BRUSSELS (AP) — The International Criminal Court and its embattled staff have won the European Union’s top human rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, an official said Thursday.

The award came just days after the Trump administration announced sweeping new sanctions on the court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.

“The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognizes the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said.

Her announcement at the parliament in Strasbourg, France, was greeted with a standing ovation.

The annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms.

A court under fire welcomes the award

ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan welcomed the award, saying that it “comes at a time when the court and its officials face unprecedented challenges.”

“Against this backdrop, the Sakharov Prize carries particular significance, reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions and of those who work to uphold international law,” she said in a statement.

The ICC opened in 2002 as a court of last resort to prosecute senior leaders it deems responsible for crimes that, according to its founding treaty, “deeply shock the conscience of humanity.” It has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

The Trump administration’s sanctions cut off the court from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies, and even the use of U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down.

The EU considers options to respond

In a statement after their summit last week, EU leaders said that the 27-nation bloc “deeply regrets” the Trump administration’s sanctions move and “urges the United States to reverse these latest measures.”

They noted that the U.S. has delayed the full impact of the sanctions by six months, and that “this creates space for diplomacy,” and expressed hope that the measures can ultimately be reversed.

Should diplomacy fail, however, the leaders insisted on “the EU’s readiness to take all necessary measures.”

They tasked the European Commission “to take all appropriate initiatives” to help protect the ICC and mitigate the impact of the sanctions, “specifically towards EU companies so that they can continue providing services to the Court.”

One possible retaliatory measure is the EU “blocking statute,” which could be used to protect European court staff, and possibly the Dutch-based court itself, by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures.

An award for when rights and justice come under attack

The ICC and its officials were nominated for the prize by the Socialist and Democrats group in the European Parliament. The group, which unites center-left parties across Europe, said that it was “proud to have put forward their candidacy at a time when international justice is under attack.”

The Sakharov winner is chosen by the European Parliament’s president and top EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the parliament’s various political groups. The assembly says the award is “the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.”

Imprisoned Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu and Taraneh and Romina Rahimi — twins being held in prison for taking part in demonstrations against the Iranian government — were the others to make the EU shortlist.

Last year’s prize went to journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaghlobeli, who were imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia, respectively. Metsola said at the time that “their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy.”

Several Sakharov laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, picked up the Sakharov Prize in 2024.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Thursday killed one person and wounded 22, Ukrainian authorities said. The strikes in Kyiv came hours after the Kremlin agreed to restart U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war.

The attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts of the city, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. In the Dniprovskyi district, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, one person was killed and six were wounded, including a child, as fires broke out.

On Wednesday, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, a week after the U.S. midterm election. Putin had met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed the push for new talks, but was cautious.

“We’ll see what happens this time,” he said shortly before missile alerts sounded over Kyiv.

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Russia has released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

The deal comes at a time when President Donald Trump has taken actions meant to benefit Moscow.

Stephen Hubbard, of Michigan, was sentenced after a closed trial in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and that he fought alongside them until being captured two months later.

The U.S. government under the Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.

Witkoff thanked Putin for releasing Hubbard, telling him, “Because of you, he’s going home to his family.” The Russian leader responded that Hubbard was at the St. Petersburg airport, Pulkovo, after the release.

Witkoff has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end a war that will hit the five-year mark in February. Trump foreshadowed a release earlier in the week, telling reporters at the White House: “I’ve been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I’ve been talking to him at length. I’ve asked him to release him. Let’s see what happens.”

The release occurred at a dynamic moment in relations between the United States, Ukraine and Russia, with the Washington-Kyiv alliance being stretched by tensions over drone support as the Trump administration advances policies that aid Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He decided Friday, for instance, to waive sanctions on Russia in a bill that Congress overwhelmingly passed to support Ukraine. Named after late South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation targeted the flow of financial resources fueling Russia’s war.

That reversal followed Trump’s announcement of a deal to import Russian diesel fuel in a long-shot effort to curb high gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Losing more ground in the fight against climate change, humanity is heading for a hotter world than experts projected last year — and the United States is a big reason for that, a new United Nations report says.

If all the countries do what they promise to reduce heat-trapping emissions, Earth will likely still warm another 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) above current temperatures, according to Wednesday’s update of climate calculations by the United Nations Environment Programme. That’s about two-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit (0.1 degrees Celsius) more than last year’s projections by the same science team.

