“Western Stars” was just the change of pace that Bruce Springsteen needed after baring his soul over the past few years.

First, he shared his darkest secrets in his memoir, “Born to Run.” Then he spent more than a year telling his story five nights a week in Springsteen on Broadway. So, an album set in the American West, with an accompanying documentary seemed like the perfect bookend.

“I see it like that myself, because for me, there was the book and then from the book we did the play. And out of the play really came this film,” Springsteen told The Associated Press Wednesday at the film’s New York premiere. The film opened in theaters Oct. 25. The album was released in June.

Film a concert and a commentary

The songs of “Western Stars” reveal characters experiencing love and loss, needing family and partners but sometimes feeling lonely and uncertain. In the film, Springsteen performs in front of a live audience under the cathedral ceiling of his family’s giant old barn with a backing band and orchestra.

Between each song he shares commentary and draws connections to his own life. Springsteen’s voice accompanies archive footage and home movies of his family. Several amusing scenes from their honeymoon touched wife, Patti Scialfa, who missed last month’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“I was surprised, because I hadn’t seen it in so long. I hadn’t even remembered that we did all those silly things. So, it’s actually very, very sweet. It’s really a lovely surprise,” Scialfa said.

Feeling of the West

The presence of the American Southwest is felt in the music with hints of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb and in the vast expanses of land shown in the film.

Thom Zimny, who shares directing credit with Springsteen on the film, knew they had something special.

“Working on ‘Western Stars’ was an interesting time, because it was a different collaboration. Bruce was with me from day one, and literally we knew we had something different. Because the sonic landscape of this music, the strings, the feeling of the West, we knew that was different than ‘Springsteen on Broadway,’ and all other projects that we worked with, together,” Zimny said.

Back to the studio and E Street Band

Springsteen has no plans for a “Western Stars” tour, instead he’s heading back into the studio to work on a new E Street Band record. Springsteen laughed at the notion of incorporating recent social and political upheavals in the lyrics of the band’s new music. He’s leaning toward the personal. Most of what he’s written so far “ruminates a little bit about some of the things from my past,” Springsteen said.

“I think it’s a little more forward looking than writing the memoir or doing a play,” he said.

At 70, Springsteen still impresses audiences around the world with his energetic concert performances, but equally as important is his ability to create an album and film like “Western Stars.” At some point, even the most established artists stop making new music and begin resting on their previous accomplishments, despite having successful tours.

Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau said The Boss’ approach to his craft is what precludes him from ever being a nostalgia act.

“Never gonna happen. The magic is that he’s an artist. He’s an artist every day. He’s not looking back, he’s looking forward. I mean he loves to go on tour, and he loves to play his favorite songs. He loves for his audience to hear him. But if he wasn’t pursuing new things, none of that would matter. It’s the new things that keep him young,” Landau said.

Guests at the star-studded premiere included Ralph Lauren, Clive Davis, Jon Stewart, Edward Burns, Harvey Keitel, Steven Van Zandt and Gayle King. Music mogul Jimmy Iovine said he’s not surprised by the caliber of work Springsteen is creating at this point in his life.

“What Bruce always tries to do is not compromise and do great. Everyone thinks they’re trying to do great, but deep down inside, some people keep going hard, but they — they end up compromising here and there. And this guy doesn’t. He just has no interest in doing it until he is completely satisfied with it,” Iovine said.

Offshore wind could become a cornerstone of the world’s power supply as steep cost reductions and improved technology unleash the potential of the green energy source, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Friday.

Renewables replacing fossil fuel is crucial to meet a globally-agreed goal of limiting temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius this century and the expansion of offshore wind could avoid 5-7 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions from the power sector globally, the IEA said.

Power generated from wind turbines at sea only accounts for 0.3% of global electricity generation today, said the IEA in what it called “the most comprehensive” study of offshore wind to date.

“(But) the potential is huge,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol told Reuters in the capital of Denmark — the country where the first offshore turbines were installed in 1991 and which last year produced 15% of its electricity from offshore wind.

Next game-changer?

Based on current and proposed policies, capacity is set to increase 15-fold over the next two decades, turning it into a $1 trillion business, according to the IEA.

Birol likened offshore wind to two other game-changers in the energy system: the shale revolution and the rise of solar photovoltaics (PV) and said that offshore wind had the potential to deliver similar steep cost reductions.

Birol said he expected the average generation cost for global offshore wind to halve to $60 per megawatt hour in five years. This reduction would be driven especially by bigger turbines, some measuring almost as high as the Eiffel tower, and lower financing costs.

In Europe, offshore wind will soon beat new natural gas-fired capacity on cost and be on a par with solar PV and onshore wind while in China, it is set to become competitive with new coal-fired capacity around 2030, according to the IEA.

However, Birol cautioned that large investments into onshore grid infrastructure and real political action were needed.

“If the governments are serious about their climate policies and climate neutrality they have to have dedicated policies in order to foster green technologies like offshore wind,” he said.

Emissions disconnect

While the green transition is increasingly taking over the global political agenda, there is a growing disconnect between climate ambitions and real-life emissions trends as energy-related CO2 emissions reached a historic high last year.

The U.K. today has the biggest capacity but by around 2025, China is likely to have the largest offshore wind fleet. The industry is also growing in markets like the United States, Taiwan and Japan.

