USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal government workers from the State Department to NASA are circulating open letters demanding that President Joe Biden pursue a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas. Congressional staffers are picking up microphones in front of the Capitol, speaking out to condemn what they say is the silence of lawmakers about the toll on Palestinian civilians.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is refusing to condemn Elon Musk ‘s post endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, maintaining Sunday that he wasn’t familiar with the post despite it prompting major companies to pull advertising from the billionaire’s X social media platform.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ends nearly every speech by saying he’s “never been more optimistic” about the country’s direction. But lately he also has begun painting a vision of a catastrophic future for the United States — that is, if Donald Trump returns to the presidency.

Biden in recent days has accused the former Republican president of being “determined to destroy American democracy” and being out for “revenge” and “retribution.”

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A suspect in Tennessee died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot while on the run early Sunday after he allegedly killed four and seriously injured a fifth victim during a deadly outbreak of domestic violence Saturday night, police said.

Officers found Mavis Christian Jr., 52, in his car during a manhunt following the shootings at three locations in Memphis that left three women and a teenage girl dead and critically wounded another teen girl.

South Dakota. (AP) —The leader of a South Dakota tribe is expected to declare an emergency on the state’s largest Native American reservation because of rampant crime that he said hasn’t been curbed due to the U.S. government’s inadequate funding for law enforcement.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The National Weather Service issued advisories Saturday along the California-Nevada line ahead of an early winter storm that could bring more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow to the upper elevations of the Sierra and winds gusting up to 100 mph (160 kph) over ridgetops.

The winter weather advisories, in effect from 4 p.m. Saturday through 4 a.m. Sunday, stretched from the Lake Tahoe area near Reno to south of Yosemite National Park, including Mammoth Lakes, California.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s first-in-the-nation law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs in favor of an emphasis on addiction treatment is facing strong headwinds in the progressive state after an explosion of public drug use fueled by the proliferation of fentanyl and a surge in deaths from opioids, including those of children.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 (APP): Pakistan, on behalf of a group of 17 countries, called on the United Nations to “urgently” establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians being subjected to relentless bombardment in Gaza by the Israeli military and to intensify efforts to promote a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 18 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau discussed ways to strengthen bilateral trade and investment between both countries on the sidelines of  APEC Economic Leaders Meeting here.

The meet on Friday was upon Canada’s request.

Besides trade and investment, the discussions also centered around cooperation in cybersecurity, education, trade, energy, and climate change, said Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 18 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has secured a total of RM63.02 billion (US$13.5 billion) in proposed investments in the United States (US) mainly from technology giants, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Friday.

Out of the total, RM8.33 billion (US$1.8 billion) investments were from the trade and investment mission to the US organised before the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), while the remaining investments were from the various one-on-one meetings held by Anwar here.