AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT
Ukrainians face nuclear threat with grit and dark humor
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Dmytro Bondarenko is ready for the worst.
He's filled the storage area under his fold-up bed and just about every other nook of his apartment in eastern Kyiv with water and nonperishable food. There are rolls of packing tape to seal the windows from radioactive fallout. He has a gas-fired camping stove and walkie-talkies.
There's even an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun for protection, along with boxes of ammo. Fuel canisters and spare tires are stashed by his washing machine in case he needs to leave the city in a hurry.
'œAny preparation can increase my chance to survive,'ť he said, wearing a knife and a first-aid kit.
With the Russian invasion in its ninth month, many Ukrainians no longer ask if their country will be hit by nuclear weapons. They are actively preparing for that once-unthinkable possibility.
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China's Xi urges Ukraine peace talks with Germany's Scholz
BEIJING (AP) - In a much-scrutinized meeting Friday with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and warned against the conflict going nuclear.
The German leader is in Beijing for a one-day visit that has drawn criticism over China's tacit support for Russia, lingering controversies over economic ties and human rights issues. It comes after Xi further cemented his authoritarian rule at a major Communist Party congress last month.
Scholz's visit reflects the importance of Germany's trade ties with China, the world's second-largest economy, particularly in the auto and manufacturing sectors. Mercedes Benz alone sold 758,863 cars in China last year, more than in any other country, according to company figures.
Scholz, who is traveling with several top German business leaders, received a formal welcome from Xi, who was recently reappointed head of the ruling Communist Party, at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.
Xi noted that Scholz's visit comes as the two countries mark more than 50 years of diplomatic relations dating back to when they relaunched economic exchanges, despite their Cold War rivalry, that remain a key part of the relationship to this day.
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Biden to plug tech bill in California, campaign in Illinois
SAN DIEGO (AP) - President Joe Biden on Friday is set to tour a southern California communications company that is expected to benefit from his legislative push to bolster American semiconductor manufacturing - and he's taking a vulnerable Democratic congressman with him.
Biden will be joined by Rep. Mike Levin for the visit to Carlsbad-headquartered Viasat as he looks to highlight the CHIPS and Science Act, a $280 billion legislative package, ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections. The bill is one of the Biden administration's most significant legislative achievements.
Levin, a two-term congressman representing a San Diego-area district that was once a GOP stronghold, is locked in a tight race with former San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott. Biden headlined a rally Thursday night in Oceanside, California, for Levin.
Coronavirus pandemic-era supply disruptions and a dearth of domestic chip manufacturing hampered Viasat, which relies on such components for services it provides to industrial customers and the U.S. military. Biden intends to use the event to highlight how the CHIPS act will help companies like Viasat reduce their reliance on overseas chip manufacturers, according to the White House.
Later Friday, Biden will head to Chicago to participate in a political reception. Biden is heading to the Democratic stronghold amid signs that some House members representing suburban Chicago districts may be facing more competitive than expected reelection battles.
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Abortion clinic that opened days after Roe fell is inundated
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - When Planned Parenthood decided four years ago to open a new clinic in a medically underserved working-class neighborhood here, it envisioned a place that would save women living nearby from having to take hourslong bus rides to obtain birth control, testing or an abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision overturning Roe v. Wade - four days before the clinic opened - changed all that. Because Kansas is one of the few states in the region where abortion remains legal, the clinic soon found itself inundated with calls not just from panicked patients in Kansas and nearby Missouri, but also in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas - even as far away as Louisiana.
This clinic and other Planned Parenthood centers in Kansas have been doing their best to help by lengthening hours, hiring staff and flying in physicians. Still, they have only been able to take about 10% to 15% of the patients seeking abortions.
"The ecosystem, it's not even fragile. It's broken,'ť said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. 'œI think there's a perception that if you are seeking care, you can find it somewhere. And that's not true.'ť
Haley Ruark, of Platte City, Missouri, was able to get an appointment on a recent Wednesday after a two-week wait - longer than she wanted but better than driving hundreds of miles west to Colorado.
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War fallout, aid demands overshadow climate talks in Egypt
BERLIN (AP) - When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists descend on Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt next week for talks on tackling climate change, don't expect them to part the Red Sea or other miracles that would make huge steps in curbing global warming.
Each year there are high hopes for the two-week United Nations climate gathering and, almost inevitably, disappointment when it doesn't deliver another landmark pact like the one agreed 2015 in Paris.
But those were different days, marked by a spirit of cooperation between the world's two biggest polluters - the United States and China - as well as a global realization that failure to reach an agreement would put humanity on a self-chosen track to oblivion.
