti-government fervor, subsided after the crackdown, but in recent days Iranians have chanted slogans from the relative safety of homes and rooftops at night.

On Tuesday, videos verified by AFP showed crowds gathering at memorials for some of those killed again shouting slogans against the theocratic government in place since the 1979 revolution.

In videos geolocated by AFP shared on social media, a crowd in Abadan in western Iran holds up flowers and commemorative photos of a young man as they shout "death to Khamenei" and "long live the shah", in support of the ousted monarchy.

Another video from the same city shows people running in panic from the sounds of shots, though it wasn't immediately clear if they were from live fire.

In the northeastern city of Mashhad a crowd in the street chanted, "One person killed, thousands have his back", another verified video showed.

Gatherings also took place in other parts of the country, according to videos shared by rights groups.

- Official commemorations -

At the government-organized memorial in Tehran crowds carried Iranian flags and portraits of those killed as nationalist songs played and chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" echoed through the Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attended a similar event at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

Authorities have accused sworn enemies the United States and Israel of fueling "foreign-instigated riots", saying they hijacked peaceful protests with killings and vandalism.

Senior officials, including First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Revolutionary Guards commander Esmail Qaani, attended the ceremony.

"Those who supported rioters and terrorists are criminals and will face the consequences," Qaani said, according to Tasnim news agency.

International organizations have said evidence shows Iranian security forces targeted protesters with live fire under the cover of an internet blackout.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher.

More than 53,500 people have been arrested in the ongoing crackdown, HRANA added, with rights groups warning protesters could face execution.

Tuesday's gatherings coincided with a second round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States in Geneva, amid heightened tensions after Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East following Iran's crackdown on the protests.