AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST
Posted November 7, 2022 12:04 am.
Last Updated November 7, 2022 12:16 am.
Biden slams GOP while Trump urges voters to reject Democrats
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) — President Joe Biden pilloried Republicans up and down ballots across the nation as election deniers who reveled in political violence, while his predecessor, Donald Trump, urged voters to oppose “growing left-wing tyranny” on the final Sunday before midterm elections that could reshape Washington’s balance of power.
Wrapping up a five-state, four-day campaign swing with an evening rally at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, Biden championed Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. She’s locked in a tight race with Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is looking to become the state’s first GOP governor since George Pataki left office in 2006.
The president said hundreds of Republican candidates for state, federal and local office are “election deniers, who say that I did not win the election, even though hundreds of attempts to challenge that have all failed, even in Republican courts.”
Biden said that for the deniers, “There are only two outcomes for any election: either they win or they were cheated.”
Biden said Republicans were willing to condone last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and that, after the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, some in that party made “light of it” or were “making excuses.”
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Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure — and that means having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold cannot be ruled out.
“We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die. And the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how prepared we are for different situations,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told state media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation Sunday that about 4.5 million people were without electricity. He called on Ukrainians to endure the hardships and “we must get through this winter and be even stronger in the spring than now.”
Russia has focused on striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last month, causing power shortages and rolling outages across the country. Kyiv was having hourly rotating blackouts Sunday in parts of the city and the surrounding region.
Rolling blackouts also were planned in the Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.
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North Korea: Missile tests were practice to attack South, US
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests were practices to “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and U.S. targets such as air bases and operation command systems with a variety of missiles that are likely nuclear-capable.
The North’s announcement underscored leader Kim Jong Un’s determination not to back down in the face of his rivals’ push to expand their military exercises. But some experts say Kim also used their drills as an excuse to modernize his nuclear arsenal and increase his leverage in future dealings with Washington and Seoul.
North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes toward the sea last week — triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas — in protest of massive U.S.-South Korean air force drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
U.S. and South Korean officials responded they would further enhance their joint training events and warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons would result in the end of Kim’s regime.
“The recent corresponding military operations by the Korean People’s Army are a clear answer of (North Korea) that the more persistently the enemies’ provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them,” the General Staff of North Korea’s military said in a statement carried by state media.
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Banned book lesson thrusts Oklahoma teacher into campaign
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Summer Boismier was living her childhood dream. She grew up a bookworm, became a high school English teacher, and filled both her classroom and home with her favorite literature.
She taught her students: “Stories are what is fundamental about the human experience. We all have them.”
Boismier especially loves the fantasy genre, a passion sprouted from childhood favorite “Harry Potter.” But even in a world of fantasy, she couldn’t have dreamed that a lesson from her English class would land her in the center of a vigorous statewide political campaign and turn her into a target for candidates and voters on social media.
Over the past two years, the nine-year teaching veteran was growing alarmed with the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature’s increasing efforts to restrict access to books in public schools. In her classroom, she covered some bookshelves with red butcher tape and labeled them “Books the state doesn’t want you to read.” She gave students a QR code link to the Brooklyn Public Library, which provides access to a variety of banned books.
She hoped to spark a discussion about the legislators’ book restrictions and a new law prohibiting lessons on critical race theory and other concepts about race and gender. Instead, she was summoned to a meeting with school administrators after a parent complained.
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As midterms near, clergy preach politics and civics lessons
Across America, faith leaders have squeezed in some final messages about the midterm elections during their worship services this weekend. Some passionately took stands on divisive issues such as immigration and abortion; others pleaded for an easing of the political polarization fracturing their communities and their nation.
“God has no team,” Rabbi David Wolpe told the politically diverse congregation at his Los Angeles synagogue, Sinai Temple.
“The notion that one party or faction is repository of all virtue is fatuous and dangerous,” Wolpe added. “God is greater than parties. If we catch some of that spirit, perhaps we can begin to heal the deep divisions that beset our nation and our world.”
Less than 50 miles away, at the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch, Pastor Jack Hibbs was eager to take sides in what he calls a “cultural war.” In addition to collecting ballots during Sunday worship, he urged his evangelical congregation to oppose a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in California’s Constitution, calling it “the death cult proposition.” He told them to be wary of local candidates who back it or receive support from groups like Planned Parenthood.
The measure — Proposition 1 — is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June eliminating the longstanding constitutional right to abortion nationwide. While that ruling didn’t affect access to abortion in California, Democratic politicians nonetheless sought the extra protection of a constitutional amendment.
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Ship refuses to leave Italy port until all migrants are off
CATANIA, Sicily (AP) — The captain of a charity-run migrant rescue ship refused Italian orders to leave a Sicilian port Sunday after authorities refused to let 35 of the migrants on his ship disembark — part of directives by Italy’s new far-right-led government targeting foreign-flagged rescue ships.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s two-week-old government is refusing safe port to four ships operating in the central Mediterranean that have rescued migrants at sea in distress, some as many as 16 days ago, and is allowing only those identified as vulnerable to disembark.
