North America

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that his chamber would have "no choice" but to hold an impeachment trial if articles of impeachment were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I would have no choice but to take it up, based on a Senate rule on impeachment," McConnell told U.S. media in an interview.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company (Boeing) said Monday it is taking enhanced measures including the creation of a new unit to elevate its safety focus upon recommendations by its board of directors.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday asked the United States to drop its hostile policy against Pyongyang.

The key to consolidating peace and stability and achieving development on the Korean Peninsula is in the full implementation of the DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement agreed and adopted at the historic DPRK-U.S. summit held in Singapore in June 2018, Kim Song, DPRK's UN ambassador, told the General Debate of the UN General Assembly.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators set fires Monday and chanted calls for Haiti’s president to resign as the opposition to Jovenel Moïse tried to increase pressure for him to leave office. Protesters said several people were hit by gunfire, including a local journalist.

Schools, businesses and government offices were closed as protesters gathered chanting, “Down with Jovenel!”

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — As Afghans await the results of a presidential election roiled by Taliban threats, the government used its platform at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday to tell the insurgents: “Join us in peace, or we will continue to fight.”

Afghanistan was not the only country sending a message: North Korea had one for the United States , saying it was up to Washington whether now-stalled nuclear negotiations “become a window of opportunity or an occasion that will hasten the crisis.”

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The latest on the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders. (all times local):

5:40 p.m.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria says the convening of a committee to draft a new constitution for Syria on Oct. 30 “should be a sign of hope for the long-suffering Syrian people” — but it will matter only if it becomes a step out of the more than eight-year conflict.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department on Monday took its first action in response to foreign interference in the 2018 midterm elections by placing the yacht and private planes of a Russian financier on an international sanctions list along with employees of a Russian troll farm he funded to spread false information on social media.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment investigation (all times local):

5:55 p.m.

Two U.S. officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s president that is at the center of a whistleblower complaint.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal matter.

NEW YORK (AP) — Large majorities of black and Latino Americans think Donald Trump’s actions as president have made things worse for people like them, and about two-thirds of Americans overall disapprove of how he’s handling race relations, according to a new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

About half of all Americans think Trump’s actions have been bad for African Americans, Muslims and women, and slightly more than half say they’ve been bad for Hispanics.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California tour operator charged by U.S. officials with illegally ferrying information to China was a quiet and friendly man with a taste for luxury cars, a neighbor said.

Xuehua Edward Peng, 56, of Hayward was charged in documents unsealed Monday with being an illegal foreign agent and delivering classified U.S. national security information to officials in China, U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson said in San Francisco.