International

Biden campaigns in Pennsylvania, ground zero for midterms

Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP

| By AFP | Sebastian Smith |

US President Joe Biden touted the rebirth of American infrastructure and manufacturing Thursday in a Pennsylvania trip aimed at boosting Senate hopeful John Fetterman, whose closely watched race could be key to avoiding a Democratic wipeout in the midterms.

Biden touched down first in Pittsburgh, where he plugged his signature infrastructure package with a tour of a newly repaired bridge, ahead of an evening fundraiser with Fetterman in Philadelphia.

The national spending spree that Biden’s Democrats got through the divided Congress is “the most significant investment” in US history, Biden said on a makeshift podium at the edge of Fern Hollow Bridge, which collapsed eight months ago on a day that Biden happened to be visiting. Now, it has now almost been rebuilt, serving as a poster child for the White House’s policies.

“There’s no better place to talk about rebuilding the backbone of America, the middle class,” Biden said.

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“I want you to feel the way I do — pride, pride in what we can do when we work together,” he said, referring to the pieces of heavy construction equipment lined up around the build.

The speech aimed to buoy Democrats in the final run-up to the midterms in three weeks, with Fetterman in one of the key races to holding the Senate.

Fetterman, who greeted Biden on the tarmac in Pittsburgh, is known for his multiple tattoos and a love of hoodies and cargo shorts.

He was once a runaway favorite in the battle against Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, a celebrity TV doctor — but the race has tightened, reflecting sinking Democratic hopes of maintaining the party’s already fragile control of Congress.

The Democrat suffered a stroke in May and the Oz campaign has made his health a major campaign issue, arguing he is medically unfit for office.

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Fetterman’s doctor released a letter this week stating that he could work “full duty” in public office. Fetterman’s performance will be scrutinized for any signs of physical or cognitive weakness when the two candidates meet for a debate October 25.

The latest average of polls shows Fetterman’s nearly 11-point lead in mid-September whittled down to about five points.

With Biden hampered by approval ratings in the low 40 percent range, some campaigning Democratic candidates have even asked him to keep away.

He has avoided large-scale rallies in favor of smaller policy announcements that he hopes can shift the momentum. Just this week, Biden gave speeches vowing to protect abortion access and explaining his attempts to tamp down high energy costs.

But three weeks from voting day, Americans appear to be veering toward the Republican message that Democrats are failing on the economy.

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That raises the likelihood of Republicans taking control of at least the House and quite possibly the Senate — ushering in two years of political trench warfare for the White House.

Even just the House would give the increasingly far-right Republican Party the ability to shut down Biden’s agenda and — as prominent figures are already threatening — attempt impeachment.

Numbers don’t add up

A New York Times/Siena poll this week showed that, of likely voters, 26 percent named worries over the economy as their top issue, while 18 percent listed inflation, at its highest rate in four decades.

Even on issues where Biden feels he has a winning hand, there are limits.

During his impassioned speech on abortion, the president tapped into widespread anger over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined national abortion rights.

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Predicting a revolt by women voters at the ballot box, Biden said Republicans “ain’t seen nothing yet.”

But the Siena poll showed just five percent of likely voters named abortion as their top issue.

Analysts with Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball election newsletter at the University of Virginia said that after giddy hopes of defying expectations to win this fall, the Democrats seem to be coming back to earth.

“It’s just tough for a party to thrive with an unpopular president and with the public having significant concerns about issues, like the economy and inflation,” they said Wednesday.

“This is why the House remains very likely to flip to the Republicans and why, despite the aforementioned challenges, Republican chances to win the Senate remain no worse than a coin flip.”

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International

Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states, while three others —California, Oregon and Pennsylvania— currently have moratoriums in place.

The United States is set to carry out three executions on the same day, a rare occurrence that has not happened since 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

President Donald Trump has sought to expand the use of capital punishment for what he describes as “the most heinous crimes.” In April, the Department of Justice proposed expanding execution methods to include firing squads, lethal gas and electrocution.

Tennessee is scheduled to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a woman, according to local media.

In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodríguez, 70, is scheduled to be executed for a 2003 murder.

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Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.

The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest number since 2009, when 52 executions were recorded.

Florida conducted the largest number of executions last year, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, with five each.

Of the executions carried out in 2025, 39 were conducted by lethal injection. Three were carried out by firing squad and five through nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing nitrogen gas into a face mask, depriving the prisoner of oxygen.

The United Nations has condemned nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.

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International

Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 265 as Rescue Teams Race Against Time

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, the strongest to hit the country this century, has so far left 265 people dead and around 3,500 injured.

In Cali, Pereira and other cities in western Colombia, rescue teams are working around the clock as they search for survivors. The first 72 hours following the earthquake will be reached at 7:34 a.m. local time (12:34 GMT), a critical window for rescue efforts as the chances of finding survivors generally decline significantly after that point.

Among those anxiously awaiting news is Valeria Cardona, a 26-year-old student searching for two of her cousins in Cali.

“We have some suspicions about their location, but there are no signs of life,” she said. “Hope is the last thing you lose, but we are anxious about receiving news we don’t want to hear.”

A team of members from the Topos Aztecas, the renowned Mexican volunteer rescue group, has also arrived in Cali to join the search. The rescuers had been working in neighboring Venezuela, where a double earthquake on June 24 left more than 6,000 people dead.

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“We all came from Venezuela, from La Guaira. The 41 days we spent working there made us stronger because we overcame hunger, pain and sleepless nights,” said Héctor Méndez, 80, president of Topos Aztecas.

Méndez encouraged those affected by the disaster not to lose hope and emphasized the commitment required from rescue teams during an emergency.

“Do not feel like victims. This is not an office or workshop schedule. This is real life, where the best part of the human spirit emerges. These are things of nature that happen,” he said.

International

German Authorities Investigate More Than 100 New Cases Against Convicted Nurse

German authorities announced Monday that they are investigating more than 100 additional cases involving a nurse who was sentenced to life in prison in November for the murder of 10 patients.

The man, who was 44 at the time of his conviction, worked in palliative care at a hospital in Würselen, near Aachen. He was also found guilty of 27 attempted murders.

Aachen prosecutors are now examining 121 new cases, a spokesperson for the office said.

Prosecutors leading the investigation are preparing a new indictment that could be filed next year. Nearly 40 bodies have so far been exhumed as part of the investigation, which covers alleged incidents dating back to September 2022.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in the city of Cologne are investigating 18 additional cases. According to a spokesperson, the oldest case dates back to 2010.

Before working at the Würselen hospital, the nurse is believed to have worked at a clinic in eastern Cologne, according to local media reports.

At the time of his November conviction, the court ruled that the severity of his crimes was particularly serious, a finding that would make it difficult for him to obtain early release after 15 years in prison.

Between December 2023 and May 2024, the nurse administered overdoses of sedatives or painkillers to terminally ill patients, most of them elderly, according to the indictment in the original case.

His alleged motive was to sedate patients who required care so that he could minimize his workload during night shifts, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, the nurse worked «without enthusiasm» and «without motivation». When faced with patients requiring extensive care, he allegedly became «irritated» and showed a lack of empathy.

The case has revived painful memories in Germany of Niels Högel, a former nurse and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2019 for the murders of at least 85 patients.