Denmark’s Orsted is the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind, while Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas, a joint venture between Vestas and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, are the largest makers of wind turbines employed at sea.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday called for the release of four journalists and their driver who were arrested while covering a deadly clash between Burundi security forces and rebels from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
 
Burundi police said 14 members of the group RED-Tabara were killed Tuesday. 
 
The organization, based in eastern DRC, is headed by one of Burundi’s most outspoken opponents, Alexis Sinduhij, the government and diplomats believe. 
 
RSF said the journalists with the Iwacu newspaper “were arrested [Tuesday] at midday while trying to get witness statements from residents fleeing the fighting.” 
 
The group said the reporters were being held alongside their driver in Bubanza in northwestern Burundi. 
 
“These journalists were just doing their job by going to the scene to verify information about armed clashes … we urge authorities to free them without delay,” said the RSF’s Africa chief, Arnaud Froger. 
 
Police spokesman Moise Nkurunziza did not want to reveal the reason behind their arrests during a press conference, citing “confidentiality of investigations.” 

HRW demands release
 
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday also demanded the journalists’ “immediate release.” 
 
A Burundian journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “The objective was to prevent the presence of the media in this area, and it was successful. No other information aside from that given by officials is getting out.” 
 
A local official in Bubanza indicated the situation was still tense and told AFP a police officer had been killed by a “residual group of rebels” Wednesday evening. 
 
Iwacu, one of the last independent publications in the country, has previously reported on cases of extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests during attacks in this area of Burundi. 
 
RSF recently warned that because of the intensity of the crackdown on the media in Burundi, “there is a risk of all forms of independent journalism disappearing less than a year before the presidential election of May 20, 2020.” 
 
Burundi is ranked 159th out of 180 countries by RSF’s world press freedom index. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint Friday against a French magazine over a cover accusing him of “ethnic cleansing,” according to the state-owned Anadolu Agency. 

The filing was the latest example of efforts by the Erdogan government to restrict press freedoms in Turkey. 

The complaint filed against the French magazine Le Point’s director, Etienne Gernelle, as well as the editor in chief of the publication’s international section, Romain Gubert, was based on the cover of the October 24 issue, which depicts Erdogan saluting under the headline “The Eradicator,” with the subtitle  “Ethnic cleansing: the Erdogan method.” 

Prosecutors alleged the cover constituted an insult to the president, a crime under Turkish law commonly used to target journalists in Turkey, according to Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch, an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy for human rights.    

“The charge in general is one that’s been in the penal code for years. But it was not until Erdogan became president that there’s been a huge escalation in the use of that charge to prosecute people who are critical of the president,” Sinclair-Webb said. 

Turkish reporters are frequent targets of Erdogan, but increasingly foreign journalists based in Turkey are also facing legal action, said Nate Schenkkan, director for special research at Freedom House, an independent think tank that covers issues related to democracy and human rights. 

“I think the main point is that from an international perspective, [the charge] has no merit … from a Turkish perspective, there have been lots of these cases. I would say many have been brought as a warning or threat rather than to put someone in prison,” Schenkkan said. 

Bloomberg journalists 

In September, U.S.-based Bloomberg News reported that two of its journalists were facing up to five years in prison for a report on how Turkey’s financial regulators and banks were responding to the country’s economic difficulties. And in October 2017, a reporter working for The Wall Street Journal was sentenced to prison in absentia for charges related to a 2015 story covering the conflict against Turkey’s Kurdish minority in the country’s southeast. 

Le Point’s criticism of Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish groups in Syria is a particular area of concern for Erdogan’s government, according to Schenkkan.  

The Turkish president has been accused by some of pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing against the Kurdish population of northern Syria with its military incursion into the region, dubbed Operation Peace Spring. Critics allege that the operation is designed to drive out the region’s Kurds so that Turkey can resettle Arab Syrians in their place. 

Ankara says the incursion is necessary to eliminate armed groups that the Turkish government considers terrorists, including the Kurdish YPG and PKK. 

“I think that from the government perspective, they feel that they face unfair criticism for the operations in Syria. They’re accused of ethnic cleansing, they’re accused of attacking the Kurds … the problem is when you bring a court case and claim that this is somehow illegal,” Schenkkan said. 

‘They are panicked’

Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin previously attacked Le Point’s October 24 cover on Twitter. 

“The reason they attack our president is clear: they are panicked when their intrigues are foiled with the blow to their agents in Syria. The Kurds are not your agents and never will be. Your days of colonization are over,” Kalin tweeted in a thread containing an image of the cover on Thursday. 

And while foreign journalists based in Turkey previously have been charged by authorities for reports critical of the government, the fact that a foreign publications like Le Point was targeted directly is unusual, according to Sinclair-Webb.  

“It creates a chilling environment for all media, including foreign media,” Sinclair-Webb said. 

But Schenkkan said the case against Le Point most likely would not discourage foreign journalists working in Turkey, who are used to this sort of pressure for criticizing the government’s policies. 

“I don’t think this will change anything for them since this is par for the course. I think foreign journalists in Turkey have become highly aware of minding their p’s and q’s,” said Schenkkan. “They continue to report on things, [but] the government has laid down markers to say that we will come down hard on you if we don’t like your reporting. So it takes a lot of courage to continue doing it.” 

