North America

CHICO, Calif. (AP) — At least 63 are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the missing after the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century.

The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and didn’t realize they had been reported missing, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He added that he was making the list public so people could see if they were on it and let authorities know they were safe.

14 Nov 2018; AFP: A federal judge will hold a hearing Wednesday on CNN's lawsuit against Donald Trump's administration alleging the White House violated correspondent Jim Acosta's constitutional rights by revoking his press credentials following a heated exchange with the US president.

The White House dismissed CNN's complaint as "grandstanding" and vowed to "vigorously defend" against the lawsuit.

14 Nov 2018; AFP: Thousands of firefighters battled blazes in northern and southern California on Tuesday as body recovery teams searched the remains of houses and charred cars for victims of the deadliest wildfire in the history of the US state.

At least 50 deaths have been reported statewide so far from the late-season wildfires, and with hundreds of people unaccounted for, the toll is likely to rise.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shortly after 9/11, the CIA considered using a drug it thought might work like a truth serum and force terror suspects to give up information about potential attacks.

After months of research, the agency decided that a drug called Versed, a sedative often prescribed to reduce anxiety, was “possibly worth a try.” But in the end, the CIA decided not to ask government lawyers to approve its use.

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) NASA is planning to launch a challenge for the public and scientific community to design a self-assembling robot with artificial intelligence that can explore the surface of the Moon, William Harris, CEO of Space Centre Houston said Tuesday.

Space Centre Houston in the US, the official visitor centre for NASA Johnson Space Centre, conducts regular public outreach programmes to engage people of various ages and diverse backgrounds in scientific research.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. analysts said Monday they have located 13 secret North Korean missile development sites, underscoring the challenge that the Trump administration faces in trying to reach its promised broad arms control agreement with Pyongyang.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Investigators are still trying to piece together what led a former Marine to open fire at a Southern California country music bar last week, killing 12 people before fatally shooting himself.

Authorities have not publicly shared what motive they think might have led Ian David Long to snap late Wednesday night.

“An investigation of this magnitude takes time, and it’s not something that we’re going to piecemeal out along the way,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Buschow said Monday. “People are going to have to be patient.”

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — The dead were found in burned-out cars, in the smoldering ruins of their homes, or next to their vehicles, apparently overcome by smoke and flames before they could jump in behind the wheel and escape. In some cases, there were only charred fragments of bone, so small that coroner’s investigators used a wire basket to sift and sort them.

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won Arizona’s open U.S. Senate seat Monday in a race that was among the most closely watched in the nation, beating Republican Rep. Martha McSally in the battle to replace GOP Sen. Jeff Flake.

The three-term congresswoman won after a slow vote count that dragged on for nearly a week after voters went to the polls on Nov. 6. She becomes Arizona’s first Democratic U.S. senator since 1994. Her win cemented Arizona as a swing state after years of Republican dominance.

13 Nov 2018; AP: The number of foreign students heading to U.S. colleges and universities fell again last year, the second straight decline after more than a decade of growth, a new report finds.

Enrollment of new international students dropped by about 7 percent in fall 2017, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit research group based in New York.