AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Wind-whipped fires rage across California as lights go out

GEYSERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Fast-growing fires throughout California forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes Thursday as dry winds and high heat fed flames and fears in the state still jittery from devastating wildfires in the past two years.

The dramatic fires and evacuations — near Los Angeles and in the wine country of Northern California — came against a backdrop of power shutoffs that utility companies said were necessary to stop high winds from toppling trees or blowing debris into power lines and starting fires.

The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., warned that more widespread blackouts this weekend were expected to shut power across much of the San Francisco Bay Area. It would be the third major outage this month.

Officials said they did not yet know how many homes had burned in the state, and that no immediate injuries were reported. It is not clear how any of the blazes began.

In Southern California, two fires rolled along the parched foothills north of Los Angeles, forcing at least 40,000 people to flee neighbourhoods where thousands of homes have sprung up in recent decades.

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AP source: DOJ review of Russia probe now a criminal inquiry

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has shifted its review of the Russia probe to a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday, a move that is likely to raise concerns that President Donald Trump and his allies may be using the powers of the government to go after their opponents.

The revelation comes as Trump is already facing scrutiny about a potential abuse of power, including a House impeachment inquiry examining whether he withheld military aid in order to pressure the president of Ukraine to launch an investigation of former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The person who confirmed the criminal investigation was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

It is not clear what potential crimes are being investigated, but the designation as a formal criminal investigation gives prosecutors the ability to issue subpoenas, potentially empanel a grand jury and compel witnesses to give testimony and bring federal criminal charges.

The Justice Department had previously considered it to be an administrative review, and Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to lead the inquiry into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. It’s not clear when Durham’s inquiry shifted to a criminal investigation.

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Trump confronts the limits of impeachment defence strategy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is confronting the limits of his main impeachment defence.

As the probe hits the one-month mark, Trump and his aides have largely ignored the details of the Ukraine allegations against him. Instead, they’re loudly objecting to the House Democrats’ investigation process, using that as justification for ordering administration officials not to co-operate and complaining about what they deem prejudicial, even unconstitutional, secrecy.

But as a near-daily drip of derogatory evidence emerges from closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill, the White House assertion that the proceedings are unfair is proving to be a less-than-compelling counter to the mounting threat to Trump’s presidency. Some senior officials have complied with congressional subpoenas to assist House Democratic investigators, defying White House orders.

Asked about criticism that the White House lacks a co-ordinated pushback effort and could do a better job delivering its message, spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said, “It’s hard to message anything that’s going on behind closed doors and in secret.”

“It’s like you’re fighting a ghost, you’re fighting against the air. So we’re doing the best we can,” she said on Fox News.

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UK’s Johnson seeks Dec. 12 election to break Brexit impasse

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has finally abandoned his promise of an October Brexit and pinned his hopes on a December election.

Two days after lawmakers stymied Johnson’s latest attempt to pass his European Union divorce deal, he said Thursday that the only way to break Britain’s Brexit impasse was a general election. Johnson said he would ask lawmakers to vote Monday on a motion calling a national poll for Dec. 12.

To hold an election Johnson must win a vote — by a two-thirds majority — among lawmakers. That looked like a tough task, with the main opposition Labour Party saying it would only back an election once the risk of Britain crashing out of the EU on Oct. 31 — its scheduled departure date — had been removed.

Parliament has already dealt Johnson a series of setbacks and derailed his promise to take Britain out of the EU by the end of the month, “come what may.”

The most recent blow came Tuesday, when lawmakers blocked Johnson’s attempt to fast-track an EU divorce bill through Parliament in a matter of days, saying they needed more time to scrutinize the legislation.

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Probe expands in truck deaths, all 39 victims are from China

LONDON (AP) — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck near an English port were Chinese citizens, British police confirmed Thursday as they investigated one of the country’s deadliest cases of human smuggling.

The Essex Police force said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the truck early Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles (40 kilometres) east of London.

A magistrate gave detectives another 24 hours to question the driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He has not been charged, and police have not released his name.

Police in Northern Ireland searched three properties there as detectives sought to piece together how the truck’s cab, its container and the victims came together on such a deadly journey.

Pippa Mills, deputy chief of Essex Police, said the process of conducting post-mortem examinations and identifying the victims would be “lengthy and complex.”

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Texas GOP leaders enter custody battle over child’s gender

DALLAS (AP) — Top Republican leaders in Texas this week weighed in on two parents’ custody battle over their 7-year-old child’s gender identity after the case was shared widely on social media and conservative news sites.