Mourners bid a final farewell Friday to the late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings in his hometown of Baltimore. 

Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were among those who paid tribute to the lawmaker and civil rights advocate at New Psalmist Baptist Church, where he worshipped for nearly four decades. 

Obama told the audience that Cummings was a most “honorable” man. 

“This is a title that we confer on all kinds of people who get elected to public office. We’re supposed to introduce them as honorable, but Elijah Cummings was honorable before he was elected to office. There’s a difference,” Obama said. 

Strength includes kindness

The former president also said that “I tell my daughters … being a strong man includes being kind. That there’s nothing weak about kindness and compassion. There’s nothing weak about looking out for others.” 

Clinton professed his love for Cummings and said, “His legacy is how ardently he honored his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” 

In an apparent reference to the deepening political divisions in the U.S. after the 2016 presidential election, Clinton added, “You can’t run a free society if you have to hate everybody you disagree with.” 

Cummings’ bishop, Walter S. Thomas, delivered the eulogy.  

Cummings black casket with silver trim was brought to his church in West Baltimore before dawn Friday, one day after U.S. congressional leaders and colleagues honored Cummings as his body lay in state at the U.S. Capitol. 

Cummings was the first African American legislator to lie in state at the Capitol, a tribute awarded only to presidents, military leaders and other distinguished citizens throughout the country’s history. 

His open casket was positioned in the front of the sanctuary with wreaths on both sides before mourners began filling the 4,000-seat church shortly after daybreak. An American flag folded in a triangle was placed on the left side before a military honor guard unfolded it over the coffin. 

The lawmaker’s widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, sat in the front row, flanked by Obama and Clinton. 

Attacks on hometown

In addressing the audience, Maya Cummings said it was imperative for her husband to be honored at the Capitol after attacks by President Donald Trump on Cummings’ hometown that “hurt him” and made the last months of his life more arduous. 

Earlier this year, Trump described Baltimore, which the lawmaker represented, as a “rat-infested” city no one would want to call home. 

“They were trying to tear him down, and I felt he needed to go out with the respect and dignity he deserved,” she declared. 

The solemn crowd roared and applauded as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was introduced and approached the podium to begin the service. 

He ‘worked for healing’

“It is no coincidence, is it, that Elijah Cummings shared a name with an Old Testament prophet?” Clinton asked. “Like the prophet, our Elijah could call down fire from heaven. But he also prayed and worked for healing. He weathered storms and earthquakes but never lost his faith.” 

Also attending the celebration of Cummings’ life were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar; civil rights icon U.S. Representative John Lewis; U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. 

It was not clear whether Trump was invited to the funeral. 

The Maryland congressman and civil rights champion died Oct. 17 at age 68 from long-standing health issues. 

Cummings was the son of sharecroppers and rose to become a lawyer and an elected official. He became one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful figures at a time of increasingly deep political divisions in the country. 

As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings led one of several House committees conducting an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s presidency. 

Once darkness falls every Oct. 31, American children dress up in costumes and go from house to house. Each time a front door opens, they call out, “Trick or treat!” 

The kids are usually rewarded with small pieces of packaged candy. Decades ago, people handed out homemade treats, but today’s parents worry about such offerings since they are more easily tampered with than store-bought candy.

Halloween may have evolved from spooky origins in England, Ireland and Scotland — where the Celts believed the dead could walk among the living during the transition between the seasons — but in America, Halloween is now mostly about candy, costumes and pumpkins.

At most houses across the nation, children can expect to receive Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, a mix of chocolate and peanut butter, according to a recent survey of the

The body of congressman and civil rights champion Elijah Cummings returned Friday to the church where he worshipped in his beloved Baltimore for a final farewell.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are among the scheduled speakers for the funeral Friday at New Psalmist Baptist Church, where Cummings worshipped for nearly four decades. His bishop, Walter S. Thomas Jr., will deliver the eulogy.

Cummings’ flag-draped casket arrived at the church shortly after 6 a.m. An honor guard of service members walked in the casket as people lining up to enter the sanctuary watched quietly and respectfully in the low light of early morning.

The open casket was placed in the front of the sanctuary with wreaths on either side and an American flag folded in a triangle to the left. Around 8 a.m., mourners began filling the 4,000-seat sanctuary.

“I felt like it was my civic duty, my responsibility to come and pay respects to a man who has done so much for Baltimore city, so much for the people, trying to keep us together,” said the Rev. Jacqueline Williams, 67, of Baltimore, as she waited in line outside in hopes of securing a seat inside for the service.

At dawn, several hundred people were lined up outside the church, waiting for the doors to open. One of them was LaGreta Williams, 68, of New York City, a friend who met Cummings when they were college students in Baltimore in 1969.

She said the teenage Cummings was a natural leader who aspired to become Maryland’s first black governor. She also remembers his infectious laugh, a deep, heavy roar, and his exceptional dancing abilities.

Williams said they remained friends for 50 years and often had lunch when she visited Baltimore.

“I think his legacy is that he was an honest person,” she said. “He wanted everyone to have an equal opportunity so that people could make better decisions for themselves, better choices.”

Bobby Trotter, a 67-year-old Baltimore resident who lives just outside Cummings’ district, recalled how the congressman helped quell tensions in the city after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after sustaining a spinal injury in a police van.

