North America

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday sent "heartfelt condolences" to a Gaza family of which eight members were killed in an Israeli missile strike.

"The secretary-general expresses his heartfelt condolences to the Al-Sawarkeh family and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, and he calls on Israel to move swiftly with the investigation," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas’ top criminal appeals court on Friday halted the scheduled execution of inmate Rodney Reed, whose conviction is being questioned by new evidence that his supporters say raises serious doubt about his guilt.

The stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came just hours after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had recommended delaying the lethal injection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, but the officers have declined the offer, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The existence of the plea offer signals the Justice Department is considering criminal charges in connection with the wealthy financier’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August. The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump released the rough transcript Friday of a congratulatory phone call he had with the incoming president of Ukraine, holding it out as evidence he did nothing wrong. Instead, the memorandum shows how White House descriptions of Trump’s communications with foreign leaders at times better reflect wishful thinking than the reality of the interactions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — He was proud of his reputation as a practitioner of political dirty tricks and frequently boasted about the extent of his contacts and the depth of his insider information.

Now Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, faces a prison sentence for a collection of crimes that essentially amounts to exaggerating how much he knew, then lying and scrambling to keep those boasts from being exposed.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The decisions by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren to skip a weekend gathering of thousands of fervent California Democrats less than three months before voting begins have frustrated and puzzled some party leaders.

But they have offered a chance for their rivals to capitalize on the absence of two front-runners at the gathering that serves as an unofficial kickoff of the final sprint to California’s March 3 primary, which offers the biggest delegate haul of any primary or caucus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Day Two of public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump featured a career diplomat with a soft voice and a powerful story.

Marie Yovanovitch said she felt threatened by the president as she detailed the story of being abruptly recalled from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Then the president attacked her with a tweet, which she said was intimidating.

Some key takeaways from Yovanovitch’s testimony:

POLITICAL IS PERSONAL

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — The death of a 16-year-old boy who killed two students and wounded three others at his Southern California high school has left investigators struggling to discover what prompted the deadly attack.

Friends and neighbors described Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow as bright, funny, quiet and above all normal before he pulled a gun from his backpack Thursday and in 16 seconds shot five students at random before saving the last bullet for himself.

USA (AP) -- Ukraine is at the center of today’s east-west geopolitical battle, but it’s feeling increasingly alone and abandoned by its U.S. backers amid the impeachment drama unfolding in Washington.

The U.S. ambassador — who was pushed out earlier this year and testified Friday in Congress — hasn’t been replaced. Neither has the influential U.S. envoy tasked with helping Ukraine quell its Russia-backed separatist insurgency. The lower-level U.S. officials remaining in Kyiv are keeping an unusually low profile.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In chilling detail, ousted U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch described to Trump impeachment investigators Friday how she felt threatened upon learning that President Donald Trump had promised Ukraine’s leader she was “going to go through some things.”