Biden blasts ‘extreme’ GOP in Labor Day swing-state trips
President Joe Biden is assailing “MAGA Republicans” and the extreme right in Labor Day remarks to union members. He addressed workers’ gatherings in Milwaukee and outside Pittsburgh. Labor Day traditionally kicks off political crunch time, with campaigns scrambling to excite voters for Election Day on Nov. 8. In Milwaukee, Biden said he is not critical of all Republicans, but singled out those who have taken Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign cry to dangerous or hateful lengths. He also paid tribute to organized labor, saying “the middle class built America” but “unions built the middle class.”
Coast Guard ends search for 9 missing in floatplane crash
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for nine people who were missing after a floatplane crashed in the waters northwest of Seattle. The body of a 10th person was recovered by a good Samaritan on Sunday. The Coast Guard says all next of kin had been notified of Monday’s decision to suspend the search. The Coast Guard says the Northwest Seaplanes flight left Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, and was headed to Renton Municipal Airport, the company’s base. The plane went down in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle. The NTSB is sending a seven-person team to investigate.
Northwest Georgia hit by severe storms and flash flooding
A flood watch was lifted Monday night for parts of Georgia that were inundated with 1 foot of rain a day earlier, as storm damage was still being assessed. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia declared a state of emergency in two counties Sunday after a string of heavy thunderstorms flooded roadways, knocked down trees and submerged homes. A flood watch expired at 8 p.m. Monday, the National Weather Service office in Atlanta said. The counties, Chattooga and Floyd, about 90 and 70 miles northwest of Atlanta, received an estimated 12 inches of rain, according to the executive order.
China locks down 65 million, discourages holiday travel
China has locked down 65 million citizens under tough COVID-19 restrictions and is discouraging domestic travel during upcoming national holidays. Most of the 21 million people in the southwestern city of Chengdu are confined to their apartments or residential complexes while in the eastern port city of Tianjin classes have ben moved online after 14 new cases were reported. China recorded 1,552 new daily cases across a nation of 1.4 billion people. Despite the relatively low number of infections, authorities have adhered to a “zero-COVID” policy requiring lockdowns, quarantines and the confining of people suspected of being in close contact with any confirmed case. Sept. 10-12 is China’s mid-autumn festival, the country’s second-most important holiday after the Lunar New Year.
US: Russia to buy rockets, artillery shells from North Korea
A newly downgraded U.S. intelligence finding says the Russian Ministry of Defense is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets an artillery shells from North Korea for its ongoing fight in Ukraine. A U.S. official says the fact Russia is turning to the isolated state of North Korea demonstrates that its military “continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions.” The official spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence determination. U.S. intelligence officials believe that the Russians could look to purchase additional North Korean military equipment.
Tories choose top diplomat to run Britain
A divided British Conservative Party announced Monday that it had chosen Liz Truss to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, turning to a party stalwart, hawkish diplomat and free-market champion to lead a country facing the gravest economic crisis in a generation. Truss, 47, defeated Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer. Truss, who served as foreign secretary in Johnson’s Cabinet, will formally assume the prime minister’s title on Tuesday in a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Truss will be Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years, and only its third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
Canadian police: 1 suspect in stabbings has been found dead
Canadian police say one of the suspects in the killing of 10 people in a series of stabbings has been found dead, and his injuries are not self inflicted. Police say his brother, also a suspect, may be injured and remains on the run. Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said Damien Sanderson, 31, has been found dead and the they believe Myles Sanderson, 30, is in Regina, Saskatchewan. Authorities have said some of the victims were targeted and others appeared to have been chosen at random on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon in Saskatchewan province. They have given no motive for the crimes.
Kenya’s supreme court upholds presidential election results
The Supreme Court of Kenya on Monday upheld the election of William Ruto as president, ending an acrimonious courtroom battle over disputed results from the Aug. 9 election and confirming Ruto as the fifth president of a country often seen as a beacon of democratic strength in Africa. In a lengthy judgment that rejected accusations by Ruto’s rival, Raila Odinga, that the vote had been rigged, Chief Justice Martha Koome swept aside claims of stuffed ballots, hacked computers and falsified results that she variously described as “sensationalism” and “hot air.” The unanimous verdict means that Ruto could be inaugurated as early as Sept. 13.
Earthquake kills scores in southwest China
A strong earthquake shook a mountainous, steep-sloped area in southwestern China shortly after noon on Monday, and China’s state media said at least 46 people had been killed and more than 50 others were injured. Sixteen people were said to be missing. The full extent of the damage remained unclear at nightfall. In a sign that damage might be heavy, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, personally ordered that the government “spare no effort to rescue the affected people,” state television announced Monday evening. The China Earthquakes Networks Center initially estimated the earthquake as having a magnitude of 6.6, but it later revised that upward to 6.8.
Typhoon batters South Korea, forcing thousands to flee
The most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in years has dumped 3 feet of rain, destroyed roads and felled power lines in its southern regions. Around 20,000 homes are without electricity as thousands of people fled to safer ground. Typhoon Hinnamnor grazed the resort island of Jeju and made landfall near Busan and was moving northeast toward the sea with winds of up to 89 miles per hour Tuesday. It is on track to move closer to eastern China later in the week. South Korean officials put the nation on alert about flooding and landslides. Firefighters were fighting blazes at a major steel plant, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were caused by the storm.