AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
'Coward': Epstein accusers pour out their anger in court
NEW YORK (AP) - One by one, 16 women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein poured out their anger Tuesday, lashing out at him as a coward and a manipulator, after a judge gave them the day in court they were denied when he killed himself behind bars.
"He robbed me of my dreams, of my chance to pursue a career I adored," said Jennifer Araoz, who has accused Epstein of raping her in his New York mansion when she was a 15-year-old aspiring actress.
The hearing was convened by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, who presided over the case after federal prosecutors had Epstein arrested last month.
The question before the judge was whether to throw out the indictment because of the defendant's death, a usually pro forma step undertaken without a hearing. But the judge offered Epstein's accusers an extraordinary opportunity to speak in court.
In addition to the women who spoke, statements from over a dozen others were read in court by their lawyers.
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Biden: Racism in US is institutional, 'white man's problem'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Racism in America is institutional and it is a "white man's problem visited on people of color," former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday, arguing that the way to attack the issue is to defeat President Donald Trump and shame the racists he has emboldened.
Taking aim at incendiary racial appeals by Trump, Biden said in an interview with a small group of reporters that a president's words can "appeal to the worst damn instincts of human nature," just as they can move markets or take a nation into war.
Biden is leading his Democratic challengers for the presidential nomination in almost all polls, largely because of the support of black voters who have formed the foundation of his advantage. He has made appealing to black voters central to his candidacy and vowed to make maximizing black and Latino turnout an "overwhelming focus" of his effort. The interview focused largely on racial issues.
The former vice president attributed his support among black voters to the fact that he has a long record of working in their communities - something, he said without being specific, that several of his opponents have not done.
He added that while he would "preferably" select a woman or person or color as his running mate, he is ultimately looking for someone who is "simpatico with what I stand for and what I want to get done." He said he will not make a commitment on whom he would choose until he is comfortable that they agree on major issues and how to address them.
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In Mississippi Delta, Catholic abuse cases settled on cheap
GREENWOOD, Mississippi (AP) - The IHOP in Southhaven, Mississippi, was an unlikely place to settle a sex abuse claim against the Catholic Church. But in January a white official from the Franciscan religious order slid into a booth across from a 35-year-old black man and offered to pay him $15,000 to keep years of alleged abuse by another Franciscan secret.
The Rev. James G. Gannon, the leader of a Wisconsin-based group of Franciscan Friars, arrived at the crowded pancake house with copies of a legal settlement for La Jarvis D. Love, who had arrived with his wife and three young children.
As La Jarvis skimmed the four-page agreement, his thoughts flickered back more than two decades to the physical and sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a Franciscan Friar at a Catholic grade school in Greenwood. He told Gannon he wasn't sure $15,000 was enough.
"He said if I wanted more, I would have to get a lawyer and have my lawyer call his lawyer," La Jarvis recently told The Associated Press. "Well, we don't have lawyers. We felt like we had to take what we could."
La Jarvis considered his mounting bills, his young family and, with his wife's consent, signed the agreement, dating it Jan. 11, 2019.
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Puerto Rico braces for rain, power outages as Dorian nears
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Jorge Ortiz, a 50-year-old construction worker, was taking no chances as Tropical Storm Dorian approached Puerto Rico on Tuesday and threatened to hit the island's western and central region at near-hurricane strength.
Wiping sweat from his brow, Ortiz climbed up a shaky ladder under the punishing morning sun and tied down pieces of zinc that now serve as his roof because Hurricane Maria ripped the second floor off his house when the Category 4 storm hit in September 2017.
He was forced to rebuild everything himself and finished just three months ago with no assistance from the local or federal government.
"They told me I didn't qualify because it was a total loss," he said, shaking his head as he added that he was wary about Dorian. "I'm worried that despite all this sacrifice, I'll lose it again."
It's a concern shared by many across the U.S. territory, where some 30,000 homes still have blue tarps as roofs and where the 3.2 million inhabitants depend on a shaky power grid that Maria destroyed and remains prone to outages even in the slightest of rain storms.
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Federal judge blocks Missouri's 8-week abortion ban
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A new Missouri ban on abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy won't take effect Wednesday after a federal judge temporarily blocked it from being implemented.
U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs put a pause on the law as a legal challenge against it plays out in court, which could take months. He added that Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri likely will succeed in their lawsuit alleging that the law is unconstitutional.
Similar laws have been struck down in North Dakota and Iowa.
Missouri already has some of the nation's most restrictive abortion regulations. A clinic in St. Louis is the only one in the state that performs abortions.
Sachs' ruling says allowing the eight-week abortion ban to be enforced would have blocked about half of reported abortions in Missouri. The judge wrote that it would amount to "significant interference with plaintiffs' service and the rights of its prospective patients."
