AP Top News at 5:09 a.m. EDT

Hurricane Debby to bring heavy rains and catastrophic flooding to Florida, Georgia and S. Carolina

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The center of Hurricane Debby is expected to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida early Monday bringing potential record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge as it moves slowly across the northern part of the state before stalling over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. Debby was located about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Tampa, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The storm was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday evening. Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris, all of which formed in June.

US and allies prepare to defend Israel as Netanyahu says it’s already in ‘multi-front war’ with Iran

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday, as the United States and allies prepared to defend Israel from an expected counterstrike and prevent an even more destructive regional conflict. Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Hamas says it has begun discussions on choosing a new leader.

Internet back in Bangladesh as protesters plan to march to capital after a weekend of violence

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Broadband internet and mobile data services were restored across Bangladesh on Monday, while anti-government protesters vowed to march to the capital to demand the prime minister’s resignation, defying a military-ordered curfew after a weekend of violence that left about 100 people dead. The protests began peacefully as frustrated students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs, but the demonstrations have since morphed into an unprecedented challenge and uprising against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling Awami League party. The government has attempted to quell the violence with force, leaving nearly 300 people dead and fueling further outrage and calls for Hasina to step down.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunges 12.4% as world markets tremble over risks to the US economy

BANGKOK (AP) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index plunged 12.4% on Monday, resuming sell-offs that are shaking world markets as investors fret over the state of the U.S. economy. The Nikkei closed down 4,451.28 points at 31,458.42. The market’s broader TOPIX index fell 12.8% as selling picked up in the afternoon. European markets opened lower, with Germany’s DAX down 2.5% at 17,222.69. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 2.4% to 7,080.96 and the FTSE 100 in London was 2% lower at 8,011.52. Darkening the outlook for trading on Wall Street, early Monday the future for the S&P 500 was 2.5% lower and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.6%.

Focus on economy and answer the Harris ‘Freedom’ message: What GOP strategists think Trump should do

One Republican strategist who has run campaigns against Donald Trump says he recognizes what the former president is doing against Vice President Kamala Harris, even as Trump swings back and forth between attacking her record and questioning her racial identity. It’s what he’s done against other opponents. “He figures out what their perceived weakness is and drills down on it,” said Terry Sullivan, who was a senior adviser to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign. “He’s spending a few weeks probing, and I think he needs to take that time.” Harris’ entry into the presidential race after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid has changed basic assumptions about the campaign, as Democrats replaced an 81-year-old man with a fading ability to make his case with a 59-year-old woman who’s drawing new enthusiasm.

Harris once wanted to ban fracking. Trump wants voters in energy-rich Pennsylvania to remember

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Facing the need to win battleground Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris is swearing off any prior assertion that she opposed fracking, but that hasn’t stopped Republican Donald Trump from wielding her now-abandoned position to win over voters in a state where the natural gas industry means jobs. Last week, in his first appearance in Pennsylvania since Harris became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Trump repeatedly warned that Harris would ban fracking — a position she held as a presidential primary candidate in 2019 — and devastate the economy in the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state. “She’s against fracking, she’s against oil drilling, she wants everybody to have one electric car and share it with the neighbors,” Trump told rallygoers at a Harrisburg rally on Wednesday, which was also his first appearance in the state since he was wounded in a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler County.

Voices across the globe express concern over increasing arrests in Venezuela after disputed election

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Voices across the globe expressed concern Sunday over the growing number of arrests in Venezuela following last weekend’s disputed elections. Pope Francis said Venezuela is “living a critical situation” in his traditional Sunday remarks at the Vatican, adding, “I appeal to all parties to seek the truth, to avoid all kinds of violence.” The remarks came hours after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Saturday that the government has arrested 2,000 opponents. At a rally in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, Maduro pledged to detain more people and send them to prison. U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told CBS program “Face the Nation” Sunday that the Biden administration is worried the arrests could spark wider unrest.

UK leader Starmer condemns attack on asylum-seeker hotel as far-right violence spreads

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly condemned an attack Sunday on a hotel housing asylum seekers that saw at least 10 police officers injured, one seriously, describing it as “far-right thuggery.” In a statement from 10 Downing Street on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister vowed that the authorities will “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice” and that justice will be swift. Starmer’s statement came as more violence broke out across the country in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,” he said.

Olympics security means minorities and others flagged as potential terror threats can’t move freely

PARIS (AP) — They are Nabil, Amine, François and more. But they will not be seen around the Paris Olympics, because France’s government barred them from getting anywhere close. French authorities are making unprecedentedly broad use of discretionary powers under an anti-terror law to keep hundreds of people they deem to be potential security threats away from the biggest event modern France has ever organized. Minorities — largely with backgrounds in former French colonies — are often among those forbidden from leaving their neighborhoods and required to report daily to police, their lawyers say. Some are alarmed by the sweeping use of what one described as “a terribly dangerous tool.” Some of those now restricted in their movements, with orders that don’t require prior approval from judges, include a man who had mental health issues in the past but is now receiving treatment.

Olympic triathlon mixed relay goes ahead with swims in the Seine amid water quality concerns

PARIS (AP) — Olympic triathletes plunged into the Seine River Monday morning as the mixed relay event got underway after organizers said the bacteria levels in the long-polluted Paris waterway were at acceptable levels. The plan to hold the swimming portion of the triathlons and the marathon swimming events in the Seine was an ambitious one. Swimming in the river has, with some exceptions, been off-limits since 1923 because it has been too toxic. Representatives from World Triathlon and the International Olympic Committee along with Paris Games organizers and regional and weather authorities met Sunday night to review water tests. The results indicated the water quality at the triathlon site had improved over the preceding hours and would be within the limits mandated by World Triathlon by Monday morning, they said in a statement.