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

Bahamians begin rescues as Dorian moves on toward US coast

FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — Bahamians rescued victims of Hurricane Dorian with jet skis and a bulldozer as the U.S. Coast Guard, Britain’s Royal Navy and a handful of aid groups tried to get food and medicine to survivors and take the most desperate people to safety.

Airports were flooded and roads impassable after the most powerful storm to hit the Bahamas in recorded history parked over Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, pounding them with winds up to 185 mph (295 kph) and torrential rain before finally moving into open waters Tuesday on a course toward Florida.

People on the U.S. coast made final preparations for a storm with winds at a still-dangerous 110 mph (175 kph), making it a Category 2 storm.

At least seven deaths were reported in the Bahamas, with the full scope of the disaster still unknown.

The storm’s punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters destroyed or severely damaged thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.

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Major defeat for British PM as lawmakers seize Brexit agenda

LONDON (AP) — On a day of humiliating setbacks, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a major defeat in Parliament on Tuesday night as rebellious lawmakers voted to seize control of the Brexit agenda, prompting the embattled leader to say he would call for a new general election.

The 328 to 301 vote, made possible by 21 fellow Conservatives who turned their back on Johnson’s pleas and face ejection from the party, cleared the way for his opponents to introduce a bill Wednesday that would seek to prevent Britain from leaving the European Union without a deal Oct. 31. It was a momentous day in Britain’s Parliament as the legislature rose up to successfully challenge the power of the prime minister over vital Brexit policy. If Johnson enjoyed a brief honeymoon since taking power in July, it came to abrupt end Tuesday when he faced his first vote — and a startling defeat — in Parliament.

There is still no clarity about how and when Britain will leave the prosperous EU bloc as the tortuous Brexit process nears a climax more than three years after the original vote to leave. A new election would set the stage for a brutal battle over whether voters favour a “no-deal” Brexit, more negotiations, or possibly a fresh referendum on the entire question of leaving the EU.

The cross-party rebels are fighting to prevent a no-deal Brexit because of fears it would gravely damage the economy and plunge Britain into a prolonged recession while also leading to possible medicine and food shortages. The vote came hours after Johnson suffered a key defection from his party, costing him his working majority in Parliament.

Johnson and his backers say these fears are overblown and that voters who backed Brexit are demanding action, not more talk.

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Flames blocked escape for 34 divers on boat, officials say

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Flames roared through a boat of sleeping scuba divers so quickly that it appears none of the 34 people below deck could escape, authorities said Tuesday as they ended their search without finding anyone who was missing still alive from the Labor Day tragedy off the Southern California coast.

It’s not known what started the fire early Monday aboard the Conception, which carried scuba diving enthusiasts on a three-day excursion. It spread rapidly and flames blocked both exits out of the lower deck, where passengers and one crew member were sleeping in tight quarters, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.

The captain and four crew members awake on the upper decks jumped off the front of the vessel, swam to an inflatable boat at the back and steered it to a ship anchored nearby. Authorities have interviewed them but haven’t said what efforts they made to help the 34 people trapped aboard before abandoning ship.

Twenty bodies have been pulled from the sunken vessel that had been anchored close to the shore of Santa Cruz Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometres) off the coast and northwest of Los Angeles. Four to six other bodies have been spotted underwater, and divers are looking for the remaining people who are missing.

Among those believed to be dead are five members of one family and the marine biologist leading the diving tour.

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Pentagon approves military construction cash for border wall

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday approved the use of $3.6 billion in funding from military construction projects to build 175 miles of President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border.

Pentagon officials would not say which 127 projects will be affected, but said details will be available Wednesday after members of Congress are notified. They said half the money will come from military projects in the U.S., and the rest will come from projects in other countries.

Esper’s decision fuels what has been a persistent controversy between the Trump administration and Congress over immigration policies and the funding of the border wall. And it sets up a difficult debate for lawmakers who refused earlier this year to approve nearly $6 billion for the wall, but now must decide if they will refund the projects that are being used to provide the money.

Elaine McCusker, the Pentagon comptroller, said the now-unfunded projects are not being cancelled. Instead, the Pentagon is saying the military projects are being “deferred.” The Defence Department, however, has no guarantee from Congress that any of the money will be replaced, and a number of lawmakers made it clear during the debate earlier this year that they would not fall for budget trickery and sleight of hand to build the wall.

“It is a slap in the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country that President Trump is willing to cannibalize already allocated military funding to boost his own ego and for a wall he promised Mexico would pay to build,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. He said the funding shift will affect the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

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Pence defends stay at Trump property in Ireland

DUBLIN (AP) — U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence on Tuesday defended his decision to stay at one of President Donald Trump’s properties while in Ireland in the face of criticism by Democrats and good government groups that he’s enriching Trump at taxpayers’ expense. He called the Trump property a “logical” choice.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin, where he spent the day, Pence spoke about his personal connection to the village of Doonbeg — the site of both the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel as well as family history.

“It’s deeply humbling for me to be able to come back to Ireland and have the opportunity to go to the very hometown of my mother’s grandmother,” said Pence.

Pence added that he understood “political attacks by Democrats,” but said the State Department had signed off on the decision. He said Doonbeg is a “fairly small place” and the opportunity to stay at the property, “to accommodate the unique footprint that comes with our security detail and other personnel, made it logical.”