“This is a worse outcome than expected last year, as a result of the formal withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Agreement and revised estimates of historical emissions,” the report said. The report also blames the United States for increased emissions last year, saying all the other top 20 major economies reduced their carbon pollution or at least slowed the growth in how much carbon dioxide was spewed from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“In terms of magnitude, the increase in the United States of America (133 megatons of CO2 equivalent) far exceeded that of all other countries and was driven by increased electricity demand and a rebound of coal power generation,” the report said. The 124 countries that increased emissions — not counting the 63 that decreased like most European nations — added 189 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2025, and 70% of that increase came from the U.S., according to the report.

The United States is going “hell-for-leather trying to block renewables while actively promoting and subsidizing dirty coal — and its diplomacy is trying to make other countries also pull back on action. It is looking at the fire, denying there is a fire, and then pouring more petrol on it,” said Australian climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics that measures countries’ climate fighting plans. He wasn’t part of the U.N. report but like several other outside scientists said it was scientifically sound.

Shooting far past Paris climate goal

The new calculations say that if countries do all they promise in the climate fighting plans they submitted to the United Nations, by 2100 the globe will be 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than pre-industrial times. If the world continues on its current path — without national promises — it will be 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the last half of the 19th century, the same as last year’s projection.

Both of those temperatures blow far past the goal of less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) adopted by the 2015 Paris climate pact. The world is now at about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and earlier this year — and again in this report — United Nations officials conceded that there is no way of limiting warming to the 1.5-degree goal that they had embraced. Instead, officials are pinning their hopes of limiting warming to about 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and then somehow pulling enough carbon dioxide out of the air to lower temperatures back down to 1.5 degrees.

The world is falling “dangerously short” of even those goals, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, “but we have the tools to change course and pull back from the brink.”

Drastically cutting global carbon emissions — by 18% by 2030 and 69% by 2040 — “is the only way that we can get back to a semblance of a reality that is still largely manageable without major impacts and therefore that makes every sense,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

“The report’s message is clear,” said climate scientist Adelle Thomas, vice chair of a United Nations scientific assessment on climate impacts. She wasn’t part of this study. “We know what needs to be done. We have the tools to do it. And delay only makes the challenge more dangerous and more expensive for all.”

An added tenth of a degree of danger

Report lead author Anne Olhoff, director of UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, said the U.S. policy change will likely add one-tenth of a degree Celsius (nearly two-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) to global temperatures by the end of the century.

“This report shows that America’s retreat isn’t just a political embarrassment. It has real consequences for the planet and for millions of people around the world,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate organization. “An extra tenth of a degree might sound insignificant, but in climate terms it is enormous. It means more dangerous heat waves, more destructive floods, more failed harvests and more lives lost. For vulnerable communities in Africa, already living on the front lines of the climate crisis, every fraction of a degree matters. These are not abstract numbers. They are human lives.”

Hare said that extra one-tenth of a degree pushes an additional 140 million people “into dangerously hot conditions” and increases the odds of the collapse of the Amazon rain forest or ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. It also would cost the world and shave about $1.2 trillion from the global economy, said University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann.

And the U.S. effect is probably even bigger than what the United Nations calculates because if the world’s largest historical climate polluter doesn’t do much to fight global warming other nations ease off in their efforts too, said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research in Germany.

“The rest of the world is exhausted when it comes to counting the damage that the U.S. is willingly doing to allies, multilateral structures, economic cooperation, disaster relief,” Australian climate scientist Malte Meinshausen said. “The rest of the world should probably continue to focus even less on the U.S.”

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Police on Tuesday charged a driver with intentionally causing serious injury to an Australian federal lawmaker who is in critical condition after being struck by a car in an apparent escalation in political violence that has shocked the nation.

Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent politician, was in hospital in critical but stable condition after being struck by a car outside her office in the city of Wangaratta, in Victoria state, on Monday in what police alleged was a “targeted” incident.

Brendan Nugent, from nearby Tarrawingee, was charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

Suspect to face court on Wednesday

Nugent has been in police custody since shortly after Haines was injured and a crowd of bystanders subdued him. He will appear in a Wangaratta court on Wednesday, when he could potentially be released on bail.

His father, Rod Nugent, released a statement Tuesday describing Haines as a “deeply respected, valued and much-loved member of our local community.”

“Helen has been our friend for more than 20 years and what happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable,” the father said, adding that he would cooperate with police.

