Nation & world news – at a glance – for Friday, August 18, 2023

Democratic group plans $10 million push to protect election officials

A group working to elect Democrats as the top election officials in states around the country plans a $10 million venture to pay for private security for election officials of both parties, register new voters and try to combat disinformation. The group, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, is starting a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization called Value the Vote that will initially focus on Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin. “We’ve seen our election officials come under threat while they’re just trying to do their jobs, and they’re doing a fantastic job,” said group executive director Travis Brimm, adding it had raised $2.5 million so far.

School district in Arkansas will offer AP African American studies despite state objections

The Little Rock School District in Arkansas said Wednesday that it would continue to offer Advanced Placement African American studies, over the objections of the administration of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican who has limited instruction on race. The decision comes after the state Department of Education announced Monday that the course’s content might violate a new law banning “indoctrination” in schools. The decision by the district illustrates some of the widespread discomfort that front-line educators have with a new crop of curriculum laws that seek to tamp down on discussions about racism, gender nonconformity and sexuality.

Defend Trump and ‘hammer’ Ramaswamy: DeSantis allies reveal debate strategy

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis needs “to take a sledgehammer” to Vivek Ramaswamy, a political newcomer rising in the polls. He should “defend Donald Trump” when Chris Christie inevitably attacks the former president. And he needs to “attack Joe Biden and the media” no less than three to five times. A firm associated with the super political action committee that has effectively taken over DeSantis’ presidential campaign posted online hundreds of pages of blunt advice, research memos and internal polling in early nominating states to guide him before the high-stakes Republican presidential debate Wednesday in Milwaukee. The documents were posted this week on the website of Axiom Strategies.

Officials investigate threats against Trump grand jurors in Georgia

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it was investigating online threats against the grand jurors who voted this week to indict former President Donald Trump and 18 others, accusing them of conspiring to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The jurors’ names are listed early in the sprawling 98-page indictment, as required in Georgia. Some of those jurors have had their faces, social media profiles, and possible addresses and phone numbers shared on internet sites, in some cases with the suggestion they should be harassed — although it was unclear Thursday if anyone had followed up on those suggestions.

The shortage in school bus drivers is getting worse

A bus driver shortage that has plagued the country’s school districts for years came to a head in Louisville, Kentucky. After a first chaotic day, Jefferson County Public Schools, which serves about 100,000 students, abruptly halted classes until at least Friday for elementary and middle school students, and Monday for high school students. Superintendent Marty Pollio said at a news conference Monday that the district will work to provide bus drivers with everything they need for success, including increasing wages. Many school districts have been contending with a shortage of bus drivers, driven by low pay, inconvenient hours and lingering effects of the pandemic.

An invasive hornet species is spotted in the U.S. for the first time

An invasive hornet species was spotted this month in the United States for the first time, and state officials in Georgia, fearing it could harm the agriculture industry, said they were working with federal officials and academic experts to eradicate it. A beekeeper in Savannah discovered an unusual insect on his property and reported it to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, which worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Georgia to confirm it was a yellow-legged hornet. Native to Southeast Asia, the yellow-legged hornet could threaten the state’s honey production, native pollinators and agriculture industry, the state’s Agriculture Department said.

Ukraine says Kyiv won’t receive F-16 fighter jets this year

Ukraine will not receive F-16 fighter jets from its allies this year as hoped, a spokesperson for the country’s air force said Wednesday, confirming that the advanced planes won’t play a role in the current counteroffensive. U.S. officials have said that Ukraine has identified only eight combat pilots — less than a single squadron — who speak English well enough to start a period of training expected to last at least a year. Officials in Ukraine, the United States and Europe, as well as Western defense analysts, have said that they believe Kyiv’s campaign could still prevail without the jets — although it is likely to be much more difficult.

Would you vote to halt drilling? In Ecuador, they’re getting the chance.

Should Ecuador continue drilling in one of the most biodiverse corners of the Amazon or should it keep the oil underground? On Sunday, its people will decide in a binding referendum that landed on the ballot after a decadelong fight by young activists. As the world faces twin ecological crises of climate change and ecosystem collapse, the vote will determine what one country’s citizens are willing to give up to protect the planet. Oil is Ecuador’s most important export, and the government is campaigning for drilling to continue. According to official estimates, the country stands to lose $1.2 billion in revenue a year if the oil is left underground.

Megachurch founder acquitted of hiding sexual abuse committed by his father

Brian Houston, the founder and former leader of global megachurch Hillsong, was acquitted Thursday in Sydney of a charge connected to failing to report his father’s sexual abuse of a child. Houston had faced one count of concealing a serious indictable offense for another person. In 2021, police had charged that when Houston’s father, Frank Houston, confessed in 1999 to sexually assaulting a young boy decades before, his son did not inform authorities. Brian Houston had told a court in Sydney that he did not report the assault because the victim did not want it reported. On Thursday, Magistrate Gareth Christofi agreed with him, finding that he had a “reasonable excuse” for not alerting authorities.

More than 60 migrants presumed dead after boat capsizes off Cape Verde

More than 60 migrants are believed to have died after a boat carrying them from Senegal capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Verde, authorities said this week. The boat capsized after leaving Fass Boye, a fishing village about 90 miles north of Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on July 10, according to the International Organization for Migration. Thirty-eight people survived the accident, including four children, Safa Msehli, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency, said in an email Thursday. She said seven people had been confirmed dead and 56 others were still missing.

Women’s rights activists rounded up in Iran as protest anniversary nears

In a sweeping operation before an important anniversary, Iranian authorities have detained at least 12 rights activists, all but one of them women, over the past two days, human rights groups and Iranian media have reported. A year ago next month, Iran was convulsed in demonstrations and riots following the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the country’s morality police after officers accused her of wearing her state-mandated religious veil too loosely. Iranian officials accused the 12 detainees of planning to incite “chaos and vandalism” on the upcoming anniversary of Amini’s death, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported.

North Koreans starved and forced to work, U.N. hears

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday took up North Korea’s human rights record for the first time in six years, with officials painting a grim picture of extreme hunger, forced labor and medicine shortages in the country. The United States, which holds the rotating monthly presidency of the council, had sought the meeting along with Albania and Japan. Predictably, news of the U.N. meeting did not go down well in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, where the government on Tuesday criticized the U.S.-led discussion as “despicable,” saying that the only purpose of the meeting was to help Washington achieve its geopolitical goals.

By wire sources