AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT | National | richmondregister.com

2022-09-10 12:32:07 By : Ms. Ira Wu

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Charles officially announced as king at royal ceremony

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III was officially announced as Britain’s monarch Saturday, in a ceremony steeped in ancient tradition and political symbolism — and, for the first time, broadcast live.

Charles automatically became king when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday, but the accession ceremony is a key constitutional and ceremonial step in introducing the new monarch to the country.

Scores of senior politicians past and present, including Prime Minister Liz Truss and five of her predecessors, gathered in the ornate state apartments at St. James’s Palace for the meeting of the Accession Council.

They met without Charles, officially confirming his title, King Charles III. The king joined them to make a personal declaration, vowing to follow his mother’s “inspiring example” as he took on the duties of monarch.

“I am deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which have now passed to me,” he said.

'Thank you, ma'am': A singular queen, mourned by her people

By early afternoon, the scent of thousands of lilies and roses floated in the air outside Buckingham Palace. But the pilgrims kept arriving, bearing still more bouquets and notes of endearment addressed to the only queen most have ever known.

The scene outside the wrought iron gates was just as Nick French expected. But when he left a London hospital Friday, still shaky 10 days after surgery for prostate cancer, there was no question he would join them. Setting out on foot for an hour-long walk across the city, French searched through seven mostly sold-out florist’s shops until his arms were filled with blossoms of crimson and cream, pink and purple.

“I felt the need to come right down here,” said the 50-year-old social services consultant from nearby Kent, standing behind a police barricade. True, Elizabeth II, born to royalty and bound by duty, had lived a life of palaces and pomp. But in the queen's decades of steadfast stewardship, French said, an ordinary man had found an inspiration and kindred soul.

Elizabeth’s life, “brings me hope because the queen was always an incredibly charitable person, a decent person even in the face of great adversity,” he said, “And that gives me a role model to try and move on in my own life, post-cancer.”

Debating over debates: Campaign tradition faces skepticism

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Under pressure from his Republican rival, Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman said this week he would participate in one debate before the November election.

In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker are still working through the details of what a debate might look like, though they appear to be inching closer to a deal. And in Arizona, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Katie Hobbs has declined a televised debate with Republican Kari Lake.

With the fall campaign rapidly approaching, the time-honored tradition of televised debates as a forum for voters to evaluate candidates may be the latest casualty of constant media coverage and powerful digital platforms, as well as the nation's polarized political climate. For some Republicans, eschewing debates is a chance to sidestep a media structure some in the party deride as biased and align with Donald Trump, who has blasted presidential debates. Some Democrats, including Hobbs, have pointed to raucous GOP debates from the primary season as a reason to avoid tangling with their opponents.

Despite such skepticism, veteran political consultant Terry Sullivan defended debates as "the one forum where candidates are forced into answering questions that they don’t want to answer.”

“They’re not going to do it in their TV commercials," added Sullivan, who managed GOP Sen. Jim DeMint’s 2004 bid in South Carolina and handled media for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential effort. "And in stump appearances, press conferences, they can evade, they can dodge.”

Manchin's big energy deal draws pushback from many Dems

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats desperately needed the vote of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to get their signature legislative priority across the finish. So they did what Washington does best: They cut a deal.

To help land his support for a bill hailed by advocacy groups as the biggest investment ever in curbing climate change, Manchin said he secured a commitment from President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders to move a permitting reform package for energy projects through Congress before Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

Now the climate bill is law, and Manchin is ready to collect. But key Democratic constituency groups are lining up against the proposal, calling it bad for the country and the climate. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and dozens of House members agree.

The fissure could complicate the party’s efforts to keep the focus on this summer’s major legislative victories going into the November midterm elections, which will determine which party controls the House and Senate. More immediately, the divide is testing the ability of Schumer and Pelosi to keep enough Democrats in line to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the month.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pushing ahead. He said this week that he would attach Manchin’s preferred measure to must-pass legislation that would keep the federal government running into mid-December.

US, Trump team propose names for arbiter in Mar-a-Lago probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department and Donald Trump’s legal team each proposed candidates Friday for the role of an independent arbiter in the investigation into top-secret documents found at the former president's Florida home, but the two sides differed on the scope of duties the person would have.

Lawyers for Trump said they believe the so-called special master should review all documents seized by the FBI during its search last month of Mar-a-Lago, including records with classification markings, and filter out any that may be protected by claims of executive privilege.

The Justice Department, by contrast, said it does not believe the arbiter should be permitted to inspect classified records or resolve potential claims of executive privilege.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had given both sides until Friday to submit potential candidates for the role of a special master, as well as proposals for the scope of the person’s duties and the schedule for his or her work.

The Justice Department submitted the names of two retired judges — Barbara Jones, who served on the federal bench in Manhattan and has performed the same role in prior high-profile investigations, and Thomas Griffith, a former federal appeals court jurist in the District of Columbia.

