USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is confronting the limits of his main impeachment defense.

As the probe hits the one-month mark, Trump and his aides have largely ignored the details of the Ukraine allegations against him. Instead, they’re loudly objecting to the House Democrats’ investigation process, using that as justification for ordering administration officials not to cooperate and complaining about what they deem prejudicial, even unconstitutional, secrecy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has shifted its review of the Russia probe to a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday, a move that is likely to raise concerns that President Donald Trump and his allies may be using the powers of the government to go after their opponents.

GEYSERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Fast-growing fires throughout California forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes Thursday as dry winds and high heat fed flames and fears in the state still jittery from devastating wildfires in the past two years.

The dramatic fires and evacuations — near Los Angeles and in the wine country of Northern California — came against a backdrop of power shutoffs that utility companies said were necessary to stop high winds from toppling trees or blowing debris into power lines and starting fires.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A new UN study has found that a lack of opportunity is the main motivation for many African migrants trying to reach Europe.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (APP): Pakistan has told the United Nations that the people in Indian Occupied Kashmir, who are under a military lockdown for nearly three months now, continued to be denied their basic human rights, and urged the world body to take the necessary “corrective action.”

“The situation remains a blot on our collective conscience, and demands immediate corrective action,” Pakistani delegate Qasim Aziz said in speech to the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (APP): The United Nations is saying a firm “no” to hatred of any kind and will continue to focus on the real problems of people, “amid stormy global seas,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

“We are pushing for human rights and gender equality — and saying ‘no’ to hatred of any kind,” Guterres said in his message to mark the 74th UN Day on Thursday.

The secretary-general said the UN will continue to remain focussed on people’s real problems “at this time of turbo-charged change”.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year after the U.S. Vice President’s hawkish speech on China caused an uproar in Beijing, Mike Pence is expected to strike a gentler tone in a second policy address on the country Thursday, as hopes blossom for a partial trade deal with Beijing.

Pence, who frequently takes a tough line on China, could easily use the speech to harp on growing American frustration over Chinese treatment of democracy protesters in Hong Kong and Muslim minority Uighurs held in Chinese detention camps.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China is among the 10 economies where business climates improved the most, and it is on the list of top 10 improvers for a second consecutive year, according to the World Bank's annual doing business study released Wednesday.

China advanced to a global ranking of 31 this year, up from 46 last year, the Doing Business 2020 study showed. With eight reforms, China improved regulation in most areas measured by the study and implemented the most reforms in the East Asia and Pacific Region.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google announced Wednesday it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing, saying it has developed an experimental processor that took just minutes to complete a calculation that would take the world’s best supercomputer thousands of years.

The feat could open the door someday to machines so blazingly fast that they could revolutionize such tasks as finding new medicines, developing vastly smarter artificial intelligence systems and, most ominously, cracking the encryption that protects some of the world’s most closely guarded secrets.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The late Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings will be remembered by congressional leaders and colleagues as he lies in state at the Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders will speak at an arrival ceremony Thursday before Cummings lies in state at Statuary Hall. The public will be allowed to pay their respects to Cummings later Thursday.

Cummings, a Democrat and chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, died Oct. 17 after complications from long-standing health problems.