“[Cummings] was a man that believed in helping people, particularly people that were downtrodden. He stood up. He spoke for them,” Trotter said.

Cummings died Oct. 17 at age 68 of complications from longstanding health problems. A son of sharecroppers, he became a lawyer and elected official known for his powerful oratory and advocacy for the poor in his congressional district and beyond.

He represented a congressional district that includes his hometown of Baltimore since 1996 and most recently led one of the U.S. House committees conducting an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, he became the first African American lawmaker to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol. His casket rested in National Statuary Hall for the service and was later moved to a passage directly in front of the House chamber, where he served for 23 years.

Friday’s Baltimore service is also set to include remarks by Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as scripture readings by Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge. Cummings’ daughters, brother and wife are scheduled to speak.

Gospel singer BeBe Winans is scheduled to perform a musical selection. The choir will also perform the hymn “The Church is One Foundation.”

 

Governments have pledged nearly $10 billion toward an international fund meant to help poor nations tackle climate change, France’s finance minister said Friday.

Bruno Le Maire, speaking at a conference in Paris set to replenish the Green Climate Fund, said “it’s a great success” that he attributed largely to European countries, noting that almost half of the amount is being provided by France, Germany and Britain alone.
 
“Many countries will double their contributions and bring twice more than what they had given at the creation of the fund,” Le Maire said.

The South Korea-based fund, which provides money to help developing countries reduce their emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change, says it has nearly exhausted some $7 billion received following an initial funding round five years ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold $2 billion of the $3 billion pledged by his predecessor, Barack Obama, has contributed to a shortfall at the fund that other countries have struggled to fill.

The meeting in Paris took place a little over a month before the U.N.’s annual climate conference, which will be held in Santiago, Chile, this year.

Iraqi police fired live rounds into the air and dozens of tear gas canisters Friday to disperse thousands of protesters on the streets of Baghdad, sending young demonstrators running for cover and covering the capital’s bridge with thick white smoke.

More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with breathing difficulties, security officials said.

The confrontations began early in the morning after anti-government demonstrations resumed, following a three-week hiatus. The protests began Oct. 1 over corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services but quickly turned deadly as security forces cracked down, using live ammunition for days.

The protests then spread to several, mainly Shiite-populated southern provinces and authorities imposed a curfew and shut down the internet for days in an effort to quell the unrest.

After a week of violence in the capital and the country’s southern provinces, a government-appointed inquiry into the protests determined that security forces had used excessive force, killing 149 people and wounding more than 3,000. Eight members of the security forces were also killed.

The protests, unprecedented in their scale, threatened to plunge Iraq into a new cycle of instability that potentially could be the most dangerous this conflict-scarred nation has faced, barely two years after declaring victory over the Islamic State group. 

Subsequently, Iraqi security forces and government officials vowed to avoid further deadly violence and deployed heavily on the streets of Baghdad in anticipation of Friday’s protests. 

As in the protests earlier this month, the protesters, organized on social media, started from the central Tahrir Square. The demonstrators, mostly young, unemployed men, carried Iraqi flags and chanted anti-government protests, demanding jobs, water and electricity.

“I want my country back, I want Iraq back,” said Ban Soumaydai, 50, an employee at the Iraqi Education Ministry.

However, after thousands of protesters crossed the Jumhuriyya Bridge leading to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices, soldiers fired at first tear gas, then live rounds to push back the protesters after they removed concrete barriers in an effort to reach the Green Zone’s entrance.

“Baghdad hurra hurra, fasad barra barra,” they chanted, Arabic for “Baghdad is free, corruption is out.”

Riot police in full gear and armed soldiers lined the bridge. Ambulances zipped back and forth, ferrying the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who has struggled to deal with the protests, addressed the nation early Friday, promising a government reshuffle next week and pledging reforms. He told protesters they have a right to peaceful demonstrations and called on security forces to protect the protests.

Yemen’s southern separatists have struck a power-sharing deal with the internationally recognized government aimed at ending a conflict simmering within the country’s long-running civil war, sources on both sides said Friday.

The deal would see the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) handed a number of ministries, and the government return to the southern city of Aden, according to official sources and reports in Saudi media.

Security Belt Forces, dominated by the STC, in August took control of Aden, which has served as the beleaguered government’s base since it was ousted from the capital Sanaa by Iran-backed Huthi rebels in 2014.

The clashes between separatists and government forces, who for years fought on the same side against the Huthis, had raised fears that the country could break apart entirely.

The warring factions have in recent weeks been holding indirect and discreet talks mediated by Saudi Arabia in the kingdom’s western city of Jeddah.

An STC official in Riyadh told AFP that the deal had been agreed and he hoped the government would add its signature soon.

“We signed the final draft of the agreement and are waiting for the joint signature within days,” he said, adding that both Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and STC leader Aidarous al-Zoubeidi are expected to attend a ceremony in Riyadh.

A Yemeni government official, declining to be named, confirmed the deal had been agreed and would be signed within days.

It sets out “the reformation of the government, with the STC included in a number of ministries, and the return of the government to Aden within seven days after the agreement being signed,” he told AFP.

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ekhbariya state television said a government of 24 ministers would be formed, “divided equally between the southern and northern governorates of Yemen.”

Under the deal, the Yemeni prime minister would return to Aden to “reactivate state institutions,” it added. 

