Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party’s 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.In the House, Democrats held 253 House seats to the GOP’s 157 as of 10 a.m. ET Friday, comfortably passing the majority threshold of 218, with 25 races still to be called. The latest estimates show that the party is on track to win its largest majority since 2008. And there are still seats it could flip, including Colorado’s Fourth District, which is held by Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, whose race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher remains tight.There were also 36 gubernatorial races, mayoral contests and numerous ballot measures — and plenty of firsts. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, while Democrat Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio. In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds became the state’s first Black governor-elect. El-Sayed will be America’s first Muslim senator.At the White House, President Trump signaled he would work with Democrats during his remaining two years in office but said he wouldn’t hesitate to use his veto power. The president also acknowledged that the Iran war contributed to Republican losses, but defended his decision to pursue the conflict. “If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” he said, adding: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”Vice President JD Vance, though, blamed the scale of GOP losses squarely on the war with Iran.”The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” he wrote in a post on X. “The reason we lost is the war.”This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/midterms-2026-election-results-and-latest-updates-mississippi-votes-still-being-counted-in-senate-nail-biter-after-democrats-take-control-of-congress-200037541.html

Paul Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”, the judge said last month [EPA] A Kenyan court has sentenced the leader of a doomsday cult, Paul Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people, all but one of them children.Alongside 28 others, Mackenzie was found guilty of the murders for instructing members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus”.Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for ordering his followers to fast to death, in one of the world’s deadliest episodes of cult activity.”The sentence is appropriate and just, to send an unmistakable message that such atrocities warrant the maximum penalties allowed by law,” the judge added. The self-styled pastor was arrested in 2023 after the discovery of more than 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast. The sprawling investigation into the cases shocked Kenya and drew international attention.The court sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years in prison for homicide and another 100 years for offences related to starvation.The sentences within each category will run concurrently, but the two sets will run consecutively, bringing his total prison term to 200 years.Mackenzie also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he denies.Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the killings warranted the harshest punishment.However, Justice Mochache declined to impose the death penalty, despite ruling that the case met the threshold for its consideration.”Nevertheless, the court declines the invitation to impose the death penalty on any of the victims,” she said, adding that capital punishment would eliminate any prospect of rehabilitation and disengagement. The death sentence has not been carried out in Kenya since 1987. Mackenzie was tried alongside 28 accomplices, including guards who enforced his fasting orders and gravediggers who helped conceal the victims’ bodies in mass graves.They received varying prison sentences of up to 160 years.Justice Mochache described the killings as “cold and calculated”, saying the perpetrators had shown no remorse and had even declared their willingness to fast to death themselves.Before the hearing began on Friday morning, Francis Wanje, who lost eight relatives including two grandchildren in Shakahola forest, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that he was “hoping for… a sentence which will match his [Mackenzie’s] deeds in the forest”. Mackenzie and the co-accused had asked for leniency from the court. Before their conviction on 19 October, they had all pleaded not guilty and repeatedly insisted that nobody was forced to die. More than 400 bodies were dug up in Shakahola forest [AFP via Getty Images] Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece”, Justice Mochache said as she delivered her eight-hour judgement last month.Those who opposed Mackenzie’s teachings were beaten to death. One of his co-accused said he had told his followers that anyone who “resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows”.Burials inside the forest where the cult was based were called “weddings” and those who died “were celebrated as having wedded with Jesus” the judge said.The judge found that the deaths arose from an organised system, including religious teachings and directives that compelled followers to follow the deadly fasting.Post-mortem results showed the cause of deaths to be starvation for most victims, while others died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries.The cause of death could not be determined for some, with their bodies having decomposed, while others died soon after their rescue as they were so emaciated.The Shakahola deaths have shone a spotlight on the lack of oversight of rogue religious activities and how they could have carried on for so long.The gravity of the case prompted President William Ruto to set up a commission of inquiry, although this was later declared unconstitutional.Investigations by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) revealed that local administration and law enforcement officials had repeatedly turned a blind eye to the cult’s activities. “We expected at that time the police would take action immediately to go and rescue the other members there, but it didn’t happen,” said Wanje, who reported the case to the police in March 2023. Wanje said a relative of his in the police force and a former cult participant had managed to save his grandson at the time. The child told the police what had happened and showed them the grave of his siblings.”It was [supposed to be] his last day.. they [would have killed] my grandson.”The cult leader had previously been arrested and later released for lack of evidence. Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003.Over the next 16 years, the church grew in popularity, drawing thousands of followers in its branches across Kenya.The church ran a television station called Times TV which would broadcast his sermons from his church in Malindi.His End Days sermons included conspiracy theories that described education as “evil”, healthcare as “against the doctrine” and digital identity cards as “the mark of the devil”.The main church shut down in 2019 and Mackenzie moved to Shakahola forest, encouraging his devotees to follow him.While the conclusion of the murder cases may bring a sense of justice for the victims and their families, the convictions only account for 191 victims, while more than 400 bodies were exhumed from the forest.More about Kenya’s doomsday cult from the BBC: ‘My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult’What did the Kenyan starvation cult leader preach?The mother who fled a death cult to save her children [BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Focus on AfricaThis Is Africa This article originally appeared on BBC at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm5yne5984l0o?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D

