North America

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A car rammed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday, coming to a stop in the lobby and creating a chaotic scene that ended with police shooting the driver, who later died at the hospital, officials said.

San Francisco police said they didn’t know why the unidentified driver smashed through the front of the consulate, located on a major street across from the city’s Japantown neighborhood. In a statement, the Chinese Consulate general described it as a “violent attack.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from former coal executive Don Blankenship, who argued that major news outlets defamed him by calling him a “felon.”

The justices left in place an appellate ruling against Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy. He served a year in prison on a misdemeanor charge after he was found guilty of conspiring to violate safety standards at a West Virginia mine before an explosion in 2010 that killed 29 men.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A Minnesota horticulture teacher set a world record in California on Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after growing a giant jack-o'-lantern gourd weighing 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms).

Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, won the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, with an enormous, lumpy, orange pumpkin that could produce at least 687 pies.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — There should be no effort to impeach a liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice based on what is known now, a former justice advised the Republican legislative leader who asked him to review the issue.

Some Republicans had raised the prospect of impeaching newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she did not recuse from a redistricting lawsuit seeking to toss GOP-drawn legislative district boundary maps. On Friday, she declined to recuse herself, and the court voted 4-3 along partisan lines to hear the redistricting challenge.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More Californians with untreated mental illness and addiction issues could be detained against their will and forced into treatment under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The new law, which reforms the state’s conservatorship system, expands the definition of “gravely disabled” to include people who are unable to provide themselves basic needs such as food and shelter due to an untreated mental illness or unhealthy drugs and alcohol use. Local governments say current state laws leave their hands tied if a person refuses to receive help.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 09 (APP): Three in four people suffering from a mental health condition receive inadequate treatment – or none at all – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, as he urged countries to “break down the barriers that prevent people from seeking support”.

In his message marking World Mental Health Day on Tuesday 10 October, the UN chief underlined that mental health is vital to humanity, allowing us to lead fulfilling lives and contribute positively to our communities.

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Employees at US industrial automaker Mack Trucks voted down a labor agreement on Sunday and will join some 25,000 other United Auto Workers (UAW) members on strike, the union announced.

“UAW members at Mack Trucks have voted to REJECT a tentative agreement, and will STRIKE at 7 am on Monday,” the union posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The post said that it would impact 4,000 employees at Mack, a maker of industrial vehicles which is headquartered in North Carolina, but has manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The Palestinian group Hamas's surprise assault on Israel Saturday and Israel's retaliation have killed more than 1,100 people and focused attention on the Iran-backed Islamist group.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Iran has not yet been able to spend a single dollar of the $6 billion in funds that were unfrozen in a U.S.-Iran prisoner swap in September.

Blinken also said he had "not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there’s certainly a long relationship."

ISLAMORADA, Fla. (AP) — A 150-year-old beacon that helped guide ships through the treacherous Florida Keys coral reefs before GPS, sonar and other technology made it obsolete is shining again as part of a national effort to save historic lighthouses that have dotted the U.S. coast for more than a century.

An Islamorada community group that is spending $6 million to restore and preserve the Alligator Reef Lighthouse turned on its new solar-powered lights on Saturday to remind the public about the effort.

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — One person was killed and eight were wounded in a shooting during a private party at a Pennsylvania community center early Sunday, authorities said.

State police in Indiana County said troopers, local officers and emergency services responded at 12:35 a.m. Sunday to the shooting at the Chevy Chase Community Center in White Township, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh.