News

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has rejected British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to block the public and news media from jury selection in her New York City trial on charges she recruited teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Northern California is finally getting drenched this week. But experts say the rain won’t be enough to end the drought plaguing the Western United States. California’s climate is hotter and drier now, meaning the rain and snow that does fall is more likely to evaporate or

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer An international organization that monitors and sets guidelines to protect against money laundering and terrorism financing has added Turkey, Jordan and Mali to its watch list. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force’s “gray list” calls for increased scrutiny of financial dealings with the three countries. The group also announced

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has awarded a prestigious prize in the study of science and technology to two physicists based in the United States. Harvard University physics professor Cumrun Vafa received The Mustafa Prize in science and technology. Vafa, an Iranian-American, said the award reminds him “that there is no border for science and

By DREW COSTLEY AP Science Writer Tens of billions of dollars for U.S. environmental justice initiatives originally proposed by Democratic leaders in a $3.5 trillion domestic spending package now hang in the balance as they decide how to trim the bill to $2 trillion. Investments in the Build Back Better plan included expanding access to

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A powerful autumn storm has blasted across parts of Europe, killing four people in Poland and causing damage and disruption across a large swath of the continent. According to reports in Polish media, the area most badly hit was around the western city of Wroclaw, where powerful gusts Thursday topped a

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A critically endangered Sumatran orangutan in New Orleans is pregnant with twins. The Audubon Zoo’s announcement Thursday says 12-year-old Menari is expected to give birth in December or January. Senior veterinarian Bob MacLean says the news is especially exciting because twins are rare for the great ape species. If all goes

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Facebook’s semi-independent oversight board says the company has failed to fully disclose information on its internal system that exempts high-profile users from some or all of its content rules. The board says in a report that Facebook has not been fully forthcoming with the overseers about

By JACK JEFFERY RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A prisoners group says a Palestinian held without charge by Israeli authorities is in “extremely dangerous” condition more than three months into hunger strike. A rights group says twenty-four-year-old Miqdad al-Qawasmi is the least healthy of six incarcerated Palestinian hunger strikers. The prionsers are protesting against being

WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman who refused to wear a mask or leave a grocery store has been convicted of trespassing and obstructing a business or customers. An Orange County jury found Marianne Campbell Smith guilty on Wednesday. She was sentenced to 40 hours of community service, a year of informal probation

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders have recommended reopening the country to fully vaccinated tourists beginning on Nov. 1. The decision, which still needs formal government approval, comes a year and a half after Israel closed its borders to most foreign visitors due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Israel is emerging from a fourth wave of

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A prosecutor in Nevada says a 22-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who was facing two death penalty trials in the killings of four people will plead guilty and go to prison for the rest of his life. Wilber Ernesto Martinez Guzman was in a Reno courtroom Thursday to