Hobbs wins Arizona governor’s race, flipping state for Dems
PHOENIX (AP) — Democrat Katie Hobbs has been elected Arizona governor, defeating an ally of Donald Trump who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged and refused to say she would accept the results of her race this year. Hobbs, who is Arizona’s secretary of state, rose to prominence as a staunch defender of elections and warned that her Republican rival, former television news anchor Kari Lake, would be an agent of chaos. Hobbs’ victory Monday suggests Trump is weighing down his allies as the former president gears up for an announcement of a 2024 presidential run. Hobbs will succeed Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who was prohibited by term limit laws from running again.
Japan’s economy shrinks, weighed down by a weak yen, rising inflation
A weak yen and high inflation have eroded Japanese consumers’ buying power and sapped businesses’ strength, setting the country’s recovery back just as Japan was adjusting to life with the coronavirus. The country’s economy, the third largest after the United States’ and China’s, shrank at an annualized rate of 1.2% during the three-month period from July to September, government data showed on Tuesday. Analysts had predicted an expansion, but surging import prices weighed on the results. The result followed nine months of growth. Japan’s economy had jumped 4.6% during the second quarter — revised up from an initial reading of 2.2% — returning it to its pre-pandemic size.
CIA director warns Russian official against using nuclear weapons
The head of the CIA warned his Russian counterpart against using nuclear weapons in a face-to-face meeting Monday in Turkey, White House officials announced, part of the Biden administration’s effort to reduce the threat of escalation in the war in Ukraine. The talks, led by CIA Director William Burns, were the highest-level in-person meetings between senior Russian and U.S. officials since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The discussions are part of the Biden administration’s efforts to step up its communications with senior Russian officials to convey concerns on the nuclear threat.
Brazil, Indonesia and Congo sign rainforest protection pact
Three countries that are home to more than half of the world’s tropical rainforests — Brazil, Indonesia and Congo — are pledging cooperation to establish a “funding mechanism” that could help preserve the forests, which help regulate the Earth’s climate. The agreement was announced Monday at the United Nations climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and signed by ministers from each country. It said they would cooperate on sustainable management and conservation, restoration of critical ecosystems and creation of economies that would ensure the health of people and forests. The plan has no financial backing and was more of a call to action than a strategy for how to achieve its goals.
Documents detail foreign government spending at Trump hotel
Officials from six nations spent more than $750,000 at former President Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington when they were seeking to influence his administration, renting rooms for more than $10,000 per night, according to documents that his former accounting firm turned over to Congress. The governments of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China spent more money than previously known at the Trump International Hotel at crucial times in 2017 and 2018 for those countries’ relations with the United States, according to the documents, which were obtained by the House Oversight Committee and released Monday.
FBI had informants in Proud Boys, court
papers suggest
The FBI had as many as eight informants inside the far-right Proud Boys in the months surrounding the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, recent court papers indicate, raising questions about how much federal investigators were able to learn from them about the violent mob attack both before and after it took place. The existence of the informants came to light over the past few days in a flurry of veiled court filings by defense lawyers for five members of the Proud Boys who are set to go on trial next month on seditious conspiracy charges connected to the Capitol attack.
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