The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday to remove from the November ballot a measure aimed at dividing California into three states. The decision was a defeat for Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist considered an eccentric entrepreneur who spent $1.2 million on the measure. Four years ago, the wealthy Atherton resident spent $5.2 million promoting a measure that woul

Author Philip Roth, who tackled self-perception, sexual freedom, his own Jewish identity and the conflict between modern and traditional morals through novels that he once described as “hypothetical autobiographies,” has died. He was 85. Roth was one of America’s preeminent 20th century novelists in a career that began in the 1950s and continued up until nearly the end of his life, resulting in mo

Here’s our look at the Trump administration and the rest of Washington: Price resigns under pressure, the first Trump cabinet secretary to leave Tillerson says U.S. is in direct contact with North Korea about missile talks Trump, at his golf club, assails Puerto Rican mayor who criticized him Roy Moore was twice ousted from the Alabama Supreme Court for flouting the U.S. Constitution. Now he’s on

Reporting from Minya, Egypt —  A bus carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery south of Cairo was targeted in a bloody attack by gunmen Friday, killing 28 people, officials said. Egyptian state television reported that 25 others were wounded in the attack in Minya province, a Christian enclave about 140 miles south of the capital. “Militants attacked a bus and a car — they shot them, 28 persons we

James MacGregor Burns, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and political scientist who analyzed the nature of presidential leadership and wrote candid biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, died Tuesday at his home in Williamstown, Mass. He was 95. His death was confirmed by his companion and fellow historian, Susan Dunn. The longtime Williams College professor helped coin two ad

Go ahead and make that omelet. A new draft of the federal government’s healthy eating guidelines is poised to scramble some long-standing advice on cholesterol-rich foods. Nutrition and public health experts advising the federal government recommended Thursday that cholesterol no longer be labeled a “nutrient of concern” — a designation that for decades has prompted health-conscious Americans to a

Reporting from Zagreb, Croatia —  Even as it launched sweeping new airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, the U.S. military said Tuesday that it had expanded the campaign to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, targeting an offshoot of Al Qaeda said to be plotting “imminent” attacks against American and Western targets. A total of eight U.S. air attacks carried out in Syria’s largest

[Updated, 8 p.m., March 3: WASHINGTON — CIA director John Brennan told a senior lawmaker Monday that a 1997 treaty between Russia and Ukraine allows up to 25,000 Russia troops in the vital Crimea region, so Russia may not consider its recent troop movements to be an invasion, U.S. officials said. The number of Russian troops that have surged into Ukraine in recent days remains well below that thre

A United Nations expert has launched an investigation of drone attacks and targeted killings, scrutinizing a deeply controversial tool in the United States’ battle against Al Qaeda. “The plain fact is that this technology is here to stay,” U.N. special rapporteur Ben Emmerson announced Thursday in London, “and its use … is a reality with which the world must contend.” Drones are not the only way t

CAIRO — Security forces built a wall to contain stone-throwing protesters and Egypt’s stock exchange tumbled Sunday amid growing unrest over President Mohamed Morsi’s decision to expand his powers in a nation dispirited and angered by months of uncertainty. The country’s main stock index fell nearly 10% in one of the most bruising days of trading since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autoc

WASHINGTON -- In the first criminal charges to emerge from the federal probe of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a former engineer for BP was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of intentionally destroying evidence requested by federal authorities who were investigating the April 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. Kurt Mix, 50, of Katy, Texas, was charged with two counts of obstruction o

CAIRO —  The Egyptian military stamps itself as protector of the nation, but behind this carefully tended mythology the army controls a multibillion-dollar business empire that trades in products not normally associated with men in uniform: olive oil, fertilizer, televisions, laptops, cigarettes, mineral water, poultry, bread and underwear. Estimates suggest that military-connected enterprises acc

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. REPORTING FROM CAIRO -- Thousands of protesters marched on the Interior Ministry in Cairo as Egypt began three days of mourning Thursday for 74 people killed in a soccer riot that renewed anger against the nation’s police and ruling military council. The protesters, many