Former spouses Anne Georgulas and Jeffrey Younger, who live in the Dallas area, have been embroiled in a legal dispute over their divorce and the care of their children since 2015. And recently, inaccurate and misleading stories about the 7-year-old — who was born a boy but whom the mother says identifies as a girl — have circulated in blogs, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and petitions, bringing attention to a usually private matter. The father asked to be the parent who makes decisions about the child following a disagreement over how to raise the child.

The Associated Press is not naming the 7-year-old to protect the child’s privacy.

Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Wednesday evening that the attorney general’s office and Texas Department of Family and Protective Services were looking into “the matter” of the child. And on Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was asking Family and Protective Services to investigate for possible child abuse.

However, Judge Kim Cooks in Dallas said Thursday during a hearing that the court noted no abuse, neglect or family violence in the case. She said the parents would continue to share custody and would make joint decisions about the child.

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Pence takes swipe at NBA, Nike in critical speech on China

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice-President Mike Pence took a swipe at Nike and the NBA on Thursday in a speech criticizing communist China’s record on trade and human rights, saying American corporations have been too willing to ignore censorship and repression in pursuit of profits.

Pence singled out the shoe company for removing Houston Rockets merchandise from stores in China after the team’s general manager angered the Chinese government with a tweet supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

The NBA was acting like a “wholly owned subsidiary” of China’s “authoritarian regime” for failing to stand up to the government’s criticism of Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, he said.

“Nike promotes itself as a so-called ‘social-justice champion,’ but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door,” the vice-president said in a speech laying out the Trump administration’s approach to China.

The speech was delivered as President Donald Trump seeks to close a new trade deal with China, with Pence cast in a hard-line role. He criticized past administrations for tolerating unfair economic and trade practices and repressing Chinese citizens.

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Syria says Turkish-led forces attacked its troops

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish forces and their allies attacked Syrian government troops in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing some of them, and they also clashed with Kurdish-led fighters, the state news agency in Damascus and a war monitoring group said.

The fighting underscored the risks of violence as multiple and often opposing armed forces jostle for new positions in the tight quarters of the northeastern border zone.

Most worrisome has been the prospect of a collision between forces of the Syrian government’ and those backed by Turkey, which include Syrian rebel fighters and Islamic extremists opposed to President Bashar Assad.

All sides have said they are abiding by a cease-fire as they implement a Russian-Turkish agreement that divides up the border region. But frictions could undermine the effort for a resolution on the border, which U.S. forces were abruptly ordered to leave earlier this month, allowing Turkey to launch its invasion against Kurdish fighters.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Turkish troops and its allied fighters attacked Syrian army positions outside the town of Tal Tamr. The Syrian troops fought back and suffered “martyrs and wounded,” it reported without elaborating. Separately, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said three of its fighters were killed in fighting with Turkish-backed forces.

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Astros fire exec Taubman after rant at female reporters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Houston Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman on Thursday for directing inappropriate comments at female reporters during a clubhouse celebration, announcing the decision in the middle of the World Series and putting a renewed spotlight on domestic violence in baseball.

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow apologized for the team’s initial response Monday, which was to accuse a Sports Illustrated reporter of making up the story.

“That original reaction by the Astros was wrong, and we own it as an organization,” Luhnow said during a news conference at Nationals Park, a day before Game 3.

“There were many people involved in reviewing that and approving that. And I’m not going to get into the details of that. … But regardless of who wrote it and who approved it, it was wrong. It was incorrect. It should never have been sent out. We’ve learned a lesson about it,” he said.

Taubman had apologized Tuesday for using language that was “unprofessional and inappropriate” in the Astros clubhouse following Saturday night’s pennant-clinching victory over the New York Yankees.

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Atty: Trump calendar helps prove woman’s 2007 groping claim

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s private calendar helps support a former “Apprentice” contestant’s claim that he subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping, her lawyer said in a court filing Thursday.

The calendar records, filed in Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit, show Trump was scheduled to be at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California on Dec. 21, 2007, in the timeframe when she claims Trump made unwanted advances at that hotel.

She said he kissed and groped her, despite her objections, at what she thought would be a professional dinner, and then invited her to meet him at his nearby golf course the next morning. The calendar records show he was scheduled there the morning after his arrival at the hotel.

Trump’s calendar doesn’t include anything about a meeting with Zervos. But her lawyer, Mariann Wang, wrote that the documents “strongly corroborate” Zervos’ account — and indicate that Trump was lying in a 2016 statement that said he “never met her at a hotel.”

Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz said Thursday that Zervos’ claims are “entirely meritless and not corroborated by any documents.”