Al-Ekhbariya said the Saudi-led military coalition, which has intervened on the government’s side against the Huthis, would oversee a “joint committee” to implement the agreement.
 

Punishing Santa Ana winds that pushed fires into Los Angeles-area neighborhoods, burning six homes, were expected to last through Friday and could prompt more power shutoffs to hundreds of thousands of people.

The wind-whipped blazes broke out Thursday in the Santa Clarita area and the largest remained uncontained. As many as 50,000 people were under evacuation orders.

In Northern California, a fire near the wine country town of Geyserville burned 49 buildings.

Major fire response

The threat of hot, dry, winds driving flames far and wide was met with fleets of aircraft and hundreds of firefighters on the ground, who tried to protect homes where backyards were surrounded by trees and brush.

As hot embers flew, subdivision homes and rural ranch properties were damaged or destroyed in the Canyon Country area of Santa Clarita and in nearby Castaic.

“We know of at least six but that number may rise,’’ Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said.

Alejandro Corrales tearfully watched her home burn on a ridge in Canyon Country, taking with it her mother’s ashes, other belongings and possibly a pen full of pet sheep.

“You start thinking about all the things you can’t get back,’’ she told KCBS-TV.

Her three children were safe, and her daughter managed to take some small pets. 

“I’m just a little overwhelmed and I’m literally seeing sticks and fire of what used to be our home,’’ she said.

Power cut to thousands

In the rural areas, where at least two ranch houses burned, people rushed to rescue dozens of horses, donkeys, goats, a pig and even an emu.

No injuries were reported but fire officials say a firefighting helicopter was struck by a bird and its windshield damage, forcing it out of the fight until Friday. Southern California Edison, which cut power to more than 31,000 customers Thursday, was considering additional power cuts to more than 386,000 customers. 

The shutdowns were designed to prevent fierce winds from hurling branches into power lines or toppling them, sparking wildfires.

Bracing for more wind

By nightfall, crews reported they had slowed the forward progress of the flames but the winds, accompanied by hot weather and bone-dry humidity, were expected to pick up overnight and possibly increase into Friday, with gusts of 45 to 60 mph (72 to 97 kmph) in places, before easing off.

Unfortunately, they were forecast to increase again over the weekend in Northern California, where a fire in wine country that began Wednesday night had burned 49 buildings and prompted evacuation orders for about 2,000 people in the Geyserville area.

Among those fleeing was 81-year-old Harry Bosworth, who awoke before sunrise Thursday to find a firetruck and firefighters in his driveway. As he and his wife drove off, flames surrounded their driveway and their barn caught fire.

“I could see the fire coming, so we got the heck out of there,’’ Bosworth said after escaping to his daughter’s house in the neighboring town of Healdsburg.

The blaze in Sonoma County had burned 25 square miles (65 square kilometers), whipped up by the strong winds that had prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to impose sweeping blackouts in northern and central California. 

The outages affected half a million people or nearly 180,000 customers in 18 counties, most of whom lost power Wednesday afternoon and had it restored by Thursday evening, PG&E official Keith Stephens said.

Power line malfunction

The blackouts were instituted after utility electrical equipment was blamed for setting several blazes in recent years that killed scores of people and burned thousands of homes.

PG&E said Thursday it didn’t deenergize a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville that it said malfunctioned minutes before the fire erupted.

PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said it was too soon to know if the faulty equipment started the fire. He said the tower had been inspected four times in the past two years and appeared to have been in “excellent condition.’’

Meanwhile, PG&E warned that an even larger power outage may occur as early as Saturday and could affect portions of 33 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, wine country and Sierra foothills.

Forecasts for Saturday into Monday showed possible wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph in most elevated areas of Northern California, and as high as 75 mph on some peaks.

“We do think that it will be the strongest offshore wind event of the season by a large margin, and if models are correct, possibly the strongest offshore winds we’ve seen in years,’’ PG&E chief meteorologist Scott Strenfel said.

Chile, grappling with violent protests that rocked the capital Santiago for days, will not let the riots derail plans to host two major global meetings in coming months, Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera said Thursday.

He said there was “no chance” of calling off the Nov. 16-17 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit or the United Nations climate change conference COP25 in December.

Riots that started over a hike in public transport costs prompted days of arson attacks and looting that led to the arrest of more than 6,000 people and at least 16 dead in one of the region’s traditionally most stable and wealthy nations.

$300 million in damage

Vandals set fire to metro trains and stops, sowing $300 million in damage and hobbling public transportation. Chile’s military has since taken over security in Santiago, a city of 6 million now under a “state of emergency,” imposing curfews for five consecutive nights.

“I’m certain that under no circumstances will this come to impact the conferences,” Ribera told reporters.

Ribera said Chile’s foreign ministry had contacted each of the 20 participants in the Asia-Pacific gathering of nations, known by its initials APEC.

“They have expressed no doubt with respect to their attendance,” he said.

The protests over inequality made APEC and the promotion of free and inclusive trade “more relevant,” Ribera said. “If we want a more inclusive country, APEC is part of the solution.”

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in October said he would likely sign a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit, though U.S. officials more recently said the pact could be delayed.

A diplomatic source in Santiago told Reuters the vice minister of trade had held a meeting with ambassadors from all the APEC nations to assure them that both conferences would proceed as planned.

