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CALIFORNIA

2 chemicals banned from iPhones, iPads

Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals in the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest commitment to protect factory workers who build its devices.

The decision announced Wednesday comes five months after the activist groups China Labor Watch and Green America launched a petition drive calling on Apple Inc. to abandon the use of benzene and n-hexane in the production of iPhones.

Apple says a four-month investigation at 22 factories found no evidence that benzene and n-hexane were endangering the roughly 500,000 people who work at the plants. The Cupertino, Calif.-company nevertheless decided the substances should no longer be allowed during the final assembly process.

Benzene can cause leukemia and n-hexane has been linked to nerve damage. - AP
CALIFORNIA

Stowaway gets jail

A woman who authorities say flew from San Jose to Los Angeles without a ticket has been sentenced to jail after admitting she violated probation by returning to the Los Angeles airport. Marilyn Hartman was sentenced Wednesday to 177 days in jail for returning to LAX last Thursday after a judge told her to stay away. - AP

WASHINGTON

Math prize is a first

An Iran-born Stanford University professor is the first woman to win math's highest honor, the Fields Medal. The International Mathematics Union awarded the prize Wednesday to Maryam Mirzakhani and three others.

The prize, established in 1936, is given every four years to mathematicians 40 or younger. Mirzakhani, 37, who earned a degree in Iran and a doctorate at Harvard, won for complex theoretical math on the symmetry of curved surfaces. Winners included Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University. - AP

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