Despite seriously injuring a patched Black Power member while driving high on drugs, prospect Anthony Newton’s devotion to the gang is etched across his face.Newton, who has the letters BP tattooed on his forehead and the gang’s…

One Covid-19 expert says it’s possible New Zealand may be at or near a peak of its latest bump in cases – but a raft of unknowns about subvariants and prevalence continues to cloud the picture. And while the latest ESR analysis…

A Napier steel worker has been recognised as the best apprentice in New Zealand’s structural steel industry.Red Steel employee Zayne Pullan started his apprenticeship with the Napier-based steel construction business in 2019 and…

An altercation between family members on both sides of a murder trial saw a jury having to be taken out of a Whangārei courtroom while security guards had to step in between the two sides.One of two brothers used a large knife…

With his party's control over Congress teetering on the brink, US President Joe Biden has travelled the country this fall trying to turn the midterm elections into a choice between two visions for America.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to stick with his outlook or take the country in a different direction.

Biden is dealing with difficult challenges in elections that will set the dynamics for the rest of his first term. Presidents tend to see their party suffer major setbacks in their second year in office, and in addition, Biden is saddled with a cloudy economic picture and the limits of his own popularity.

READ MORE: Russia mobilises citizens convicted of serious crimes

In the campaign's closing sprint, Biden has tried to rely on a message that promotes his accomplishments — many of which will take years to be truly felt — and warns of the consequences of a GOP takeover of Congress.

Biden has tried to project resolute optimism about holding Congress, saying Friday that he feels "really good" about keeping majorities in the House and Senate. Advisers maintain that voters still broadly support the president's agenda, even if they are down on the overall direction of the country because of inflation, gas prices and the sour tenor of political discourse.

A key question is whether voters will give Democrats more time to deliver on promised progress — infrastructure projects in the offing, drug prices that are promised to fall, climate change plans that are years away from being fully in place. Or will they turn elsewhere in search of more immediate solutions to top-of-mind economic concerns?

READ MORE: Japan PM vows to strengthen military to combat threat from North Korea

It didn't help Biden's cause that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, chose the weekend before the election to issue a blistering condemnation of Biden's goal to eventually rein in coal energy. Manchin's rebuke was a last-minute embarrassment that risked hurting critical Democratic campaigns in neighbouring Pennsylvania.

Biden's advisers insist the current political environment is far different from 2010, when Democratic candidates were hamstrung by the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health law, and went on to lose 63 House seats and six Senate seats.

"Whether you're in Arizona or you're in Nevada, or you're in Pennsylvania, all have Democratic elected officials that are communicating to their constituents, are talking about the things that they got done for the American people that are built on President Biden's vision and what he's accomplished," White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon said at a forum hosted by Axios last week.

"And that is a significant difference from other midterm seasons."

In a sign of how Biden hopes his agenda may play out in time, that health law survived dozens of GOP-led repeal attempts and is now broadly popular with voters.

READ MORE: Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power

Cedric Richmond, the former Louisiana congressman and Biden senior aide who is now a top adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said it was important for Biden in the campaign's closing days to reinforce to voters his accomplishments.

"One of the things I think that's most important is that he continue to remind people of all the things that he's doing to keep this country going in the right direction," Richmond said.

"We know there are challenges out there, but we're meeting them and we're not dividing the country."

Even as Biden says he's trying to bring the country together, he's also warning about what would happen if Republicans win control of Capitol Hill.

"If we lose the House and Senate, it's going to be a horrible two years," he said Friday at a fundraiser outside Chicago.

He argues that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare, reverse Democrats' cost-lowering efforts for prescription drugs and impose a national abortion ban. "The good news is I'll have a veto pen," Biden said.

White House officials say that even if Biden hasn't personally been on the ground in some of the most contested states, he's helped set up Democrats there for success by delivering a message that echoes around the country, no matter where he's campaigning.

Advisers say Biden bears no ill will toward embattled Democratic candidates in Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Georgia who have tried to keep him at arm's length.

After 50 years in public life, they say, Biden recognizes that it's often advantageous for the lawmakers to carve out their own identities distinct from the leader of their party.

Instead, Biden has turned out for lower-key, but equally competitive House races, where aides and candidates welcome the president's ability to drive local news coverage.

For Biden, that's meant more than two dozen political events to boost Democratic candidates since August, along with many ostensibly official events, such as the groundbreaking on a new technology manufacturing facility or a speech to promote plans to cut the price of insulin for older adults, that draw contrast with Republicans.

In fact, first lady Jill Biden has proved to be even more in demand than Biden in some places. She campaigned Saturday in Arizona with Senator Mark Kelly and earlier in New Hampshire with Senator Maggie Hassan, both in tight re-election races.

Over the summer, Democrats seized on the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade in hopes of motivating women and the party's core supporters. In recent weeks he has stressed his condemnation of "mega MAGA" Republicans — short for the 2016 Trump campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again".

He also has broadened efforts to contrast his agenda with the GOP's to encompass what he views as Republican threats to democracy. That was the thrust of a speech Wednesday near the Capitol where he warned that some in the Republican Party were inciting political violence.

