News

By TOM HAYS and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor has introduced a jury to the sex abuse claims against R&B star R. Kelly, saying the criminal trial was “about a predator” who used his fame to manipulate children and women. Defense attorney Nicole Blank Becker countered Wednesday during opening statements

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A prominent Cambodian labor union leader has been sentenced to two years in prison for inciting social unrest with sensitive comments about the country’s border. Rong Chhun was arrested last year after he spoke to U.S. government-supported Radio Free Asia about farmers in eastern Cambodia who complained their land was

By BRIAN MELLEY and TERENCE CHEA Associated Press POLLOCK PINES, Calif. (AP) — California’s top fire official says blazes raging across Northern California are wiping out forests that are central to plans to reduce carbon emissions and are testing projects designed to protect communities. Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said Wednesday fires are exceedingly resistant

BY ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Democrats are planning House votes next week on a budget resolution that would clear a path for future passage of the party’s ambitious plans for social and environment programs. And that suggests a showdown ahead with rebellious party moderates. Nine centrist Democrats have said they’ll vote

By ROBERT BURNS, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he’s committed to keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal. He’s also pushing back against criticism that the U.S.

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Durst said he deeply regretted telling his life story to filmmakers in hopes of restoring his reputation. The New York real estate heir may wish he hadn’t decided to appeal directly to jurors at his murder trial if a Los Angeles prosecutor keeps exposing a

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s king says the new prime minister he picks must swiftly test his leadership in Parliament as the deadline for lawmakers to submit the names of their preferred candidates passed. Based on the lawmakers’ choices, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he will pick a

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer Just a week before Afghanistan’s collapse, things looked staggeringly different, but even for a country scarred by generations of war, the weeklong string of victories by the Taliban stood out as a remarkable turn of events. A stunning rout, in just days, seemed to declare two decades of American

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press TOOELE, Utah (AP) — Tens of thousands of wild horses roam the American West, their power and beauty a potent symbol of rugged freedom central to the mythology of the range. But the region is also in the clutches of a megadrought worsened by climate change, and

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Pressure for a coordinated response to Haiti’s deadly weekend earthquake is mounting as more injured trickle into hospitals already overwhelmed with thousands of patients. Bodies are still being found in the rubble five days after the disaster. Angry crowds massed Wednesday at