The incident shocked Australians as political violence is rare here and politicians have always been accessible to the public. Most lawmakers are not accompanied by security officers and go about their work and personal lives on their own.

The prime minister thanks a bystander for intervening

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he phoned local barber Ricky Jefferies, who had run from his store to help members of the public detain the suspect, to thank him on Tuesday for intervening.

“It’s a reminder that at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character,” Albanese said in Melbourne.

Jefferies earlier told reporters he searched the driver’s pockets and removed a knife. Police confirmed a knife had been found. Jefferies also said he did not consider himself a hero.

“It was crazy,” he said. “A lot of people got involved immediately and they didn’t even check for danger. They just ran to help.”

The lawmaker’s family says it’s grateful for the ‘swift assistance of bystanders’

Haines’s family released a statement expressing thanks for the “swift assistance of bystanders” as well as health workers and police.

Haines, who was first elected to Parliament in 2019 and had been reelected twice since, was initially taken to a hospital in Wangaratta, a city of 30,000 people. She was airlifted later on Monday to a hospital in the state capital, Melbourne, 147 miles away.

The Alfred Hospital didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment on media reports that Haines had had a leg amputated.

Albanese announced on Monday that the national counterterrorism team was investigating, incorporating police and intelligence agencies. Police have since said the incident appears to be isolated.

“This wasn’t an accident. There was a deliberate act, it would appear. We don’t know what the motivation is,” he said.

Recent data has shown that threats of political violence have grown in Australia. The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation spy agency, Mike Burgess, on Tuesday reiterated an earlier warning that politically motivated violence was a top security concern, along with espionage and foreign interference.

Police reported in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over the past three years. Official data showed more than 1,000 such threats against politicians in the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Albanese and lawmakers from across the political spectrum spoke to media outlets Tuesday, urging their colleagues, reporters and the public to turn down the heat in increasingly fractious political debates. Many also said they hoped Australia’s easygoing culture of approachable politicians wouldn’t change.

The injured lawmaker was not considered controversial or polarizing

Haines was not known for polarizing views. The daughter of dairy farmers and mother of three was a nurse, midwife and academic before entering politics, and advocated for rural health matters. She was initially elected in 2019 with a campaign focused on health equity, rural prosperity and climate action.

Albanese said eyewitnesses had reported the suspect passed Haines in his SUV as she stood by the trunk of her parked car. The SUV then turned and came back before the driver allegedly drove into the politician, the prime minister said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the driver allegedly reversed and struck Haines a second time, pinning her against her car, after initially hitting her.

One of the bystanders who came to Haines’ assistance, Cody Lepoidevin, told reporters he thought he was witnessing a hit-and-run when the SUV backed away after she was first struck.

But instead of fleeing the scene, Lepoidevin said the driver “then reversed and drove back into her.”

Australia has a low rate of political violence

Elsewhere in the world, authorities have warned of growing threats to lawmakers. The United States has seen a rise in political violence over the past decade.

That includes the 2022 hammer assault on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, in California; the 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally during his presidential campaign, as well as another on the president at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April; and the assassinations in 2025 of a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in Utah.

In Britain, killings of politicians have also prompted bolstered security. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, while Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the militant Islamic State group.

In July, the former British politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe was found beaten to death with a hammer at her home. A man has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offenses.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least four people, officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy scrambled to ensure more American and European help during a visit to Norway.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who along with Jared Kushner has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement and end the war, was also expected in Oslo, the Norwegian government said. Kushner, who is U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will attend the meeting by videoconference.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were due to meet with Zelenskyy in Norway’s capital.

With further U.S. support for Ukraine in doubt as relations between Zelenskyy and Trump sour again, the Ukrainian leader said that he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a trip to Asia.

That conversation came after Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Monday that he believes “some political decision has been made to slow down … support for us.”

Ukraine nearly has run out of American-made Patriot air defense interceptors that it needs to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles, according to Zelenskyy, who has pleaded for Washington to send more. But he said that the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles that other countries have purchased for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also said that he sought Rubio’s help to ensure that the U.S. continues to share vital intelligence with Ukraine after Kyiv received no, or late, warnings about Russian missile attacks in recent days.

On top of that, Zelenskyy said that speed restrictions were still in place on Kyiv’s use of the military-grade version of U.S. company SpaceX’s satellite internet service, hampering battlefield operations.

