Keith D Ertel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris plans to meet in person this weekend with the top contenders vying to become her presidential running mate for November's election as she nears a final decision on her pick, according to two sources familiar with the process. On Friday the Democratic candidate met one-on-one with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, one of the leading contenders, and the meeting lasted roughly 90 minutes, according to two other sources familiar with the meeting. Harris is expected to make her choice by Monday ahead of her first public appearance with the new vice presidential nominee on Tuesday in Philadelphia. The Harris campaign is also planning a social media announcement featuring the duo, officials familiar with the planning told Reuters. Other contenders include Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, the sour...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The statement that upended Venezuela came 24 hours after polls closed in the presidential election. With the reassuring tone of someone who has consistently been considered an underdog, opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado announced that her coalition had gathered more than two-thirds of vote tally sheets from polling centers nationwide, and that they show President Nicolás Maduro had lost his reelection bid. The tally sheets known as actas — printouts measuring several feet that resemble shopping receipts — have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Opposition members knew they had to obtain as many of them as possible to refute the unfavorable election outcome they expected electoral authorities to announce. Months of preparations and thousands of volunteers participated in the herculean task. Their effort earned Maduro and his loyal National Electoral Council global condemnation, including from close regional ...

Sanctions for Instagram’s blackout policy were swift. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority blocked access to Instagram,” Yeni Safak stated in its online edition. Earlier, Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had strongly criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkey from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh. The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, maintained that Instagram had ignored “sensitivities” and was in breach of a so-called inventory of serious crimes, which include incitement to suicide, torture, obscenity, crimes against the state’s security and child sexual abuse, among others. He did not elaborate which particular crime the platform is alleged to have breached