A family of five from the New York City suburb of Scarsdale was aboard a plane that crashed minutes after takeoff from a popular beach resort in Costa Rica on Sunday, killing all 12 people aboard, a relative and the family’s rabbi said. Ten U.S. citizens and two Costa Rican pilots were killed when the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft crashed into a mountainous area off the beach town of Punta Islita, the Costa Rican government said. The town is in the province of Guanacaste, about 230 km (140 miles) west of the capital of San Jose. The dead included the Steinberg family, consisting of a couple and their three sons. “We are in utter shock and disbelief right now,” Tamara Steinberg Jacobsen, the sister of the father, Bruce Steinberg, said on Facebook, where she posted pictures of the family and thanked people for their condolences. She also asked for …

More than 300 top women in Hollywood — from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence to Emma Thompson and Cate Blanchett — unveiled an initiative Monday to tackle pervasive sexual harassment in workplaces, calling special attention to their “sisters” in less than glamorous blue-collar jobs. The initiative, dubbed Time’s Up, caps a year in which the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal touched off a deluge of allegations that brought down powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media, prompting companies, government agencies and even the U.S. federal court system to re-examine harassment policies. But in an open letter printed in The New York Times, the new initiative lends the star power of its A-list members to the cause of women in less prominent fields, urging support and respect for farm workers and others whose humble positions leave them vulnerable and voiceless. “We fervently urge the media covering the disclosures by people …

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said an expected visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence appears to have been postponed again.   Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the visit, which had been expected to take place the week of Jan. 14, is not on the ministry’s schedule for January.   “The visit is not included in our provision of scheduled visits of high-level dignitaries in January,” he said.   He gave no reason for the apparent delay and said it was still possible that Pence could decide to come. But he said there was no new date for an expected visit. Pence had been scheduled to visit Israel last month but called off the trip at late notice and said he would come instead in January. The official reason for the delay was the Senate tax vote. But it also followed region-wide uproar over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem …

More than two decades after California became the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana use, on January first it becomes the final West Coast state to legalize pot for recreational purposes — a move approved by California voters in November 2016, in a referendum known as Prop 64. While this is good news for cannabis enthusiasts, those with visions of unencumbered marijuana use in the California sunshine will find that reality is not quite so cut-and-dried — meaning, simple — referring to the processing of tobacco leaves. Most importantly, while seven U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use, the U.S. federal government still considers it a controlled substance, classified with heroin and LSD as illegal drugs. Elsewhere, 29 states have legalized medical marijuana, and Maine and Massachusetts are set to legalize recreational pot in 2018. Federal versus state law Former White House spokesman Sean Spicer …

The roses are ready, and the skies will be blue in Southern California on New Year’s Day. Only a few clouds are expected in Pasadena as the city celebrates the 129th Rose Parade, and temperatures are expected to reach a high of the mid-70s. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line a street to watch floats decked out with hundreds of thousands of flowers. It has rained on the Rose Parade only once in the past 67 years — that was in 2006 — and it has never been canceled because of weather. Actor Gary Sinise is this year’s grand marshal. Spectators started lining the 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) route on Sunday, many of them camping overnight to watch the floats that will start drifting by in the morning. …

Bidding farewell to 2017 with a lavish party at his private club, President Donald Trump predicted 2018 will be a “tremendous year.” Trump said Sunday that the stock market will continue to rise and that companies are going to continue to come into the U.S., at “a rapid clip.” He also cited several accomplishments, including the tax overhaul, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and repealing the individual mandate from the national health care law. “It will be a fantastic 2018,” a tuxedoed Trump said, as he entered the gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and son Barron. Asked for his reaction to North Korea leader Kim Jon Un’s remarks about having a nuclear button on his desk, Trump responded by saying, “We’ll see.” Guests gathered in the decorated ballroom included senior White House advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump’s sons Eric …

The Trump administration says it is “very concerned” about Tehran blocking Iranians from communicating via social media platforms in a bid to dampen four days of nationwide anti-government protests. Iran blocked access to messaging app Telegram and photo-sharing app Instagram on Sunday, with state media saying the moves were meant to maintain peace. Iranians had been using the app to communicate about the street demonstrations, the biggest outpouring of public discontent with Iran’s clerical leaders since 2009 protests against the results of a disputed presidential election.   In an exclusive interview with VOA Persian on Sunday, Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications Michael Anton said there is not much Washington can do about Iran’s social media clampdown. But he said the Trump administration expects U.S. and other western companies to halt any concessions to the Iranian government. “(They should) not bow to any demands for censorship or curtailment …

A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriff’s deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately after entering a suburban Denver apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom. “I do know that all of them were shot very, very quickly. They all went down almost within seconds of each other, so it was more of an ambush-type of attack on our officers,” Spurlock said. “He knew we were coming and we obviously let him know that we were there.” The wounded deputies tried to pull the fallen officer, identified as Zackari Parrish, out of the line of further gunfire but were unable to because of their own injuries and only …