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recent visit to the region just last week, and other points of potential progress. Kerry's latest visit comes amid Palestinian unhappiness with the security plan and few, if any, tangible signs of progress.
• "This is an ongoing discussion," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday, two days after Kerry met with each side's top negotiators in Washington. "Certainly we expect they will talk about security, as they will discuss other issues."
• Kerry, along with special U.S. Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk, met separately and then together for about three hours Monday with chief Israeli negotiator Tippi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erekat, Psaki said. Livni and Erekat were in Washington for a Mideast conference in which President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Kerry all participated. Kerry also spoke Wednesday by phone with Netanyahu.
• On Monday, though, a senior Palestinian official railed against U.S. attempts to broker a broad outline of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, saying Kerry is breaking a promise to try to negotiate a final agreement in the current round of talks.
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• SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California officials are considering whether to change a decades-old anti-crime regulation and allow prostitutes to receive money from a victim compensation fund if they're raped or beaten by a john or pimp.
• Under the current system, those harmed in violent crimes can be paid for medical costs and related expenses, but prostitutes are excluded because their activities are illegal.
• California is the only state in the nation with such a provision, said Jon Myers, deputy executive officer of the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.
• "We're kind of all alone on that," he said. "The idea, back in the late '90s, was to get tougher on crime."
• The American Civil Liberties Union and organizations representing sex trade workers want the rules changed.
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