Briefly

SOUTH KOREA

Halloween stampede victims remembered

Thousands of people, including victims' families, survivors and activists, held a mass commemoration in Seoul on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the deadly stampede that killed nearly 160 people during Halloween festivities in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood last year. A year on, victims' families said they are still seeking answers to what went wrong and who was responsible for the deadly crush. "We did not want to become bereaved families," Lee Jung-min, who lost his daughter to the disaster and now leads the families' group, said at the rally. A police probe into the disaster found massive failures in planning and a botched and delayed response to the unfolding catastrophe. But it stopped short of assigning blame to any top officials, and no senior figures resigned or were fired over the disaster.

UNITED STATES

Maine shooter found dead, had mental issues

Police in Maine said on Saturday that the man who shot down 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley and later committed suicide, suffered serious mental health issues. The body of Robert Card, a 40-year-old army reservist, was found on Friday night inside a cargo trailer at a recycling center that police had searched a day earlier. Card died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. Investigators are still searching for a motive for the massacre, but have increasingly been focused on Card's mental health history. Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said Card was hearing voices and had paranoia, adding that Card believed "people were talking about him and there may even have been some voices at play".

Former VP Pence drops out of presidential race

Former US vice-president Mike Pence announced on Saturday that he suspended his 2024 campaign for the White House. "It's become clear to me: This is not my time," Pence said during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual conference in Las Vegas. "After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today." Pence, 64, who announced his bid for the White House in early June, failed to attract enough primary voters and donors to sustain his campaign which has languished in the low single digits in polls. Former president Donald Trump is now the front-runner in the Republican presidential race.

MEXICO

Storm toll hits 39;more help arrives

More resources are arriving on Mexico's battered Pacific coast, and the death toll from Hurricane Otis is growing as searchers recover more bodies from Acapulco's harbor and under fallen trees and other storm debris. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that his opponents are trying to inflate the toll to damage him politically, but few expect the latest mark of 39 dead to be where it stops. Hundreds of families are still awaiting word from loved ones. Otis roared ashore early on Wednesday with devastating winds at 266 kilometers per hour after strengthening so rapidly that people had little time to prepare.

Agencies - Xinhua