On Sunday, Italy ordered the Humanity 1 to vacate the port of Catania after disembarking 144 rescued migrants, including with children, more than 100 unaccompanied minors and people with medical emergencies.
But its captain refused to comply “until all survivors rescued from distress at sea have been disembarked,” said SOS Humanity, the German charity that operates the ship. The vessel remained moored at the port with 35 migrants on board.
Later Sunday, a second charity ship arrived in Catania, and the vetting process was being repeated with the 572 migrants aboard the Geo Barents ship operated by Doctors Without Borders. The selection was completed by late evening, with 357 allowed off but 215 people blocked on board.
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Warnock, Walker get personal in Georgia’s closing arguments
ATLANTA (AP) — After spending months arguing that Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker is “not ready” for high elected office, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia is intensifying his critique ahead of Election Day to say the celebrity athlete is fundamentally unfit for Capitol Hill.
From a rally with former President Barack Obama to a statewide bus tour that runs through the eve of Election Day on Tuesday, Warnock has hammered Walker as a “pathological liar” who has exaggerated his business, academic, professional and philanthropic achievements and been accused of violence against his family members and of paying for girlfriends’ abortions despite his public opposition to the procedure.
“This is a man who lies about the most basic facts of his life,” Warnock said on a stage he shared with Obama. “And now he wants the rest of us … to somehow imagine now that he’s a United States senator. … Herschel Walker is not ready. He’s not ready. Not only is he not ready. He’s not fit.”
Walker, who denies he’s ever paid for any abortions, is sticking to an argument he’s made for months: that Warnock is a rubber stamp for President Joe Biden and a Democratic congressional majority that Walker blames for inflation, rising crime and a continued flow of immigrants across the U.S. border with Mexico.
“He talked about I’m not ready. No, you’re not ready,” Walker answered Thursday in suburban Atlanta. “Because you either voted with Joe Biden 96% of the time, or you had no clue what you were doing. You pick which one you want — no clue of what you’re doing or you voted with him 96% of the time which is headed in the wrong direction.”
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Musk threatens to boot Twitter account impersonators
BOSTON (AP) — Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another.
The platform’s new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names — not their account names — and tweeted as ‘Elon Musk’ in reaction to the billionaire’s decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for $8 month as he simultaneously laid off a big chunk of the workforce.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended,” Musk wrote. While Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions, now that it is rolling out “widespread verification, there will be no warning.”
In fact, “any name change at all” would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark, the world’s richest man said.
Comedian Kathy Griffin had her account suspended Sunday after she switched her screen name to Musk. She told a Bloomberg reporter that she had also used his profile photo.
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AP PHOTOS: In India, river erosion engulfs villages
GAUHATI, India (AP) — In the 12 years that he has been the priest of a small temple by the mighty Brahmaputra, Ranajit Mandal had never witnessed the river’s fury like this. Not only the temple, but the 50 homes in his native Murkata village were washed away in a matter of days.
“I feel like the earth has given way under my feet now. I have been the temple’s priest ever since it was built, I feel really lost now,” Mandal said.
Mandal, who is also a farmer and father of two, says the erosion of the river means his family has been deprived of income, relying instead on government assistance. “Each family was given 5,000 rupees ($60) but that is hardly anything compared to what we have lost.”
Murkata village in the northeastern state of Assam is in one of the most climate-vulnerable regions of India, according to a report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a New Delhi-based climate think tank.
With India ranked the seventh most vulnerable nation to climate change by the non-governmental group Germanwatch, Mandal and other residents of Murkata are on the front lines of the crisis.
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Mahomes helps Chiefs rally past Titans 20-17 in overtime
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes ran for the tying touchdown and 2-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, Harrison Butker atoned for two earlier misses by kicking the go-ahead field goal in overtime, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Tennessee Titans 20-17 on Sunday night.
Mahomes was 43 of 68 for 446 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Mecole Hardman also had a TD run, as the Chiefs (6-2) rallied from a 17-9 deficit to beat the Titans for only the second time in the last seven meetings.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid improved to 21-3 coming off a bye by beating a franchise that has long been his nemesis. He was just 2-9 against the Titans — heck, Reid has three wins against the Chiefs — including a 27-3 loss in Nashville last year.
Things were spiraling toward another disappointment the way Derrick Henry was chewing up yardage against the Kansas City defense, and the way the Titans (5-3) were shutting down Mahomes and Co. into the fourth quarter.
Indeed, time was running out on the Chiefs when they took over at their own 7-yard line. But in vintage Mahomes fashion, the strong-armed quarterback willed his team downfield. His 20-yard scramble on third-and-17 kept the drive going, and his third-and-9 touchdown scramble along with his 2-point conversion run knotted the game with 2:56 to go.
The Associated Press
