North America

HOUSTON (AP) — George H.W. Bush, a World War II hero whose presidency soared with the coalition victory over Iraq in Kuwait, but then plummeted in the throes of a weak economy that led voters to turn him out of office after a single term, has died. He was 94.

Bush, who also presided during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the final months of the Cold War, died late Friday night at his Houston home, said family spokesman Jim McGrath. His wife of more than 70 years, Barbara Bush, died in April 2018.

29 Nov 2018; AFP: Global temperatures in 2018 are set to be the fourth highest on record, the UN said Thursday, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway warming of the planet.

In a report released ahead of the COP 24 climate summit in Poland, the World Meteorological Organization pointed out that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, and that "2018 is on course to be the 4th warmest year on record."

29 Nov 2018; AFP: Life expectancy in the United States dropped yet again as drug overdose deaths continued to climb -- taking more than 70,000 lives in 2017, a record high -- and suicides rose, a US government report said Thursday.

The drug overdose rate rose 9.6 percent compared to 2016, while suicides climbed 3.7 percent, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.

30 Nov 2018; AFP: An American Nazi sympathizer was driven by "anger" when he plowed his car into a group of counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally last year in Charlottesville, prosecutors argued Thursday, as survivors recounted harrowing stories of "bodies flying everywhere."

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — It’s a sign that every vote does count.

A single mystery ballot found on a precinct table on Election Day but not counted then could decide a tied Alaska state House race and thwart Republican efforts to control the chamber and all of state government.

The ballot arrived in Juneau last Friday in a secrecy sleeve in a bin with other ballot materials. Officials were investigating its origins and handling before deciding whether to tally it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will meet with top executives from Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Qualcomm next week during a White House roundtable that could touch upon some the sticking points in the increasingly prickly relationship between his administration and the technology industry.

NEW YORK (AP) — CNN on Thursday parted ways with contributor Marc Lamont Hill after a speech the college professor made on Israel and Palestine at the United Nations.

A CNN spokesperson confirmed Hill is no longer under contract. The network did not give a reason, but the move comes amid objections to Hill’s speech by the Anti-Defamation League and other groups.

CHICAGO (AP) — A man who witnessed a Chicago officer fatally shoot black teenager Laquan McDonald testified Thursday that police waved him away without questioning him that October 2014 night and didn’t even bother to take down his name.

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Reasserting himself as a leading voice in Democratic politics, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday called on the political party to work harder to convince people of all races, regions and income levels that liberal policies will help them.

“Our job is to do exactly the opposite of what Trump is trying to do. He is trying to divide us,” Sanders told scores of high-profile supporters at an intimate gathering in Vermont’s largest city. He continued: “Our job is to bring people together around a strong progressive agenda.”

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is folksy, plain-spoken, and spontaneous — perhaps too much so for financial markets, which have been roiled in advance of his inauguration Saturday.

Lopez Obrador is the first president since the Mexican Revolution to rise to prominence as a protest leader, and he sees his inauguration as a historic “fourth transformation” of Mexico, following independence from Spain, the liberal reforms that broke the church’s dominance in the 1850s and the 1910-1917 revolution.