Gleeful Democrats see political wave; GOP says not so fast

NEW YORK (AP) — Jubilant Democrats across America are declaring their big election victories in Virginia and New Jersey — their first of the young Trump era — mark the beginning of an anti-Trump surge that could re-shape the balance of power in Congress in 2018. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says he can “smell a wave coming.”

Not so fast, Republicans said Wednesday. But they acknowledged that setbacks in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere on Tuesday created new urgency for the GOP to fulfill its list of campaign promises before voters head back to the polls next year. They, along with President Donald Trump, have failed to demolish “Obamacare” and now are straining to approve a far-reaching tax overhaul despite controlling the White House and both houses of Congress.

“If anything, this just puts more pressure on making sure we follow through,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said at an event hosted by the Washington Examiner. He added, “I think it simply means we’ve got to deliver.”

Whether the president’s party delivers or not, there is clear cause for concern for a Republican Party that would lose its House majority if Democrats gained 24 seats next fall.

Tuesday’s results left little doubt that Trump’s dismal approval ratings can drag down Republican allies, particularly those serving in states he lost last November. And even if his ratings show signs of improvement, history suggests that the first midterm elections for any new president often lead to major gains for the opposing party.

Puerto Rico reports increase in overall deaths after storm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The pace of deaths quickened on Puerto Rico immediately after Hurricane Maria — well beyond the number of deaths officially attributed to the Category 4 storm.

Officials in the U.S. territory on Wednesday reported the island had an average of 82 deaths a day in the two weeks before Maria hit Sept. 20. The average increased to 117 deaths a day through the rest of the month, but the rate then fell below usual in October.

“The truth is, that’s not normal,” said Jose Lopez Rodriguez, a demographer with the island’s Demographic Register. “We saw a difference, and it was a significant difference.”

The territory’s government has said 55 people died during the hurricane or later as a direct result of the storm, which knocked out power around the island.

The overall daily death figures hint that the storm could have caused other, harder-to-detect fatalities as well, though officials at the government’s forensic institute said they did not have evidence to attribute them to Maria. They also rejected some media reports that suggested hundreds of people died as a direct result of the hurricane.

Hector Pesquera, secretary of Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety, acknowledged some deaths classified as natural possibly might have been linked to the hurricane.

Wanda Llovet, director of the Demographic Register, said a total of 2,838 deaths were reported for September, a 20 percent increase from the 2,366 deaths reported for the same month in 2016. But, she said, the number of deaths last month totaled 2,119, which was down about 10 percent from 2,353 in October 2016.

Dozens of men say Sri Lankan forces raped and tortured them

LONDON (AP) — One of the men tortured in Sri Lanka said he was held for 21 days in a small dank room where he was raped 12 times, burned with cigarettes, beaten with iron rods and hung upside-down.

Another man described being abducted from home by five men, driven to a prison, and taken to a “torture room” equipped with ropes, iron rods, a bench and buckets of water. There were blood splatters on the wall.

A third man described the prisoners as growing accustomed to the sound of screaming. “It made us really scared the first day but then we got used to it because we heard screaming all the time.”

Raped, branded or beaten repeatedly, more than 50 men from the Tamil ethnic minority seeking political asylum in Europe say they were abducted and tortured under Sri Lanka’s current government. The previously unpublished accounts conjure images of the country’s bloody civil war that ended in 2009 — not the palm-fringed paradise portrayed by the government.

One by one, the men agreed to tell their stories to The Associated Press and to have the extensive scars on their legs, chests and backs photographed. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men. The strangers say they were accused of trying to revive a rebel group on the losing side of the civil war. Although combat ended 8 years ago, the torture and abuse occurred from early 2016 to as recently as July this year.

US tightens travel rules to Cuba, blacklists many businesses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans seeking to visit Cuba must navigate a complicated maze of travel, commerce and financial restrictions unveiled Wednesday by the Trump administration, part of a new policy to further isolate the island’s communist government.

Now off-limits to U.S. citizens are dozens of Cuban hotels, shops, tour companies and other businesses included on a lengthy American blacklist of entities that have links to Cuba’s military, intelligence or security services. And most Americans will once again be required to travel as part of heavily regulated, organized tour groups run by U.S. companies, rather than voyaging to Cuba on their own.

The stricter rules mark a return to the tougher U.S. stance toward Cuba that existed before former President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic relations in 2015. They come as President Donald Trump tries to show he’s taking action to prevent U.S. dollars from helping prop up the Cuban government.

Still, the policy is only a partial rollback of Obama’s changes. Cruise ship visits and direct commercial flights between the countries will still be permitted. Embassies in Washington and Havana stay open.

The rules are designed to steer U.S. economic activity away from Cuba’s military, intelligence and security services, which dominate much of the economy through state-controlled corporations. The goal is to encourage financial support for Cuba’s growing private sector, said senior Trump administration officials, who briefed reporters on a conference call on condition they not be quoted by name.

