First 7 jurors are chosen for Trump’s hush money criminal trial; 11 more still needed
NEW YORK — The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were seated Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
Las Vegas lawyer and wife killed amid custody fight for children from prior marriage, family says
LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas lawyer and his wife had been in the middle of a contentious battle for custody of her children from a previous marriage when the woman’s former father-in-law, also an attorney, fatally shot them last week during a deposition hearing in the case, according to authorities and relatives.
World donors pledge $2.1 billion in aid for war-stricken Sudan to ward off famine
PARIS (AP) — World donors pledged more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid for Sudan after a yearlong war that has pushed its population to the brink of famine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Decades after a US butterfly species vanished, a close relative is released to fill gap
SAN FRANCISCO — More than 80 years ago, a beautiful butterfly called Xerces Blue that once fluttered among San Francisco’s coastal dunes went extinct as stately homes, museums and parks ate up its habitat, marking the first butterfly species in the United States to disappear due to human development.
Supreme Court allows Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth while lawsuits over the law proceed, reversing lower courts.
Bureau of Prisons to close California women’s prison where inmates have been subjected to sex abuse
LOS ANGELES — The beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons said Monday it will close a women’s prison in California known as the “rape club” despite attempts to reform the troubled facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse.
House Speaker Mike Johnson pushes towards a vote on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing toward action this week on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, unveiling an elaborate plan Monday to break the package into separate votes to squeeze through the House’s political divides on foreign policy.
IAEA warns that attacks on a nuclear plant in Russian-controlled Ukraine put the world at risk
UNITED NATIONS — Russia and Ukraine on Monday traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down airport highways and key bridges in major U.S. cities
CHICAGO — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.
Trump’s historic hush money trial gets underway; 1st day ends without any jurors being picked
NEW YORK — The historic hush money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.
Nation and world news in brief for Tuesday, April 16,2024
Retail sales surge 0.7% in March as Americans seem unfazed by higher prices with jobs plentiful
Wife of ex-Harvard morgue manager pleads guilty to transporting stolen human remains
WILLIAMSPORT. Pa. (AP) — The wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts — including hands, feet and heads — to buyers.
Polish opponents of abortion march against recent steps to liberalize strict law
WARSAW, Poland — Thousands of Polish opponents of abortion marched in Warsaw on Sunday to protest recent steps by the new government to liberalize the predominantly Catholic nation’s strict laws and allow termination of pregnancy until the 12th week.
News organizations urge Biden and Trump to commit to presidential debates during the 2024 campaign
NEW YORK — Twelve news organizations on Sunday urged presumptive presidential nominees Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to debates, saying they were a “rich tradition” that have been part of every general election campaign since 1976.
Can homeless people be fined for sleeping outside? A rural Oregon city asks the US Supreme Court
GRANTS PASS, Oregon — A pickleball game in this leafy Oregon community was suddenly interrupted one rainy weekend morning by the arrival of an ambulance. Paramedics rushed through the park toward a tent, one of dozens illegally erected by the town’s hundreds of homeless people, then play resumed as though nothing had happened.
Israel is quiet on next steps against Iran — and on which partners helped shoot down missiles
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli leaders on Sunday credited an international military coalition with helping thwart a direct Iranian attack involving hundreds of drones and missiles, calling the coordinated response a starting point for a “strategic alliance” of regional opposition to Tehran.
House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will push for aid to Israel and Ukraine this week
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he will try to advance wartime aid for Israel this week as he attempts the difficult task of winning House approval for a national security package that also includes funding for Ukraine and allies in Asia.
A jury of his peers: A look at how jury selection will work in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s history-making criminal trial is set to start Monday with a simple but extraordinary procedural step that is vital to American democracy.
Trump goes after the judge and prosecutors in his hush money case in last rally before trial begins
SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday lit into New York prosecutors and the criminal hush money case they brought against him during his last rally before what he called a “communist show trial” begins Monday.
Israel hails ‘success’ in blocking Iran’s unprecedented attack. Biden now seeks diplomatic response
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel on Sunday hailed its successful air defenses in the face of an unprecedented attack by Iran, saying it and its allies thwarted 99% of the more than 300 drones and missiles launched toward its territory. But regional tensions remain high, amid fears of further escalation in the event of a possible Israeli counter-strike.