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(CNN)The Golden State could soon refer to the hue of California’s lawns. Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday imposed mandatory water restrictions for the first time on residents, businesses and farms, ordering cities and towns in the drought-ravaged state to reduce usage by 25%. “We’re in a new era,” Brown told reporters. “The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day, that’s going to be a…

WASHINGTON — Nothing affects public policy like pressure from America’s corporations, and that muscle was vividly on display this week in Indiana and Arkansas. The states’ governors, facing the threat of dollars, jobs and tourists fleeing their states, quickly and publicly softened their positions on religious freedom acts. We don’t intend to discriminate, they insisted, as Wal-Mart, American Airlines, Marriott, NASCAR, the NCAA and other corporate powerhouses weighed in. Business…

MOSCOW (Reuters) – At least 54 crew on a Russian fishing trawler died and 15 were missing after it sank in freezing waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Western Pacific Ocean late on Wednesday, officials in the area said. Sixty-three of the 132 people on board the Dalniy Vostok were rescued with the sea’s temperature near zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky…

NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez promised to fight federal corruption charges that he took almost $1 million in gifts and campaign donations to help a longtime friend, vowing to stay in office as he temporarily leaves a key committee post. Prosecutors accused the New Jersey Democrat of accepting private jet flights and Caribbean vacations from Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen in exchange for assistance…

International talks on Iran’s nuclear program are due to continue in Switzerland on April 2. Senior officials from Iran and six powers failed to reach a framework deal by a self-imposed deadline of March 31. The talks aim at blocking Iran’s capacity to build a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter…

March 23, 2015: U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., answers questions as he addresses a gathering in Garwood, N.J. (AP) DEVELOPING: A defiant NJ Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez vowed Wednesday to fight corruption charges, saying ‘this is not how my career is going to end.’ ORIGINAL STORY: ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted Wednesday on corruption charges, accused of using his office to improperly benefit a political donor…

Washington (CNN)Republicans on Wednesday rebuked President Barack Obama for refusing to walk away from nuclear talks with Iran after negotiators in Switzerland missed a key deadline. The Obama administration said earlier in the day that talks would be extended for a second time, to Thursday, after world powers haggling with Iran failed to conclude a political framework agreement by Tuesday’s target date. Republicans are seizing on the delay as a…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) – Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson told lawmakers on Wednesday to revise a bill that rights activists and U.S. businesses said allowed discrimination against gays, and home-state corporate giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc praised his action. Indiana’s governor a day earlier said lawmakers should fix a similar Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). After it was enacted last week, the state was hit with protests, threatened boycotts and warnings…

PHILLIPS, Calif. (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown, acting in the face of a devastating multiyear drought, ordered the first statewide mandatory water restrictions on Wednesday, directing cities and communities to reduce usage by 25 percent. The cutbacks, to be implemented by state and local water agencies, will affect consumers and businesses throughout the most populous U.S. state, but farmers, who are already making do with less water for irrigation,…

McDonald’s Corp. on Wednesday became the latest big company to raise wages for its low-income workers, announcing plans to pay at least $1 more than the local minimum wage plus some paid vacation starting July 1 for about 90,000 workers at its 1,500 corporate-owned U.S. restaurants. But don’t expect organized labor to give the company a break today, or any day, for doing so. The wage increase is worth cheering,…

Last Updated Apr 1, 2015 2:05 PM EDT Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday he would not sign a religious freedom bill passed by the legislature unless it makes changes to the legislation. “This is a bill that in ordinary times would not be controversial,” Hutchinson said. “But these are not ordinary times.” “We just didn’t quite get it perfect through that legislative process,” he said later. Hutchinson’s request for…

By Afp Published: 13:27 EST, 1 April 2015 | Updated: 13:27 EST, 1 April 2015 Iraq vowed Wednesday to reclaim the entire country from jihadists after retaking the city of Tikrit in its biggest success yet in the fight against the Islamic State group. Speaking from a newly-recaptured area of central Tikrit after a month-long operation, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the government was “determined to liberate every inch of…

In a historic move, California is ordering water use to be slashed by 25 percent across the state to deal with a drought that just won’t quit. With more than 98 percent of the state suffering from a drought that has stretched into its fourth year, Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order from the mostly…

Nigeria’s president-elect, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, said, “Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our will and commitment to rid this nation of terror.”(Photo: Sunday Alamba, Associated Press) ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigerians celebrated Muhammadu Buhari’s electrifying victory in presidential elections Wednesday but sobering challenges confront their next leader, from an Islamic uprising to widespread poverty and corruption. Buhari — a former military general who once led Nigeria following…

President Barack Obama on Wednesday authorized a new U.S. government approach to deterring cyberattacks: financial sanctions against malicious overseas hackers and companies that knowingly benefit from the fruits of cyberespionage. The latter category could include state-owned corporations in Russia, China and elsewhere, setting the stage for major diplomatic friction if the sanctions are employed in that way. “Cyberthreats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to…

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence today admitted that he mishandled the passage of a religious freedom law and now wants a piece of legislation to clarify that it does not give anyone the right to discriminate in the state. “This law does not give anyone a license to deny services to gay and lesbian couples. I could have handled that better this week,” he said. His comments came hours before the…

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence today admitted that he mishandled the passage of a religious freedom law and now wants a piece of legislation to clarify that it does not give anyone the right to discriminate in the state. “This law does not give anyone a license to deny services to gay and lesbian couples. I could have handled that better this week,” he said. His comments came hours before the…

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence today admitted that he mishandled the passage of a religious freedom law and now wants a piece of legislation to clarify that it does not give anyone the right to discriminate in the state. “This law does not give anyone a license to deny services to gay and lesbian couples. I could have handled that better this week,” he said. His comments came hours before the…

Major powers and Iran were closer to a preliminary accord on reining in Tehran’s nuclear programme as marathon talks ran into Wednesday, but they hit an impasse over key details such as the lifting of UN sanctions and Iran’s future atomic research. The negotiators ended talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne in the early morning hours with an air of chaos, disunity and cacophony as delegations scrambled to get…

TOKYO— The world’s oldest person, a Japanese woman, died Wednesday, a few weeks after celebrating her 117th birthday.   Misao Okawa died of heart failure and stopped breathing as relatives and nursing home workers stood by her side and praised her for achieving a long, healthy life, said Tomohiro Okada, an official at her Osaka nursing home.   “She went so peacefully, as if she had just fallen asleep,”…