Republicans, in the closing days, have zeroed in on people's economic concerns.

"Biden's agenda has wreaked havoc on families trying to get by," Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said Friday.

"Lower real wages, higher taxes, and out-of-control inflation have made it tougher for Americans to get ahead. In a few short days, voters will send a clear message that they have had enough of Democrats' radical agenda."

Some Democrats, already looking to cast blame ahead of the election, have been critical of Biden's messaging, arguing he should have focused more intently on reassuring Americans about soaring prices.

"I hope there's some people at the White House watching," Faiz Shakir, an adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, told MSNBC on Wednesday hours before Biden's speech.

"I'd hope that they're rewriting it and focusing on cost of living."

Biden allies reject the argument, saying voters care about more than just one issue. They say abortion and the prospect of election-denying candidates help open the door to some GOP-leaning voters to go with Democrats.

Richmond, the former Biden adviser, said the president does talk about the economy and what he is doing to tackle inflation. "If a candidate can't articulate that … that's on them."

As tasty as it might look, you should refrain from licking the Sonoran desert toad, the US National Park Service has warned.

The NPS used Facebook to warn people to use caution around the Sonoran desert toad, also known as the Colorado river toad.

In recent years, smoking the amphibian's secretions, which contain a powerful hallucinogenic known as 5-MeO-DMT, has grown in popularity.

READ MORE: Sri Lankan international cricketer to face Sydney court today

The US Drug Enforcement Administration lists 5-MeO-DMT as a Schedule 1 drug.

The amphibian is one of the largest toads found in north America, measuring up to 18-cm.

Found across the American southwest, the toads also boast another unique feature: They have prominent parotid glands just behind the eyes that secrete a potent toxin.

These toxins can make humans sick if they touch the toad or put one in their mouth, so the NPS has recommended "refrain from licking" the creature.

The toad's toxins are particularly dangerous for other animals, and are capable of killing a fully grown dog, according to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

READ MORE: Last total lunar eclipse for three years this week

But among humans, the toxins have been exploited towards other ends.

When smoked, the toxins are a powerful psychedelic, according to the Oakland Zoo.

Smoking the Sonoran desert toad's secretions causes euphoria and strong auditory hallucinations, the zoo said.

Possessing the toad's poison, known as bufotenin, is illegal in California.

READ MORE: Diver's incredible reaction after nearly diving into mouth of tiger shark

A small passenger plane crashed Sunday morning into Lake Victoria on approach to an airport in Tanzania, and the country's prime minister says 19 people on board were killed.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa gave the new death toll, up from three. Earlier, local authorities said 26 of those on the Precision Air flight from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam were rescued and taken to a hospital.

It was not clear if any of those who were rescued died at the hospital.

READ MORE: 'Climate chaos' report from UN shows just how dire the situation is

Photos showed the plane, which was headed to Bukoba Airport, mostly submerged in the lake. Precision Air is a Tanzanian airline company.

“We have managed to save quite a number of people,” Kagera province police commander William Mwampaghale told journalists.

“When the aircraft was about 100 meters midair, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane plunged into the water,” he said.

Mwampaghale said the rescue efforts were continuing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to conscript citizens with unexpunged or outstanding convictions for murder, robbery, larceny, drug trafficking and other serious crimes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to be called up for military service to mobilise.

This makes it possible to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people who have been sentenced to probation or have recently been released from colonies who were previously forbidden to serve.

The only group of criminals exempted from the decree are those who committed sex crimes against minors, treason, spying or terrorism. Also excluded are those convicted of the attempted assassination of a government official, hijacking an aircraft, extremist activity and illegal handling of nuclear materials and radioactive substances.

READ MORE: Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power

Putin said on Friday that the Kremlin had already mobilised an additional 18,000 soldiers above its goal of 300,000 to fight in its war in Ukraine from the general male population of Russia.

Last week, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that all partial mobilisation activities, including summons deliveries, had been suspended after officials said the draft's target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met.

Putin's partial mobilisation order will only end when the Russian President signs in an official decree. Until then, he reserves the right to recruit more people into military conscription in the future.

The head of Russia's notorious Wagner forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has apparently summoned prisoners from Russian jails to join the mercenary group in fighting the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

The amendments signed by Putin are unrelated to these alleged recruitments. Instead, the law applies to prisoners who were conditionally convicted or released from colonies. These people usually must remain under the supervision of the authorities for eight to ten years until the conviction is cancelled.

READ MORE: Australian man dies fighting in Ukraine

They are not allowed to leave their place of residence and must comply with various restrictions.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscow's war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv.

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones slamming into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets.

"We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war," Amirabdollahian told reporters after a meeting in Tehran.

Previously, Iranian officials had denied arming Russia in its war on Ukraine.

Rugby league fans have been heeding calls from police and community to keep celebrations safe and respectful.Large crowds gathered in Māngere and Ōtara ahead of the World Cup quarterfinal match in Warrington, England that…

There are 382 vacancies at Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty as health worker shortages continue to plague the country.But a district representative says the figures are only “approximate” and data comparing the number of…