AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

12 killed and over 300 hurt in latest attack on Riyadh airport, Saudi authorities say

CAIRO (AP) — The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh killed 12 people and injured over 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some in critical condition. A Saudi-led coalition blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.

It was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war, whose fronts have expanded to include the recent surge in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

A missile struck a King Khalid International Airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.

The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens as well as two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said the injured were being treated at several hospitals.

Footage posted on social media following the attack and analyzed by The Associated Press shows emergency vehicles outside the airport.

DOJ says it's investigating whether White House TV pool's coverage halt violated antitrust law

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of President Donald Trump last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.

Emily Covington, a spokesperson for the department, said group boycotts among business competitors might violate U.S. law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” she said.

The announcement came after the television pool of five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

Messages were sent late Saturday to the five outlets seeking comment: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC.

The White House press pool, which is a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, has become a proxy for the wider fight over whether the president, or anyone, can control the content of news reports — a type of free speech, pillar of American democracy.

4 dead from storm as Isaias brings threat of floods across the Southeast

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Isaias peeled off hotel and condominium rooftops and facades along the Florida Panhandle before charging north Saturday, dishing out torrential rains and the threat of flash floods and tornadoes across the Southeast.

At least four deaths were linked to the storm, including two people killed when trees fell onto homes in Florida and Alabama. Forecasters warned that flooding could stretch into the Appalachians.

Isaias came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm weakened overnight but remained dangerous.

Despite warnings of storm surges ahead of the storm, several major routes along the coast were open by daybreak Saturday and free of downed trees and power lines typically seen after major hurricanes.

Within the first hours after landfall, nearly 900,000 customers were without power, mostly in Florida and Alabama.

Puerto Vallarta boards up as Hurricane Simon hits Category 4 strength

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Simon has strengthened into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it barrels toward Mexico’s coast.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Saturday that Simon’s maximum sustained winds increased to 150 mph (240 kph). A storm of that strength or greater is considered a major hurricane.

The center said it expected Simon “to be near or just inland” of Mexico's west-central coast on Sunday. The hurricane could bring as much as 10 to 20 inches (25-50 cm) of rain over parts of southwestern Mexico, with some areas in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco receiving up to 30 inches (76 centimeters).

“This rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,” the center warned in a bulletin that also urged residents to take immediate action to prepare as tropical-storm conditions were expected to arrive Saturday afternoon.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Simon was about 100 miles (65 kilometers) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico on on Saturday and moving slowly northward.

Shooting leaves 9 dead including suspect in Erie, Pennsylvania, police say

A man killed eight people including a pregnant woman, children and other relatives at his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, before taking his own life as well, authorities said Saturday.

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the 45-year-old man was related to seven of the victims in the previous day's shooting, while the eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman.

Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distressed” women arrived and began pounding on the door shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, he said. The gunman then came out and shot them as they ran toward him, before returning inside.

Police arrived to find the two women dead outside. After deploying a drone and robot, they went inside and found the bodies of a 5-year-old boy; a 1-year-old girl on the first floor; two more women and two young men in a stairwell; and the shooter on the second floor.

“Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers encountered inside that home,” the chief said at a news conference. “But I want our community to understand the gravity of what happened and the profound impact this tragedy has had on those involved and on our community as a whole.”

Trump says Ukraine should get a new president as he blames Zelenskyy for US diesel prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not done enough to end his country’s war with Russia and blaming him for high diesel prices in the U.S.

“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does,” Trump said.

The president, who on Friday struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel from Russia in an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, has been urging Zelenskyy for weeks to stop strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. He has also sought to blame record U.S. diesel prices on Ukraine rather than the U.S.-led war in Iran, which has elevated world energy prices.

“He wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel,” Trump said, before departing for Tennessee where he was set to rally Republican voters.

Ukrainian and European officials on Saturday reacted to Trump's diesel deal with dismay, saying it will help pay for Russia's war efforts. Diesel prices have skyrocketed due to a collision of events, including the difficulty of getting oil out of the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, which has raised the price of all oil products.

Christa Pike is discharged from a hospital after surviving execution attempt, her attorneys say

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, her attorneys said Saturday.

Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said in a written statement.

“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery,” the statement said.

Pike had been hospitalized since surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her on Sept. 30 for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At one point she was on a ventilator and her attorneys did not expect her to survive. However, they said Pike woke up and began talking and walking with assistance.

The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.

Panama declares a state of emergency as powerful quake aftershocks rattle communities

LA VILLA DE LOS SANTOS, Panama (AP) — The government of Panama declared a state of emergency Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours. Officials did not attribute any deaths to the quakes but reported damages in all 10 of Panama's provinces and two Indigenous territories.

The 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes on Friday toppled buildings near the epicenter and prompted evacuations across the Central American country. Seismologists recorded more than 100 aftershocks, including ones measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2.

The earlier quake, also felt in neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Presidential Minister Juan Carlos Orillac announced the emergency during a news conference in the capital, Panama City. He said homes, schools, healthcare facilities, roads and hotels were among the damaged facilities.

Malitzie Rivera, deputy director of the National Civil Protection System, told reporters the state had reports of 27 people with injuries, ranging from minor to moderate.

Pope Leo declares death penalty 'inadmissible' as his native US plans to livestream execution

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday declared capital punishment ''inadmissible" as he marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty and his native United States announced plans to livestream an execution by firing squad.

In a post on X, the American pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching on capital punishment ushered in by Pope Francis that the death penalty attacks the inherent dignity of a human being.

“The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment," read the post under Leo's official handle, @Pontifex. "Effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption.”

The post ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.

The U.S. Defense Department announced Thursday that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, will be livestreamed. Hasan, scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.

A third school attack in less than a week shakes Poland

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A woman wounded three people inside an educational institution in Poland's capital, Warsaw, on Saturday, police say, in the third attack at a school in less than a week.

Bloodstains were visible Saturday afternoon on a patch of grass near the entrance to the private post-secondary school in the Praga district of Warsaw. The school was open on Saturday and the victims were submitting papers at the school office when they were attacked, police said.

The attack came after police on Saturday said they detained 76 people across Poland and checked nearly 50,000 schools nationwide as part of efforts to prevent further violence following two school attacks earlier in the week.

The suspect on Saturday used a “dangerous object” to attack a 17-year-old girl and also wounded two other people, aged 17 and 24, Jakub Filipiak, a spokesman for Warsaw police, told The Associated Press. None of the wounds were life-threatening. The suspect was in custody.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province in central Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, wounding nine people. He was arrested nearby. The following day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two others in a knife attack at his former school in the same province.