USA

WASHINGTON, November 17. /TASS/: US has introduced sanctions against Cuban Interior Minister Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated on Twitter on Saturday.

"Under Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo, Cuba’s Interior Ministry has engaged in gross violations of #HumanRights in Venezuela, arbitrarily arrested thousands of Cuban citizens, and unlawfully detained 100+ political prisoners. Today we hold him accountable," he wrote.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Five members of a family, including three children, were killed in a shooting incident at a home in Southern California Saturday morning, local police said. The suspect is believed to be among the dead.

According to the local San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, the homicide incident occurred in Paradise Hill, a city located 35 kilometers north of U.S.-Mexico border. Police said they took the first 911 call at 6:49 a.m. local time and when they arrived on scene, they found several people suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the Democratic presidential candidates (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

The farm workers union started by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta has endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president.

United Farm Workers announced its endorsement of Harris on Saturday at the California Democratic Party’s fall convention. It was a needed home-state boost for Harris as her presidential bid struggles in Iowa, the state where she’s focused many of her resources.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he was just exercising his right to free speech. Democrats said he was intimidating a witness.

Whichever is the case, Trump’s Twitter assault on an ex-ambassador’s record came with a heavy dose of distortion.

He portrayed her, in a few choice words, as a wrecking ball in every country where she served U.S. interests in a long diplomatic career that has spanned danger zones and emerging democracies.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Andrew offered a detailed rebuttal Saturday to claims he had sex with a woman who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, providing an alibi for one of the alleged encounters and questioning the authenticity of a well-known photograph that shows him posing with the woman.

In a rare interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew categorically denied having sex with the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, saying, “It didn’t happen.”

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Bernie Sanders was greeted with booming cheers at a gathering of California Democrats Saturday, underscoring his popularity with the party’s liberal base as he looks to capture the biggest prize in the presidential primary season next year.

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump spent more than two hours at Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday for what the White House said were medical tests as part of his annual physical.

The appointment wasn’t on Trump’s weekend public schedule, and his last physical was in February. Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the 73-year-old president was “anticipating a very busy 2020” and wanted to take advantage of “a free weekend” in Washington to begin portions of his routine checkup.

USA (AP) --- Six men have been charged after a shooting at a New Jersey high school football game that critically wounded a 10-year-old boy and sent players and the packed crowd fleeing in panic.

Ibn Abdullah, 27, was the target of the Friday night shooting and was charged because a gun was found on him when emergency responders went to his aid, authorities said. He is in stable condition and will be undergoing surgery.

The 10-year-old remained in critical condition Saturday. A 15-year-old boy was treated for a graze wound.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gordon Sondland, President Donald Trump’s emissary to the European Union, had a message when he met with a top Ukrainian official.

Sondland said vital U.S. military assistance to Ukraine might be freed up if the country’s top prosecutor “would go to the mike and announce that he was opening the Burisma investigation,” a U.S. official told lawmakers. Burisma is the gas company in Ukraine where Democrat Joe Biden’s son Hunter served on the board.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has stunned Republicans again, narrowly winning a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor and handing Donald Trump another gubernatorial loss this year.

In the heart of Trump country, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support with his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues to defeat Republican businessman Eddie Rispone.