AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Helene strengthens to a Category 4 hurricane as it nears Florida’s Gulf Coast

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene strengthened into a Category 4 storm ahead of its expected landfall on Florida’s northwest coast Thursday night as forecasters warned that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S.

Helene prompted hurricane and flash flood warnings extending far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. Strong winds already cut power to more than 600,000 homes and businesses in Florida, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. The governors of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and Virginia all declared emergencies in their states.

The hurricane’s eye was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Tallahassee, Florida, and had sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving north-northeast at 24 mph (39 kph), and life-threatening storm surges of up to 20 feet (6 meters) were expected in the Big Bend area of Florida.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee issued an “extreme wind warning” for the Big Bend as the eyewall approached: “Treat this warning like a tornado warning,” it said in a post on X. “Take shelter in the most interior room and hunker down!”

Helene arrives barely a year since Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Big Bend and caused widespread damage. Idalia became a Category 4 in the Gulf of Mexico but made landfall as a Category 3 near Keaton Beach, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph).

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Netanyahu vows to use ‘full force’ against Hezbollah and dims hopes for a cease-fire

NEW YORK (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to carry out “full force” strikes against Hezbollah until it ceases firing rockets across the border, dimming hopes for a cease-fire proposal put forth by U.S. and European officials.

Israel carried out a new strike in the Lebanese capital, which killed a senior Hezbollah commander, and the militant group launched dozens of rockets into Israel. Tens of thousands of Israeli and Lebanese people living near their countries’ border have been displaced by the fighting.

Netanyahu spoke as he arrived in New York to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, where U.S. and European officials were putting heavy pressure on both sides of the conflict to accept a proposed 21-day halt in the fighting to give time for diplomacy and avert all-out war.

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week as Israel dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting the military capacity of Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed Shiite group that is the strongest armed force in Lebanon. Israeli leaders say they are determined to stop the group’s cross-border attacks, which began after the Hamas militant group’s Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

Israel’s “policy is clear,” Netanyahu said. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”

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What obstacles stand in the way of an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire?

Israel and Hezbollah each have strong incentives to heed international calls for a cease-fire that could avert all-out war — but that doesn’t mean they will.

Hezbollah is reeling after a sophisticated attack on personal devices killed and wounded hundreds of its members. Israeli airstrikes have killed two top commanders in Beirut in less than a week, and warplanes have pounded what Israel says are Hezbollah sites across large parts of Lebanon, killing over 600 people.

So far, Israel clearly has the upper hand militarily, which could make it less willing to compromise. But it’s unlikely to achieve its goal of halting Hezbollah rocket fire with air power alone, and a threatened ground invasion of Lebanon poses major risks.

After nearly a year of war, Israeli troops are still fighting Hamas in Gaza. And Hezbollah is a much more formidable force.

“Hezbollah has yet to employ 10% of its capabilities,” military affairs correspondent Yossi Yehoshua wrote in Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper. “The euphoria that is evident among the decision-makers and some of the public should be placed back in the attic: the situation is still complex and flammable.”

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A look inside the indictment accusing New York City’s mayor of taking bribes

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has never been shy about his globetrotting ways. But he’s not always said how he bankrolled years’ worth of overseas adventures.

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday saying the Democrat took trips to France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey that were partly or fully paid for by people looking to buy his influence in city government.

The gifts, prosecutors said, included free hotel rooms, seat upgrades worth thousands of dollars, expensive meals, entertainment — even a trip to a Turkish bath. All told, the perks were worth more than $100,000, prosecutors said.

The indictment also accuses Adams of conspiring to collect illegal donations to his campaigns, partly by funneling them through straw donors who hadn’t actually contributed the money.

Adams says he didn’t do anything wrong and has no plans to resign. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, criticized the charges as a jumble of innuendo meant to mislead the public and tarnish the mayor.

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A crucial party election Friday will determine Japan’s new prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — A crucial party election in Japan on Friday will determine the nation’s new prime minister.

The vote by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will technically choose a new party leader, but since the party has a decades-long stranglehold on power, the winner will become prime minister when the current leadership resigns on Tuesday.

The current p rime minister, Fumio Kishida, has been dogged by corruption scandals, and his party is looking for a fresh leader to try to regain public trust. A record nine lawmakers, including two women, are vying for the job.

The vote is limited to LDP members of parliament and about 1 million dues-paying party members. That’s only 1% of eligible voters.