The US added 165,000 jobs in October, blowing past economists’ expectations, as the labor market showed strength despite the Federal Reserve’s recent rate hikes. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% even amid a slight increase in labor force participation. September’s underwhelming jobs report of 29,000 additions was also revised upward to a gain of 60,000 jobs. Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, deemed the results “a blowout” in a post on X. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a gain of about 70,000 jobs in October and saw the unemployment rate holding steady. Wage growth increased 0.4% from September, better than expectations for 0.3% month-over-month growth. Annual earnings rose 3.1%, beating expectations but likely still below the current inflation rate. Employers added jobs in a number of sectors of the economy. Professional and business services, which had been seen as more vulnerable to AI-related disruptions, added 70,000 roles. Healthcare, long a strong spot for job growth, added a higher-than-average 42,000 positions. Transportation and warehousing jobs rose by 25,000, and manufacturing continued to show strength with 19,000 additions.”This is still a low-hire, low-fire market overall, but we could be seeing some green shoots on the hiring side,” Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. Other job market measures released earlier this week telegraphed steady hiring — though not to the extent of Friday’s report blowout number. Job openings and hiring edged higher, the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed; private employers added 86,000 jobs, according to ADP; and layoff plans dropped to a three-year low while seasonal hiring ramped up.”Consistent with prior, more partial indicators of the US labor market, the October Jobs Report came in very strong, across the board,” Wharton economist Mohamed El-Erian posted on X. The solid report will likely give the Federal Reserve more confidence to move forward with another rate hike in December. The central bank will also consider November jobs data and October’s inflation figures before its Dec. 9 rate decision. Traders currently see a 77% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike next month, up from 67% on Thursday, according to CME FedWatch.”Today’s jobs report is a strong rebuttal to fears that the economy is heading into a meaningful slowdown,” Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, said in a statement. “With wage growth also picking up, a December Fed hike remains firmly on the table despite the recent tightening in financial conditions.”Claire Boston is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance.This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/article/a-blowout-us-added-165000-jobs-in-october-trouncing-expectations-135651705.html

Washington — A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from beginning construction on President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch late Thursday, siding — for now — with a group of Vietnam veterans and the District of Columbia and Virginia, which sued to stop the project. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the government cannot start any “construction-related activity” for 14 days, while further legal proceedings play out. In a 33-page ruling, Chutkan wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing the federal government did not follow required legal processes before moving to build the 250-foot triumphal arch. She also said Virginia and D.C. likely have standing to sue, pointing to “tangible economic harms” caused by traffic problems at the construction site.The ruling came shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday night to approve plans for the arch, giving the final go-ahead for the monument that’s set to be constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.The White House praised the commission’s approval of the arch, but criticized Chutkan’s order temporarily blocking construction.”We are confident we will be fully vindicated as this litigation proceeds and look forward to seeing the completion of this magnificent Arch — a tribute to 250 years of American greatness,” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, said in a statement.The NCPC, which acts as the federal government’s planning agency for the region and is stacked with Trump allies, voted 8-4 to greenlight the project after almost 9 hours of public comments from members of Congress, veterans, architects and Washington, D.C., and Virginia residents.Chutkan’s order aside, it’s unclear how soon construction of the arch could start, though the Justice Department said in a court filing last month that it could begin as soon as Thursday.In a separate filing Wednesday night, the Trump administration said that a construction company “may be — but is not necessarily — arranging off-site preparations for construction mobilization in anticipation of permit approval” at the site. Ahead of the meeting, the NCPC’s executive director, Mark Paoletta, recommended approval of the final site and building plans for the structure, which is supposed to celebrate 250 years of American independence.Paoletta, the top lawyer at the Office of Management and Budget, heralded Mr. Trump’s “historic vision” for the structure and said it would be the “grandest arch ever built by mankind.”But California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said during the hearing that the arch is “illegal” and would “disrupt the solemn connection” between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.”This arch would dishonor America, our ideals, and our laws,” Huffman said during remarks to the planning commission, adding that Congress is the appropriate body for debating the proposed monument.One Marine veteran who spoke in opposition to the proposal, Jimi Shaughnessy, said “a dominating arch with a carnival-like atmosphere of