North America

Police: Kansas bar gunman caused disturbance before shooting

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One of two suspects in the fatal shooting of four people in a Kansas bar caused a disturbance two hours earlier that brought officers to the scene, but they couldn’t find him in the area, the interim police chief said Monday.

Michael York said Kansas City, Kansas, police were still searching for one suspect, Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, in connection with the shootings at the Tequila KC bar early Sunday that also wounded another five people. Officers arrested the second man, Javier Alatorre, 23, late Sunday afternoon.

Airline went into records after Max crash, engineer says

SEATTLE (AP) — Ethiopian Airlines’ former chief engineer says in a whistleblower complaint filed with regulators that the carrier went into the maintenance records on a Boeing 737 Max jet a day after it crashed this year, a breach he contends was part of a pattern of corruption that included fabricating documents, signing off on shoddy repairs and even beating those who got out of line.

Officials release IDs of 3 of the Chinatown homeless victims

NEW YORK (AP) — Eighty-three-year-old Chuen Kok, one of the four homeless victims bludgeoned to death with a metal rod as he slept on a Chinatown street, was remembered as a gentle” and “kind” man.

Other homeless men in the neighborhood who knew Kok told The Associated Press he was quiet, kind and well-known to people in the neighborhood.

Stephen Miller, 28, said he would try to give him a pork bun every day, or as often as he could.

Judge says New York prosecutors can see Trump’s tax returns

NEW YORK (AP) — With President Donald Trump under siege on Capitol Hill, a federal judge dealt him a setback on another front Monday and ruled that New York City prosecutors can see his tax returns for an investigation into matters including the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy centerfold.

After stumbles, White House aims to hone impeachment defense

WASHINGTON (AP) — As House Democrats fire off more subpoenas, the White House is finalizing a high-stakes strategy to counter the impeachment threat to President Donald Trump: Stall. Obfuscate. Attack. Repeat.

Trump aides are honing their approach after two weeks of what allies have described as a listless and unfocused response to the impeachment probe. One expected step is a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejecting the inquiry because Democrats haven’t held a vote on the matter and moving to all but cease cooperation with Capitol Hill on key oversight matters.

Trump defends decision to abandon Kurdish allies in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday cast his decision to abandon Kurdish fighters in Syria as fulfilling a campaign promise to withdraw from “endless war” in the Middle East, even as Republican critics and others said he was sacrificing a U.S. ally and undermining American credibility.

Trump declared U.S. troops would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on the Kurds, who have fought alongside Americans for years, but he then threatened to destroy the Turks’ economy if they went too far.

US's most prolific serial killer has murdered at least 50: FBI

7 October 2019; AFP: A 79-year-old man murdered at least 50 people, making him the most prolific serial killer in US history, the FBI said Sunday.

Samuel Little confessed to 93 homicides -- mostly of women -- between 1970 and 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

Although investigators have only confirmed his involvement in 50 of them, they believe all of Little's confessions are credible.

US economists more pessimistic, citing trade as major risk: survey

7 October 2019; AFP: Economists have become more concerned about US growth prospects, citing trade friction as the major worry, but recession risks have receded slightly, according to a survey released Monday.

Nearly half of the panel surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics expect a recession before the end of next year, down from 60 percent in the prior survey.

White House confirms U.S.-China trade talks starting Thursday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. officials will welcome a high-ranking Chinese delegation starting Oct. 10 for the latest round of trade talks aimed at easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies, the White House confirmed on Monday.

“The two sides will look to build on the deputy-level talks of the past weeks. Topics of discussion will include forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, services, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, and enforcement,” White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Trump says 'too costly' to back Kurdish forces in Syria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday defended a decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria, saying it was too costly to keep supporting U.S-allied, Kurdish-led forces in the region fighting Islamic State militants.

“The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades,” Trump said in a series of tweets.

“Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out,” Trump said.

Subscribe to North America