North America

RICHMOND, Va (AP) — Former President Barack Obama offered a sharp rebuke of the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, as he encouraged voters on Saturday to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the closely watched race.

Obama accused Youngkin of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called “lies and conspiracy theories” about widespread voting fraud in the 2020 elections. Former President Donald Trump has continued to push the false narrative about election fraud, which fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film “Rust” began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 (APP): A Chinese minister Friday brushed aside Indian concerns over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying it is an economic cooperation project, not related to any third party.

“It (CPEC) is not related to their (Indian) sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Dai Dongchang, China’s Minister of Transport, said in response to the objections voiced by an Indian delegate at the virtual briefing on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Transport for Global Development.

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A senior al-Qaeda leader was killed in a US drone strike in Syria, the Pentagon said.

  The Friday strike comes two days after a base in southern Syria, used by the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group, was assaulted.

  “A US airstrike today (Friday) in northwest Syria killed senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar,” said Central Command spokesman Army Major John Rigsbee in a statement.

  There were no known casualties from the strike, he said, adding it was conducted using an MQ-9 aircraft.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Rick strengthened into a hurricane on Saturday off Mexico's Pacific coast and is expected to gain force throughout the day, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Rick was moving north-northwest at about 7 miles (11 km) per hour with maximum sustained winds near 80 miles (130 km) per hour and strong gusts. The storm was located 205 miles (335 km) south of the beach city of Zihuatanejo in Guerrero state.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday discussed cooperation in the Sahel and Indo-Pacific regions and agreed to meet in Rome later this month, said the White House.

Biden and Macron in a phone conversation discussed efforts to support stability and security in the Sahel, enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and enable a more capable European defense, according to a White House statement.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Rates of gun violence in the United States surged by almost a third during last year's COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published Thursday in Scientific Reports.

Researchers identified around 51,000 incidents of gun violence across the United States during the 13-month period of the pandemic, from March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, up from nearly 39,000 during the preceding 13-month period.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 80 countries opposed the interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights at the Third Committee of the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Thursday.

During the meeting, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, resolutely refuted the unfounded accusations against China which were launched by a few countries, including the United States and France.

He expressed China's firm opposition, and later held a press conference on China's position on human rights issues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is welcoming tens of thousands of Afghans airlifted out of Kabul but has disclosed little publicly about a small group who remain overseas: dozens who triggered potential security issues during security vetting and have been sent to an American base in the Balkan nation of Kosovo.

22 Oct 2021; MEMO: Saudi authorities must stop the arbitrary detention of Palestinians "immediately", the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said yesterday.