tourists, food trucks and buses is abhorrent and insulting to those who gave all and to their families.””Instead of focusing on the issues facing military families, this administration is intent on spending taxpayer dollars to site, plan, and design a monument no one asked for, and are content with bypassing any laws or regulations that may prevent them from breaking ground,” he said.The arch itself will be 166 feet tall and topped with “three gilded figures” — a gold, winged female figure flanked by a gold flying eagle on each side — bringing its overall height to 250 feet, according to documents filed with the NCPC. The structure will sit close to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, though the Federal Aviation Administration determined it will pose “no hazard to air navigation,” with a “condition for safety lighting that includes a non-standard eternal flame and continuous floodlighting.”The arch will also feature an observation deck, and the Trump administration has estimated that it could draw between 2,000 and 22,400 visitors each day.It’s expected to take three years to build the arch, which will be located in the center of what is called Memorial Circle, across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial. It’s unclear how much the project will cost, and who will foot the bill. Mr. Trump said in September that his “Triumphal Arch” would be a “top grade Military Complex” and house drones and sniper ammunition. But the documents from the NCPC do not include the military usage.Lawyers for the Justice Department declined to provide more details about the national security features in an October hearing.The commission received more than 1,300 public comments about the project, most of which were in opposition, it said.The NCPC’s approval came as Chutkan weighed how to act. The group of Vietnam War veterans, as well as the Commonwealth of Virginia and the city of Washington, D.C., have filed lawsuits arguing that the Trump administration is acting without congressional authorization and is not complying with the required procedures to construct the monument.In an order Tuesday, Chutkan required the government to provide her notice within one hour of any NCPC vote and a thirty-minute notice to any preparation for construction of the arch to give her time to issue a decision on whether to block construction. The government filed the required notices late Thursday, and Chutkan responded by issuing the temporary restraining order that blocked “construction, excavation, demolition, land-disturbance, utility installation, or roadway-closure activity, or any other construction-related activity” at the site.In a hearing last month, Chutkan said the most important issue for her is whether the Vietnam War veterans had the legal right to sue. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court found that a group of plaintiffs who brought a similar suit to block the White House ballroom construction likely did not have legal standing to challenge the project.In court filings, the Justice Department called the plaintiffs’ motions “breathless” and urged Chutkan to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in the White House ballroom case, but attorneys for the groups of plaintiffs argued that their legal arguments were different than the ballroom case and urged Chutkan to halt the arch’s construction.Two of the plaintiffs, Vietnam veterans Michael Lemmon and Shaun Byrnes, told Chutkan in a hearing last month that the arch construction would impact their experience when visiting graves at Arlington National Cemetery, and said they would be harmed by the arch’s size and purpose. In a separate suit brought in late October, Virginia and the District of Columbia sued, and the case was assigned to Chutkan, who had heard arguments the day before from the Vietnam veterans group. The state’s attorneys general argued that “as soon as Defendants break ground on this project, they will inflict irreparable harm” on them because “the Arch project will inevitably snarl traffic between the jurisdictions, produce pollution and stormwater runoff in the Potomac, interfere with emergency services, and pose numerous other challenges.”  This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-arch-approval-national-capital-planning-commission/

President Trump reacted to the volatile Thursday in markets with a series of Truth Social posts overnight, doubling down on his support of data centers and trying to blame Democrats for the sell-off.A little after 7 a.m. ET Friday, he renewed his support for data centers, writing he “will work with the many States in the U.S. that want to become RICH by having them” and calling leaders who might be opposed “foolish.” The comments appeared largely directed at Texas, where voters this week elected a new Democratic governor who has promised to halt new data center construction in a race that surfaced deep voter unease over AI and its effects.President Donald Trump prominently displays a hat emblazoned with “Veto” in the Oval Office of the White House on November 5 after Democrats took control of the US House and Senate. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)MANDEL NGAN via Getty ImagesTexas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa pledged on Thursday to protect Texas from data centers via new laws and, in the meantime, would hold off on approving new data center projects “until we have those protections.”Hinojosa defeated outgoing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, one of the few losing figures Trump has lashed out at this week. Trump hasn’t criticized most losing Republicans but reacted immediately to Abbott’s loss, saying the three-term Republican governor would have won if he hadn’t become a “RINO” (Republican in name only).”It wasn’t pretty!” Trump boasted.The wave of anti-data center sentiment stretched across the country, elevating Democrats to governorships in places like Ohio and Georgia who could bring a newly critical eye to the sector in the middle of a rapid build-out.Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa speaks at a press conference in Austin on November 5. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)RONALDO SCHEMIDT via Getty ImagesThe concerns about a slowdown in data center construction and AI spending led to a steep sell-off in tech stocks on Thursday — ending the worst post-midterm day since 1896. Trump tried to pin blame for those losses on Democrats.”The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday — So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame!” Trump posted Thursday night on Truth Social.A day earlier, he was touting Wednesday’s market gains, which came after the Democrats’ sweeping win became clear.Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/article/trump-doubles-down-on-data-centers-as-he-absorbs-the-market-turmoil-132648002.html