AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT
Biden implores voters to save democracy from lies, violence
WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that democracy itself is in peril, President Joe Biden called on Americans Wednesday night to use their ballots in next week’s midterm elections to stand up against lies, violence and dangerous “ultra MAGA” election disruptors who are trying to “succeed where they failed” in subverting the 2020 elections.
This is no time to stand aside, he declared. “Silence is complicity.”
After weeks of reassuring talk about America’s economy and inflation, Biden turned to a darker, more urgent message, declaring in the final days of midterm election voting that the nation’s system of governance is under threat from former President Donald Trump’s election-denying lies and the violence Biden said they inspire.
The president singled out “ultra MAGA” Republicans — a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — calling them a minority but “driving force” of the Republican Party.
Pointing in particular to last Friday’s attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Biden said that Trump’s false claims about a stolen election have “fueled the dangerous rise of political violence and voter intimidation over the past two years.”
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Powell: Rate hikes may slow, but inflation fight hardly over
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought Wednesday to strike a delicate balance at a moment when high inflation is bedeviling the nation’s economy and commanding a central role in the midterm elections.
Powell suggested that the Fed may decide in coming months to slow its aggressive interest rate increases. Yet he also made clear that the Fed isn’t even close to declaring victory in its fight to curb an inflation rate that is near four-decade highs and has shown few signs of ebbing.
When the Fed ended its latest policy meeting Wednesday, it announced that it was pumping up its benchmark rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for a fourth straight time. Its key rate now stands in a range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest in 15 years.
It was the central bank’s sixth rate hike this year — a streak that has made mortgages and other consumer and business loans increasingly expensive and heightened the risk of a recession.
The statement the Fed issued suggested that it would begin to take a more deliberate approach to rate hikes, likely leading to smaller increases in borrowing costs. In doing so, it would consider that rate hikes take time to feed into the economy and achieve their goal of slowing inflation.
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North Korea keeps up missile barrage with ICBM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea added to its barrage of recent weapons tests on Thursday, firing at least three missiles including an intercontinental ballistic missile that forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and temporarily halt trains.
The launches are the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests in recent months that have raised tensions in the region. They came a day after Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles, the most it has fired in a single day ever.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing an ICBM from an area near its capital Pyongyang around 7:40 a.m. and then firing two short-range missiles an hour later from the nearby city of Kacheon that flew toward its eastern waters.
The longer-range missile was fired on a high angle, apparently to avoid reaching the territory of neighbors, reaching a maximum altitude of 1,920 kilometers (1,193 miles) and traveling around 760 kilometers (472 miles), according to South Korea’s military.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the launch was successful.
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Nevada ACLU requests probe into alleged partisan hand-count
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada asked the state’s secretary of state Wednesday to investigate what it called a “coordinated partisan election administration effort” during rural Nye County’s hand-count of mail-in ballots that was shut down last week.
The ACLU said a hand-count volunteer openly carrying a firearm removed an ACLU observer from a hand-count tally room, which the organization said it recently discovered was Nye County GOP Central Committee Vice Chair Laura Larsen.
The ACLU said the situation “poses questions” surrounding Nye County interim clerk Mark Kampf’s delegation of authority to partisan officials to remove observers from hand-count rooms, particularly during a hand-count process that deals with tabulation of ballots.
“A partisan official from the Nye County GOP Central Committee given free range to roam the halls and remove those engaging in observation violates the core principles underlying free and safe elections and makes an even greater mockery of our democracy,” ACLU of Nevada’s executive director Athar Haseebullah said in a statement.
It’s the latest development in a conflict between the rural county’s election administration and the ACLU that has spanned lawsuits, infighting and a Nevada Supreme Court ruling late on Oct. 27 that prompted Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, to shut down the hand-counting until after polls close on Election Day.
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With Bolsonaro tamed in defeat, Brazil steps back from brink
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In the run-up to Brazil’s presidential election, many feared a narrow result would be contested and spell the death knell for Latin America’s largest democracy.
So far, however, the worst fears have been averted, despite a nail-biting victory for former leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and ongoing protests by some of Bolsonaro’s supporters across the country.
The conservative leader’s allies quickly recognized da Silva’s victory, the military stayed in the barracks and vigilant world leaders swooped in to offer support for da Silva and nip in the bud even the thought of anything resembling the Jan. 6 insurrection that overtook the U.S. Capitol.
“All of Bolsonaro’s escape valves were shut off,” said Brian Winter, a longtime Brazil expert and vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas. “He was prevailed upon from all sides not to contest the results and burn down the house on his way out.”
