World News Profile |

Western strengthens Ukrainian air defense; nuclear power plant loses power

The unrelenting Western powers pledged to provide Ukraine with stronger air defenses after a spate of retaliatory missile strikes by Russia, including a missile that temporarily knocked Europe’s largest nuclear power plant down from the invaded country’s power grid on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s state nuclear operator said the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant suffered a “blackout” after a missile damaged a distant substation. The loss of power increases the risk of a radiation emergency because the plant needs power to keep its reactors from overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours, while the plant’s emergency diesel generators (which depended on an uncertain fuel supply in the war zone) provided backup, but a similarly dangerous outage could occur at any time.

“Russia has seized the factory and has done nothing to de-escalate the situation. Instead, it is bombarding vital infrastructure on a daily basis,” the company’s news service told The Associated Press.

Russia launched a widespread missile strike on Monday in retaliation for a truck bomb that damaged a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014 and left hundreds of Ukrainian towns without power.

Oath Keepers jury heard on January 6 about massive weapons cache

The far-right extremist group had a large cache of weapons in a Virginia hotel room, a member of the Under oath who traveled to Washington ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday.

In the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four accomplices, Terry Cummings showed jurors an AR-15 gun and an orange ammo box as he worked for the so-called Rapid Response Force organized by the Swearers contributed. A hotel outside Washington, in case they need weapons.

“I haven’t seen so many weapons in one place since I joined the military,” said Cummings, a veteran who joined Florida’s Oath Keepers in 2020.

Prosecutors said the Oath Guard guards the gun vaults and is ready to deliver them to extremists in the capital if necessary.

The alleged team and weapons stash are a central part of the Justice Department’s case against Rhodes and four associates charged with inciting conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. In light of the Capitol’s stricter gun laws, members of the Oath Keepers hid their guns outside of Washington-area restrictions.

NBC reporter’s interview with Feltman draws criticism

An NBC News reporter who interviewed Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Feltman said Wednesday that her reporting should not be viewed as a commentary on his fitness to serve in public office after a stroke.

But an on-air commentary by journalist Dasha Burns that Feltman seemed to struggle to understand the content of the conversation as they engaged in small talk drew attention – and was exploited by politicians, following seeking an edge in the Senate race against Republican Mohamed Oz.

Democrat Fetterman suffered a stroke on May 13, and his health has become a major issue on the campaign trail.

Burns’ interview with Feltman on Friday, which aired Tuesday, was his first live interview since his stroke. He used a closed-captioning device to print the text of Burns’ questions on the computer screen in front of him.

Feltman didn’t seem to have any problems reading the questions, though NBC shows him fumbling for the word “sympathy.” Burns said that when the captioning device was turned off, “it was not clear that he understood our conversation.”

Judge: Trump must testify in defamation lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump will have to answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit filed by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected a request by Trump’s lawyers to postpone the scheduled testimony. Testimony is now scheduled for October 19.

The decision comes amid a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle Magazine who said Trump raped her in the locker room of an upscale Manhattan department store. Trump denies this. Carroll is scheduled to be removed from office on Friday.

“We look forward to demonstrating on the record that this case is, and always has been, completely unfounded,” Trump attorney Alina Haba said in a statement.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said she was pleased with the ruling and looked forward to filing new claims next month “and going all out for the trial”.

Lawsuit: Utah company and lawmakers help Mormons hide abuse

Three children who were sexually assaulted by their fathers have accused Utah lawmakers and a prominent Salt Lake City law firm of conspiring with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cover up the abuse for years.

In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, released Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams petitioned a judge for permission to include Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as part of their lawsuit against the church. The accused, widely known as the Mormons.

The lawsuit alleges that the Mormons failed to notify police or child-welfare officials that Adams abused his eldest daughter.

In 2010, Adams admitted to his bishop John Herold that he had sexually abused his daughter, according to legal records. Herold reported the abuse to the church’s “abuse helpline” and was advised not to report it to police or child welfare officials. The abuse was kept under wraps, and Adams went on to rape his eldest daughter and her sister for several years. Adams was later charged by federal officials for posting videos of abuse on the Internet.

Herold’s decision not to report was made after speaking with Nelson, according to church records that serve as evidence in the case. Nielsen is a shareholder in Kirton McConkie, which has more than 160 lawyers, according to its website. Nelson is one of several attorneys at the firm who routinely take calls from Bishops to a helpline.

vilified LA leader resigns from city council seat

The Los Angeles City Council member’s racist remarks in a leaked recording caused an uproar on Wednesday, hours after the state attorney general announced an investigation into possible criminal charges involving a meeting in which she made the remarks.

Former parliament president Nouri Martinez, the first Latino to hold the seat, announced her decision in a press release after outrage ran high and called on her and two others to participate in conversations recorded last year. Members of Parliament resign.

During the conversation, she made racist remarks and other rude comments about the black son of a white congressman.

Her resignation statement made no mention of these remarks, although she addressed her daughter: “I know I haven’t lived up to our family’s expectations lately. I swear to you that I will strive to be a better woman and make you feel proud.”

It comes after Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would investigate the Los Angeles redistricting process in which three members of Congress are in discussions with a labor leader in which they plan to protect Latino politics in the congressional district strength.

Narrator: What’s next for the Parkland school shooter?

As the three-month trial draws to a close, jurors who will decide whether Florida school shooter Nicolas Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole wrapped up their first day of deliberations Wednesday.

Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to the February 14, 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The trial was only to determine his sentence.

The Cruz massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in American history. In the United States, nine other people died by suicide or police shootings, killing at least 17. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.

Jurors are quarantined during their deliberations, which can take hours or days — no one knows. They were told to pack for at least two nights.

They deliberated for about six hours on Wednesday, including a request to read to them the prosecution’s cross-examination of a defense psychologist who said Cruz had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. They also demanded that Cruz’s gun be checked later on Wednesday, which will be allowed on Thursday.

–Associated Press