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

Ukrainian forces left a path of destruction in the Kursk operation. AP visited a seized Russian town

SUDZHA, Russia (AP) — A trail of destruction lies in the path that Ukrainian forces carved on their risky incursion into Russia, blasting through the border and eventually into the town of Sudzha, where Associated Press journalists traveled Friday on a Ukrainian government-organized trip.

Artillery fire has blown chunks out of a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that stands in a central square of the Russian town, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday was fully under his troops' control. The windows of an administrative building are blasted out, and its bright yellow facade is scorched and pockmarked with bullet holes.

Ukrainian forces have overrun one Russian settlement after another in the surprise operation that Kyiv hopes will change the dynamic of the 2 1/2-year-old conflict.

Russia’s military has so far struggled to mount an effective response to the attack on its Kursk region, the largest on the country since World War II. Sudzha, which is 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, is the biggest town to fall to Ukraine’s troops since the incursion began Aug. 6.

Evidence of Ukraine's lightning march lines the roads to the town. On grass littered with debris lies a sign blasted with bullets that has arrows in two directions: Ukraine to the left and Russia to right. A burned-out tank stands by the side of a road.

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US official says Mideast mediators are preparing for implementation of cease-fire deal in advance

JERUSALEM (AP) — In a sign that mediators believe a Gaza cease-fire deal is imminent, a U.S. official said Friday that Mideast negotiators are working out logistics for the potential release of hostages and distribution of aid as part of any agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in keeping with rules set by the White House, said the proposal currently on the table basically bridges every gap between Israel and Hamas and mediators were making preparations before a final deal is approved.

It was unclear what measures were being taken, but the official said a new “implementation cell” was being established in Cairo in advance. The cell would focus on logistics, including freeing hostages, providing humanitarian aid for Gaza and ensuring that the terms of the pact are met, the official said.

The comments came hours after mediators expressed hope that a deal was within reach. They said two days of talks had wrapped up in Qatar and that they plan to reconvene in Cairo next week to seal an agreement to stop the fighting.

Israel issued a vague statement saying it appreciated the mediators' efforts, and a statement from Hamas did not sound enthusiastic about the latest proposal to end the devastating 10-month war and free Israeli hostages held in Gaza. A cease-fire is seen as the best hope for heading off an even larger regional conflict.

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Harris offers proposals to cut food and housing costs, trying to blunt Trump's economic attacks

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris announced a sweeping set of economic proposals on Friday meant to cut taxes and lower the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials for many Americans.

“Look, the bills add up," she declared, trying to address the financial concerns that are at the top of voters' minds and that Republican Donald Trump is attempting to blame on her.

During a speech in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said that "building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency” as she promoted her plan for a federal ban on price gouging by food producers and grocers. She also proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes.

“Every day across our nation, families talk about their plans for the future, their ambitions, their aspirations for themselves, for their children. And they talk about how they’re going to be able to actually achieve them financially, because, look, the bills add up,” Harris said. “Food, rent, gas, back to school clothes, prescription medications. After all that, for many families, there’s not much left at the end of the month.”

She stressed tax breaks for families, as well as middle- and lower-income people, promising to expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 — and $6,000 for children in their first year of life. The vice president also wants to enlarge the earned income tax credit to cover people in lower-income jobs without children — which the campaign estimates would cut their effective tax rate by $1,500 — and lower health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act.

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Bibles, cryptocurrency, Truth Social and gold bars: A look at Trump's reported sources of income

Former President Donald Trump owns more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency and up to $250,000 in gold bars along with the portfolio of golf courses and real estate properties that have made him a billionaire, according to newly released financial disclosures.

The details come from documents filed by Trump as part of his Republican presidential bid that were released Thursday night.

The more than 200 pages of paperwork give a limited picture of the real estate developer-turned reality TV star-turned-president's money and investments. In accordance with federal law, most assets' values are listed in a range, though Trump reports the precise figure for some of his income. The document does not detail the former president's business losses, making it impossible to determine how much of a profit any of his myriad holdings provides.

But it provides a glimpse at Trump's vast wealth and some new details about the unusual ways he makes money.

UNUSUAL INVESTMENTS AND SOURCES OF INCOME

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Hurricane Ernesto lashes Bermuda as wealthy British territory closes down

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Ernesto began to pound Bermuda late Friday with heavy winds and rain after officials in the tiny British territory in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean opened shelters and closed government offices.

The Category 2 storm located 95 miles (150 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda was packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph). It was moving northeast at 13 mph (20 kph).

Ernesto’s large eye will likely be very near or over Bermuda early Saturday morning, with significant coastal flooding expected, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the center said.

The storm was forecast to dump between 6 to 9 inches of rain. Forecasters noted that Ernesto was a large hurricane, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 275 miles (445 kilometers).

