AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow’s forces retreated weeks ago.

Nearly a dozen people were wounded in the attack on Kyiv, including one who lost a leg and others who were trapped in the rubble when two buildings were hit, rescue officials said.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who said Ukraine has become “an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain.” A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country, in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital. The mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said rockets were intercepted by air defenses.

Ukrainian authorities also reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas — the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin says is its main objective — and near Kharkiv, a northeastern city outside the Donbas that is seen as key to the offensive.

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EXPLAINER: Why US needs a law to sell off oligarchs’ assets

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden doesn’t want to just seize the yachts, luxury homes and other assets of Russian oligarchs, he wants to sell off the pricey goods and use the money to help rebuild Ukraine.

He’s asking Congress to streamline the process to allow that to happen.

In the latest attempt to pressure Russia to end its war and to pay for the enormous costs of defending Ukraine, the Biden administration on Thursday called on Congress to enhance U.S. authority to liquidate assets seized from Russian elites — the “bad guys,” as Biden called them.

A look at what’s afoot:

WHAT’S ALREADY BEING DONE?

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Drop in US GDP challenges Biden’s pitch to voters

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s upbeat message that the economy is cruising along hit a troublesome speed bump on Thursday when the federal government reported that U.S. gross domestic product shrank during the first three months of 2022.

Economic activity declined at annual rate of 1.4%, a sharp reversal from last year when growth was the strongest since 1984. There were technical reasons for the decline that likely obscured the actual health of the economy, yet the drop clearly put the president on the defensive after he has said repeatedly that the booming job market means the U.S. can withstand inflation at a 40-year high.

Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package was supposed to propel the economy to new heights that Democrats could then sell to voters in this year’s midterm elections. But the muddled data has weakened the clarity of Biden’s pitch and emboldened Republican criticism.

The president told reporters at the White House that the consumer spending and business investment portions of the GDP report were solid, evidence that growth should resume in the months to come. The biggest drag on GDP was an increase in imports, but a one-off glitch — a sharp drop in business inventories — was a key contributor to the overall drop. The inventory decline reflected the aftershocks of the pandemic, rather than the underlying health of the economy, the president said.

“What you’re seeing is enormous growth in the country that was affected by everything from COVID and the COVID blockages that occurred along the way,” Biden said.

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Report calls out abuse of social media by Minneapolis police

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Among the scathing findings of an investigation launched after the police killing of George Floyd is that Minneapolis police used covert or bogus social media accounts to monitor Black individuals and groups despite having no clear public safety rationale for doing so.

The report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights echoes numerous past revelations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have — sometimes illegally — secretly surveilled prominent people and communities of color even though they weren’t involved in any criminal activity.

Overall, the two-year investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, more frequent use of force on people of color and a department culture that tolerated racist language.

Regarding social media, it spotlighted departmental abuses turned up in a review spanning activity between 2010 and 2020.

Officers used “covert, or fake” accounts to seek and gain access to the online profiles of Black individuals including an unnamed City Council member and a state elected official, the report said, as well as groups such as the Minneapolis NAACP and Urban League. The activity included friend requests, comments on posts, private messages and participation in discussions.

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2022 NFL Draft l Three members of Georgia defense drafted

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on the NFL draft.

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Three members of Georgia’s defense that led the Bulldogs to the national championship have been selected in the first round of the NFL draft so far.

The Green Bay Packers selected linebacker Quay Walker at No. 22 sandwiched around picks of Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie by the Chiefs at 21 and cornerback Kaiir Elam of Florida by the Bills at No. 23.

The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Georgia edge rusher Travon Walker with the top overall pick and the Philadelphia Eagles drafted Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis at No. 13.

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British Virgin Islands premier arrested on US drug charges

MIAMI (AP) — The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said.

Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, according to a criminal complaint. Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to the records.

“Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. “Today is yet another example of DEA’s resolve to hold corrupt members of government responsible for using their positions of power to provide a safe haven for drug traffickers and money launderers in exchange for their own financial and political gain.”

Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard had been at the airport to meet Mexican drug traffickers, who in reality were undercover DEA agents, to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash that BVI officials expected to receive for helping smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, the complaint said.

A DEA confidential source had previously met with Maynard and her son after being introduced by a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, according to the complaint. After Fahie became involved, it said, the BVI officials agreed to to let the smugglers bring the cocaine through the port at Tortola before continuing on to the U.S.

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Moderna seeks to be 1st with COVID shots for littlest kids

Moderna is seeking to be the first to offer COVID-19 vaccine for the youngest American children, as it asked the Food and Drug Administration Thursday to clear low-dose shots for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions — even though highly contagious coronavirus mutants continue to spread. Already about three-quarters of children of all ages show signs they’ve beeninfected at some point during the pandemic.

Moderna submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration that it hopes will prove two low-dose shots can protect children younger than 6 — although the effectiveness wasn’t nearly as high in kids tested during the omicron surge as earlier in the pandemic.

“There is an important unmet medical need here with these youngest kids,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, told The Associated Press. Two kid-size shots “will safely protect them. I think it is likely that over time they will need additional doses. But we’re working on that.”

Moderna said two kid doses were about 40% to 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, not a home run but for many parents, any protection would be better than none.

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Astroworld movie set for release despite lawyers’ concerns

HOUSTON (AP) — The experiences of panicked concertgoers who couldn’t breathe and had no clear path to escape a massive crowd surge at last year’s deadly Astroworld music festival in Houston are featured in a documentary set for release Friday.

But lawyers for Live Nation, which is being sued for its role as the festival’s promoter, say they’re concerned that publicity from the documentary, “Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy,” could “taint the jury pool.” A gag order has been issued in the case, but Live Nation’s lawyers say an attorney who filed lawsuits related to the tragedy also co-produced the documentary.

Charlie Minn, the film’s director, said he believes he has made a balanced and fair film that tries to show the public what happened.

“My job is to make the most truthful, honest, sincere documentary from the victim’s point of view … We need to know about these stories to prevent it from happening again,” Minn told The Associated Press.

Around 500 lawsuits have been filed following the Nov. 5 concert headlined by Scott, a popular rapper. Ten people died and hundreds of others were injured during the massive crowd surge. Scott is also being sued.

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Oklahoma House sends Texas-style abortion ban to governor

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma House gave final approval Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

The billapproved by the GOP-led House without discussion or debate now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days. The assault on abortion rights is one of several culture-war issues conservatives in GOP-led states have embraced, like restricting LGBTQ rights, that drive the party’s base in an election year.

A coalition of Oklahoma abortion providers and abortion rights advocates immediately filed separate legal challenges in state court to both the Texas-style ban and a separate bill Stitt signed earlier this month to make abortion a felony. Legal experts say it’s likely both measures could be temporarily halted before they take effect.

House members also voted Thursday to adopt new language prohibiting transgender students from using school restrooms that match their gender identity and requiring parental notification ahead of any classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“They’re all concerned about their elections coming up and making sure they have something they can put on a postcard to talk about,” said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Midwest City.

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‘Carpool Karaoke’ king James Corden leaving late-night show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Corden said he will be bowing out of his late-night CBS TV show next year, calling it a “good time to move on and see what else might be out there.”

Corden announced his decision during the taping of Thursday’s “The Late Late Show,” which he began hosting in 2015.

“When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that. It was going to be a journey, an adventure. I never saw it as my final destination, you know?” he said. “And I never want this show to overstay its welcome in any way. I always want to love making it.”

Corden, who didn’t offer details on what course his career might take next, said the late-night show “has changed my life. … I am so proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s been beyond my wildest, wildest dreams.”

He’ll remain with the show for another year, he said, promising that it will “go out with a bang” and, he predicted, with “so many tears.”