Past votes were often determined by the party’s powerful faction leaders, but that may change this time because all but one of the six factions has announced their dissolution following the corruption scandals.

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Harris blasts proposals for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia during Zelenskyy meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — With American support for Ukraine at a partisan crossroads, Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday slammed suggestions that Kyiv should cede territory for the sake of peace with Moscow as “dangerous and unacceptable.”

The Democratic presidential nominee spoke alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as she unleashed the veiled criticism of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s push for Ukraine to quickly cut a deal to end the war.

“They are not proposals for peace,” Harris said. “Instead they are proposals for surrender.”

Her comments were a reminder of the high stakes for the war effort in this year’s election. Trump, for his part, has criticized U.S. assistance for Ukraine, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and faulted Zelenskyy for the ongoing bloodshed.

Trump said he will meet with Zelenskyy in New York on Friday after days of questions over whether the two leaders will sit down together. He rejected Harris’ criticisms and insisted that he only wants to stop the “horror show that’s gone on.”

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The families of 43 missing students in Mexico are still demanding justice 10 years later

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Families of the 43 students from a rural teacher’s college abducted 10 years ago in southern Mexico marked the painful anniversary Thursday disillusioned after what they say was a decade of unfulfilled government promises.

Thousands marched with the families in the rain through Mexico’s capital demanding the truth about what happened and justice for the missing.

“The first time we came through here, who could have imagined that all of this time would pass and (we’re) here again without answers,” said Margarito Guerrero, the father of missing student Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz.

Guerrero appreciated those who accompanied them, like Lourdes Silva, a homemaker, participating in her first march with her daughter, a student who has been following the families’ movement for a decade.

“We need to keep pressuring,” Silva said. “We want this agony to end for the parents.”

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Alabama puts man convicted of killing 3 to death in the country’s second nitrogen gas execution

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama used nitrogen gas Thursday to execute a man convicted of killing three people in back-to-back workplace shootings, the second time the method that has generated debate about its humaneness has been used in the country

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. local time at a south Alabama prison. He shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. That was followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became still.

Miller was convicted of killing three men — Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis — in 1999 and the state had previously attempted to execute him by lethal injection in 2022.

“I didn’t do anything to be in here,” Miller said in his final words that were at times muffled by the blue-rimmed gas mask that covered his face from forehead to chin. However, witnesses at the trial had expressed no doubt about his guilt, describing Miller shooting the three men.

At the execution, Miller also asked his family and friends to “take care” of someone but it was not clear whose name he said.

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Voting technology firm, conservative outlet reach settlement in 2020 election defamation case

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A settlement was reached Thursday in a defamation lawsuit brought by electronic voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic against conservative news outlet Newsmax for airing accusations about vote manipulation in the 2020 election made by allies of former President Donald Trump.

The settlement was announced just a few hours after jury selection began in the lawsuit filed by Florida-based Smartmatic against Newsmax.

Smartmatic claimed that Newsmax program hosts and guests made false and defamatory statements in November and December 2020 implying that Smartmatic participated in rigging the results and that its software was used to switch votes.

Newsmax argued that it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations being made by Trump and his supporters, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and conservative attorney Sidney Powell. Newsmax has said the lawsuit represented a threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” Newsmax said in a prepared statement.

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Florida man’s lawsuit temporarily stops Ohtani’s 50th HR ball from being sold

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man’s lawsuit has temporarily stopped Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from being sold at auction after saying it was stolen from him moments after he secured it.

Max Matus’ representatives say their client gained possession of the Los Angeles Dodgers star’s historic ball on Sept. 19 — the man’s 18th birthday — before Chris Belanski took it away. The ball has since been turned over to Goldin Auctions, a New Jersey-based auction house specializing in trading cards, collectibles and memorabilia.

The Miami-Dade County judge said in an emergency hearing on Thursday that the motion for a temporary injunction was deferred, and an evidentiary hearing will be held Oct. 10. The order says the auction can start, but the house “will not sell, conceal or transfer” the ball pending the court’s ruling.

Matus’ initial filing requested a court order declaring that he is entitled to the ball and requests a jury trial on his claims. It also alleged unlawful battery against Belanski.

Kelvin Ramirez also is named in the lawsuit after claiming ownership of the ball. Ramirez attended the game with Belanski. Goldin Auctions, Belanski and Ramirez are named in the lawsuit filed by John Uustal, the attorney representing Matus.