Trump has also waived sanctions on Russia, a move which Zelenskyy slammed as helping Russian President Vladimir Putin push on with Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which will hit the five-year mark in February.

Zelenskyy said that he had “a substantive conversation” with Rubio.

“I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

With the Russian army held up on the front line, Putin is trying to bomb Ukraine into submission while robbing it of vital U.S. support, Western leaders and analysts say.

European countries, worried by Russia’s plans on the continent, are trying to take up the slack of any falloff in U.S. supplies, but some key assets are American-made.

Four people were killed and 27 others wounded, including children, in Russian missile and drone attacks on the Kyiv region over the past day, regional police said.

Three people were killed and six wounded in the Obukhiv district, where warehouses were damaged, police said. In the Bucha district, one woman was killed and 21 people were wounded, eight of them children, and hundreds of buildings were damaged, according to police.

Russia also attacked energy facilities in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight, causing power outages in some areas, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration. No one was injured, he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centers, port infrastructure, and three cargo ships in the port of Reni in the Odesa region. It said another bulk carrier was hit at sea on its way to Odesa.

Meanwhile, air defenses intercepted 136 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions overnight, the Defense Ministry said.

A fire broke out at an unspecified industrial facility in the Tambov region as a result of the attack, Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov said.

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ABU SNIN, Israel (AP) — Israeli police said they arrested 10 people on Monday in connection with a wave of settler violence that included attacks on villagers, an American journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank over the weekend.

Israel had come under heavy international criticism for the attacks. Israeli police did not identify the suspects or specify their potential roles in the attacks, which came during a spike in settler violence during the annual Palestinian olive harvest season.

On Friday, Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was beaten by a crowd of young male settlers, leaving her with several broken ribs and vertebrae in the village of Abu Falah. She also underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly severed and is recovering from what appeared to be stab wounds to her lower body, which required stitches.

A day later, masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats and others visiting the Christian village of Taybeh.

Settler violence has surged in recent years, and rights groups say that attackers are rarely arrested or punished for attacks on Palestinians.

From her hospital bed Sunday, Levine said she was “shocked and insulted” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cast doubt on the attack, which was witnessed by a crowd of people, by calling it “alleged.”

The attackers targeted Palestinian villagers, setting fire to the olive trees they were harvesting

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the attack as a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and said they should spend years in prison. Israel’s president and several opposition politicians also spoke out against the attack.

The attack on diplomats targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said afterward.

Israeli police said they have been collecting evidence and witness statements since the weekend attacks. The suspects were transferred for questioning. They said the Shin Bet internal security agency, the paramilitary border police force and the Israeli military had all participated in the investigation.

Police said Monday’s operation also targeted people suspected of violating military orders declaring a closed military zone and offenses involving illegal construction. They said they seized several vehicles and items linking suspects to alleged offenses.

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PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu says he has instructed prefects to impose “very limited” and “localized” curfews in cities to prevent more rioting and looting, after this weekend’s violence targeted city halls, other public buildings and hundreds of businesses across the country.

Speaking after an emergency meeting with top government officials, Lecornu said that “on Saturday, despite scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was killed, and that is a miracle” as he defended the work of police officers faced with violent groups of people.

Lecornu said details of the areas to be placed under curfew will be provided later Monday.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation on Sunday, but President Emmanuel Macron refused the resignation, “given the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context,” Macron’s office said in a statement Monday.

Macron instructed Nuñez “to take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that led to the violence,” the statement said.

Macron also asked for “new policing tactics on the ground as quickly as possible” to put an end to violent events.

On Sunday evening, groups of people set fires to trash bins, bicycles and other objects in the streets and looted businesses in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities. Major violence erupted Saturday during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At least 2,400 people were arrested across the country, authorities said.

“I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening,” Nuñez said, speaking on France Inter radio. “Now, the real issue is ensuring that this doesn’t happen again. … We obviously need to be better at anticipating the kind of mobilization that is unfolding.”

Nuñez blamed violence on “hordes of troublemakers and looters” and “far-left activists” and acknowledged that police strategy needs to be adapted “in the face of extremely mobile groups.” Authorities said groups of hundreds of people sought confrontations with police and targeted public buildings, including city halls and other public offices.

Nuñez acknowledged that authorities had “lost control” in some major cities on Saturday, with hundreds of businesses looted.

