AP News Summary at 5:14 am EST

Police: 6 people, assailant dead in Walmart shooting

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Police say six people and the assailant are dead after a shooting at a Walmart in Virginia. Officer Leo Kosinski with the Chesapeake police said early Wednesday that the store is now safe. It was the second high-profile shooting in a handful of days. A person opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado late Saturday, killing five people and wounding 17. The shootings came in a year when the country was shaken by the deaths of 21 when a gunman stormed an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Strike on Ukrainian maternity hospital kills newborn

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities say an overnight rocket attack has struck a hospital maternity ward in southern Ukraine, killing a newborn baby. The baby’s mother and a doctor were pulled alive Wednesday from the rubble. The region’s governor said the rockets were Russian. The strike in the city of Vilniansk adds to the gruesome toll suffered by hospitals and other medical facilities — and their patients and staff — in the Russian invasion entering its tenth month this week. They have been in the firing line from the outset, including a March 9 airstrike that destroyed a maternity hospital in the now-occupied port city of Mariupol. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the two-story building was destroyed.

Workers protest, beaten at virus hit Chinese iPhone factory

BEIJING (AP) — Videos and postings on Chinese social media say workers at the world’s biggest Apple iPhone factory have been beaten and detained in protests over contract disputes amid anti-virus controls. Videos that said they were filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks confronting police in white protective suits with riot shields. One person was hit in the head with a club and another was taken away with his arms held behind his back. Postings on social media said they were protesting unspecified contract violations. The factory operator, Foxconn Technology Group, said earlier it was using “closed-loop management,” which refers to employees living at their workplace with no outside contact.

Twin blasts shake Jerusalem, killing 1 and wounding several

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two blasts have gone off near bus stops in Jerusalem, killing one person and injuring at least 18, in what Israeli police said were suspected attacks by Palestinians. The first blast on Wednesday went off near a bus stop on the edge of the city, where commuters usually crowded waiting for buses. The second went off in Ramot, a settlement in the city’s north. The incident came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions are high amid Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank. There has been an uptick in recent weeks in attacks by Palestinians. The US Embassy in Jerusalem condemned the violence, as did EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev.

Supreme Court OKs handover of Trump tax returns to Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last legal obstacle preventing Congress from obtaining Donald Trump’s taxes has fallen. On Tuesday the Supreme Court rejected the former president’s plea for an order to prevent the Treasury Department from giving six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee. The Biden administration has argued that federal law is clear that the committee has the right to examine any taxpayer’s return. In a message on his social media network, Trump says the Supreme Court’s action creates “terrible precedent for future Presidents.” He accuses the court of becoming “nothing more than a political body” with the country paying the price.

World Cup Viewer’s Guide: Davies to play in Canada’s return

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Alphonso Davies will make his World Cup debut in a boost for a Canadian team that will be making its return to soccer’s biggest stage for the first time since 1986. Canada’s top player was in doubt for the match after he strained his right hamstring playing for Bayern Munich earlier this month. Davies was cleared to play Wednesday when Canada faces second-ranked Belgium. Germany opens its World Cup campaign against Japan as it attempts to recover from its 2018 elimination from the group stage as the defending champions. Spain plays Costa Rica and Morocco faces Croatia in a full day for Group E.

Search effort intensifies after Indonesia quake killed 268

CIANJUR, Indonesia (AP) — More rescuers and volunteers have been deployed to search for the dead and missing from an earthquake in Indonesia that killed at least 268 people. With many missing and some remote areas still unreachable, the toll was likely to rise. More than 12,000 army personnel were deployed to boost the search efforts of more than 2,000 police, the search and rescue agency and volunteers. More than 1,000 people were injured, with many of them hooked to IVs and lying on stretchers and cots in tents outside overwhelmed hospitals. The moderate 5.6 magnitude quake struck late Monday afternoon on Indonesia’s densely populated main island of Java. It collapsed many buildings and roads.

UK top court rules against Scottish independence vote plan

LONDON (AP) – The UK Supreme Court has ruled that Scotland does not have the power to hold a new referendum on independence without the consent of the British government. The judgment is a setback for the Scottish government’s campaign to break away from the United Kingdom. The top court ruled that the Scottish Parliament “does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence.” The semi-autonomous Scottish government wants to hold a referendum next October with the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?” The Conservative UK-wide government in London refuses to approve a vote, saying the question was settled in a 2014 referendum that saw Scottish voters reject independence.

Gathering again? Tips for a safe and healthy Thanksgiving

After two years of a pandemic lull, more friends and families will be gathering again this Thanksgiving. The American Automobile Association predicts that travel in the US will be nearly back to prepandemic volumes. That means it’s time to brush up on basics to keep you and your guests safe, healthy and sane. Among the top tips from food safety experts? Don’t wash the turkey, do wash your hands, refrigerate leftovers within two hours — and maybe leave that deep-fried Thanksgiving turkey to the professionals.

Salt, drought decimate buffaloes in Iraq’s southern marshes

CHIBAYISH, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s water buffaloes are suffering from dire water shortages in the country’s iconic southern marshes. Herders are struggling to keep their animals alive, and have watched many die, poisoned by salty water seeping into the low-lying wetlands. The marshes — a lush remnant of the cradle of civilization and a sharp contrast to the desert that prevails across much of the Middle East — were reborn after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, when dams he had built to drain the area and root out Shiite rebels were dismantled. But today, drought that experts believe is spurred by climate change and invading salt, coupled with lack of political agreement between Iraq and Turkey, are ending them again.