North America

PRAGUE (AP) — The U.S. military has already begun delivering jersey barriers to the southern border in conjunction with plans to deploy active duty troops there, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday as a caravan of Central Americans slowly heads across Mexico toward the United States.

Mattis told reporters traveling with him that details of the deployment are still being worked out but he should have them Sunday night. They will include exactly how many forces are needed.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The suspect in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public Sunday.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Latest on a deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue (all times local):

President Donald Trump has ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the United States to be flown at half-staff in “solemn respect” for the shooting victims at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Trump issued the proclamation late Saturday, shortly after returning to Washington from speaking at the Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis and a campaign rally in Murphysboro, Illinois.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A gunman who’s believed to have spewed anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric on social media barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday and opened fire, killing 11 people in one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in U.S. history.

The 20-minute attack at Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood left six others wounded, including four police officers who dashed to the scene, authorities said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cesar Sayoc is an amateur body builder and former stripper, a loner with a long arrest record who showed little interest in politics until Donald Trump came along.

On Friday, he was identified by authorities as the Florida man who put pipe bombs in small manila envelopes, affixed six stamps and sent them to some of Trump’s most prominent critics.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, U.S. state of Pennsylvania, on Saturday caused "multiple casualties," local authorities said.

Three officers were shot at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

The gunman, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered and is in custody, police said.

Local CBS affiliate KDKA reported that eight people were killed and identified the gunman as Robert Bowers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Friday approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, likely to total several hundred to help the U.S. Border Patrol as President Donald Trump seeks to transform fears about immigration and a caravan of Central American migrants into electoral gains in the midterms.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signed off on a request for help from the Department of Homeland Security and authorized the military staff to work out details such as the size, composition and estimated cost of the deployments, according to a U.S. official.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of President Donald Trump (all times local):

According to court and other public records, Cesar Alteri Sayoc Jr., 56, has a lengthy criminal and court record in Florida. He has been convicted on theft, stolen property and traffic charges and in 2002 on a threat to “throw, place, project or discharge any destructive device.”

Sayoc is in custody in Florida in the mail bombs sent to prominent Democrats. He was born in New York.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter this year, down from 4.2 percent in the previous quarter, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Friday.

Personal consumption expenditures, which account for more than two thirds of the overall economy, grew at an annual rate of 4 percent in the third quarter, up from 3.8 percent in the second quarter, according to the department.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday a suspect in connection with sending a dozen explosive-laden packages has been arrested in the U.S. State of Florida.

"We can confirm one person is in custody," DOJ spokesperson Sarah Flores said in tweet after U.S. media broke the news.

It is yet unclear the identity and the role the person has played.