Paul Pelosi released from hospital, Dwyane Wade responds to ex-wife’s objection to daughter’s name change, and more top news

Six days before major midterm elections, President Joe Biden is imploring voters to save American democracy from Trump supporters’ election-denying lies and the violence that he says they have inspired. Biden shined a spotlight on “ultra MAGA” Republicans — a reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — and mounting concerns over political violence. Wednesday night’s speech came a few days after a man seeking to kidnap House Speaker Nancy Pelosi severely injured her husband, Paul Pelosi, in their San Francisco home, and as physical threats have rattled members of Congress and election workers. Biden said this is no time to ignore what’s going on. He declared that “silence is complicity.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought to strike a delicate balance at a moment when high inflation is bedeviling the nation’s economy and commanding a central role in the midterm elections. Powell suggested that the Fed may decide in coming months to slow its aggressive interest rate increases. Yet he also made clear that the Fed isn’t even close to declaring victory in its fight to curb an inflation rate that is near four-decade highs. The Fed pumped up its key rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for a fourth straight time. It was the sixth rate hike this year — a streak that has made mortgages and other consumer and business loans increasingly expensive.

A top ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding fresh answers from the U.S. Capitol Police about security failures that led to a brutal attack on Pelosi’s husband last week. The chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, is questioning the embattled agency about whether it can keep lawmakers and their families safe. Lofgren sent a four-page letter to Capitol Police on Wednesday saying the attack on Paul Pelosi raises “significant questions” about security protections, particularly those in the presidential line of succession. Paul Pelosi remains in the intensive care unit of a San Francisco hospital.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to return to power as head of Israel’s most right-wing government ever after winning this week’s national election. The current caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, conceded defeat on Thursday. Final results showed Netanyahu’s Likud Party and its ultranationalist and religious partners capturing a solid majority in Israel’s Knesset, or parliament. The strong showing promised to end the political gridlock that has paralyzed Israel for the past three and a half years. But the planned agenda of the new government expected to take office promises to further polarize a deeply divided nation and risks antagonizing Israel’s closest allies abroad.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s apparent acknowledgment of his electoral defeat may have helped avert political chaos. Still, he has not directly conceded the race and is not discouraging die-hard supporters who have staged protests across the country and asked the military to step in and keep him in power. Meanwhile, leftist President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is facing considerable challenges. The 77-year-old former union boss will need to right a wobbly economy and confront still-formidable conservative forces in many states and Congress.

Officials close to peace talks aimed at ending Ethiopia’s deadly two-year war have confirmed the full text of the signed accord. A key question remains, however: What led Tigray regional leaders to agree to terms that include rapid disarmament and full federal government control? A day after the warring sides signed a “permanent cessation of hostilities,” none of the negotiators were talking Thursday about how they arrived at it. The complete agreement has not been made public, but the officials confirmed that a copy obtained by The Associated Press is the final document.

As Russians seized parts of eastern and southern Ukraine in the opening stages of the war, mayors, civilian administrators and others say they have been abducted, threatened or beaten to force their cooperation. In some instances, they have been killed. Human rights activists say these actions could constitute a war crime. Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said he was abducted from his office and “the bullying and threats did not stop for a minute.” He said they tried to force him to continue in his role but he refused. After six days in detention and an intervention from Ukraine’s president, he was exchanged for nine Russian prisoners of war and expelled from the occupied city.