COLU @ CONCEPTS

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Was it a bluff? A warning that Washington would shoot down North Korea’s next missile test? A restatement of past policy? Or simply just what it seemed: a straightforward threat of annihilation from the president of the United States? Officials and pundits across Asia struggled Wednesday to parse Donald Trump’s vow Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly to “totally destroy North Korea” if provoked. In a region well used to Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons generating a seemingly never-ending cycle of threats and counter-threats, Trump’s comments stood out. South Korea officially played them down, while some politicians worried that Trump’s words signaled a loss of influence for Seoul. Tokyo focused on his mention of Japanese citizens abducted by the North. Analysts across Asia expressed surprise, worry, even wry amusement, in one case, that Trump’s words seemed to mirror threats normally emanating from North Korean state media. Amid the specula...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The three-story school structure had pancaked into a pile of concrete slabs. The bodies of 21 children and four adults had been pulled out. But still sounds came from the collapsed structure early Wednesday — nobody knew if they were survivors pounding for help, or simply the noises of shifting rubble. After a wing of the Enrique Rebsamen primary and secondary school collapsed in Tuesday’s magnitude-7.1 earthquake, rescuers dug at the pile of rubble and soldiers wedged in wooden beams to try to prevent it from crumbling further. Then a group of them decided to head in. Pedro Serrano, a 29-year-old doctor, was one of the ordinary Mexicans who had volunteered to join the rescue effort. He crawled into a crevice amid the tottering pile. “We dug holes, then crawled in on our bellies,” Serrano said. With barely room to move, he wriggled deeper into the wrecked school. “We managed to get into a collapsed classroom. We saw some chairs and wooden tables,” ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will open the signing ceremony for the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons and the Security Council hold a high-level meeting on its far-flung peacekeeping operations as world leaders tackle a wide range of crises and challenges on the second day of their annual gathering. More than 120 countries approved the treaty in early July over strong opposition from nuclear-armed countries and their allies, who boycotted negotiations. The U.N. treaty office said 51 countries are expected to sign during Wednesday’s opening day. Guterres is also expected to brief the Security Council meeting on reforming U.N. peacekeeping — a key item on the Trump administration’s agenda, which will be represented by Vice President Mike Pence. Ethiopia’s U.N. Mission, which holds the council presidency, said nine presidents, three vice presidents, six prime ministers, three deputy prime ministers and more than 30 foreign ministers are sche...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Maria barreled toward Puerto Rico on Tuesday night after wreaking widespread devastation on Dominica and leaving the small Caribbean island virtually incommunicado. As rains began to lash Puerto Rico, Gov. Ricardo Rossello warned that Maria could hit “with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations.” “We’re going to lose a lot of infrastructure in Puerto Rico,” Rossello said, adding that a likely island wide power outage and communication blackout could last for days. “We’re going to have to rebuild.” Authorities warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival Wednesday. “You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, the island’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.” By Tuesday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Maria’s winds had intensified to 175 mph (280 kph) and...

NEW YORK (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that he heard positive news in President Donald Trump’s United Nations address: “that the U.S. would not impose its way of life on others.” “I think it’s a very welcome statement, which we haven’t heard from an American leader for a very long time,” said Lavrov, who sat down with the AP and Russia’s Tass news agency directly after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Lavrov blamed the Obama administration for the collapse in relations between Moscow and Washington. The U.S. enacted a series of steps against the Russian and Russian diplomats in December, including new sanctions and expelling 35 Russian diplomats, to punish Russia for meddling in the U.S. elections, a charge Russia has denied. Moscow responded by limiting the size of the U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia. In his speech to the General Assembly, Trump said “We do not seek to impose our way of l...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The latest on the strong earthquake that hit Mexico City (all times local): 12:55 a.m. Mexico’s civil defense agency says the death toll has risen to 226 from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake that knocked down dozens of buildings in Mexico City and nearby states. The official Twitter feed of agency head Luis Felipe Puente said early Wednesday that 117 people were confirmed dead in Mexico City, and 55 died in Morelos state, which is just south of the capital. It said 39 are dead in Puebla state, where the quake was centered. Twelve people died in Mexico State, which surrounds the capital, and three in Guerrero state. The count does not include one death reported by officials in Oaxaca state. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 quake was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles (123 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City. A powerful earthquake jolted central Mexico on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway in the cap...