Trump, who owns hotels and golf clubs across the U.S. and in Europe, has come under intense criticism for frequenting properties he owns and profits from — giving them taxpayer-funded publicity and running up millions of dollars in taxpayer costs. Foreign governments and groups looking to curry favour with the president have also spent large sums at his properties, raising ethical alarms about potential pay-to-play dynamics and other conflicts.

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Texas shooter got gun at private sale; denied in 2014 check

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — The gunman in a West Texas rampage that left seven dead obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that blocked him from getting a gun in 2014 due to a “mental health issue,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The official spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The person did not say when and where the private sale took place.

Officers killed 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator on Saturday outside a busy Odessa movie theatre after a spate of violence that spanned 10 miles (16 kilometres) and lasted more than an hour, injuring around two dozen people in addition to the dead. He spread terror across the two biggest cities in the Permian Basin while firing indiscriminately from his car into passing vehicles and shopping plazas. He also hijacked a U.S. Postal Service mail truck, killing the driver.

Ator had tried purchasing a firearm in January 2014 but was denied, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Tuesday. The agency said it was precluded by law from disclosing why, but the law enforcement official told the AP it was due to a “mental health issue.”

Private sales, which some estimates suggest account for 25 to 40 per cent of all gun sales, are not subject to a federal background check in the United States. If the person selling the firearm knows the buyer cannot legally purchase or possess a firearm, they would be violating the law. But they are not required to find out if the person can possess a firearm and are not required to conduct a background check.

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NTSB: Tesla on Autopilot when it hit California firetruck

DETROIT (AP) — A government report says the driver of a Tesla that slammed into a firetruck near Los Angeles last year was using the car’s Autopilot system when a vehicle in front of him suddenly changed lanes and he didn’t have time to react.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday the driver never saw the parked firetruck and didn’t brake. Apparently the man’s 2014 Tesla Model S didn’t brake either.

The report raises further questions about the effectiveness of Tesla’s system, which was in operation before several other crashes including two fatalities in Florida and one in Silicon Valley. Tesla warns drivers that the system is not fully autonomous and drivers must be ready to intervene.

The NTSB report didn’t state a cause of the crash. The agency will issue a final report Wednesday.

The driver in the Jan. 22, 2018 firetruck crash on Interstate 405 was not hurt. But the NTSB report says he did not have his hands on the steering wheel at the time of the crash.

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Ginsburg: Work on court ‘saved me’ during cancer treatment

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Tuesday night that her work on the bench saved her during her cancer treatments, as the judge was given a rock-star reception in the home state of the president who nominated her to the nation’s highest court.

Ginsburg told a packed arena that she was “feeling very good tonight,” following the 86-year-old’s disclosure last month that she had completed three weeks of outpatient radiation therapy for a cancerous tumour on her pancreas and is now disease-free. It was the fourth time over the past two decades that Ginsburg, the leader of the court’s liberal wing, has been treated for cancer. She had colorectal cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer in 2009 and lung cancer surgery in December.

“I think my work is what saved me because instead of dwelling on my physical discomforts if I have an opinion to write or a brief to read, I know I’ve just got to get it done so I have to get over it,” she said during a one-hour interview on stage with NPR Reporter Nina Totenberg at Verizon Arena. About 13,000 attended the event, which was hosted by the Clinton Foundation and the University of Arkansas’ Clinton School of Public Service, and more had been on a waiting list to attend.

The lecture had been moved to the arena to accommodate the crowd and was sandwiched between a concert by “Weird Al” Yankovic over the weekend and KISS on Thursday.

Former President Bill Clinton praised Ginsburg as he introduced her Tuesday night.

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With a nudge from the young and sober, mocktails taking hold

NEW YORK (AP) — Five years ago, for her 27th birthday, Lorelei Bandrovschi gave up drinking for a month on a dare. She was a casual drinker and figured it would be easy. It was, but she hadn’t banked on learning so much about herself in the process.

“I realized that going out without drinking was something that I really enjoyed and that I was very well suited for,” she told The Associated Press. “I realized I’m a pretty extroverted, spontaneous, uninhibited person.”

And that’s how Listen Bar was born on Bleecker Street downtown. At just under a year old, the bar that Bandrovschi opens only once a month is alcohol-free, one of a growing number of sober bars popping up around the country.

Booze-free bars serving elevated “mocktails” are attracting more young people than ever before, especially women. The uptick comes as fewer people overall are drinking alcohol away from home and the #MeToo movement has women seeking a more comfortable bar environment, said Amanda Topper, associate director of food-service research for the global market research firm Mintel.

Mocktails aren’t just proliferating at sober bars. Regular bars and restaurants are cluing into the idea that alcohol-free customers want more than a Shirley Temple or a splash of cranberry with a spritz.

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Quick work: Williams needs 44 minutes to reach US Open semis

NEW YORK (AP) — The numbers associated with Serena Williams’ U.S. Open quarterfinal victory over Wang Qiang were so stark, they bear reading more than once.

Winners: 25-0. Points: 50-15. Minutes: 44. Score: 6-1, 6-0.

This is the portion of the tournament that is supposed to be where winning a Grand Slam title gets difficult, where the remaining players are among the very best opposition around. And yet there was Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night, making one of the last eight women in the draw, someone ranked No. 18 in a world of billions, look and feel completely overwhelmed.

“Didn’t give her too many chances,” Williams said.

A reporter wanted to know what surprised Wang the most about being across the net from Williams for the first time.

The Associated Press