The War Zone: At least three people were killed today in Kyiv when Russia attacked with explosive Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones.

  Russia continues to attack civilian and infrastructure targets. The mayor of Kyiv  said that a young couple expecting a child were among the dead. Ukraine claims to have shot down dozens of the attacking drones.

 Several strikes hit the Russian region of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border yesterday, an important supply route and staging area for the Russian army. Ukraine, in keeping with policy, issued no statement and did not claim responsibility.  

  Also in the Belgorod region over the weekend, two men opened fire on Russian soldiers at a training camp, killing 11 and wounding 15. The two assailants were killed by return fire. The Russian Defense Ministry called the episode a terrorist attack. State media said the two men were from a former Soviet nation and had killed fellow soldiers at a firing range.  

  The incident seems to be connected to Vladimir Putin’s callup less than a month ago of  220,000 draftees. Already the conscripts are being killed and captured in combat. The Moscow Times reportson a St. Petersburg lawyer who was drafted four days after Vladimir Putin announced his “partial mobilization” and was dead at the front 10 days later.

  Stories have leaked out that the draftees in some cases have to provide their own equipment because the army doesn’t have it. Putin has admitted that in some cases training lasts only 10 days, but even that seems to be a stretch. The press in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region reported the deaths of three local men 10 days after they were drafted. 

China Syndrome: On the brink of claiming his third term as China’s leader, Xi Jinping renewed his demand that the independent island of Taiwan must come under China’s rule either peacefully, or by force, which he said might be needed to ward off foreign intervention, primarily, the US.  

  Xi presented himself to China’s communist party elite as the man whose hard-nosed leadership saved the country from the ravages of the Covid pandemic and is now focused on defending from global threats.

Politics: The NY Times reports that 49 percent of likely voters say they plan to vote on November 8^thfor a Republican to represent them in Congress, and 45 percent plan to vote for a Democrat.

  The Times says that despite the fight over abortion rights, women are moving over to the Republican side. And the paper reports that disapproval of President Biden is hurting his party.

  An increasing number of voters told Times pollsters that economic concerns are influencing their vote.

Econ 101: Britain’s new finance minister has dropped almost all the new tax-cut plans that put the stock market and economy in turmoil shortly after the country’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss took office.

  Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt — that’s the finance minister — also said he would end the government’s cap on energy prices by next April.

Not Funny: Two Black comedians stopped by the police in separate incidents and questioned at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are suing, claiming they were the targets of racial profiling.

  In April 2021, Eric André was stopped on the jetway boarding a flight to Los Angeles and asked whether he was carrying or selling drugs. The same thing happened months earlier to Clayton English.

  André said in a press conference, “Police officers came out of nowhere in like, almost like an ambush style and started, singled me out. I was the only person of color on the jet bridge at the time.” He said, “They singled me out. They asked me if I was selling drugs, transporting drugs, what kind of drugs I have on me.” 

  The Clayton County Police Department issued a statement saying André “voluntarily provided the investigators information.”

  The lawsuit argues that when you are Black and singled out by the police, there’s no such thing as “voluntary” cooperation.

 The Obit Page: Robert Toll, who with his brother Bruce popularized the big cookie cutter houses for the middle class that became known as “McMansions,” has died at age 81.

  The Toll Brothers company in the late 1960s sold their first 20 houses for $17,490 each. Today the average price of a Toll home is $1.04 million. Company earnings last year were $833.6 million on revenues of $8.4 billion.

  Toll has been described as a generous man who dedicated much of his fortune to philanthropy. But he also kept a pitchfork in his office that he used to wield during meetings with company executives.

The Spin Rack: Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has relented and said he will continue to let the Ukraine military use his Starlink satellite system for free. — The Alaska snow crab fishing season has been canceled for the first time because billions of the crustaceans have disappeared from the chilly and treacherous waters of the Bering Sea. The number has fallen below the regulatory limit. — Arizona Republican Kari Lake, a 2020 election denier, refused in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash to say she would accept the results in her own race for governor. “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” Lake said. Asked a second time, she gave the same answer. — For the first time, starting today, adults with mild to moderate hearing loss can buy hearing aids over the counter without a prescription. — Two young anti-oil protesters at London’s National Gallery on Saturday threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers,” then glued their hands to the wall. The two women were charged with criminal damage and the gallery said the painting was unharmed. 

  Okay, if you really need to know, it was Heinz tomato soup. 

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