North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes took the witness stand Friday in his seditious conspiracy trial, telling jurors he is a patriotic American as he tries to counter allegations that his far-right extremist group planned an armed rebellion to stop the transfer of presidential power.

Rhodes mostly appeared relaxed, but at times seemed to choke up, as he began his testimony after prosecutors spent weeks laying out evidence they say proves Rhodes was behind a violent plot to keep Democrat Joe Biden out of the White House and Republican Donald Trump in.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was acquitted of all counts Friday at a federal trial in which he was accused of using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates.

The jury in Brooklyn deliberated three days before finding Barrack not guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Barrack had vehemently denied the charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers kept hiring vigorously in October, adding 261,000 positions, a sign that as Election Day nears, the economy remains a picture of solid job growth and painful inflation.

Friday’s report from the government showed that hiring was brisk across industries last month, though the overall gain declined from 315,000 in September. The unemployment rate rose from a five-decade low of 3.5% to a still-healthy 3.7%.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — As complaints about elections, many of them unfounded, pile up around the country, investigators tasked with dealing with them find themselves on the front line of defending the integrity of America’s system for choosing local, state and national leaders.

In blue states like Oregon and red states like Idaho, elections officials say investigating the complaints is critical for maintaining voter confidence. Many are dealing with a sharp increase of complaints in the runup to the 2022 midterm election after unfounded claims of rampant voter fraud in 2020.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 03 (APP): Reaffirming its commitment to the Global Compact on Refugees, which calls for greater support for refugees and the countries that welcome them, Pakistan told a UN panel Wednesday about its “unparalleled” hospitality in hosting Afghan refugees for four decades while adhering to the highest standards of protection, which continued during the pandemic.

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The United States is not in a recession, White House chief of staff Ron Klain said on Thursday, adding that economic data showed the nation's economy was solid.

"We are not in a recession," U.S. President Joe Biden's top aide told MSNBC in an interview following the release of weekly U.S. jobless data earlier on Thursday. "Unemployment claims remain at a historical low... The economy is growing. It is strong. It is creating jobs."

MEXICO CITY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The most historic legacy of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a left-leaning resource nationalist who casts his administration as a turning point in the annals of Mexico, may be to pave the way for the country's first woman leader.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a 60-year-old physicist, environmentalist and longstanding ally of Lopez Obrador who has governed as mayor in tandem with his presidency, has emerged as early front-runner to be his party's candidate in 2024, despite hints she could be more moderate than him.

HOUSTON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- As many as 24 more unmarked graves have been unearthed Wednesday in the continuous investigation of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in south central U.S. state Oklahoma, according to the city authorities.

At an excavation site in the Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, researchers uncovered 17 adult-sized graves last week, another four including two child-sized burials on Tuesday and three additional child-size graves on Wednesday, reported local newspaper the Tulsa World.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought Wednesday to strike a delicate balance at a moment when high inflation is bedeviling the nation’s economy and commanding a central role in the midterm elections.

Powell suggested that the Fed may decide in coming months to slow its aggressive interest rate increases. Yet he also made clear that the Fed isn’t even close to declaring victory in its fight to curb an inflation rate that is near four-decade highs and has shown few signs of ebbing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Years after about 1,900 National Guard and Reserve soldiers were swept up in a recruiting bonus scandal, U.S. Army investigators are reviewing the cases and correcting records because some individuals were wrongly blamed and punished, Army officials said Thursday.