North America

WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday added 42 Chinese companies to a government export control list over their support for Moscow's military and defense industrial base - support that includes the supply of U.S.-origin integrated circuits.

Another seven entities from Finland, Germany, India, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom were also added to the trade export control list.

CHICAGO, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain Friday proclaimed that "our strike is working," after the Big Three U.S. automakers made concessions in the negotiations this week.

"We are making significant progress," Fain said during a Facebook livestream Friday afternoon as the union's strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers entered the 22nd day. "In just three weeks, we have moved these companies further than anyone thought was possible."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday decried the “appalling assault” by Hamas militants and his administration pledged to ensure Israel has “what it needs to defend itself” after the surprise attack that drew worldwide condemnation and anger from Israel’s allies.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Amazon launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service on Friday as a rival to SpaceX’s broadband network.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket blasted off with the pair of test satellites, kicking off a program that aims to improve global internet coverage with an eventual 3,236 satellites around Earth.

Amazon plans to begin offering service by the end of next year.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has a huge head start over Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, who has his own rocket company, Blue Origin.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they’ll start shipping key components to Nevada’s desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Experts at national defense laboratories haven’t been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they’re on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 16 migrants from Venezuela and Haiti died early Friday in a bus crash in southern Mexico, authorities said.

Mexico’s National Immigration Institute originally reported 18 dead, but later lowered that figure. Prosecutors in the southern state of Oaxaca later said there had been an overcount due to some of the bodies being dismembered, and that the real death toll was 16.

Both sources said the dead include two women and three children, and that 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Iowa Democratic Party on Friday announced it plans to hold a caucus on Jan. 15 but won’t release the results until early March, retaining its state’s leadoff spot on the presidential nominating calendar without violating a new national party lineup that has South Carolina going first for 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday that he could potentially meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

“There has been no such meeting set up, but it is a possibility,” Biden told reporters when asked about the prospects of a face-to-face meeting with the Chinese leader.

Biden and Xi have not spoken since their meeting last November of the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is nervously watching a dispute between Canada and India, with some officials concerned it could upend the U.S. strategy toward the Indo-Pacific that is directed at blunting China’s influence there and elsewhere.

Publicly, the administration has maintained that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist near Vancouver are a matter between the two countries.

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (AP) — The awful smell seeped from a neglected building in a small Colorado town for days, followed by a report that made police take a closer look at the “green” funeral operator’s storage facility. Inside, they made a gruesome discovery: At least 115 decaying bodies.

Investigators were tight-lipped Friday about exactly what they found inside the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, but their plans to bring in teams that usually deal with airline crashes, coroners from nearby jurisdictions and the FBI pointed to a grim mess.