Good morning.
Joe Biden has called on oil companies to pass on their massive profits to consumers as he announced the release of 15m barrels of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve.
The president is fighting to keep gas prices in check ahead of November’s midterms. He blamed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for the global increase in oil prices and said his administration was doing all it could to keep prices under control.
“Gas prices have fallen every day in the last week,” said Biden. “That’s progress, but they’re not falling fast enough. Gas prices are felt in almost every family in this country. That’s why I’ve been doing everything in my power to reduce gas prices.”
He called on US oil companies to help. In the second quarter of 2022, the six largest US oil companies reported profits of $70bn, said Biden.
What did he say? “My message to all companies is this: you’re sitting on record profits. And we’re giving you more certainty. You can act now to increase oil production. You should not be using your profits to buy back stock or for dividends – not while the war is raging.”
Trump deposed in E Jean Carroll lawsuit accusing him of rape
Donald Trump answered questions under oath yesterday in a lawsuit filed by E Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist who says the Republican former president raped her in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room.
The deposition gave Carroll’s lawyers a chance to interrogate Trump about the assault allegations as well as statements he made in 2019 when she told her story publicly for the first time.
Details on how the deposition went were not immediately disclosed.
“We’re pleased that on behalf of our client, E Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump’s deposition today. We are not able to comment further,” said a spokesperson for the law firm representing her, Kaplan Hecker & Fink.
Trump has said Carroll’s rape allegation was “a hoax and a lie”. Last week, the former president lashed out angrily, calling the legal system a “broken disgrace” after he was ordered to answer questions under oath.
Why else is Trump in the news? Trump acknowledged in 2019 that letters he wrote to Kim Jong-un and later took with him upon leaving the White House were secret, according to recordings of an interview he gave to the journalist Bob Woodward.
Meanwhile, Trump signed a legal statement alleging voter fraud in the 2020 election despite knowing it was not true. He had been told the numbers underpinning the case were false before signing the document, a federal judge said yesterday.
Putin declares martial law in annexed areas as Ukraine pushes offensive
Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in the four provinces of Ukraine where Moscow controls territory after Russian officials warned of a Ukrainian assault on the key southern city of Kherson.
“We are working on solving very complex, large-scale tasks to ensure a reliable future for Russia, the future of our people,” the Russian president said in televised remarks to members of his security council.
The law, published on the Kremlin website, gives far-reaching emergency powers to the Russian-installed heads of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, which Russia recently proclaimed as annexed after sham referendums. Law enforcement agencies have been given three days to submit specific proposals.
The Kremlin decree also puts Russia on a stronger economic war footing. Putin ordered an “economic mobilisation” in six provinces that border Ukraine, plus Crimea and Sevastopol, which Russian illegally annexed in 2014. He said he was granting additional authority to the leaders of all Russian provinces to maintain public order and increase production in support of Moscow’s war, which is entering its eighth month. The law also limits the freedom to move in and out of the eight provinces.
What else is happening in Ukraine? Here is what we know on day 239 of the invasion.
In other news …
A “dire shortage” of cholera vaccines amid an unprecedented rise in global cases has forced health officials to halve the number of doses given to people in outbreak hotspots, the World Health Organization has said. The “exceptional decision” would allow for the vaccines to be eked out until the end of the year.
The Girl Scouts has received the largest monetary donation in its history, from the novelist and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, formerly married to the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. An announcement from the Girl Scouts of the USA on Tuesday thanked Scott for her gift of $84.5m.
A Baptist minister renowned in Louisiana has acknowledged stealing nearly $900,000 from his church, affiliated rental properties, his congregants and a charter school. Charles Southall III pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of money laundering.
China’s capital, Beijing, has increased measures to stop Covid, strengthening public checks and locking down some residential compounds after a quadrupling of its cases, coinciding with a crucial political event for the president, Xi Jinping, just as the Communist party congress entered full swing.
In the lead-up to the US midterm elections, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland travels to Indiana, the first US state to pass a new abortion ban into law following the overturning of Roe v Wade. Can Democrats who are campaigning on the issue make inroads at the ballot box?
Stat of the day: The UK’s 43-day home secretary
In the UK, Liz Truss’s beleaguered government appeared in danger of collapse yesterday as Suella Braverman launched a stinging attack on the prime minister after being forced to resign as home secretary. Braverman resigned after sending an official document from a personal email, which she said was a “technical infringement” of the rules. She has become the shortest-serving home secretary in modern political history, lasting just 43 days. The MP’s final parliamentary address in the post provoked ridicule as she attempted to blame Guardian readers and tofu for disruption caused by climate activists.
Don’t miss this: Forget marriage – if you really want to be happy, spend more time with strangers
Nothing lifts morale more reliably than talking to lots of casual acquaintances. Or, as Harvard researchers call them, “weak ties”. Research published this week shows that people who interact with a diverse “social portfolio” report greater life satisfaction and wellbeing. The researchers took a sample of 50,000 people from eight countries and analysed their webs of social connections; those with more “weak ties” had higher satisfaction levels. The study also found “social portfolio diversity was a stronger predictor of subjective wellbeing than being married”.
Climate check: High levels of ‘forever chemicals’ blamed for making alligators sick in Cape Fear River
High levels of PFAS discharged into the Cape Fear River from a Chemours plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are probably making alligators sick with autoimmune disorders that appear similar to human diseases such as lupus, a new study finds. “This really highlights the damage that we’re seeing across the ecosystem from PFAS, and shows we’re just starting to scratch the surface of their impacts,” said the study’s co-author Scott Belcher. “The idea that they’re going to be around and contaminating water systems for the foreseeable future is truly shocking.”
Last Thing: Comedy Wildlife Photo finalists – in pictures
From smiling triggerfish and a waving raccoon to two owls squeezed into a nest, the shortlisted images for the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photo awards have been announced. Whittled down from thousands of entries submitted by professional and amateur photographers from around the world, viewers are presented with a wonderful mix of hilarious wildlife. The winners will be announced on 8 December. Above, two gentoo penguins are pictured on a Falkland Islands beach.
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