Gleeful Democrats see political wave; GOP says not so fast

NEW YORK (AP) — Jubilant Democrats across America are declaring their big election victories in Virginia and New Jersey — their first of the young Trump era — mark the beginning of an anti-Trump surge that could re-shape the balance of power in Congress in 2018. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says he can “smell a wave coming.”

Not so fast, Republicans said Wednesday. But they acknowledged that setbacks in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere on Tuesday created new urgency for the GOP to fulfill its list of campaign promises before voters head back to the polls next year. They, along with President Donald Trump, have failed to demolish “Obamacare” and now are straining to approve a far-reaching tax overhaul despite controlling the White House and both houses of Congress.

“If anything, this just puts more pressure on making sure we follow through,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said at an event hosted by the Washington Examiner. He added, “I think it simply means we’ve got to deliver.”

Whether the president’s party delivers or not, there is clear cause for concern for a Republican Party that would lose its House majority if Democrats gained 24 seats next fall.

Tuesday’s results left little doubt that Trump’s dismal approval ratings can drag down Republican allies, particularly those serving in states he lost last November. And even if his ratings show signs of improvement, history suggests that the first midterm elections for any new president often lead to major gains for the opposing party.

Puerto Rico reports increase in overall deaths after storm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The pace of deaths quickened on Puerto Rico immediately after Hurricane Maria — well beyond the number of deaths officially attributed to the Category 4 storm.

Officials in the U.S. territory on Wednesday reported the island had an average of 82 deaths a day in the two weeks before Maria hit Sept. 20. The average increased to 117 deaths a day through the rest of the month, but the rate then fell below usual in October.

“The truth is, that’s not normal,” said Jose Lopez Rodriguez, a demographer with the island’s Demographic Register. “We saw a difference, and it was a significant difference.”

The territory’s government has said 55 people died during the hurricane or later as a direct result of the storm, which knocked out power around the island.

The overall daily death figures hint that the storm could have caused other, harder-to-detect fatalities as well, though officials at the government’s forensic institute said they did not have evidence to attribute them to Maria. They also rejected some media reports that suggested hundreds of people died as a direct result of the hurricane.

Hector Pesquera, secretary of Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety, acknowledged some deaths classified as natural possibly might have been linked to the hurricane.

Wanda Llovet, director of the Demographic Register, said a total of 2,838 deaths were reported for September, a 20 percent increase from the 2,366 deaths reported for the same month in 2016. But, she said, the number of deaths last month totaled 2,119, which was down about 10 percent from 2,353 in October 2016.

Dozens of men say Sri Lankan forces raped and tortured them

LONDON (AP) — One of the men tortured in Sri Lanka said he was held for 21 days in a small dank room where he was raped 12 times, burned with cigarettes, beaten with iron rods and hung upside-down.

Another man described being abducted from home by five men, driven to a prison, and taken to a “torture room” equipped with ropes, iron rods, a bench and buckets of water. There were blood splatters on the wall.

A third man described the prisoners as growing accustomed to the sound of screaming. “It made us really scared the first day but then we got used to it because we heard screaming all the time.”

Raped, branded or beaten repeatedly, more than 50 men from the Tamil ethnic minority seeking political asylum in Europe say they were abducted and tortured under Sri Lanka’s current government. The previously unpublished accounts conjure images of the country’s bloody civil war that ended in 2009 — not the palm-fringed paradise portrayed by the government.

One by one, the men agreed to tell their stories to The Associated Press and to have the extensive scars on their legs, chests and backs photographed. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men. The strangers say they were accused of trying to revive a rebel group on the losing side of the civil war. Although combat ended 8 years ago, the torture and abuse occurred from early 2016 to as recently as July this year.

US tightens travel rules to Cuba, blacklists many businesses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans seeking to visit Cuba must navigate a complicated maze of travel, commerce and financial restrictions unveiled Wednesday by the Trump administration, part of a new policy to further isolate the island’s communist government.

Now off-limits to U.S. citizens are dozens of Cuban hotels, shops, tour companies and other businesses included on a lengthy American blacklist of entities that have links to Cuba’s military, intelligence or security services. And most Americans will once again be required to travel as part of heavily regulated, organized tour groups run by U.S. companies, rather than voyaging to Cuba on their own.

The stricter rules mark a return to the tougher U.S. stance toward Cuba that existed before former President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic relations in 2015. They come as President Donald Trump tries to show he’s taking action to prevent U.S. dollars from helping prop up the Cuban government.

Still, the policy is only a partial rollback of Obama’s changes. Cruise ship visits and direct commercial flights between the countries will still be permitted. Embassies in Washington and Havana stay open.

The rules are designed to steer U.S. economic activity away from Cuba’s military, intelligence and security services, which dominate much of the economy through state-controlled corporations. The goal is to encourage financial support for Cuba’s growing private sector, said senior Trump administration officials, who briefed reporters on a conference call on condition they not be quoted by name.