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A gunshot, a murdered rival and a kidnapped drug lord: Mexico's ruling party faces growing scandal

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It was strange and surprising when Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord landed at an airfield near El Paso, Texas in July, but the story of how he got there is now growing into a scandal that threatens top figures in Mexico’s ruling party.

At issue is whether Rubén Rocha — the governor of the cartel-dominated state of Sinaloa and a close ally of the president — may have held meetings with top leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, the main producer of deadly fentanyl that kills 70,000 Americans per year.

The saga involves skullduggery worthy of a 1940s film noir, but it threatens to undermine President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s central assertion that, while he refuses to confront Mexico’s drug cartels, he also makes no deals with them.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors said Sinaloa state officials mishandled evidence in an apparent attempt to cover up the July 25 murder of Héctor Cuén, a politician who allegedly helped lure drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to a meeting where he expected to find Gov. Rocha. Instead, Zambada was abducted by another drug lord and flown to the United States, where he was arrested.

Zambada said in a letter released by his lawyer that Cuén was murdered at the house where the abduction took place. Gov. Rocha has maintained Cuén was killed by gunmen in a botched robbery at a gasoline station later that day, and he even provided security camera footage of the alleged attack.

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What to know about the US arrest of a Peruvian gang leader suspected of killing 23 people

A South American crime boss wanted in the killings of at least 23 people in Peru was captured this week in New York, three months after U.S. immigration authorities arrested and then released him after he illegally entered the country at the Texas-Mexico border.

The arrests Wednesday of Gianfranco Torres-Navarro and his girlfriend, Mishelle Sol Ivanna Ortíz Ubillús, ended an international search that gripped Peru in the wake of violence attributed to Torres-Navarro and his “Los Killers” gang. Their capture also raised questions about why the notorious gang leader was allowed to stay in the U.S. after his initial brush with immigration authorities in May.

Torres-Navarro, 38, is the leader of “Los Killers de Ventanilla y Callao." Peruvian authorities say the gang, formed in 2022, has used violence to thwart rivals and further its core business of extorting construction companies in an area along the Pacific coast where Peru’s main port is located.

Torres-Navarro was previously a member of the Los Malditos de Angamos criminal organization, Peru’s Public Prosecutor’s Office said. He is also known as “Gianfranco 23,” a reference to the number of people he is alleged to have killed or ordered killed. He reportedly has the names of victims tattooed on his body.

Jorge Chavez-Cotrina, the head of Peru’s Special Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, told The Associated Press that the crimes Torres-Navarro was wanted for include contract killings, extortion and running a criminal organization.

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Now that mpox is a global health emergency, will it trigger another pandemic?

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus' transmission.

Sweden has since announced it had found the first case of a new form of mpox previously only seen in Africa in a traveler, while other European health authorities warned more imported cases were likely.

Here's a look at mpox and how likely it is to spread further:

That seems highly unlikely. Pandemics, including the most recent ones of swine flu and COVID-19, are typically sparked by airborne viruses that spread quickly, including by people who may not be showing symptoms.

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, is spread primarily through close skin-to-skin contact with infected people or their soiled clothes or bedsheets. It often causes visible skin lesions that could make people less likely to be in close contact with others.

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What is ketamine, the drug involved in Matthew Perry's death?

The investigation into the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry has led to a sweeping indictment that pulled in five people who prosecutors say contributed to his ketamine overdose in October, including two doctors and a street dealer involved in providing Perry large amounts of the powerful anesthetic.

Here's what to know about ketamine.

Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic approved by U.S. health regulators for use during surgery. It can be given as an intramuscular injection or by IV.

The drug is a chemical cousin of the recreational drug PCP. Ketamine itself has been used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It can cause hallucinations and can impact breathing and the heart.

Ketamine has seen a huge surge in use in recent years as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. While the drug isn’t approved for those conditions, doctors are free to prescribe drugs for so-called off-label uses.

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Michael Brown’s death transformed a nation and sparked a decade of American reckoning on race

Kayla Reed was born in a predominantly African American section of St. Louis where, like her own kin, many Black families had been transplanted out of the Deep South.

After the death of her grandmother, Reed moved with her father from the city to a St. Louis County town located within one mile of Ferguson, Missouri, where 10 years ago, a Black teenager’s fatal shooting by a white police officer changed Reed’s life and shook awake a nation.

“It was like in my backyard,” she recalls. “I don’t really feel like I considered myself much of an activist. I definitely think I had the type of Black consciousness that comes with being raised by a Black preacher and seeing Black people go through so much.”

Reed was not a community organizer. She was a pharmacy technician with second job at a furniture store. Like so many others, on Aug. 9, 2014, she learned by word of mouth, as she clocked out of a shift, that an unarmed 18-year-old from the neighborhood had been killed.

His name was Michael Brown.

The Associated Press