Nation & world news – at a glance – for Wednesday, August 23, 2023

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With little chance i n 2024, why are these republicans even running?

Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over his nearest rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. One or two might make a dent in the numbers at the first debate this week. But the rest of the field, featuring little-known candidates, is unlikely to make an impact. It raises the key question: Why do they do it? Perhaps the biggest reason is the debate stage itself: National broadcasts have the potential to provide a biotech entrepreneur, a Miami mayor and a North Dakota governor the chance to become household names and position themselves for future success in politics — or whatever field they pursue.

Expert panel recommends new options for HIV prevention

An influential expert panel has given its highest recommendation to an expanded menu of HIV prevention strategies for adults and adolescents, a move that will require private insurers to cover the drugs without a copay or deductible under the Affordable Care Act. In the new recommendations, published Tuesday in JAMA, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gave its highest recommendation to three medications approved for preexposure prophylaxis (or PrEP). The new ruling updates the earlier endorsement of a single daily pill, Truvada or generic equivalents, for PrEP. An estimated 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV.

Biden revived rules designed to prevent another Deepwater Horizon disaster

The Department of Interior announced Tuesday that it had reinstated Obama-era safety rules for offshore drilling that were created in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico. The Trump administration weakened those safety measures, arguing that they were a burden to the oil and gas industry. The new regulation, which was finalized Tuesday and will take effect in October, revives most of the 2016 requirements for the use and testing of safety equipment on offshore rigs. Republicans and the oil and gas industry are widely expected to challenge the rule.

Legal battles begin in case against Trump and allies in Georgia

Some of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the election interference case in Georgia began turning themselves in on Tuesday, while others tried to get the criminal case moved out of state court and into federal court. Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, and David Shafer, the former head of the Georgia Republican Party, each filed motions Tuesday asking to have the case moved to federal court, just as Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, did last week. Most of the defendants, including Trump, plan to turn themselves in this week. Another prominent Trump ally, John Eastman, turned himself in Tuesday and was booked at an Atlanta jail.

Fox News blocks Trump allies From Spin Room after Trump shuns debate

Former President Donald Trump’s plan to have prominent surrogates make his case in Milwaukee without attending the debate himself Wednesday may be hitting a snag as he clashes with Fox News. Trump’s campaign had previously arranged for prominent supporters to visit the “spin room,” where candidates and their allies interact with members of the media after the debate. But Fox News, which is hosting the matchup, will grant access to the spin room only to aides of candidates who are participating, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times. Aides of nonparticipating candidates will have access only if they are invited as guests of media organizations.

One in five women feel mistreated during maternity care, CDC reports

One in five women in the United States said they had been mistreated while receiving maternity care, and almost 1 in 3 said they had experienced discrimination because of factors such as age, weight or income, according to a survey of 2,400 mothers released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the most common complaints about mistreatment: health care providers ignoring their patients, refusing requests for help or failing to respond to a call for help in a timely manner. Women reported being shouted at or scolded, having their physical privacy violated and having health care providers threaten to withhold treatment or force them to accept medical interventions they did not want.

All passengers rescued from dangling cable car in Pakistan

In a dramatic rescue, Pakistani security forces on Tuesday plucked eight people, including several schoolchildren, from a stranded cable car left hanging hundreds of feet above a mountain valley. Early attempts at completing the rescue by helicopter had to be suspended when night fell, so officials used a zip line to rescue those still trapped, according to the Pakistani military. The accident occurred in Allai, in the Battagram district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, when two of the car’s wires broke. The cable car is a regular mode of transport for residents of the mountainous northern region, and the students were headed to a nearby school. The cause of the breakage was unclear.

18 people killed in Greek wildfire may be migrants

Greek firefighters recovered the bodies of 18 people Tuesday who they believe may be migrants in the Evros region of northern Greece, close to the city of Alexandroupolis, where a major wildfire was burning for a fourth day. The charred remains were found near a shack on the border of the Dadia Forest, a spokesperson for the Greek fire service said in a televised briefing. There have been no reports of missing people in the area, so authorities were examining the possibility that the dead “had entered the country illegally.” The Evros region borders Turkey and is a crossing point for migrants seeking to enter Europe through Greece.

Eric Adams meets With Netanyahu

In Israel on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City convened privately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Later, the mayor made it clear that he had no interest in weighing in on the challenges facing Israel, where Netanyahu’s far-right government has moved to limit the powers of Israel’s judiciary, prompting widespread protests. “I listened,” he said of the meetings in a call with reporters. “I didn’t weigh in. I think the people of Israel will determine their destiny.” Netanyahu spoke about judicial reform, Adams said, but they did not discuss settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu’s office said the two discussed “unlimited possibilities for cooperation.”

As West Bank shootings rise, Israel’s government vows to retaliate

Israel’s far-right government pledged Tuesday to strike at Palestinian assailants, and those sending them to attack, amid what is being described as the bloodiest year in the occupied West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising about two decades ago. In the last few days in the West Bank, among other incidents of violence, an Israeli father and his adult son were shot at point-blank range in a Palestinian town, and an Israeli preschool teacher was killed in a drive-by shooting in front of her 12-year-old daughter. So far this year, about 180 Palestinians have been killed, mostly in clashes with the Israeli military or while carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Japan to release treated water from ruined nuclear plant despite concerns

Japan will begin releasing treated radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean this week, its government said Tuesday, setting aside regional and domestic objections as it moves to eventually discharge over 1 million tons of the water into the sea. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement after a meeting of his Cabinet, saying the release would begin Thursday if weather and ocean conditions allowed. The International Atomic Energy Agency said in July the government’s plan met the agency’s safety standards, and it has said that releasing the treated water is not likely to pose a serious health threat to humans.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon landing attempt set for Wednesday

It’s been almost four years since India’s last attempt to land on the moon, Chandrayaan-2, ended in a crash. On Wednesday, India is hoping that the uncrewed Chandrayaan-3 mission will reach the lunar surface in one piece. The Indian people and government feel great pride for their nation’s surging space program. But the stakes for Wednesday’s landing attempt have been amplified by the crash Saturday of Luna-25, a lunar lander from Russia that was to set down in the same lunar region as Chandrayaan-3. If India achieves a landing just after Russia failed, it will highlight the technological accomplishments of the world’s most populous country.

By wire sources