COLU @ CONCEPTS

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Mormon church-owned Brigham Young University ended a six-decade ban Thursday on the sale of caffeinated soft drinks on campus, surprising students by posting a picture of a can of Coca-Cola on Twitter and just two words: “It’s happening.” The move sparked social media celebrations from current and former students, with many recalling how they had hauled their own 2-liter bottles of caffeinated sodas in their backpacks to keep awake for long study sessions. The university never banned having caffeinated drinks on campus, but held firm to the ban on sales even when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2012 clarified that church health practices do not prevent members from drinking caffeinated soft drinks. The ban has been in place since the mid-1950s. But officials with the school of 33,000 students in Provo, Utah, said Thursday that increasing demand prompted the change. Students were abuzz about a change that meant they’ll no longer have to...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Oscar Rangel doesn’t own a shovel and is typically sitting at a computer compiling databases at work. But when the magnitude 7.1 quake struck Mexico this week, he was among the first to show up at a building that collapsed near his home, ready to dig for survivors. In the two days since the devastating quake he and a brigade of other young Mexicans have searched through the rubble with newly acquired construction gear at four destroyed buildings in or near Mexico City. “More than anything, it’s wanting to help, to do whatever we can, as Mexicans,” said Rangel, 20. In response to Tuesday’s devastating quake, Mexicans have responded in such large numbers to help with relief efforts that some shelters for victims are turning volunteers away. More often than not, it is young people who are sorting through piles of food donations, donning construction hats, making sandwiches and playing music to rally the spirits of earthquake victims. Most have no memory...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The latest on the U.N. General Assembly meeting (all times local): 8:20 p.m. Bangladesh’s prime minister is accusing Myanmar of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims and laying land mines to prevent those who fled to Bangladesh from returning. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded that the Rohingya be able to return to Myanmar “in safety, security and dignity.” Hasina told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that Bangladesh is sheltering more than 800,000 Rohingya and 430,000 of them have arrived in the past three weeks. She called for safe zones to be created under U.N. supervision in Myanmar’s strife-hit Rakhine state. The latest exodus of Rohingya began Aug. 25 after insurgents attacked Myanmar security forces, triggering a military crackdown and reprisals from majority Buddhists. Myanmar has defended the conduct of its security forces and says it is committed to resolving the sectarian tensions. ___ 7:40 p.m. Antigua and Barbuda’s p...

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The Latest on Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh (all times local): 6 a.m. A senior U.S. official says allegations of abuse during a military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar need to be investigated and perpetrators held accountable. Patrick Murphy, who is the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state to Southeast Asia, said late Thursday there are voices globally saying if Myanmar doesn’t do it, “an international mechanism to examine those kinds of abuses” should be considered. Security forces backed by Buddhist mobs have been accused of killings, rapes and the burning down of entire Rohingya villages in western Myanmar. They were retaliating against coordinated attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts and an army base. More than 421.000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh as a result of the crackdown. ___ 11:15 a.m. A truck filled with humanitarian aid for Rohingya Muslim refugees in Banglad...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As painstaking attempts to reach survivors in quake-ravaged buildings across Mexico City stretched into a third day Thursday, desperation mounted among loved ones who earlier had high hopes for quick rescues and some complained they were being kept in the dark about search efforts. And what many had clung to as the unlikely triumph of life over death was revealed to be a case of some very high-profile misinformation: A top navy official announced there were no missing children at a collapsed Mexico City school where the purported plight of a girl trapped alive in the rubble had captivated people across the nation and abroad. President Enrique Pena Nieto’s office raised the death toll from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake to 273, including 137 in the capital. In a statement, it said there were also 73 deaths in Morelos state, 43 in Puebla, 13 in the State of Mexico, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca. More than 2,000 were injured and more than 50 people ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and North Korea (all times local): 7:30 p.m. President Donald Trump has added economic action to his fiery military threats against North Korea, authorizing stiffer new sanctions in response to the Koreans’ nuclear weapons advances. Its leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare statement, branding Trump as “deranged” and warning he will “pay dearly” his threat to “totally destroy” the North if it attacks. The exchange of super-heated rhetoric and unusually personal abuse between the adversaries will escalate tensions. North Korea has marched closer to achieving a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America. The crisis dominated the Trump’s debut at this week’s annual U.N. General Assembly meeting. Kim’s statement responded to Trump’s combative speech days earlier. Trump issued the warning of potential obliteration, and mocked the North’s young autocrat as a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission.” ___ 1:55 p.m. President...

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is slowly acknowledging the outsized — if unintended — role it played in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Bowing to pressure from lawmakers and the public, the company said it will provide the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency to congressional investigators, while also pledging to make political advertising on its platform more “transparent.” “I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a  Facebook video  and wrote in an  accompanying post  . “That’s not what we stand for.” The moves Thursday come amid  growing pressure  on the social network from members of Congress, who pushed Facebook to release the ads after the company  disclosed their existence  in early September. Facebook has already handed over the ads to the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook’s reluctance to be more for...