North America

CARMICHAELS, Pa. (AP) — In one of the most closely watched races in one of the most contested of battleground states, both gubernatorial candidates bring up religion. But in starkly different ways.

Republican Doug Mastriano’s campaign has several hallmarks of Christian nationalism, which fuses Christian and political imagery, words and rituals and promotes a belief that America has been and should be a Christian nation.

(AP) --- Elon Musk is telling Twitter advertisers he is buying the platform to “help humanity” and doesn’t want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape” where anything can be said with no consequences.

The message to advertisers posted Thursday on Twitter came a day before Musk’s deadline for closing his $44 billion deal to buy the social-media company and take it private.

(AP) --- Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time that the critic of former President Donald Trump who lost her GOP primary has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.

Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is zeroing in on a largely economic-focused message Thursday amid raging inflation and recession risks as he takes his closing argument for the Nov. 8 elections to a congressional battleground and tries to reassure restive voters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.6% annual rate from July through September, snapping two straight quarters of contraction and overcoming high inflation and interest rates just as voting begins in midterm elections in which the economy’s health has emerged as a paramount issue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts to sow doubt over the outcome have already begun.

More than 100 lawsuits have been filed this year around the Nov. 8 elections. The legal challenges, largely by Republicans, target rules for mail-in voting, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 (APP): A top Pakistani diplomat Tuesday called for respecting and implementing “in letter and spirit” the 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, a lower riparian state, at a preparatory meeting for the UN Water Conference 2023.

“Besides climate change,” Ambassador Munir Akram said, “Pakistan’s water-vulnerability is also flow from its status as a lower-riparian state.”

“Many of our catchment areas and their ecosystems traverse boundaries,” he told a large number of delegates attending the meeting.

WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Russia has notified the United States about its plans to carry out annual exercises of its nuclear forces, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, a move that Washington said lowers the risk of miscalculation at a time of "reckless" Russian nuclear rhetoric.

The United States has said it expects Russia to carry out test launches of missiles during its annual "Grom" exercises of its strategic nuclear forces, noting in the past it has fired inter-continental ballistic missiles.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Respiratory viruses are spreading at high levels in the United States as temperatures begin to drop, causing the surge of pediatric cases across the country.

Health experts are concerned over the triple threat of flu, COVID-19 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), urging the public to get flu shots and COVID-19 vaccinations, and be aware of symptoms of severe illness.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's job approval rating slipped back to 40 percent in a new Gallup poll released on Tuesday.

The number was a step down from the 44 percent measured in August but still above his term-low 38 percent from July.

In all other months in 2022, Biden's approval rating had been in the range between 40 percent and 42 percent.

The latest survey conducted earlier this month found 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden's performance.