North America

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Northern California groundskeeper said Wednesday that he will accept a judge’s reduced verdict of $78 million against Monsanto after a jury found the company’s weed killer caused his cancer.

DeWayne Johnson’s attorney formally informed the San Francisco Superior Court that he would not contest the judge’s decision to reduce a jury’s original $289 million award.

Johnson could have demanded a new trial.

NEW YORK (AP) — CNN isn’t commenting about Don Lemon’s statement that white men represent the biggest terrorist threat in the country.

Lemon’s statement, on his show Monday, attracted criticism in conservative circles. He was talking about the negative attention given to a caravan of potential refugees in Central America. Meanwhile, white men are the suspects in recent shootings of two blacks in Kentucky and at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hundreds of Google engineers and other workers are expected to walk off the job Thursday morning to protest the internet company’s lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct.

It is the latest expression of a backlash against men’s exploitation of female subordinates in a business, entertainment and politics. In Silicon Valley, women also are becoming fed up with the male-dominated composition of the technology industry’s workforce — a glaring imbalance that critics say fosters unsavory behavior akin to a college fraternity house.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could reach 15,000 — roughly double the number the Pentagon said it currently plans for a mission whose dimensions are shifting daily.

The Pentagon says “more than 7,000” troops were being sent to the southwest border to support the Customs and Border Protection agents. Officials said that number could reach a maximum of about 8,000 under present plans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of U.S. troops to stop an “invasion” of migrants. Tent cities for asylum seekers. An end for the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

With his eyes squarely on next Tuesday’s elections, President Donald Trump is rushing out hardline immigration declarations, promises and actions as he tries to mobilize supporters to retain Republican control of Congress. His own campaign in 2016 concentrated on border fears, and that’s his final-week focus in the midterm fight.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Their anger is all over social media for the whole world to see, with rants about minorities, relationships gone bad or paranoid delusions about perceived slights.

The perpetrators of mass shootings often provide a treasure trove of insight into their violent tendencies, but the information is not always seen by law enforcement until after the violence is carried out. In addition, rants and hate speech rarely factor into whether someone passes a background check to buy guns.

UN, October 31. /TASS/. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to UN Security Council members that he had decided to appoint Norwegian diplomat Geir Pedersen as his new special envoy for Syria, diplomatic sources told TASS.

According to the sources, the secretary general delivered the news in a letter to UN Security Council members.

"In taking this decision, I have consulted broadly, including with the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic," reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by TASS.

WASHINGTON, October 31. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump will listen to the advice of his administration’s members before making the final decision on whether to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Just a week ahead of U.S. midterm elections, President Donald Trump stated that he has been thinking of ending birthright citizenship with an executive order.

The move has been an effort to appeal to Trump's constituents who list illegal immigration as a top concern, experts said, calling it unconstitutional.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — U.S. Attorney Scott Brady says federal prosecutors are seeking approval to pursue the death penalty against Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers.

Brady says he has begun the process to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ approval as required by law to pursue a capital case against Bowers.

Brady says multiple search warrants have been issued in the investigation of Bowers, a long-haul trucker who worked as an independent contractor.