The Associated Press

Rushdie, whose attendance had not been announced beforehand, spoke briefly, and dedicated some of his remarks to those who came to his help last August while on stage at a New York literary festival.

The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania.

The bill cleared the GOP-controlled Legislature after a final vote in the Senate over the objections of Democrats. Texas is now poised to join at least 17 other states that have enacted similar bans.

The four men, aged 44 to 56, and a 75-year-old woman are accused of founding or being members of a terrorist organization and treason.

In another ruling issued late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ordered Elizabeth Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of her crimes.

Agriculture Secretary Tom said it was the largest single federal investment in rural electrification since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936.

A fire ripped through a hostel in New Zealand's capital overnight, killing at least six people and forcing others to flee the four-story building in their pajamas.

A two-year effort is underway to preserve 8,000 children's shoes at the former concentration and extermination camp where German forces murdered 1.1 million people during World War II.

The government declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to surrender unregistered weapons as part of a crackdown on guns following the two shootings this month that left 17 people dead.

Pasang Dawa Sherpa reached the summit of the world's highest peak on Sunday for the 26th time. Since making his first successful of climb of the peak in 1998, Dawa has made the trip almost every year.

The veto by Gov. Roy Cooper launches a major test for leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly to attempt an override vote after they recently gained veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

Thousands of people hunkered down Sunday, seeking shelter from a powerful storm that slammed into the coast of Myanmar, tearing the roofs off buildings and killing at least three people.