“From what I’m hearing in the corridors there may be some changes afoot to the APEC leaders week to make it more austere and cost less,” the source said.

A month ago, Chilean President Sebastián Pinera was praised in domestic media for his work at the G7 summit in France for acting as a go-between in a diplomatic spat involving French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over the Amazon forest fires.

Today, walls and bridges around Santiago are scrawled with graffiti calling for Pinera’s resignation after he became the first Chilean leader to bring troops onto the streets since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship.

Jorge Heine, a former Chilean cabinet minister and ambassador to China, India and South Africa, said Pinera’s stature in both conferences would be “undoubtedly” diminished.

Chile’s strength had been its stable model of free trade around the Pacific, he said. “Now Chile is not quite such the ‘oasis in a troubled region’ that Pinera claimed it was just a few weeks ago.”

‘Working against the clock’

Chile took over the hosting of the COP25 conference in December after Brazil withdrew following the election of Bolsonaro, a climate skeptic.

In Cerrillos, at a former air force base just southwest of central Santiago, workers continued to lay cement and pound nails at the conference site, unaffected by the nearby rioting.

Reuters spoke with several workers, neighbors, contractors and security guards at Cerrillos who said rioters had been thwarted by security forces amid the most heated weekend riots.

“I’d say 99% of construction workers have showed up to work,” said Daniel Cruz, a Peruvian worker. But snarled public transportation had forced some to finish early, slowing progress six weeks before the Dec. 3-13 conference. “We’re working against the clock.”

Claudio Moreno, of Chile’s Carabineros police force, said the Cerrillos metro stop, which is expected to see heavy use during the event, had been unscathed.

“No one got into the station, or into the COP installations,” Moreno told Reuters.

The metro line that reaches the COP25 site was heavily damaged elsewhere, raising questions about connecting to downtown hotels, where many attendees will likely stay.

A spokesman for the U.N. body mandated to organize the summit, the UNFCCC, said it had received “assurances” from the Chilean government. The governments of countries set to attend the two summits, including France, China, Brazil, Canada and Japan, told Reuters there would be no change to arrangements.

Major summits have previously been held in the wake of significant unrest – including the 2015 COP21 environmental summit in Paris. Weeks earlier 130 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian dismissed a suggestion by far-left opposition lawmakers that the government suspend its participation in COP25 until the violence ends.

And Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing expected “Chile’s government will appropriately deal with the relevant problems” and ensure the APEC summit passes in “a safe and successful manner.”

A wide swath of eastern Japan hit by flooding and landslides from Typhoon Hagibis two weeks ago braced for more heavy rains Friday, with evacuation advisories issued for tens of thousands of people in areas surrounding Tokyo.

At least 82 people were killed when Hagibis lashed central and eastern Japan with heavy rains and high winds. Nearly a dozen are still missing and more than 300 were injured.

Authorities warned of the chance of further landslides and flooding, especially in areas hit by levee breaks that have yet to be repaired even provisionally.

An evacuation advisory was issued for 50,000 people in Sagamihara, a city southwest of Tokyo that was hit hard by flooding after the typhoon. Six Sagamihara residents were killed in that storm, including a family swept away in their car, and two remain missing.

Evacuation advisories were also issued for some 10,000 in Chiba prefecture, just east of Tokyo, which was battered by heavy winds from Typhoon Faxai in September that left some areas without power for weeks before being hit by rains from Hagibis.

The rain was expected to pound the Tokyo area until evening and then move north. Total rainfall in the area around Tokyo was likely to range from 200 to 300 mm (8-12 inches) by evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Tropical storm Bualoi, which battered the Ogasawara islands south of the main Japanese archipelago Thursday while still at typhoon strength, was headed out into the Pacific and expected to weaken to a tropical depression later Friday.

Colleges are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws as students who use medical pot challenge decades-old campus drug policies.

In states where medical marijuana is legal, students disciplined for using it are taking their schools to court. College officials argue they could lose federal funding for failing to follow federal law that labels cannabis an illegal drug with no accepted medical use.

Sheida Assar said she was expelled from GateWay Community College in Phoenix last month for violating the school’s drug policy after she tested positive for marijuana, which she uses to treat chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome.

She was studying diagnostic medical sonography, Assar said, and an instructor had told her she wouldn’t have any problems if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card. She typically uses marijuana to help her sleep and had never been under the influence in class, she said.

“They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day,” said Assar, 31, of Chandler, Arizona. “They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal. It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”

Legal challenges from medical students

The legal challenges are coming from students studying nursing and other medical specialties who, under school policies, must undergo drug testing.

Assar and other students say they received approval to use medical marijuana from college employees who serve students with health-related needs — only to face discipline from higher-ranking school officials.

Assar said she intends to sue GateWay to recoup the $2,000 she spent on tuition and other educational expenses and seek more money in damages. Her lawyer has contacted the school, she said.

A GateWay spokeswoman, Christine Lambrakis, said that she could not confirm Assar’s status at the school and that the college continues to prohibit marijuana use.

Asked about an Arizona Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned a 2012 state law that made possession or use of marijuana on college campuses a crime, Lambrakis said the school is in the process of reviewing its policies and will not change them in the meantime.