“You can’t look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and say we haven’t lost control in some of these major cities. Obviously,” Nuñez said.

Flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in Limoges, in central France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.

In Marseille, the prefect banned any protest or other gathering from noon to 8 p.m. Monday.

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PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over rioting and looting during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At least 1,800 people have been arrested.

“Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation.

He blamed “unrestrained violence” on “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals.”

Macron has earlier held an emergency meeting with senior government officials, a day after masked groups set fires and attacked public buildings, including city halls, in several cities. He said he had instructed prefects to work with mayors to protect public buildings and businesses in the coming weeks, including by banning protests when necessary.

Flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in the city of Limoges, in central France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.

Hundreds of protesters gathered again on Sunday at the Place de la République in Paris amid a heavy police presence. Officers used tear gas as tensions flared sporadically in the neighborhood, with small groups of people trying to set bicycles and trash bins on fire.

“The right to protest is a fundamental right. Deliberately and collectively sowing disorder through violence is not,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on X, citing the looting of hundreds of businesses in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

About 550,000 people took part in protests across France, according to authorities, while organizers put the figure at about 800,000. Demonstrators answered calls from a labor union, student organizations and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest social injustice.

Mass protests in France are often marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. The arrest tally reported Sunday approached the nearly 2,000 recorded nationwide during a single day of yellow vest protests in December 2018.

One person died of a heart attack, Paris police said in a statement, without providing details. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.

Parisians deplore shattered shops and a damaged square

Dislodged cobblestones, shattered storefronts and broken glass littered the area around Paris’ Place de la République on Sunday. Looting and damage were also reported in other tourist and shopping districts.

Paris police said 855 people were arrested in the capital region. The city’s prosecutor’s office said 557 remained in police custody.

“I am actually stunned by the level of destruction and violence that was expressed,” said government employee Marie Peyreigne, 57, wondering what had led to the mayhem.

Parisians inspecting the damage photographed the partially dismantled base of the square’s central monument, a statue of Marianne, a symbol of France.

Jean Foissy, 74, said he had wanted to join the protest but encountered “a wall of riot police and fires everywhere” and returned home.

“I was very scared,” he said. “I’ve been a Parisian since I was born, so when I got here, it almost made me want to cry because I find it so bad, it hurts me.”

Margaux Eude, 26, said she supported the protest movement but “didn’t think it would escalate like this.”

“It’s the troublemakers who came, and it breaks my heart because it delegitimizes the movement,” she said.

Political leaders trade blame ahead of presidential election

Political leaders across the spectrum sought to parlay the fallout of Saturday’s riots into political capital, looking ahead to next spring’s presidential election.

Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen criticized Macron’s centrist government as “exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness,” in a video posted Sunday on social media.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of “playing with fire,” alleging that “by banking on degradation, you have only succeeded in uniting all youths and workers’ unions.”

Mélenchon, who joined the Paris march Saturday, insisted that “my message is clear: those who share our fight have no business in looting or destruction.”

U.S. President Donald Trump posted “France is burning!” on his Truth Social platform, apparently linking the unrest to “the immigration of people from an entirely different world.”

“Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!” he wrote.

French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting and have repeatedly attributed some of the violence to “radical far-left groups” and other people who joined to loot.

Hundreds of businesses looted across the country

“The scale of the damage is considerable and unprecedented,” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire wrote in an open letter. “Paris is a city of freedoms, debate and demonstrations. It must remain so. But it must also be a city where everyone can work and run a business safely.”

Police said groups of hundreds of people formed unauthorized marches across central Paris on Saturday. “By late afternoon, a new phase began with the arrival of large numbers of people whose sole aim was to steal and loot, taking advantage of the unrest,” police said.

The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the three largest cities, requested a meeting with the prime minister in the coming days “given the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation.”

In the southern port city of Marseille, some protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall and a group of people wearing hoods and masks damaged a police station. In Lyon, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.

In Limoges, a group of “radical troublemakers” broke into City Hall while there were elected officials, employees, security personnel and members of the public inside, Maurice Barate, prefect of the Haute-Vienne region, said. “Despite the presence of so many people, they deliberately set the building on fire. It is an extremely serious and unspeakable act.”

In eastern France, the Mulhouse prosecutor’s office said an investigation has been opened after a 17-year-old girl was injured during the protests and lost an eye. On Saturday, another investigation was opened after a young protester lost a hand in Saint-Etienne.