Ukraine claws back some territory; nuclear plant in peril

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces on Friday claimed new success in their counteroffensive against Russian forces in the country's east, taking control of a sizeable village and pushing toward an important transport junction. The United States' top diplomat and the head of NATO noted the advances, but cautioned that the war is likely to drag on for months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commended the military for its gains in the east, saying in a nightly video address that Ukrainian troops have reclaimed more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive there this week.

“We are gradually taking control over more settlements, returning the Ukrainian flag and protection for our people.” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine's military said it also launched new attacks on Russian pontoon bridges used to bring supplies across the Dnieper River to Kherson, one of the largest Russian-occupied cities, and the adjacent region. Ukrainian artillery and rocket strikes have left all regular bridges across the river unusable, the military's southern command said.

Anxiety increased about Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which was operating in emergency mode Friday for the fifth straight day due to the war. That prompted the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog to call for the establishment of an immediate safety zone around the plant to prevent a nuclear accident.

Queen Elizabeth is featured on several currencies. Now what?

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has been depicted on British banknotes and coins for decades. Her portrait also has been featured on currencies in dozens of other places around the world, in a reminder of the British empire's colonial reach.

So what happens next after her death this week? It will take time for the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries to swap out the monarchs on their money.

But that doesn't mean the bills don't work — they do.

Here's a look at what is next for the paper cash featuring the late queen:

Nighttime rocket strikes spread fear in east Ukrainian city

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — It's at night that residents of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk are most afraid, when rocket and artillery attacks happen more frequently. Shells and rockets slam into gardens and apartment buildings, sending chunks of masonry and shards of glass hurtling through the darkness.

Little more than 11 kilometers (7 miles) southwest of the front line and within artillery range of Russian forces, Sloviansk has sustained increasingly frequent attacks. The city is considered a strategic target in Moscow’s ambition to seize all of Donetsk province, a largely Russian-speaking area in eastern Ukraine that makes up part of the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

On Wednesday, firefighters sifted through the still-smoldering rubble of an apartment building, looking for possible victims after a predawn strike collapsed part of the structure. After hours of searching, using a crane to remove slabs of concrete and reach down to the basement, they emerged with a white body bag. Relatives waiting anxiously nearby said they were also searching for an elderly couple who lived on the third floor.

“What is happening now is not just scary, it’s gruesome,” said 75-year-old Raisa Smielkova, who lives in another part of the same building and whose apartment suffered only minor damage. This war, she said, is worse than the previous one in 2014, when Ukrainian forces battled Russian-backed separatists. “There is more destruction. Everything is worse. Just everything.”

Relying on their pensions to survive, she and her husband can’t afford to move away to a safer part of Ukraine, Smielkova said.

Small nuke reactors emerge as energy option, but risks loom

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A global search for alternative sources to Russian energy during the war in Ukraine has refocused attention on smaller, easier-to-build nuclear power stations, which proponents say could provide a cheaper, more efficient alternative to older model mega-plants.

U.K.-based Rolls-Royce SMR says its small modular reactors, or SMRs, are much cheaper and quicker to get running than standard plants, delivering the kind of energy security that many nations are seeking. France already relies on nuclear power for a majority of its electricity, and Germany kept the option of reactivating two nuclear plants it will shut down at the end of the year as Russia cuts natural gas supplies.

While Rolls-Royce SMR and its competitors have signed deals with countries from Britain to Poland to start building the stations, they are many years away from operating and cannot solve the energy crisis now hitting Europe. Nuclear power also poses risks, including disposing of highly radioactive waste and keeping that technology out of the hands of rogue countries or nefarious groups that may pursue a nuclear weapons program.

Those risks have been accentuated following the shelling around Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, which has raised fears of potential nuclear disaster.

In the wake of the war, however, “the reliance on gas imports and Russian energy sources has focused people’s minds on energy security,” Rolls-Royce SMR spokesman Dan Gould said.

Alcaraz stops Tiafoe's US Open run for 1st Grand Slam final

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe engaged in a high-level, high-energy spectacle of a back-and-forth semifinal at the U.S. Open — no point over when it seemed to be, no ball out of reach, no angle too audacious.

One sequence was so stuffed with “What?! How?!” moments by both men that Arthur Ashe Stadium spectators were on their feet before it was over and remained there, clapping and carousing, while watching a replay on the video screens.

Ultimately, enough of the winners went Alcaraz’s way, and too many of the mistakes came from Tiafoe’s racket. And so it was Alcaraz who surged into his first Grand Slam final — and, in the process, gave himself a chance to become No. 1 at age 19 — by ending Tiafoe’s run at Flushing Meadows with a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory on Friday night.

“It was so electric. I mean, the tennis definitely matched the hype of the match. Unbelievable shot-making, gets, extending points, crazy shots ... at crazy times,” Tiafoe said. “Yeah, I was getting riled up.”

Alcaraz appeared to seize control by grabbing nine of 10 games in one stretch and could have ended the evening when he held a match point in the fourth set. But Tiafoe, who is ranked 26th, saved it and soon was yelling, with some colorful language mixed in for emphasis, “I’m putting my heart on the line!” Soon after that, Tiafoe was forcing a fifth set by improving to a U.S. Open-record 8-0 in tiebreakers.

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