States legalize marijuana in some form

Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., allow medical marijuana, and 11 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, creating clashes with federal law that have been playing out in courts, mostly in employment cases that have had mixed results for medical pot.

There don’t appear to be efforts by recreational marijuana users to challenge college drug policies, observers say. That’s likely because states limit recreational use to people 21 and older, excluding most college students, and because there haven’t been successful legal challenges to campus alcohol policies even though state laws allow people 21 and over to drink, they say.

States with medical marijuana laws allow use by people 18 years or older with a doctor’s recommendation, as well as by minors if their parents approve.

Connecticut case

Connecticut nursing student Kathryn Magner sued Sacred Heart University last month after she tested positive for marijuana and was barred from attending required clinical medical rounds, according to her lawsuit. She had begun using marijuana legally in her home state of Massachusetts over the summer to treat conditions that were not disclosed in legal documents.

Connecticut law allows medical marijuana and forbids public and private colleges from discriminating against students who use it. A judge cited the state’s law in ordering that Magner, 22, from Marlborough, Massachusetts, be allowed to return to the medical rounds. The lawsuit was settled under undisclosed terms.

Before the settlement, she stopped using marijuana, passed a drug screening and obtained approval to use medical pot from the Fairfield school’s Office of Student Accessibility to try to salvage her nursing career, her lawsuit said. But nursing school officials wouldn’t budge, her lawsuit said.

“Many schools disability services offices are not universally listened to by the university,” said Michael Thad Allen, an attorney for Magner. “It just shows that these kinds of issues will become more common if employers and schools don’t abide by the law.”

Sacred Heart requires students to “obey the law at all times,” but it treats medical marijuana like other disability-related requests and “seeks to provide reasonable accommodation under the law,” school officials said in a statement.

Florida case

In Florida, Kaitlin McKeon, of Naples, is suing Nova Southeastern University for expelling her from its nursing program in Fort Myers last year after she tested positive for marijuana. She has a state medical marijuana card to take the drug for several conditions.

McKeon also said school officials told her there would be no problem with her use of medical marijuana under the provisions of state law.

But after she failed the drug test in January 2018, higher-ranking officials moved to expel her, saying she violated the school’s drug policy, her lawsuit says.

“It’s really sad that Nova Southeastern … took this stance on this issue and is really preventing a really good, caring person from entering the nursing field and living out her dream because she chose a medication that’s legal in Florida but not one that they recognize,” said her lawyer, Michael Minardi.

Nova Southeastern officials said they cannot comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuits have the potential to set legal precedents on the use of medical marijuana at colleges.

In the meantime, advocates say, universities can lighten penalties so students do not face expulsion or suspension for legally using medical marijuana.

“Universities can effectively decriminalize it, de-punish it and make it not something they focus on,” said Jared Moffat, campaigns coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group for pro-marijuana laws.

Russia said on Thursday a division of its S-400 missile defense system would take part in a military drill in Serbia, underlining Moscow’s wish to keep a traditional ally on side even as Belgrade pursues links with NATO and the European Union.

It will be the first time that the sophisticated S-400s, together with a Pantsir missile battery, will be participating in military exercises abroad, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

For its part, Serbia’s Defense Ministry said the exercises — dubbed Slavic Shield 2019, aimed to simulate the “use of a joint (combat) group … in defending … against enemy reconnaissance and offensive actions.”

“Apart from anti-aircraft missile systems in use in the Serbian army, missile systems that are in use by the Russian Air Force will also be used” in the live-fire exercise set to run until Oct. 29, it said in a statement.

The exercises began on Wednesday but were not made public until Thursday.

Serbia declared military neutrality in 2006 and joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 2015, though does not seek full membership in the U.S.-led alliance. It is also an EU membership candidate and is negotiating entry to the bloc.

But Russia is vying to keep fellow Orthodox Christian, Slavic Serbia within its sphere of geopolitical influence.

Serbia, whose military is based on ex-Soviet weapons technology, has procured MiG-29 fighter jets as well as helicopters, tanks and armored personnel carriers from Russia in recent years.

The two countries have also boosted intelligence cooperation. On Wednesday, Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), told Serbian state-run RTS TV that the two countries were performing “complex mutual operations” to protect their external interests.

Serbia has relied on Russia for support in its continued refusal to recognize the independence of its former southern province of Kosovo, which seceded in 2008 after a bloody guerrilla uprising. NATO peacekeepers remain in Kosovo.

Serbia also depends on Russia for natural gas supplies and the largest local oil company, Naftna Industrija Srbije, is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom.

Nigerian authorities are commemorating United Nations Day with the official reopening of the U.N. building in Abuja. The building has been closed since a deadly Boko Haram suicide attack in 2011.

The event Thursday opened with renditions of Nigeria’s national anthem and the U.N. anthem played by Nigeria’s National Assembly guards brigade.

Then, the reconstructed U.N. building officially reopened.

Mark Lowcock is U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.

“The reopening of U.N. house today is an act of defiance against such terror,” Lowcock said. “We stand together to say that we will not be cowed by violence. We will continue to support the Nigerian people, fulfill their dreams of a future of prosperity and security.”

Twenty-three people including U.N. workers, guards, and visitors were killed in the 2011 blast. More than 60 others were injured.

Edward Kallon, the U.N. representative to Nigeria, recalled the tragic experience.

