AP Top News at 3:53 a.m. EST

The 'super year' of elections has been super bad for incumbents as voters punish them in droves

BANGKOK (AP) — Whether on the left or the right, regardless of how long they've been in power, sitting governments around the world have been drubbed this year by disgruntled voters in what has been called the "super year" for elections. Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election was just the latest in a long line of losses for incumbent parties in 2024, with people in some 70 countries accounting for about half the world's population going to the polls. Issues driving voter discontent have varied widely, though there has been almost universal malaise since the COVID-19 pandemic as people and businesses struggle to get back on their feet while facing stubbornly high prices, cash-strapped governments and a surge in migration.

Anxiety and dismay inside the Justice Department after Trump taps Gaetz as attorney general

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's choice of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling, worried not only about their own jobs but the future of the agency that the Trump loyalist has railed against. The president-elect's pick of the Florida Republican sent a shock throughout the Cabinet department, considering Gaetz's lack of experience in law enforcement and the fact that he was once the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation. The names of well-regarded veteran lawyers had circulated as possible contenders for the job, but Gaetz's selection was broadly interpreted as an indication of the premium that Trump places on personal loyalty and Trump's desire to have a disruptor lead a department that for years investigated and ultimately indicted him.

Trump attends UFC championship fight in New York, taking a break from Cabinet picks

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump walked out to a roaring standing ovation just ahead of the start of the UFC pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, combining two things close to his heart: fierce battles inside the octagon and New York City. Trump was accompanied by UFC President Dana White and the pair headed to their cageside seats to Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass." UFC aired a video package of Trump's road to reclaiming the White House, calling it, "The great comeback in American History," while fans stood and applauded. Trump, wearing a suit and red tie, pumped his fist toward the crowd when the video ended.

Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza as arrests are made over flares fired at Netanyahu's home

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight killed 12 people, Palestinian medical officials said Sunday. Israeli police meanwhile arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea. In Lebanon, Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut after the military warned people to evacuate from at least seven buildings. The Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence in the area, known as the Dahiyeh, and the strikes came as Lebanese officials are considering a United States-brokered cease-fire proposal. Netanyahu and his family were not at the residence when two flares were fired at it overnight, and there were no injuries, authorities said.

Zelenskyy says Russia has launched 120 missiles and 90 drones targeting Ukraine's infrastructure

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia launched 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine, targeting its energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Russia deployed various types of drones, including Shaheds, cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian defense forces shot down 140 air targets, he said in a statement on Telegram. The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv's City Military Administration Serhii Popko. "The enemy's target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris.

Russia grinds deeper into Ukraine after 1,000 days of grueling war

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022, the conventional wisdom was that the capital, Kyiv, would soon fall and the rest of the country wouldn't last long against a much larger enemy. Instead, it was that narrative that quickly collapsed. The Ukrainian army proved it could slow the advance of Russia's forces and, if not drive them out completely, then – with enough support from the West – at least forestall defeat. But nearly three years later, the outlook is again grim. Russia is expending huge amounts of weaponry and human life to make small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls.

Latest typhoon lashes the Philippines, causing tidal surges and displacing massive numbers of people

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it cut across the northern Philippines on Sunday in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month. Typhoon Man-yi slammed into the eastern island province of Catanduanes on Saturday night with sustained winds of up to 195 kilometers (125 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph). The country's weather agency warned of a "potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation" in provinces along its path. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the typhoon, which was forecast to blow northwestward on Sunday across northern Luzon, the archipelago's most populous region.

A third November storm, Sara, serves notice that a busy hurricane season isn't over yet

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — As the third named storm to emerge during November, Tropical Storm Sara serves as a reminder that the Atlantic hurricane season hasn't quite ended. Sara formed in the western Caribbean Sea before making landfall Thursday on the northern coast of Honduras, dumping torrential rains in a slow weekend crawl across parts of Central America. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm could dump up to 40 inches (101.6 centimeters) of rain in some areas and is expected to move over Belize Sunday before dissipating over the Yucatan Peninsula early Monday. Sara follows two other named storms so far this month.

As talks in Baku cross the halfway point, nations are no closer to a goal on cash for climate action

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Distractions were bigger than deals in the first week of United Nations climate talks, leaving a lot to be done, especially on the main issue of money. In week one, not a lot of progress was made on the issue of how much money rich countries should pay to developed ones to move away from dirty fuels and how to cope with rising seas and temperatures and pay for damage already caused by climate-driven extreme weather. But more is expected when government ministers fly in for week two to handle the hard political deal-making at the negotiations — known as COP29 — in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Senegal votes in election that will decide if president can carry out the reforms he promised

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Polls opened in Senegal on Sunday for a parliamentary election that is set to determine if the country's newly elected president can carry out ambitious reforms. More than 7 million registered voters in the West African country are choosing 165 lawmakers in the national assembly, where the party of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye currently does not hold a majority. Faye, who was elected in March on an anti-establishment platform, says that has blocked him from executing the reforms he pledged during his campaign, including fighting corruption, reviewing fishing permits for foreign companies and securing a bigger share from the country's natural resources for the population.