USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hailed it as a great day for civilization, but the agreement hammered out Thursday in Ankara between U.S. and Turkish leaders spawned more questions than answers.

The deal calls for a five-day pause in fighting between Turkish and Kurdish fighters and puts at least a temporary halt to the battle along the Syrian border. It also gives the Turks the 20-mile-deep safe zone in Syria that leaders in Ankara have sought for months. But what it means for U.S. forces currently withdrawing from Syria remained unclear.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump tweeted it as evidence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s weakness. Pelosi raised it as a banner of strength.

The dramatic official White House photograph shows Pelosi standing and pointing at the seated president across the Cabinet Room table. Although the two are separated by only a few feet, the space illustrated a yawning divide and chronicled in a flash the state of a nation convulsed by impeachment, the prominence of women in politics and the 2020 election.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers voted Thursday to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, which has become synonymous with violence and neglect, and replace it with four smaller jails intended to be more modern and humane.

The City Council voted 36-13 to replace the complex with four smaller jails located closer to the city’s main courthouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.

Rikers is scheduled to shutter by 2026, ending a decadeslong run as one of the world’s largest jails.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the European Union told House impeachment investigators Thursday that President Donald Trump instructed him and other envoys to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on Ukraine policy and that he was “disappointed” by the directive. Gordon Sondland spoke to lawmakers for around 10 hours.

DALLAS (AP) — President Donald Trump tried to turn impeachment rancor into a political rallying cry Thursday, using a Texas rally to bash Democrats as “crazy” and unpatriotic as they push forward with their investigations.

Setting a dire tone, Trump told his supporters, “At stake in this fight is the survival of American democracy itself.”

“Don’t kid yourselves,” he said of the Democrats, “I really don’t believe anymore that they love our country.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his Miami golf resort host next year’s Group of Seven summit became a reality Thursday, sparking an outcry from critics who called it the most blatant example yet of him using the power of his office to boost his business empire.

“There are folks who will never get over the fact that it’s a Trump property, but we’re still going to go there,” acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said in announcing Trump National Doral as host. “It’s not the only place. It’s the best place.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, a shifting new explanation about events at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

The Thursday admission from acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney undercut the president’s position that there was no quid pro quo during Trump’s phone call with the Ukraine president that sparked the House investigation.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 (APP): UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for redoubling of efforts to eradicate poverty it in its entirety to ensure a sustainable future for all.

“Ending extreme poverty is at the heart of the world’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build a sustainable future for all,” he said in his message for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (APP): India violated United Nations resolutions as well as bilateral agreements with Pakistan when it annexed occupied Kashmir more than two months ago and brought in thousands of additional Indian troops to clampdown on the disputed state, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said, and reiterated his call on the world body to intervene.

WASHINGTON, October 17. /TASS/: The United States will consider its campaign to counter the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), but will act from beyond the Syrian territory, a high-ranking US Department of Defense official told reporters.

"The Defeat-ISIS campaign will continue," the official, who wished to be anonymous, said in a publication posted on the Pentagon’s official website. "We have significant assets and personnel as well as coalition capabilities throughout the region that will continue to prosecute that campaign."