WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden took a swipe against Donald Trump’s supporters on Tuesday as he reacted to the Republican presidential nominee’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, which was overshadowed by crude and racist rhetoric. In a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, Biden responded to a comic at Trump’s rally who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden’s initial comments were garbled. “Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr — in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said. 

 

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MOSCOW (Xinhua) – Washington’s recent actions against Russian journalists violate the right to access information and media pluralism, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. A film crew from Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, who arrived in Washington to cover the upcoming presidential election, was detained and subjected to hours of interrogation on Tuesday night, resulting in one member being expelled from the country, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Russian journalists had notified US authorities of their intentions and received permission before their arrival, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

 

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TBILISI (Reuters) - State prosecutors in Georgia said on Wednesday they had launched an investigation into opposition allegations that last weekend’s parliamentary election was rigged, and summoned President Salome Zourabichvili to testify. But Zourabichvili, who has alleged repeatedly that the vote count was falsified to give victory to her opponents in the ruling Georgian Dream party, said it was not her job to supply the evidence. “It’s not up to the president to provide proof of election fraud,” she told reporters. “Observers and everyday citizens have shown proofs of how massive the rigging of elections was.” Zourabichvili and other government critics have cast the vote as a pivotal moment for Georgia, a country which has ambitions to join the European Union.

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BEIJING (AFP) - Three Chinese astronauts including the country’s only woman spaceflight engineer entered the Tiangong space station on Wednesday following an early morning launch into orbit. The Shenzhou-19 mission took off with its trio of space explorers from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Among the crew is Wang Haoze, 34, China’s only woman spaceflight engineer, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). She is the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission. China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping. Its space program was the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

 

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MAPUTO (Reuters) - At least 10 people were shot dead and another 63 injured by gunfire during post-election protests in Mozambique last week, medical associations said on Wednesday, as the country braced for further demonstrations. Protests broke out before and after Mozambique’s electoral commission announced that ruling party Frelimo had won an Oct. 9 poll, extending its 49 years in power. Opposition candidates, civil society groups and observers said the election was rigged. The electoral commission has declined to comment on allegations of fraud, while Frelimo did not reply to requests for comment. Police responded to the protests with teargas and gunfire. Interior Minister Pascoal Ronda told reporters on Tuesday that the protests were violent and that security forces were compelled to restore public order, which resulted in deaths.