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On this version of Hot off the Wire:

» About 13,000 U.S. auto workers have stopped making vehicles and headed for the picket lines. Their leaders have been unable to bridge a giant gap between United Auto Workers union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay.

» After days of torrential rain, flooding, sinkholes and tornadoes, New England is about to face Hurricane Lee.

» A federal indictment says Hunter Biden lied on a form required for every gun purchase when he bought a Colt Cobra Special while he was a drug user.

» The Justice Department is challenging efforts by ex-President Donald Trump to disqualify the Washington judge presiding over the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

» North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has peered into the cockpit of Russia’s most advanced fighter jet at an aircraft factory on his extended visit to the country.

» The Eagles outscore the Vikings, the Rays and Rangers move closer to first place and the Brewers widen their division gap.

» About half of Americans have little or no confidence that the Justice Department is handling its investigation into Hunter Biden in a fair and nonpartisan way. And 1 in 3 are highly concerned about whether President Joe Biden may have committed wrongdoing related to his son’s business dealings, according to a poll by The Associate Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

» House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is telling fellow Republicans threatening to oust him: Go ahead and try. The embattled GOP leader was angry and frustrated during a closed door meeting Thursday.

» The Wisconsin Senate has voted to fire the state’s top elections official as misinformation about the 2020 election influences elections administration in the battleground state. Democrats say the vote on Thursday to oust nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe was held improperly, and will go to court.

» The Libyan Red Crescent aid organization says that the death toll from floods in the eastern Libyan city of Derna has soared to 11,300.

» The United States is sanctioning more than 150 businesses and individuals as it tries to crack down on evasion and deny Russia access to technology, money and financial channels that fuel Moscow's war in Ukraine.

» Authorities says the luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer has been successfully pulled free three days after running aground in Greenland with 206 people on board.

» Bad news if you’re looking forward to new episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy� and “Law & Order� airing anytime soon. Many of your favorite TV shows will not be back this fall because of the strikes by Hollywood actors and screenwriters.

» The NBA has taken steps to try to ensure that its star players appear in more games, particularly nationally televised matchups and the in-season tournament that is being added this year.

» The Washington Nationals are giving Mike Rizzo a chance to finish what he started as the team’s longtime president of baseball operations and general manager. The club has signed Rizzo to a multiyear extension.