Wednesday morning news: October 19, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden doubling down on abortion for midterms » President Biden is banking on abortion to help his party keep control of Congress. He said he expects voters to turn out in big numbers to protect abortion rights.

BIDEN: Come this November, we’re going to see what happens all over America, God willing.

Biden heard there in at a Democratic campaign event, looking to fire up supporters.

He vowed that if voters deliver the numbers needed for Democrats to pass new legislation without Republicans …

BIDEN: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v.Wade.

But Biden’s bet on abortion may not pay off.

A new poll from the New York Times and Siena College of nearly a thousand registered voters nationwide found that more independent women are leaning Republican - by an 18-point margin.

Polling finds that even among so-called “pro-choice” voters, many are more worried about the economy than the availability of abortions.

Germany caution in China relationship » Germany’s foreign minister is warning that her country cannot make the same mistakes with China that it made with Russia. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin explains.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Europe faces an energy crisis this winter after years of relying on Russian oil and gas. And foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says her country must learn a tough but valuable lesson about leaning too heavily on authoritarian countries.

She told a foreign policy forum in Berlin that—her words—“one-sided economic dependence exposes us to political blackmail.”

German companies have invested heavily in China in recent years, and China is one of Germany's biggest trading partners.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not support breaking off trade with China, but he wants to place greater emphasis on trading with other nations.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Ukraine » Russian airstrikes have taken out at least 30 percent of Ukraine’s power stations.

AUDIO: [Ukraine spokesman]

A spokesman for Ukraine’s emergency services told reporters that more than a thousand towns and villages are cut off from electricity. That after 10 days of Russian strikes targeting energy facilities across the country.

Meantime, the death toll has risen in Kyiv from recent attacks. A swarm attack Monday of drones carrying explosives is now blamed for five deaths. And at least three people were killed in separate attacks on Tuesday.

Russian court rejects Navalny’s 2nd prison sentence appeal » Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic in Russia will remain behind bars. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: A Russian court on Tuesday rejected a second appeal by opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He is serving a nine-year sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The U.S. State Dept. says those charges were entirely trumped up to silence Navalny.

Police arrested Navalny in January of last year on his return from Germany. He went there to recover from nerve-agent exposure. Western intelligence says the Kremlin was behind his poisoning.

Navalny's arrest last year triggered the biggest protests seen in Russia in recent years, followed by harsh government crackdowns.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

Truss struggles in UK » British Prime Minister Liz Truss is scrambling to recover her grasp on power.

That after newly installed Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt ripped up her economic blueprint this week:

HUNT: We will reverse almost all of the tax measures announced in the growth plan three weeks ago that have not started parliamentary legislation.

That has some calling Truss a lame duck prime minister just six weeks after assuming office.

For her part, Truss said her government has made mistakes for which she apologized.

TRUSS: We have restored economic stability and fiscal discipline. And what I now want to do is go on and deliver for the public.

She remains in office, for now. Her Conservative Party is divided over if and how to replace her.

Truss held a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where, her spokesman said they had an “in-depth discussion” on a new economic plan, and that no one asked her to resign.

ISIS French company fined » The French cement company Lafarge has pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that it paid millions of dollars to ISIS to keep a plant operational in Syria.

U.S. federal prosecutor Breon Peace told reporters …

PEACE: Lafarge made a deal with the devil, foreign terrorists who pledged to, and in fact did, harm the United States, its people, and its national security. And they did it for profit.

U.S. federal prosecutor Breon Peace said the company knowingly supported a terrorist group.

PEACE: Millions of dollars that ISIS could use to recruit members and conduct brutal terrorist attacks worldwide.

Prosecutors say the company routed nearly $6 million to ISIS and al-Nusrah Front, another militant group, in 2013 and 2014.

The company has agreed to pay nearly $800 million in penalties.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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