Although Bolsonaro has refused to congratulate da Silva, Brazil’s institutions generally seem to have held up.
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Going to win $1.2B Powerball prize? Consider not taking cash
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Think you’re a sure bet for Wednesday night’s estimated $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot?
If so, you need to decide whether to take cash, which would actually pay out $596.7 million, or choose the $1.2 billion annuity option that is twice as large but is paid out over 29 years.
Winners of giant jackpots nearly always take the cash, and financial advisers say that might be a mistake.
Nicholas Bunio, a certified financial planner from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, said even with his expertise, he would take an annuity because it would so dramatically reduce his risk of making poor investment decisions.
“It allows you to make a mistake here and there,” Bunio said. “People don’t understand there is a potential for loss. They only focus on the potential for gain.”
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2 alleged ‘boogaloo’ members arrested in Michigan and Ohio
DETROIT (AP) — The FBI has arrested two alleged members of the far-right anti-government group the Boogaloo Boys, with authorities increasingly concerned about the potential for violence in the leadup to next week’s midterm elections.
Timothy Teagan appeared Wednesday in federal court in Detroit on charges of being a drug user in possession of firearms and ammunition, and giving a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, according to an unsealed federal complaint.
Meanwhile, the FBI said in a criminal complaint filed Monday that there was enough evidence to charge Aron McKillips, of Sandusky, Ohio, with illegal possession of a machine gun and the interstate communication of threats. It says McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Boys and is believed to be in a paramilitary group called the Sons of Liberty.
The timing of the law enforcement action is notable in part because it comes just days before the midterm elections. After the FBI searched his home last month, Teagan told documentarian Ford Fischer that federal agents questioned him specifically about potential violence being planned ahead of the election.
“They were very, very particular about questions involving anything going on with the election,” he said. “They were asking if I knew of any violent plans or any violent tendencies that could come forth about the election. … They were asking if we had any plans to go to polls armed.”
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Parkland school killer formally sentenced to life in prison
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.
Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, showed no emotion as Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer pronounced one-by-one 34 consecutive life sentences — one each for the slain and the 17 he wounded during the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.
The judge’s voice broke as she read the first sentences, but she gained strength and volume she moved down the list. Scherer had no other choice in sentencing; the jury in Cruz’s three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.
Scherer made no comments directed at Cruz beyond what was legally required. Instead, the judge commended the victims’ families and the wounded, calling them strong, graceful and patient.
“I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other,” Scherer said.
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CBS, Moonves must pay $30.5 million for insider trading
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS and its former president, Leslie Moonves, will pay $30.5 million as part of an agreement with the New York attorney general’s office, which says the network’s executives conspired with a Los Angeles police captain to conceal sexual assault allegations against Moonves.
Under the deal announced Wednesday by Attorney General Letitia James, the broadcast giant is required to pay $22 million to shareholders and another $6 million for sexual harassment and assault programs. Moonves will have to pay $2.5 million, all of which will benefit stockholders who the attorney general said were initially kept in the dark about the allegations.
At least one of those executives — one of the few privy to an internal investigation — sold millions of dollars of stock before the allegations against Moonves became public, which the attorney general’s office said amounted to insider trading.
“As a publicly traded company, CBS failed its most basic duty to be honest and transparent with the public and investors. After trying to bury the truth to protect their fortunes, today CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying millions of dollars for their wrongdoing,” James said in a statement, calling attempts to mislead investors “reprehensible.”
A spokesperson for Paramount Global, which owns CBS, said it was “pleased to resolve this matter … without any admission of liability or wrongdoing,” adding that the “matter involved alleged misconduct by CBS’s former CEO, who was terminated for cause in 2018, and does not relate in any way to the current company.”
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UN Security Council denies Russia call for bio weapons probe
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected Russia’s attempt to establish a commission to investigate its unfounded claims that Ukraine and the United States are carrying out “military biological” activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
Russia only got support from China in the vote on its resolution, with the U.S., Britain and France voting “no” and the 10 other council nations abstaining. The resolution was not approved because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption.
The 2-3-10 vote reflected the council’s continuing opposition and skepticism about Russia’s actions since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The council has been paralyzed from taking any action against Russia’s military offensive because of Russia’s veto power.
Russia circulated the draft resolution and a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that military biological activity is taking place at biological laboratories in Ukraine with support from the U.S. Defense Department.
Russia’s deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said after the vote that his government was “extremely disappointed” that the council did not respond positively to its request to establish a commission. Its proposed resolution called for the Security Council’s 15 members to carry out the investigation of Russia’s complaint, as allowed under Article VI of the biological weapons convention, and present a report with recommendations to the council by Nov. 30.
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