This November the geopolitical tiles have shifted: a devastating war in Ukraine, skyrocketing energy and food prices, and growing enmity between the West on the one hand and Russia and China on the other make for difficult conditions at a gathering that requires cooperation and consensus.
'œThere's a lot of high and low expectations around this Egypt COP, a lot of mix of ambition and fatalism,'ť said Avinash Persaud, special envoy for the Barbados prime minister.
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US hiring may have slowed to a still-solid pace in October
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. jobs report for October will be closely watched Friday for any indication that employers are slowing their hiring - a prospect the Federal Reserve would likely welcome as a sign that the high inflation that is gripping the economy might soon begin to ease.
Economists expect the report to show that employers added 200,000 jobs last month, down from an average of 372,000 in the previous three months, according to a survey by the data provider FactSet.
That total would still represent a healthy gain and would suggest that employers still feel the need to fill many jobs. A substantial hiring gain, though, would also mean that wages will likely keep rising and continue to fuel inflation.
Chronic inflation is hammering the budgets of many households and has shot to the top of voter concerns in the midterm congressional elections that will end Tuesday. Republican candidates across the country have attacked Democrats over inflation in their drive to regain control of Congress.
Friday's jobs report is also expected to show that the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6% in October from a five-decade low of 3.5%. Hourly pay, too, is expected to have risen at a brisk pace, though it might have weakened a bit from September.
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Conflict, crisis fuel cholera surge across Mideast hot spots
BHANINE, Lebanon (AP) - Shadia Ahmed panicked as rainwater flooded her shack one night, drenching her seven children. The next morning, the kids were seized by vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms.
After an aid group administered tests for cholera in Ahmed's Syrian refugee encampment in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine, her youngest, 4-year-old Assil, tested positive.
Cholera has swept across Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq as the countries struggle with devastated infrastructure, turmoil and housing large populations of people who have been displaced by conflict. Lebanon last month reported the first cholera case in nearly 30 years.
The bacterial infection has surged globally across dozens of countries this year, with outbreaks in Haiti and across the Horn of Africa as well as the Mideast. The outbreaks of hundreds of thousands of cases driven by conflict, poverty, and climate change are a major setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease.
'œCholera thrives in poverty and conflict but is now turbocharged by climate change," said Inas Hamam, a regional spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. 'œRegional and global health security is in jeopardy."
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Alcohol death toll is growing, US government reports say
NEW YORK (AP) - The rate of deaths that can be directly attributed to alcohol rose nearly 30% in the U.S. during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new government data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already said the overall number of such deaths rose in 2020 and 2021. Two reports from the CDC this week provided further details on which groups have the highest death rates and which states are seeing the largest numbers.
'œAlcohol is often overlooked'ť as a public health problem, said Marissa Esser, who leads the CDC's alcohol program. 'œBut it is a leading preventable cause of death.'ť
A report released Friday focused on more than a dozen kinds of "alcohol-induced" deaths that were wholly blamed on drinking. Examples include alcohol-caused liver or pancreas failure, alcohol poisoning, withdrawal and certain other diseases. There were more than 52,000 such deaths last year, up from 39,000 in 2019.
The rate of such deaths had been increasing in the two decades before the pandemic, by 7% or less each year.
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In the 5 states without lotteries, a case of Powerball envy
WEST POINT, Ga. (AP) - Loretta Williams lives in Alabama but drove to Georgia to buy a lottery ticket for a chance at winning the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot.
She was one of many Alabama ticket-buyers flooding across state lines Thursday. The third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history has people around the country clamoring for a chance to win. But in some of the five states without a lottery, envious bystanders are crossing state lines or sending ticket money across them to friends and family, hoping to get in on the action.
'œI think it's ridiculous that we have to drive to get a lottery ticket,'ť Williams, 67, said.
Five states - Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska and Alabama - do not have a lottery. A mix of reasons have kept them away, including objections from conservatives, concerns about the impact on low-income families or a desire not to compete with existing gaming operations.
'œI'm pretty sure the people of Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia appreciate all of our contributions to their roads, bridges, education system and many other things they spend that money on,'ť said Democratic legislator Chris England, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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Verlander gets World Series win, Astros lead Phillies 3-2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Justin Verlander beamed like a first-time big leaguer, and the Houston Astros feted the 244-game winner like a baby-faced rookie.
'œThey put me in the cart and rolled me in the shower and just doused me with all sorts of stuff," he said. "And it was one of the best feelings in my career.'ť
After 16 years of trying, Verlander finally gritted out his elusive first World Series win.
Expected to win his third Cy Young Award this month, Verlander overcame an early jolt and rookie Jeremy Peña hit a go-ahead homer and drove in two runs as the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Thursday night to head home with a 3-2 Series lead.
'œI can say I got one,'ť Verlander proudly proclaimed.