COLOMBO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives government Saturday formally requested India to withdraw its military personnel from the Island nation, according to information from Male.

The request was made by the new President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, during his meeting with a representative of the Indian government.

"At the meeting, President Muizzu had formally requested Government of India to withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives," a statement issued by the office of the Maldives President said.

VOORBURG, Netherlands (AP) — Cans of fish, jars of pasta sauce and bags of beans are stacked in blue crates. Meat, dairy and bread are kept cold in a huge freezer and a walk-in refrigerator in this affluent Dutch town. The supplies are on hand to feed the new poor in one of the richest nations in the world.

Needy families are lining up for free handouts at food banks across the Netherlands, underscoring how poverty is taking root even in lower middle-class families and why tackling it has become a major theme in next Wednesday’s parliamentary election.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will campaign Saturday in west-central Iowa as part of his fall push to sign up supporters and volunteers ahead of the state’s leadoff caucuses, now less than two months away.

Trump is expected to headline an organizing rally in Fort Dodge, a GOP-leaning hub, the latest in a series of targeted regional stops aimed at seizing on the large crowds the former president draws to press attendees to commit to voting for him on Jan. 15.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sometimes it can be easy to forget that President Joe Biden’s original foreign policy priority was reasserting American influence in Asia.

After all, that was before Russian tanks tried to blitz Ukraine, and before Israel and Hamas descended into a fresh round of bloody fighting. With each new crisis, it appeared that Asia was slipping further down the presidential to-do list.

PHOENIX (AP) — No Labels, a political organization that has alarmed some Democrats with talk of launching a third-party presidential candidate, has contemplated requiring a donation of at least $100 in order to cast a ballot at the group’s upcoming nominating convention, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Friday found that former President Donald Trump engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol but rejected an effort to keep him off the state’s primary ballot because it’s unclear whether a Civil War-era Constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from public office applies to the presidency.

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 (AP) — President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged Friday to work side-by-side to confront illicit fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. and to manage the growing number of migrants traveling north to the border between their nation.

“Nothing is beyond our reach in my view if Mexico and the United States stand together and work together,” Biden said.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members on Friday focused on interconnectedness and building inclusive and resilient economies in their meeting in San Francisco.

"Over the last few days we've worked together to build resilient, sustainable economies. And we talked about the progress that requires partnerships," U.S. President Joe Biden said at the second-day meeting.

"Together we laid out the work we're undertaking to avert the worst impacts of climate crisis," said Biden, who chaired the meeting.

San Francisco, Calif (AP) —ChatGPT-maker Open AI said Friday it has pushed out its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman after a review found he was “not consistently candid in his communications” with the board of directors.

“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the artificial intelligence company said in a statement.

MANAMA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Jordan's foreign minister said on Saturday that he did not understand how Israel's goal of obliterating the Palestinian militant group Hamas it is fighting in Gaza could be achieved.

"Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There's a lot of military people here, I just don't understand how this objective can be realized," said Ayman Safadi.

Nov 17 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday condemned Elon Musk's endorsement of what it called a "hideous" antisemitic conspiracy theory on X, while major U.S. companies including Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) and NBCUniversal parent Comcast (CMCSA.O) paused their advertisements on his social media site.

Musk on Wednesday agreed with a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the user who referenced the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory was speaking "the actual truth."