California

Round 2 of Democratic debate is party’s most-watched ever

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC says round two of the Democratic presidential debate was the party’s most-watched ever.

Based on Nielsen figures out Friday, the event including early front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders averaged 18.1 million viewers across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

That topped the previous Democratic debate audience high of 15.5 million for an October 2015 event, which included eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

Viewership for that debate was previously estimated at 15.8 million.

Facebook enlists plain English to clarify how it makes money

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook is updating its terms and services guidelines to clarify how it makes money from the personal information of its users. The changes reflect its ongoing attempts to satisfy regulators in the U.S. and Europe, which have urged the company to make sure users know what they are signing up for.

The guideline changes, announced Thursday, are largely cosmetic. The updates don’t change Facebook’s underlying policies.

Politicians’ tweets could get slapped with warning labels

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Presidents and other world leaders and political figures who use Twitter to threaten or abuse others could find their tweets slapped with warning labels.

The new policy , announced by the company on Thursday, comes amid complaints from activists and others that President Donald Trump has gotten a free pass from Twitter to post hateful messages and attack his enemies in ways they say could lead to violence.

India tariffs threaten California almond industry

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Along large swaths of California’s lush central valley, almonds in the fuzzy hulls of tree leaves blow in the wind on thousands of acres of orchards. Thousands of miles away in India, customers browse the nut sections of busy street markets and grocery stores in search of the best almonds to use in curry dishes, health drinks, ice cream and many other recipes.

Apple buys more self-driving car technology in latest deal

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple has bought a struggling self-driving car startup as the iPhone maker continues to explore the potential market for robotic vehicles, despite recently curtailing its work on the technology.

The Cupertino, California, company confirmed its acquisition of Drive.ai Wednesday without disclosing the price. A recent filing with California labor regulators disclosed that Drive.ai planned to close its doors this Friday, laying off 90 workers .

Witness could face perjury charge in US Navy SEAL court-martial

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A witness who dropped stunning testimony at the war crimes trial of a decorated Navy SEAL by telling the court he had killed an Islamic State captive in Iraq in 2017 — not his accused platoon chief — could now face charges of perjury, according to the Navy.

The Navy’s legal adviser to the commander overseeing the court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher notified the witness’s lawyer, Brian Ferguson, in an email late Tuesday that the testimony Corey Scott gave last week could be used against him if he lied on the stand or gave a false statement.

California police shooting suspect in court wearing bandage

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man charged with killing a rookie California police officer made his first brief court appearance Monday wearing a four-inch gauze pad covering what officials said was a self-inflicted head injury.

Adel Sambrano Ramos was appointed a public defender during a five-minute court hearing, and spoke only to acknowledge his name.

Doctor: Stabbing by Navy SEAL could have killed prisoner

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pathologist testified Monday at a Navy SEAL’s murder trial that a wounded Islamic State militant in Iraq could have died from a stabbing described by other witnesses.

Dr. Frank Sheridan said he couldn’t determine a cause of death because of a lack of evidence. There was no body, no photos of a knife wound and only photos and video shot by other SEALs — not investigators.

NASA starts new efforts to resume heat probe to study inner temperature of Mars

LOS ANGELES, June 22 (Xinhua) -- NASA InSight lander's mission team started new efforts on Saturday to try to get InSight's heat probe digging again on Mars, said the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

InSight, a Mars lander designed to study the inner space of the planet, uses advanced instruments such as seismometer and heat-flow probe to collect preliminary data.

The heat probe, also known as the "mole," can dig below the Martian surface and measure the heat coming from inside the red planet.

Death toll in Hawaii airplane crash rises to 11

LOS ANGELES, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Authorities confirmed on Saturday 11 people died after a twin-engine aircraft carrying skydivers crashed near an airfield on the Hawaiian island of Oahu Friday night.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation initially said first responders reported six deaths. The death toll rose to nine on Friday night and to 11 as of Saturday.

"There were 11 people on board the plane that went down soon after takeoff from Dillingham Airfield with no survivors," the department tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

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