AP News in Brief 10-27-19

Anti-government protests rage in Iraq, 7 killed

BAGHDAD — At least seven more Iraqi protesters were killed Saturday in clashes with security forces in Baghdad and the southern town of Nasiriyah, as thousands took part in nationwide anti-government protests, officials said.

The new violence brought the number of demonstrators killed to 49 in two days of protesting, according to an Associated Press tally. The semi-official Iraq High Commission for Human Rights, which accounts for violence in additional cities in southern Iraq, put the death toll at 63.

Thousands of protesters tried to reach Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to embassies and government offices. Security forces fired tear gas as protesters tried to remove blast walls from a main bridge leading to the government district. By nightfall, the security forces had chased the protesters back to Tahrir Square, a central roundabout.

“I want change. I want to remove those corrupt people who sleep in the Green Zone and who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at us,” said protester Fares Mukhaled, 19, who sat barefoot on the ground at the square, where some had erected tents.

Four people were killed when they were struck by tear gas canisters in Baghdad, security and medical officials said.

Ex-Trump aide wants judge to decide on testimony

WASHINGTON — An ex-White House adviser who’s supposed to testify before House impeachment investigators on Monday has asked a federal court whether he should comply with a subpoena or follow President Donald Trump’s directive against cooperating in what the president dubs a “scam.”

After getting a subpoena Friday, former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman quickly filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in Washington. He asked a judge to decide whether he should accede to House demands for his testimony or to assert “immunity from congressional process” as directed by Trump.

The lawsuit came as Democrats’ impeachment inquiry continued at full speed with a rare Saturday session. Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, took questions behind closed doors for more than eight hours about Trump’s ouster of the ambassador of Ukraine in May and whether he had knowledge about efforts to persuade Ukraine to pursue politically motivated investigations.

Kupperman, who provided foreign policy advice to the president, was scheduled to testify in a similar session on Monday. In the lawsuit, Kupperman said he “cannot satisfy the competing demands of both the legislative and executive branches.” Without the court’s help, he said, he would have to make the decision himself — one that could “inflict grave constitutional injury” on either Congress or the presidency.

The impeachment inquiry is rooted in a July 25 phone call Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. During the call, Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to pursue investigations of Democratic political rival Joe Biden’s family and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election that propelled Trump into the White House.

Pope’s Amazon synod proposes married priests, female leaders

VATICAN CITY — Catholic bishops from across the Amazon called Saturday for the ordination of married men as priests to address the clergy shortage in the region, an historic proposal that would upend centuries of Roman Catholic tradition.

The majority of 180 bishops from nine Amazonian countries also called for the Vatican to reopen a debate on ordaining women as deacons, saying “it is urgent for the church in the Amazon to promote and confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner.”

The proposals were contained in a final document approved Saturday at the end of a three-week synod on the Amazon, which Pope Francis called in 2017 to focus attention on saving the rainforest and better ministering to its indigenous people.

The Catholic Church, which contains nearly two dozen different rites, already allows married priests in Eastern Rite churches and in cases where married Anglican priests have converted. But if Francis accepts the proposal, it would mark a first for the Latin Rite church in a millennium.

Still, the proposals adopted Saturday also call for the elaboration of a new “Amazonian rite” that would reflect the unique spirituality, cultures and needs of the Amazonian faithful, who face poverty, exploitation and violence over the deforestation and illegal extractive industries that are destroying their home.

From wire sources

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Widespread evacuations, power outages near California fire

SAN FRANCISCO — About 90,000 residents were ordered to evacuate towns near a massive Northern California wildfire Saturday, and the state’s largest utility began power shut-offs for an estimated 2.35 million people due to forecasts of severe winds and extreme fire danger.

Two previous blackouts in recent weeks were carried out amid concern that gusty winds could disrupt or knock down power lines and spark devastating wildfires.

The new evacuation order encompasses a huge swath of wine country stretching from the inland community of Healdsburg west through the Russian River Valley and to Bodega Bay on the coast, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. An even broader area is under a warning for residents to get ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Some gusts this weekend might reach 75 mph (120 kph) or higher as part of a “historic” wind event, the National Weather Service said. The winds could lead to “erratic fire behavior” and send embers miles ahead of the main blaze, warned the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Pacific Gas &Electric said a new wave of blackouts started Saturday evening, affecting about 940,000 homes and businesses in 36 counties for 48 hours or longer. The city of San Francisco was not in line for a blackout; shut-offs were ordered for most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country to the north and the Sierra foothills.

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‘I’m dying’: Relatives await answers in smuggling case

DO THANH, Vietnam — One family received a final text from their daughter saying she couldn’t breathe and was dying. Another grieving family set up a makeshift altar for their missing daughter who paid $10,000 in hopes of pursuing a career as a nail technician in Britain. A desperate father is searching for his son, who frequently calls home but hasn’t since last week.

