North America

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A virtual remembrance, an overseas concert and community service projects highlight the many plans for commemorating the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history on the shooting’s one-year anniversary Sunday.

The attack killed 11 worshippers and wounded seven at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — With hundreds of thousands of Californians again in the dark amid high wildfire danger Thursday, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom had a message: “I own this.”

Newsom again blasted California’s utilities — most notably Pacific Gas & Electric — for failures to modernize electrical systems. He said shutting off power shouldn’t have to be the alternative in a state that is the most technologically advanced.

But he also personalized the crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence took a swipe at Nike and the NBA on Thursday in a speech criticizing communist China’s record on trade and human rights, saying American corporations have been too willing to ignore censorship and repression in pursuit of profits.

Pence singled out the shoe company for removing Houston Rockets merchandise from stores in China after the team’s general manager angered the Chinese government with a tweet supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities separated more than 1,500 children from their parents at the Mexico border early in the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday, bringing the total number of children separated since July 2017 to more than 5,400.

The ACLU said the administration told its attorneys that 1,556 children were separated from July 1, 2017, to June 26, 2018, when a federal judge in San Diego ordered that children in government custody be reunited with their parents.

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”.