The injuries come as police have drawn sharp scrutiny over their use of grenades and other riot-control weapons during recent demonstrations.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged supporters Saturday to speak out in defense of new U.S. sanctions against Russia, hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing a sweeping package of restrictions targeting the Russian economy.

The White House’s decision has further raised fears that Ukraine could be left exposed to Moscow’s escalating assaults with winter approaching.

Zelenskyy described Trump’s move to put sanctions on hold as unfortunate, but did not directly criticize the U.S. leader despite deepening tensions between Ukraine and Washington in recent days.

“A decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end,” Zelenskyy wrote.

He also expressed hope that the new sanctions could be revived. “This Act could have helped enormously — and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters,” he said.

Kyiv says Moscow carried out a ‘massive’ energy strike

Zelenskyy also said Saturday that Moscow had carried out a massive strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, targeting more than 15 sites across the country.

“The sheer scale and unrelenting pace of Russia’s strikes, specifically against our energy sector, are unfortunately having severe consequences,” he said.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russian forces launched four cruise missiles and 332 attack drones overnight. All of the missiles and 289 of the drones had been suppressed or destroyed, it said.

Russia’s heavy bombardment of the power grid ahead of winter has been an annual feature of the war, aimed at wearing down Ukraine’s appetite for the fight by denying civilians heat and running water. Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for more attacks in the coming months.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that puts on hold a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause was in the national interest.

Trump personally signed the legislation just last month and his move came just two days before a deadline set in the law itself for its implementation. It drew shift condemnation from congressional Democrats.

Named after late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation had sought to clamp down more quickly on the flow of financial resources fueling the war against Ukraine.

Trump’s unexpected decision comes a week after he stunningly said the U.S. had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia to try to bring down global energy prices, despite that potentially hurting Ukraine in its war with Russia.

An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published Oct. 1 found that Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the Iran war and blame him for higher prices. Trump’s approval ratings have sunk to near-historic lows and pressure is mounting as Republicans try to hold control of both chambers of Congress after midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Sanctions were seen as part of Graham’s legacy

Graham, a close ally and friend of the president, had just returned from Ukraine when he unexpectedly died in July. He had advocated for stricter U.S. sanctions against Russia as a way of pressuring it to end its war in Ukraine.

His colleagues in Congress responded with bipartisan support after his death and Trump attached his signature to the legislation — then changed his mind Friday.

The package had been meant to starve Russian President Vladimir Putin of the resources Moscow needs to continue its war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor more than four years ago. The bill, also drafted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., had sought to sanction Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving.

It also directed Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.

Blumenthal said in a statement that Trump was turning his back on “the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies.”

“These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,” Blumenthal said.

Democratic Virginia Rep. Don Beyer noted on social media shortly after the announcement of the sanctions being suspended that he and others had “warned” Trump might make such a move. The veteran congressman, who spoke out against the bill as it was debated, called on Congress to “fix this flawed law to stop Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure that it truly supports Ukraine.”

The White House did not immediately explain how pausing the sanctions was in the national interest. The decision was posted on the White House website late in the evening, and the notification noted that the report explaining the decision had been submitted to Congress.

Still, it comes as Trump has increasingly lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming him for failing to make a deal with Putin to end the fighting.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, had remained mostly quiet since the passage of the bill with large majorities in the House and Senate following Graham’s sudden death — with lawmakers urged ahead by Zelenskyy.

Trump’s action follows announced diesel deal with Putin

Under last week’s agreement, Trump said Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”

Trump’s striking a diesel deal with Putin has been pilloried by Republicans and Democrats alike who say it will help Russia execute its war against Ukraine — without making a different to global fuel prices, which are elevated mostly due to Trump’s war on Iran.

The sanctions that Trump has now suspended, meanwhile, also had become a campaign centerpiece for Sen. Darline Graham, the late senator’s sister who was appointed to serve out the remaining months in his current term. She is now running to replace him in the Senate more permanently.

Darline Graham said in a statement after Trump signed the bill, “I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day.” In a debate earlier this week with Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, Graham — who has Trump’s endorsement and is expected to campaign with him in South Carolina next week — said she had been “so proud” to help get the measure passed.

She acknowledged, however, that it was the president’s purview as to how he implemented it.

“It gives the president tools that he can use if he so chooses, to end the war through economic sanctions,” Graham said Sunday during a debate in Columbia. “So that’s up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it, or whether he wants to use something else, but I think the purpose of it is to bring down the gas prices and ultimately end the war. And when the war ends, gas prices will fall.”

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration sued California election officials Thursday, asking a judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots for next month’s midterm elections from people the federal government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their status can be confirmed.

The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department said California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of 20,000 names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election. The state mails ballots to all registered voters. A top Justice Department official had sent a letter earlier this week threatening potential legal action if California didn’t comply.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a letter to the Justice Department that the federal government hasn’t provided evidence to support its allegation that 20,000 names on the state’s voter rolls are of noncitizens. She referenced an instance in which the federal government alleged nearly 16,000 possible noncitizens were listed on Nevada’s voter rolls, but the state determined that all were, in fact, U.S. citizens.

She also noted that voting is already underway in the state. Weber, a Democrat, said the Justice Department was “demanding unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians’ right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide.”

California’s elections are in “full compliance” with federal law, she added.

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said in a statement that his office received the letter and thumb drive this week, along with a “hand written note providing a password” to access the list of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls. He said he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device. The secretary of state’s office said the password was written “on a sticky note.”

The Justice Department’s lawsuit says the federal government sought to “work collaboratively” with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote in the state, and “California made no serious effort to do so.”

“The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the lawsuit says. “This Court should enjoin California from presently tabulating vote by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter’s citizenship status can be determined,” the lawsuit says.

Weber, who is named in the lawsuit, suggested the federal government’s outreach had not been collaborative.

She said that over the summer, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls but refused to provide the methodology or data sources when the office asked for them.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall wanted to solve a water rights dispute in rural Kansas that pitted farmers against environmentalists and threatened the health of a cherished wildlife refuge.

The avid outdoorsman requested a $4.2 million earmark, records show, to help finance improvements that would increase the flow of water into the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

He did not mention another interest that stood to benefit from the project: his own Rattlesnake Ranch, which borders the preserve.

For decades, hunters have flocked to Quivira and its surroundings, drawn by hundreds of thousands of waterfowl that descend on the area every fall. As agriculture expanded in the area, however, the water supply was taxed to irrigate more crops, diminishing the flow into the refuge.

Marshall’s efforts in 2024 to secure the earmark sought to balance the needs of the refuge and farmers in his home state. But in doing so, he took action that experts said could boost his property’s value and posed a conflict of interest for the Republican senator. The measure also collided with Marshall’s strong opposition to earmarks, often called pork-barrel spending, to fund lawmakers’ pet projects. Marshall has voted four times to eliminate earmarks, calling such appropriations a waste of taxpayer money and “not American.”

Though Marshall’s request to help Quivira National Wildlife Refuge was added to a bill that did not ultimately become law, the funding was approved last year through spending legislation he supported.

Plan will ensure refuge gets more water to help birds

Under a federal plan, water will be pumped from a separate watershed, travel through a pipeline into Rattlesnake Creek, which is next to Marshall’s property, and flow into the refuge, records show.

The funding came through as Marshall was gearing up for a reelection bid this November that had once appeared assured. President Donald Trump carried Kansas by 16%, and the state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.

The race has tightened, so much so that Republican groups have poured millions of dollars into advertising to fend off Democrat Adam Hamilton, a former Republican who leads the nation’s largest United Methodist church.

Marshall’s office declined to make the senator available to The Associated Press for an interview and did not respond to detailed questions about his property.

“All the water for this project would go into Quivira Wildlife Refuge,” spokeswoman Payton Fuller said in a brief statement. “Rattlesnake Ranch would not benefit from it.”

She added that the project would “literally save farms” and “supply water to the refuge in drought years.”

Watchdog group says Marshall’s earmark was a conflict of interest

A water rights expert and a government watchdog group have criticized the senator’s decision to seek the earmark as a conflict of interest.

Burke Griggs, a former state water rights attorney, said waterfowl hunting is “big business” in Kansas and the federal funding will help “establish a steadier water supply than (the Quivira Refuge) has had since the 1970s.”

“That will increase the value of the land,” said Griggs, a law professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, who has donated money to Democrats. “Think about it: If Quivira doesn’t have water, we don’t have as many ducks and waterfowl staying in that area for hunting season. That would absolutely diminish the value of the property.”

Craig Holman, a registered lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group that seeks greater government accountability, said Marshall “should not be involved in any legislative effort that provides a direct or substantial financial benefit to himself. He should have recused himself.”