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Respiratory ailments hit in Amazon as Brazil spurns G-7 aid
PORTO VELHO, Brazil (AP) - Acrimony between Brazil and European countries seeking to help fight Amazon fires deepened on Tuesday, jeopardizing hopes of global unity over how to protect a region seen as vital to the health of the planet.
A personal spat between the leaders of Brazil and France seemed to dominate the dispute, but it also centered on Brazilian perceptions of alleged interference by Europe on matters of sovereignty, economic development and the rights of indigenous people. Brazil said it will set conditions for accepting any aid from the Group of Seven nations, which offered tens of millions of dollars for firefighting and rainforest protections.
The Amazon's rainforests are a major absorber of carbon dioxide, considered a critical defense against rising temperatures and other disruptions caused by climate change. While many of the recorded fires this year were set in already deforested areas by people clearing land for cultivation or pasture, Brazilian government figures indicate that they are much more widespread this year, suggesting the threat to the vast ecosystem is intensifying.
The effect of the fires was evident in the Amazonian city of Porto Velho, where a thick pall of smoke covered the sky for most of the day. Elane Diaz, a nurse in the city, spoke about respiratory problems while waiting for a doctor's appointment at a hospital with her 5-year-old-son Eduardo.
"The kids are affected the most. They're coughing a lot," Diaz said. "They have problems breathing. I'm concerned because it affects their health."
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AP Explains: Role of the Amazon in global climate change
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Fires across the Brazilian Amazon have sparked an international outcry for preservation of the world*s largest rainforest. Here's a look at the role the Amazon plays in regulating the world's climate:
IS THE WORLD'S OXYGEN SUPPLY AT RISK?
No. While it's commonly said that the Amazon produces 20% of the world's oxygen, climate scientists say that figure is wrong and the oxygen supply is not directly at risk in any case. That's because forests, including the Amazon, absorb roughly the same amount of oxygen they produce. Plants do produce oxygen through photosynthesis, but they also absorb it to grow, as do animals and microbes.
That doesn't mean the fires aren't a problem for the planet. The Amazon is a critical absorber of carbon of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels, like oil and coal.
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OxyContin maker, government attorneys in settlement talks
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments said Tuesday they are in active negotiations with Purdue Pharma, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, as they attempt to reach a landmark settlement over the nation's opioid crisis.
Purdue has been cast by attorneys and addiction experts as a main villain in the crisis for producing a blockbuster drug while understating its addiction risk. A report by NBC News said the privately held company has offered to settle for $10 billion to $12 billion.
In a statement, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said it's prepared to defend itself but sees little good in years of "wasteful litigation and appeals."
"Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome," the company said.
News of the settlement talks involving more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company and other players in the painkiller industry comes about two months before the first federal trial over the toll of opioids is scheduled to start in Cleveland.
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UN says 40 migrants feared drowned in capsizing off Libya
CAIRO (AP) - A boat carrying dozens of migrants bound for Europe capsized Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, with at least 40 people missing and presumed drowned, U.N. officials said, as a support group reported it had gotten a call from someone on the vessel "crying and shouting" that passengers had died already.
At least 65 migrants, mostly from Sudan, were rescued, said Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, with a search halted for those still missing. The coast guard gave a lower estimate for those missing and feared drowned, saying it was 15 to 20 people.
Gassim told The Associated Press that five people were confirmed dead, including a woman and a child from Morocco whose bodies were recovered near the western town of Khoms, around 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli. The other dead were men from Morocco, Sudan and Somalia.
Tuesday's shipwreck was the latest maritime disaster involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. One month ago, up to 150 Europe-bound migrants, including women and children, were missing and feared drowned when two boats carrying about 300 people capsized off Libya. In January, 17 died or were missing off Libya and in May, about 65 drowned when their boat sank off Tunisia.
"If today's tragic numbers are confirmed, the number of people drowned in the Mediterranean in 2019 will have reached close to 900," said Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, who gave the estimate of at least 40 dead or missing, among them women and children, based on eyewitness accounts of the survivors.
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Tsitsipas to US Open umpire in tirade: "You're all weirdos"
NEW YORK (AP) - Stefanos Tsitsipas accused a U.S. Open chair umpire of having a bias against him during a tirade in which he told the official, "You're all weirdos!"
Tsitsipas told Damien Dumusois that the cause of his bias was "because you're French probably and you're all weirdos!"
The argument came midway through the fourth set of Tsitsipas' 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 7-5 loss to Andrey Rublev on Tuesday in the first round, when the No. 8 seed from Greece appeared to be battling cramps and was slow to return to the court after losing his serve.
Dumusois told Tsitsipas it was time to play, but Tsitsipas was still reaching into his bag for a new headband and screamed at Dumusois that he still needed time to change. Dumusois responded that Tsitsipas would be penalized.
"I don't care," Tsitsipas replied. "Do whatever you want, because you're the worst."