“What started as a normal working day at the U.N. house on Friday 26th of August, 2011 quickly turned into a disaster to the United Nations staff, families and some of our partners.” Kallon said. “It was indeed a dark day for the United Nations.”

After the attack, Nigerian authorities vowed to reconstruct the building and in 2012 the government approved $15 million for the project.  

Former foreign affairs minister Joy Ogwu said the United Nations and Nigeria remain committed partners.

“I want to express my appreciation to the resident coordinator, Mr. Edward Kallon and the entire U.N. staff for their resilience in upholding the highest tradition of the United Nations in spite of the enormous challenges they have faced,” Ogwu said. “The reopening of the rebuilt and refurbished U.N. house in Abuja is a great testament to Nigeria’s unflinching commitment to multilateralism.”

Nigeria became a United Nations member in 1960, eight days after its independence from Britain.

The decade-long Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria has left more than seven million people in need of assistance.  U.N. agencies are currently helping an estimated 3.8 million in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

The White House said on Thursday it is planning to order federal agencies to end their subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post after repeated criticism of their coverage by President Donald Trump.

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that the move would generate savings, but Trump on Monday said the White House would likely end its subscriptions to the papers because they are “fake,” a term he has used to describe coverage that he views as unfavorable.

“Not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving for taxpayers – hundreds of thousands of dollars,”  Grisham said.

It was not immediately clear when the directive would be issued or go into effect. The Wall Street Journal reported the White House’s plan earlier on Tuesday.

The New York Times declined to comment, while the Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has often railed against the coverage of him and his administration and singled out the two newspapers in particular.

He has made complaints about the U.S. media a regular staple at his campaign rallies.

Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel on Monday the White House would likely cut its subscriptions to the two newspapers.

“We don’t even want it in the White House anymore.  We’re going to probably terminate that (The New York Times) and The Washington Post. They’re fake,” Trump said.

It was not immediately clear how many subscriptions to the two newspapers the U.S. government has. The Washington Post offers free digital access to federal employees with a valid government email address.

Trump is a fervent reader of the two newspapers, a habit he is unlikely to break even after the directive is issued, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The order comes as Trump comes under perhaps the most focused scrutiny of his administration, in the form of the U.S. House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry.

The probe, which was launched last month, stems from a July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate the family of one of Trump’s political rivals, leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.  

Chile’s government is making more concessions as it tries to curb a week of deadly protests over price increases and other grievances.
 
President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday announced a freeze on a 9.2% increase in electricity tariffs until the end of next year, a day after large protests and riots in the capital, Santiago.
 
Pinera acknowledged that economic measures aimed at easing public anger don’t “solve all the problems,” but he described them as “an important relief.”

At least 18 people have died in violence that began after a 4-cent subway fare rise that the Chilean government said was needed to cope with rising oil prices and a weaker currency.

The protesters’ agenda has expanded to include demands for improvements in education, health care and wages.

 

The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump was “very supportive” of a couple dozen conservative Republican lawmakers who barged into the closed-door impeachment inquiry against the president the day before, delaying the investigation for five hours.

“It was great, and the point was well taken,” Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” one of the president’s favorite news talk shows. “I think this showed full support for the president.”

Trump has urged Republicans to “get tougher and fight” against his impeachment. The Republican lawmakers walked into the secure hearing room, even though some of them already had access to the ongoing behind-the-scenes impeachment inquiry spearheaded by the majority Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Thank you to House Republicans for being tough, smart, and understanding in detail the greatest Witch Hunt in American History. It has been going on since long before I even got Elected (the Insurance Policy!). A total Scam!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

The Republicans’ ploy Wednesday delayed the testimony of a Defense Department official, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, although she eventually answered questions for three hours.

“He was happy to see it happen,” White House spokeswoman Grisham said of Trump’s view of the protest. “He was very supportive of it, as he should be.”

Trump in recent days has derided Republicans who have begun in small numbers to question his Ukraine overtures or support the impeachment inquiry, describing them as “human scum.”

Grisham defended his attack, saying, “The people who are against him and have been against him and working against him since the day he took office are just that. … They deserve strong language like that.”

The impeachment inquiry is on hold on Thursday as lawmakers pause to honor Congressman Elijah Cummings, a veteran lawmaker and one of Trump’s fiercest critics, who died last weekend. He is lying in state in the Capitol ahead of his funeral Friday in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
 
House impeachment investigators are seeking information regarding Trump’s decision to withhold $391 million in military aid to Ukraine for several months while he and some of aides pushed Kyiv to open investigations to benefit him politically. It is against U.S. law to solicit help from foreign governments to interfere in a U.S. election.

Trump has denied there was a “quid pro quo” in his overtures to Ukraine and described his late July call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “perfect.”

Some Democrats said testimony earlier this week from the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, was particularly damaging to Trump. Taylor testified that Trump personally intervened to push Zelenskiy to publicly state he was opening the investigations that the U.S. leader wanted as part of a quid pro quo arrangement linked to the stalled military aid.

However, Trump, at the behest of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, eventually dispatched the money to Ukraine.

Somalia’s historic monuments that were damaged and destroyed during years of civil war have been restored  as part of efforts to revive the country’s cultural heritage.  A ceremony to unveil restored statues was held last week (October 18) as Mohamed Sheikh Nor reports from Mogadishu.