News

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Accusers and others demanding accountability for R&B superstar R. Kelly over allegations that he was abusing young women and girls for decades say it took so long to get to a guilty verdict in part because his targets were Black. Kelly was convicted Monday in his

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin are set to meet for the second and final debate in Virginia’s closely watched gubernatorial election. Tuesday’s night’s hourlong debate will be held at a northern Virginia community college and carried live by NBC television stations across the state.

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2020 following a gap caused by the coronavirus. Composer Terence Blanchard, librettist Kasi Lemmons

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A man already sentenced to life in prison for killing four people at a massage business outside Atlanta is set to enter a plea to shooting four others at two massage centers inside the city. Robert Aaron Long is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Fulton County Superior

By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A man who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper more than three years ago is scheduled to be sentenced for the crimes. Prosecutors are seeking five life terms in prison without the possibility of parole for Jarrod Ramos at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing. Anne Arundel County

BEIJING (AP) — The World Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for developing countries in East Asia due to the impact of the coronavirus’s delta variant. In a report Tuesday, it called on governments to help the poor and small businesses avoid long-term damage. The Washington-based lender said excluding China’s unexpectedly strong growth, developing

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press HAMPTON, S.C. (AP) — The influential Murdaugh family is at the center of an unfolding drama in the tiny South Carolina town of Hampton. For a century, the Murdaughs have quietly steered much of the legal world in this corner of the state, by running the prosecutor’s office and a

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Pentagon leaders are set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee amid sharp criticism of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the failure to anticipate the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country. Tuesday’s hearing will be their first public testimony on

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate is facing execution for fatally stabbing two Houston-area brothers during a robbery in their home more than 30 years ago. Rick Rhoades was condemned for the September 1991 killings of 31-year-old Charles Allen and 33-year-old Bradley Allen. The brothers were killed less than