They are some of the dozens of families looking for any information about their loved ones following the discovery earlier this week of 39 bodies in the back of a sealed truck in southeastern England. The investigation into the gruesome case is still in the early stages, but British officials have deemed it one of the deadliest cases of people smuggling ever reported in the country.

British police charged the 25-year-old truck driver Saturday with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. Five people are being questioned by police, including the truck driver and three people who were arrested Friday on suspicion on manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. Irish police said another man was arrested Saturday in connection with the case.

Police said they have removed all the bodies from the truck and are awaiting autopsies. Identifying the victims is expected to be difficult and officials said very few documents were found with the bodies. Smugglers normally take the passports of their passengers to obscure their identities, stripping them of their names and giving them new documents when they arrive at their destinations.

Police initially believed the victims were Chinese but later acknowledged that the details were still evolving. The Vietnamese government also announced Sunday its own investigation into the deaths and set up a hotline for families.

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AP Interview: Biden undeterred by rival Warren’s ascendancy

FLORENCE, S.C. — Joe Biden said Saturday he is undeterred by the ascendancy of Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren, noting that some of his supporters are already treating the primary campaign as a general election contest between him and President Donald Trump.

“She doesn’t affect my strategy, period,” the former vice president said in an interview with The Associated Press before a town hall meeting in South Carolina, home to the South’s first primary next year. “And I’m not being facetious. I think she’s a fine person, a good candidate, but I didn’t get involved in deciding to run because of polling or a particular strategy.”

He also acknowledged that outside groups are considering running ads to support him, a move that comes amid concerns within his campaign that his fundraising efforts have lagged.

“There’s two things we know for certain: one, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be president, according to Facebook taking down the Russian ads going after me. And two, surely Trump doesn’t want to face me,” Biden said. “What I’m told is, there are people out there who want to take these ads on, take him on now, because it’s a general election, me versus Trump, in their minds right now. But I’ve had no conversations with them.”

Biden’s standing in early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire has been eroded somewhat by the rise of Massachusetts Sen. Warren and other challengers in the 2020 primary. Still, he finds himself in a strong position in South Carolina, where his support among the critical voting bloc of black voters could form the bulwark for his candidacy.

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Activists ask NBC to release NDAs, hold independent probe

NEW YORK — Activists called upon NBC Universal on Saturday to allow former employees to speak out freely on sexual harassment in the workplace without restriction, rather than having to come to the company first to be released from non-disclosure agreements.

The company said Saturday that any former employee who believes they cannot disclose their experience with sexual harassment as a result of a non-disparagement agreement should contact the company, “and we will release them from that perceived obligation.”

The statement, which was emailed to The Associated Press, was first reported Friday night by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, in an emotional segment introducing author Ronan Farrow. The highly influential MSNBC host expressed deep concern that her own company’s bosses had thwarted Farrow’s reporting on sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein — reporting which he then took to The New Yorker, where he won a Pulitzer Prize.

Maddow also pointedly questioned NBC’s failure to launch an independent investigation of both the handling of the Weinstein story and of the behavior of Matt Lauer, the former “Today” anchor fired in 2017 over sexual misconduct allegations.

On Saturday, Tina Tchen, incoming president and CEO of Time’s Up, said NBC Universal, while taking a useful first step, hadn’t gone far enough to release employees from non-disclosure agreements or other restrictive clauses. She said NBC should simply state that everyone is free to speak, without fear of retaliation.

Scandal brings election risk for rising Democratic star

AGUA DULCE, Calif. — California U.S. Rep. Katie Hill has apologized to friends and supporters for engaging in an affair with a campaign staffer, but Susan Slates still feels let down by the 32-year-old Democrat who arrived in Congress just this year.

Slates is a beauty salon owner in Hill’s hometown of Agua Dulce, a lightly populated expanse of grassy hills and horse ranchettes north of Los Angeles. She tightens her lips when asked about Hill, who in addition to acknowledging the affair with the young female staffer now is under investigation by a congressional committee for an alleged intimate relationship with a male senior aide, which Hill denies.

“Disappointed,” Slates, a Democrat, said flatly. But she quickly jumped to Hill’s defense, saying anything she did pales in comparison to what’s she’s witnessed under President Donald Trump. “I still love her,” she added.

Just across the street at the local liquor store, the reaction was far different, highlighting the deep political divide that cuts through California’s 25th Congressional District, a long-standing Republican redoubt that has recently tilted Democratic.

“It’s a bad role model for the children,” said owner Danny Hawara, a registered independent who says he’s a strong gun rights supporter who leans right on politics. He has a message for members of Congress who don’t uphold the standards of conduct voters expect: “Leave office,” he said.