SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Cat lovers in

of the war. It was carried out last weekend and freed 1,000 captives on each side.Fidan on Friday voiced a belief that the successful swap has “proved that negotiations can yield concrete results.”

“There are two paths in front of us. Either we will turn a blind eye to the continuation of the war, or we will reach a lasting peace within the end of the year,” he told reporters in Kyiv.Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s presidential election has come down to a stark ideological choice: a liberal pro-European mayor versus a staunch nationalist conservative. They are polling so close that the outcome is impossible to predict in the run-off round on Sunday.It’s not just a domestic affair. President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the nationalist candidate, Karol Nawrocki, and dangled the prospect of closer military ties if Poles choose him over liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.

This combination of photos shows Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, left, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 2022 and Karol Nawrocki in Szeligi near Warsaw, Poland, on March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

This combination of photos shows Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, left, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 2022 and Karol Nawrocki in Szeligi near Warsaw, Poland, on March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Minnesota Gov.

sought to energize activists at a Democratic state convention in South Carolina, as the party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee works to keep up the high national profile he gained when Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate.Walz, a former schoolteacher who went on to serve in Congress and then became his state’s governor, keynoted the South Carolina gathering in Columbia, traditionally a showcase for national-level Democrats and White House hopefuls. Speaking to convention delegates for more than half an hour, Walz used colorful language and spoke plainly as he lobbed criticism at President Donald Trump and called on his fellow Democrats to have the courage to stand up to the “bully” in the White House.

“Maybe it’s time for us to be a little meaner,” Walz said, to applause from the crowd. “When it’s a bully like Donald Trump, you bully the s—- out of him. ... This is a ... cruel man.”It was Walz’s third set of large-scale remarks in less than 24 hours for Walz, who, along with