USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2016, Donald Trump blew through the guardrails of American politics. In his bid for reelection, he’s poised to blow them up.

This time around, he’s aided by the power of the presidency, with its unmatched megaphone and resources. And his latest provocation — prodding a foreign leader to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden — suggests he sees little issue using his office for his personal political interests.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump goes before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to try to square his “America First” approach to foreign policy with his administration’s hope for a multi-national response to Iran’s escalating aggression.

While Trump wants allies to join the U.S. in further isolating Iran, he also seems to be holding to his go-it-alone strategy of using economic sanctions to pressure Tehran to give up its nuclear program and stop attacks that are rattling the Middle East.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s largest utility cut power to 24,000 northern customers Monday evening as fall brings back dangerous weather conditions and the company tries to head off wildfires sparked by electrical equipment.

The utility shut down power to areas of Butte, Nevada and Yuba counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The power will remain off until conditions are safer, and PG&E warned that it might expand the precautionary outages on Tuesday to El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties if gusty winds and hot, dry weather continue.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Britain, France and Germany joined the United States on Monday in blaming Iran for attacks on key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, but the Iranian foreign minister pointed to claims of responsibility by Yemeni rebels and said: “If Iran were behind this attack, nothing would have been left of this refinery.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities said Monday they arrested an Army soldier who they accused of discussing with an FBI informant a possible bomb attack within the United States as well as the targeting of left-leaning activists and a media organization.

Jarrett William Smith, a 24-year-old private first class infantry soldier from South Carolina stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was arrested Saturday and later charged with one count of sharing bomb-making instructions online.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck near Puerto Rico late Monday, rousing and scaring many from their sleep in the U.S. territory.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 49 miles (79 kilometers) off the island’s northwest coast at a shallow depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers). Three aftershocks, of magnitude 4.7 and 4.6, hit within less than an hour in the same region at the same depth.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump made his political priorities clear Monday within an hour of arriving at the United Nations for a three-day visit: He breezed by a major climate change summit to focus instead on religious persecution, an issue that resonates with his evangelical supporters.

The climate summit, a centerpiece of this year’s U.N. schedule, was not on Trump’s agenda at all. But he stopped in to observe for about 15 minutes before heading to what he saw as the main event, a meeting on protecting religious freedom.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ordered his staff to freeze nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine a few days before a phone call in which he pressured the Eastern European nation’s leader to investigate the family of political rival Joe Biden, a new revelation that comes as more Democrats move toward impeachment proceedings.

Trump’s order was first reported by The Washington Post and was confirmed to The Associated Press by two people familiar with but not authorized to discuss private conversations. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

UNITED NATIONS, September 23. /TASS/: The commission probing into rumored air strikes in Syria’s Idlib must take into account the evidence Russia has provided concerning the real condition of the humanitarian facilities, Russia’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, told TASS in an interview ahead of the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week.

23 Sep 2019; MEMO: US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that he would like to get NATO ally Turkey back in a joint manufacturing program for F-35 fighter jets, from which it was expelled in July, Reuters reports.