JERUSALEM — The Israeli government on Thursday unveiled what it billed as a groundbreaking program to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in long-neglected Palestinian neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

The “Leading Change” program aims to reduce the huge social gaps between the Palestinian neighborhoods and the Jewish western part of the city. Palestinian neighborhoods suffer from poor infrastructure, neglect and subpar public services, and nearly 80 percent of the city’s Palestinian families live in poverty.

The program will invest 2 billion shekels, or $560 million, in three core areas: education, infrastructure and helping Palestinian women enter the work force. The money will be spent on a variety of programs, including nine pilot projects, in the next five years, with the aim of attracting further government and private investment down the road.

Various government ministries, along with the city of Jerusalem, will carry out the program, which was launched at a ceremony at President Reuven Rivlin’s official residence Thursday.

Rivlin, a proponent of coexistence, praised what he called “the most comprehensive attempt by the government to date to narrow the gaps and to develop the economy” of east Jerusalem.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized. Israel considers east Jerusalem an inseparable part of its capital, while the Palestinians seek the area as the capital of a future state.

Fuel economy proposal sent to White House, EPA staffer says

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposal widely expected to scale back future fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox confirmed Thursday that the agency has sent proposed new standards to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

The move is one of the required steps before a federal rule is adopted.

Landmark rules set by the Obama administration mandated that cars and light trucks average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025, a move to fight climate-changing emissions. A draft of the Trump administration changes made public earlier this spring would set the bar lower, at roughly 30 miles per gallon.

Any rollback would affect the automobile industry globally and weaken efforts to curb pollution.

Man acquitted after destroying 10 Commandments monument

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A man who destroyed a Ten Commandments monument outside of Oklahoma’s Capitol in 2014 was acquitted Thursday of destroying another one three years later outside of Arkansas’, with the judge citing evidence that the man suffers from a mental disease or defect.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled that Michael Tate Reed, 33, must return to the state hospital in Little Rock for additional evaluations that could lead to his release. Reed has been held in the state hospital since late last year after Piazza ruled he wasn’t fit to proceed to trial.

A state hospital evaluation said Reed lacked the capacity to follow the law when he knocked over the 6,000-pound monument in June 2017 with his car. A replacement monument now stands in its place.

Archdiocese in Minn. reaches $210M deal in clergy abuse case

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has agreed to a $210 million settlement with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making it the second-largest U.S. payout in the priest sex abuse scandal.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the settlement was reached with the victims and the archdiocese and includes accountability measures. Anderson said a formal reorganization plan will be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for approval, and then it will be sent to the victims for a vote.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he was grateful to victims who came forward.

In 2007, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled clergy sex abuse cases with 508 victims for $660 million.

Pope on church’s culture of abuse: ‘Never again’

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis became the first pope to publicly denounce a “culture of abuse and cover-up” in the Catholic Church, saying Thursday he was ashamed that neither he nor Chile’s Catholic leaders truly ever listened to victims as the country’s abuse scandal spiraled.

“Never again,” Francis said in a pastoral letter to the Chilean faithful on the eve of another weekend he will spend listening to victims of Chile’s most notorious predator priest. The letter was issued on the same day the Vatican announced its top abuse investigators were returning to Chile on a new mission.

In an eight-page letter, he included himself among the guilty in failing the victims, saying, “With shame I must say that we didn’t know how to listen or respond in time.”

Francis once again thanked victims for their “valiant perseverance.”

Socialist party poised to take charge after vote in Spain

MADRID — Spain’s conservative government appeared doomed Thursday to lose a no-confidence vote in Parliament, with the center-left Socialist party poised to take power.

A Basque nationalist party’s announcement that it would vote in favor of the motion spelled the almost certain end of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s mandate and foretold the stunning collapse of his minority government in a parliamentary vote Friday.

The impending downfall of Rajoy’s government after ruling for nearly eight years came days after the Popular Party’s reputation was damaged by a court verdict that identified it as a beneficiary of a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.

The unexpected development injected a new element of tension into European Union politics.

Populist move: Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League succeeded Thursday in forming western Europe’s first populist government, which will be headed by law professor Giuseppe Conte, whose first try as premier was rejected four days earlier as too risky for the Italian economy.

Manafort aid: Friends of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have launched a legal defense fund to defray his attorney fees as he fights tax fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering charges filed by special counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort faces two trials — one in July and another in September.