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

Amtrak train on new route hurtles onto highway, kills 3

DUPONT, Wash. (AP) — An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass south of Seattle on Monday and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least three people, injuring more than 100 and crushing two vehicles, authorities said.

Attention quickly turned to the train’s speed. A website that maps location and speed using data from Amtrak’s train tracker app showed the train was going 81.1 mph (129 kph) about a quarter of a mile from the point where it derailed, where the speed limit is significantly lower.

Seventy-seven passengers and seven crew members were aboard when the train derailed and pulled 13 cars off the tracks. Authorities said there were three confirmed deaths and more than a dozen people with critical or serious injuries.

About two hours after the accident, a U.S. official who with others was briefed on the investigation said he was told at least six people were killed. No additional briefings were provided by late afternoon, and the official said he had no new information to explain the discrepancy in the numbers.

The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

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Commuters help people out of derailed train, comfort victims

DUPONT, Wash. (AP) — Daniel Konzelman was one of thousands of commuters barrelling along a highway outside Seattle on Monday morning when the emergency response training he learned as an Eagle Scout kicked in.

He and a friend pulled over after an Amtrak passenger train hurtled off an overpass and crashed into vehicles on Interstate 5 below, killing at least three people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.

A U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation said earlier that at least six people were killed. The difference in the numbers could not immediately be reconciled. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Konzelman and his friend rushed to help, running along the tracks and over the bridge to get to the scene.

Some train cars had their roofs ripped off or were turned upside down. Others were turned sideways on the bridge. Konzelman, 24, and his friend clambered into train cars to look for victims.

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10 Things to Know for Tuesday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:

1. TRAIN TOPPLES OFF OVERPASS, KILLING SIX

An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtles off an overpass near Tacoma, Washington, and spills some of its cars onto the highway below in a deadly crash.

1. ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK AND COMING BACK STRONG’

Trump declares a new national security strategy, stressing the “America first” message of his 2016 campaign.

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UN says there are 258 million international migrants today

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An estimated 258 million people have left their birth countries and are now living in other nations — an increase of 49 per cent since 2000, says a U.N. report on international migration released Monday.

The biennial report released on International Migrants Day said the percentage of the world’s people who are international migrants has increased modestly from 2.8 per cent in 2000 to 3.4 per cent this year.

But the report from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the percentage living in high-income countries rose from 9.6 per cent in 2000 to 14 per cent in 2017.

“Reliable data and evidence are critical to combat misperceptions about migration and to inform migration policies,” said Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin.

In September 2016, all 193 U.N. member states, including the United States under President Barack Obama, adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. It said no one country can manage international migration on its own.

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McCain says he’s feeling well, vows return in January

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain on Monday expressed thanks for the overwhelming support as he battles brain cancer, saying he is feeling well and looks forward to being back on the job in January.

The 81-year senator returned home to Arizona after being treated for a viral infection at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. He had missed votes last week and will miss a crucial vote on the GOP tax bill this week.

McCain tweeted on Monday: “Thanks to everyone for your support & words of encouragement! I’m feeling well & looking forward to returning to work after the holidays.”

His wife, Cindy, tweeted earlier Monday: “Nothing beats the feeling of being home in Arizona for the Holidays!” with a photo of a Christmas tree.

A statement from his office late Sunday said he would undergo physical therapy and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Now in his sixth Senate term, McCain underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a 2-inch (51-millimeter) blood clot in his brain and was diagnosed with glioblastoma.

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Under Trump, climate change not a national security threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump removed climate change from the list of worldwide threats menacing the United States on Monday, a shift that underscores the long-term ramifications of the “America first” world view he laid out in his new National Security Strategy.

The document depicts Russia and China as combative rivals in perpetual competition with the U.S. But it makes no mention of what scientists say are the dangers posed by a warming climate, including more extreme weather events that could spark humanitarian crises, mass migrations, and conflict.

It’s a significant departure from the Obama administration, which had described climate change as an “urgent and growing threat to our national security.” And it demonstrates how Trump, despite struggling to push his own agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress, has been able to unilaterally dismantle one of his predecessor’s signature efforts.

As far back as 2003, during George W. Bush’s presidency, a report commissioned by the Defence Department said abrupt climate change threatened “disruption and conflict,” refugee crises, border tensions and more military conflicts.

Trump’s national security report, required annually by Congress, emphasizes that economic security is national security for the U.S. It makes clear the United States will unilaterally defend its sovereignty, even if that means risking existing agreements with other countries.

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Massive Southern California wildfire now halfway contained

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters took advantage of calm winds in Southern California to reach 50 per cent containment of a massive wildfire, officials said.

“We’ve had a very productive day,” said Deputy Chief Mark Brown of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protections. “The weather conditions were just right for us.”

Monday was the first of a two-day window of calm winds in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties where the so-called Thomas Fire has burned for two weeks.

The fire northwest of Los Angeles has now spread to about 423 square miles (1,095 square kilometres), making it the third biggest since accurate records were kept starting in 1932. The largest, the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County, burned about 427 square miles.

Officials estimate the Thomas Fire will grow to become the biggest in state history before full containment, which is expected by Jan. 7.

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Trump administration blames NKorea for big ransomware attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is publicly blaming North Korea for a ransomware attack that infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in May and crippled parts of Britain’s National Health Service.

Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday night that North Korea was “directly responsible” for the WannaCry ransomware attack and that Pyongyang will be held accountable for it.

Bossert said the administration’s finding of responsibility is based on evidence and confirmed by other governments and private companies, including the United Kingdom and Microsoft.

“North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behaviour is growing more egregious. WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless,” he wrote.

Bossert said the Trump administration will continue to use its “maximum pressure strategy to curb Pyongyang’s ability to mount attacks, cyber or otherwise.”

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Airlines inch back to normalcy after airport blackout

ATLANTA (AP) — The nation’s air-travel system struggled to get back on schedule and re-book stranded passengers Monday after a fire and blackout at the world’s busiest airport forced the cancellation of over 1,500 flights days before the start of the Christmas rush.

Travellers sat on the floor, slumped in chairs or stood in long lines at ticket counters a day after the underground blaze knocked out electricity and crippled Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for about 11 hours.

A spokesman for Delta, by far the biggest airline at the airport, said most of its delayed passengers were booked on other flights scheduled to leave Monday. Spokesman Michael Thomas said the airline should be “largely if not completely” back to normal by Tuesday, well before the huge travel weekend ahead of Christmas Day.

But no matter how fast Delta and other airlines move, it will take a few days to get the thousands of grounded passengers to their final destinations, said Robert Mann, president of an airline consulting firm in Port Washington, New York. In rare cases, some passengers won’t arrive until Thursday, he said.

“There are just so few seats available during a peak holiday week, that’s just going to take a lot of flights with four or five seats apiece,” Mann said.

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Twitter suspends white nationalists as it enforces new rules

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter suspended the accounts of well-known white nationalists Monday, moving swiftly to enforce its new rules aimed at reducing what it deems abusive content.

The account of far-right group Britain First, a small group that regularly posts inflammatory videos purporting to show Muslims engaged in acts of violence, was among the first to go dark. The individual accounts of two of its leaders, Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding, were also suspended.

President Donald Trump caused a stir last month when he retweeted a post by Fransen, drawing criticism from British Prime Minister Theresa May. Fransen and Golding were arrested in Belfast last week for allegedly stirring up hatred.

Twitter said it would not comment on individual accounts. The company has emphasized that it takes into account many factors before making any enforcement decision, including context of the post, cultural and political considerations and the severity of the violation.

Twitter’s actions drew praise from civil rights groups.