By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction, officials said Monday, amid predictions that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. “People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in America for decades,” U.S. Transportation
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — In opening statements in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial, prosecutors said Monday that the former president “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election. Defense attorneys countered, calling Trump “innocent” and saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office “should never have brought this case.” The commencement of the proceedings
Continue ReadingBy EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the
Continue ReadingBERLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Investigators in Michigan need more time to collect information before charges are filed in the deaths of two young siblings who were killed by a suspected drunken driver at a birthday party. The Monroe County prosecutor says he anticipates charges Tuesday. A 66-year-old woman drove into the Swan Creek Boat
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — A driver who plowed through the wall of a Liverpool classroom shortly before the start of school has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Merseyside police say a 39-year-old woman crashed into the Beacon Church of England Primary School on Monday. A passenger in the car had
Continue ReadingBy ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A crackdown on how some of the nation’s largest utilities spend customers’ money faces a do-or-die vote Monday in the California Legislature. Californians already pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, in part because of the expensive work required to maintain and upgrade
Continue ReadingBy ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A crackdown on how some of the nation’s largest utilities spend customers’ money faces a do-or-die vote Monday in the California Legislature. Californians already pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, in part because of the expensive work required to maintain and upgrade
Continue ReadingBy JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a request by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake to ban the use of electronic vote-counting machines in Arizona. Lake and former Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem filed suit two years ago, repeating unfounded allegations
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — In opening statements in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial, prosecutors said Monday that the former president “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election. Defense attorneys countered, calling Trump “innocent” and saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office “should never have brought this case.” The commencement of the proceedings
Continue ReadingTALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A human rights group says that nearly 100 political prisoners in Belarus who were incarcerated in a severe crackdown on dissent are suffering severe medical problems and could be close to death. Viasna said in a report published on Monday that it identified 93 prisoners of particular concern who are suffering
Continue ReadingBy Harmeet Kaur, CNN (CNN) — Exactly how much has racism benefited White Americans? Journalist and author Tracie McMillan did the math: The advantages she’s gotten over her life from being White, she estimates, amount to $371,934.30. To calculate that number, McMillan tallied those benefits and divided them into two categories: A family bonus, which
Continue ReadingBy Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman and Tim Lister, CNN (CNN) — A mass grave with more than 300 bodies has been uncovered at a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Gaza Civil Defense workers said, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month. Col. Yamen Abu Suleiman, Director of
Continue ReadingBy LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries possessing Patriot air defense systems gave no clear signal on Monday whether they might be willing to supply them to Ukraine, which is desperately seeking at least seven of the missile batteries to help fend off Russian air attacks. Russia’s air force is vastly
Continue ReadingBy QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SUZAN FRASER Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is making his first official visit to Iraq in more than a decade as Ankara seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in Iraq’s north. Other issues also loom
Continue ReadingBy KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — The European Union is demanding TikTok provide more information about a new app that pays users to watch videos and warned that it could order the video sharing platform to suspend addictive features that pose a risk to kids. The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said it
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — In opening statements in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial, prosecutors said Monday that the former president “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election. Defense attorneys countered, calling Trump “innocent” and saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office “should never have brought this case.” The commencement of the proceedings
Continue ReadingBy TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on Monday because of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the stunning failure to anticipate or quickly respond to the deadliest assault in Israel’s history. Maj. Gen. Aharon
Continue ReadingBy Chris Stern, Stephanie Halasz and Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Three people in Germany have been arrested under suspicion of spying for China, while two people have been charged in the United Kingdom for espionage offenses. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said three German nationals, two men and a woman, were arrested for allegedly violating
Continue ReadingBy JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the “Sex and the City” TV series was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court to charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her
Continue ReadingBy NICK PERRY and DAVE COLLINS Associated Press Columbia University canceled in-person classes on Monday and new demonstrations broke out on other U.S. college campuses as tensions continue to grow over Israel’s war in Gaza. Police arrested several dozen protesters at Yale University on Monday morning after officials at the New Haven, Connecticut, school said
Continue Reading