New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Britain’s Prince Andrew has provided “zero cooperation” to the American investigators who want to interview him as part of their sex trafficking probe into Jeffrey Epstein, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference outside Epstein’s New York mansion, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers and asked to interview him.

“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” said Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — The brother of rapper Nicki Minaj was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl at his Long Island home.

A judge convicted Jelani Maraj of predatory sexual assault and child endangerment in November 2017. The victim testified during the trial that Maraj repeatedly raped her in 2015 while her mother was at work.

Prosecutors have said DNA evidence recovered from the girl’s pajama pants was linked to Maraj. The girl’s younger brother also testified at the trial that he witnessed one assault.

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (APP): The (Kashmir) valley looked like Switzerland but felt like the Gaza Strip,” is how a veteran American journalist with years of reporting experience in South Asia described India’s repression in the disputed state during one of her trips there even before it plunged into deeper crisis after New Delhi’s annexation on August 5.

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (APP): Thousands of slogan-shouting Indian-Americans Sunday staged a demonstration near the Consulate of India in New York to protest against new citizenship regulations that discriminate against Muslims.

Organized by the ‘Coalition Against Genocide’ — a grouping of some 40 organizations based in the United States and Canada as well as individuals — the emotion-charged rally was timed to coincide with India’s Republic Day.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said on Saturday that he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life and destruction to property in the wake of a deadly earthquake in Turkey’s Elazig province, and voiced solidarity with Ankara and offered support.

According to latest news reports, at least 31 victims lost their lives and more than 1,500 were injured in the quake-hit areas.

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (APP): The Des Moines Register, the US state of Iowa’s largest and most influential newspaper, endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren in the crowded race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination Saturday, calling her “the best leader for these times.”

Lowa’s caucuses are the first nominating contests in presidential election cycles, giving the largely rural state an outsized role in choosing standard-bearers from each party.

NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Some 85,000 artifacts from the Museum of Chinese in America are in jeopardy after a fire struck a Chinatown building in New York City (NYC).

The fire on Thursday night struck a building at 70 Mulberry Street that housed the historic and artistic items the museum had carefully preserved and protected for 40 years, the museum said.

Museum officials told The New York Times that one hundred percent of the museum's collection, other than what is on view, was stored at the place and all of them could be destroyed.

NEW YORK (AP) — “Sesame Street” in the past year has tackled everything from foster care to substance abuse. Now its latest effort is trying to help children suffering as a result of the Syrian civil war.

Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — has launched a new, locally produced Arabic TV program for the hundreds of thousands of children dealing with displacement in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

New York, Jan 25 (PTI) Exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) during early childhood is associated with structural changes in the brain at the age of 12, according to a study which warns that the pollutants may affect physical and mental development in kids.

According to the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, children with higher levels of TRAP exposure at birth had reductions at age 12 in the brain's gray matter volume, and outer layer thickness compared to children with lower levels of exposure.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Friday warned of the "qualitative crisis" in the world's education, pointing out that many students at school are not acquiring the knowledge and skills they need.

Mohammed made the remarks in her speech at the opening session of a high-level interactive dialogue on education, convened by UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande to mark the second International Day of Education.