Holman noted that Senate rules ban members from seeking earmarks in which the “principal purpose” is to further their own financial interests. In this case, Holman said, he did not believe the earmark violated the rule because the project would also benefit the refuge and farmers.

Marshall’s efforts to secure the earmark represent a departure from a long-held stance.

He had railed against such appropriations, said his colleagues should have to defend their earmark requests on the Senate floor and described a Democrat-sponsored spending bill as “full of so much pork” it was “dripping with grease.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to blow up the process so that no one does earmarks,” he told reporters in 2021.

Though he sought an earmark in 2024, he voted in January to strip such funding from a spending bill.

Marshall has deep ties to the Quivira Refuge area

Marshall and his family have deep ties to the region around the preserve. He at one point owned, or co-owned, more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) near the Quivira Refuge and has described his land as a hunting “mecca.”

The properties have provided a stream of income over the years through building rentals and oil and gas leases, according to his Senate financial disclosures.

After his election to the Senate, Marshall substantially reduced his land holdings near the refuge, the records show.

What remains is Rattlesnake Ranch, which is registered as a business in Kansas and listed as a commercial property with a building available for rent, according to records. Marshall owns a 20% stake in the ranch and serves as a company director, the records show.

Fuller, the Marshall spokeswoman, said the Rattlesnake Ranch is not used for hunting waterfowl. She did not address a question about the nature of the business or the commercial use of the land, which Marshall co-owns, records show, with a group of hunting buddies and campaign donors.

Marshall, who was elected to the Senate in 2020 after two House terms, posts photos online of game he has killed. Regional news stories have highlighted the senator’s preservation efforts in the area and his hunting of sandhill cranes near the preserve. “I hunt as often as I can,” he told Lone Star Outdoor News, according to an article posted to his Senate website in 2022.

Marshall’s earmark sought middle ground between farmers and environmentalists

In recent years, an increasingly tense dispute between farmers and conservationists over water rights has threatened the refuge.

Agricultural expansion and drought conditions siphoned away water crucial for the waterfowl.

Water rights are governed in Kansas by state law. President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration outraged farmers in 2023 when the Fish and Wildlife Service asked Kansas to ensure the preserve got enough water, a move that would have forced farmers and other interests to reduce their use of it.

Marshall and other Kansas lawmakers were jubilant after the Biden administration backed down. The lawmakers, including Marshall, pledged to find a solution that helped the refuge in a way that would not harm farmers, which resulted in his earmark.

“As a property owner along Rattlesnake Creek for three decades,” he said in a statement issued at the time, “protecting our local agricultural communities and the environment is something I take very seriously.”

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s former fiance and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina congresswoman described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly.

John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace’s ex-fiance Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges.

The men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan’s Island, an affluent suburb of Charleston, state agents said. The woman had fallen into a pool and was passed out on a couch covering herself with a pillow, agents said.

Another woman who happened to be watching the feed saw the assault and took pictures and wrote about it in a journal, police said. Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged at the time of the October 2018 assault.

Osborne, 46, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant, 53, and Bowman, 46, are each charged with voyeurism.

Along with the voyeurism charge, Bowman was also charged with obstruction of justice after agents said he did a factory reset on a cellphone he knew investigators were seeking in a search warrant, and with publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct after posting the victim’s name and a video of her on X.

Bryant didn’t return a message seeking comment on Wednesday, and attorneys who have been listed as representing Bowman and Osborne in other cases did not immediately return messages.

Mace, a Republican, described the assault at length in a nearly hourlong speech in February 2025 that named the men and described other photos and videos found when she looked at Bryant’s cellphone when they were still together.

Mace said she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable. We’re talking about rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district.”

At the time, Bryant completely denied the allegations. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” he told The Associated Press.

The State Law Enforcement Division didn’t say if their investigation into any of the men is continuing.

After the arrests, Mace released a statement detailing the 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination, including in retaliatory defamation and libel lawsuits that may result from allegations they bring to light.

The Republican, who is leaving the House this term after losing her bid to be South Carolina governor, introduced a proposal this week to require that anyone who brings such a case and loses must pay attorney fees for the defendant.

“Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn’t a slogan. It’s been one of my top priorities in Congress. For too long, survivors have faced broken systems while predators exploited loopholes and walked free,” Mace said in her statement.

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