RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia held a private screening on Wednesday of the Hollywood blockbuster “Black Panther” to herald the launch of movie theaters in the kingdom. Tickets go on sale Thursday for public showings on Friday.

Authorities planned the invitation-only event in a concert hall converted into a cinema complex in the capital, Riyadh. The screening, attended by both men and women, will be followed by a rush to build movie theaters in major cities.

The Saudi government dubbed Wednesday’s event as “the showing of the first commercial film in the kingdom after more than 35 years.”

Audience members clearly enjoyed the moment, eating popcorn and erupting into applause and hoots when the movie started.

“This is a landmark moment in the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a more vibrant economy and society,” Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad said in statement.

It’s a stark reversal for a county where public movie screenings were banned in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism that swept Saudi Arabia. Many Saudi clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful.

Despite decades of ultraconservative dogma, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to ram through a number of major social reforms with support from his father, King Salman.

The crown prince is behind measures such as lifting a ban on women driving that will go into effect this summer. The social push by the 32-year-old heir to the throne is part of his so-called Vision 2030, a blueprint that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid lower oil prices.

Prosecutors: Cohen to receive raid-material copies by May 11

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors said they can give President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, copies of materials seized from him by the FBI by May 11.

The U.S. attorney’s office in New York told a federal judge Wednesday that it can begin turning over materials on April 27. It expects most of the items to be shared within two weeks, though it could take longer to extract information from seized telephones.

Prosecutors have disclosed that they are investigating Cohen’s personal business dealings but haven’t said what crime they believe he has committed. Cohen’s lawyers have called the raid an assault on attorney-client privilege.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood said she might appoint a neutral lawyer to help resolve conflicts over attorney-client privilege.

California reaches deal with U.S. on Guard border role

California Gov. Jerry Brown has reached an agreement with Homeland Security and Defense Department officials on the terms of his state’s National Guard deployment to the Mexican border, after insisting the troops won’t be used to help U.S. agents enforce immigration laws.

Wednesday’s announcement follows several days of back-and-forth posturing between the White House and the Democratic governor, whose state’s “sanctuary” policies protecting unauthorized immigrants are a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s exclamatory Twitter barbs.

Brown said California will deploy 400 soldiers who will fight drug trafficking and cross-border criminal groups but eschew contact with border-crossing migrants.

Erdogan catches Turkey off guard by calling early elections

ANKARA, Turkey — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caught Turkey off guard on Wednesday by calling early elections for June, in a move that could cement his grip on power a year ahead of schedule.

Erdogan announced that parliamentary and presidential elections, originally scheduled for November 2019, will be held June 24, meaning that a new political system that will increase the powers of the president will take effect a year early.

Turkey is switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one, abolishing the office of the prime minister and decreasing the powers of parliament. The changes take effect with the next election.

Erdogan would be able to run for two five-year terms on top of his current term.

Senator’s baby inspires chamber to change rule

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed without dissent Wednesday a new rule that will allow senators to be on the chamber floor with children under the age of 1, a change that followed Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., giving birth to a baby girl this month.

Duckworth, 50, became the first senator to give birth while serving in the Senate, sparking a debate about rules forbidding children from being on the floor while the chamber is in session.

With 23 women now serving in the Senate, the issue quickly was resolved. Duckworth has been home since giving birth, and her colleagues realized that it might be easier for her to work if they changed the rules.

The House has long allowed children of any age to be on the floor during legislative business as long as they are accompanied by their parents.

USS Helena, torpedoed by Japan, located in S. Pacific

HELENA, Mont. — A Microsoft co-founder’s mission to locate sunken warships in the South Pacific has chalked up another victory with the discovery of the USS Helena nearly 75 years after it was sunk by Japanese torpedoes, reviving stories of the ship’s endurance and the nearly unbelievable survival of a large group of crewmen.

Paul Allen’s team searches for the ships to “bring the history back into a relevant conversation,” said Janet Greenlee, a spokeswoman for Allen’s Vulcan Inc. “He wants to honor those that have served and are serving.”

The wreckage of the Helena was found March 23, about a half mile below the surface of the New Georgia Sound. The team identified the light cruiser by the number 50 on its side and by comparing the wreck to the USS Helena’s schematics.

A nanny who stabbed two children to death at their home but argued she was too mentally ill to be held responsible was convicted of murder on Wednesday. Jurors found that Yoselyn Ortega killed 6-year-old Lucia Krim and 2-year-old Leo Krim in October 2012 and understood the consequences of her actions when she did it.

A federal jury Wednesday found three men guilty of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali refugees in Kansas. Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen were convicted of one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and one count of conspiracy against civil rights.