KABUL -- At least 23 Afghan army soldiers were killed by a group of Taliban infiltrators in the southeastern province of Ghazni, local officials said Saturday.

The infiltrators attacked the soldiers on a military base in Qarabagh district of the province, local council members Esmatullah Jamrudwal and Amanullah Kamran said.

Another soldier was...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday rejected Pacific Gas & Electric's proposal to pull itself out of bankruptcy, saying its reorganization plan falls "woefully short" of safety requirements set under state law and demanding the company make major changes if it wants to access billions of dollars in a fund to pay wildfire...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Pete Buttigieg's campaign on Friday released the names of nearly 150 people who raised at least $25,000 for his presidential bid, including Blackstone Group Vice Chairman Tony James and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Swati Mylavarapu.

The disclosure of the names of the so-called bundlers -- supporters who collect campaign ...Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected Pacific Gas and Electric's proposed restructuring plan Friday, dealing a major blow to the power giant as it tries to exit the biggest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Newsom said in a letter to PG&E Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson that the utility giant's restructuring plan falls "woefully short" ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Some two dozen women showed up this week to a first appearance court hearing for a stranger.

The spectators were just some of the supporters calling for mercy for Diana Elliott, who stands accused of abandoning her mute 14-year-old son, who police say has Down syndrome, at Grady Memorial Hospital last week. After her subsequent ...Read more

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- New Zealand's police dive squad and navy divers on Saturday continued to look for the missing bodies of two people who died when a volcano erupted on New Zealand's White Island on Monday.

Eight tourists and guides who were on a sightseeing tour at New Zealand's most active volcano when it erupted were confirmed dead ...Read more

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the latest of seven Democratic presidential candidates to announce they will skip the next Democratic debate if it means crossing a picket line to get there.

"I don't believe we should cross that picket line," she said at a Miami campaign event centered on labor rights and union protections.

The other six ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- All the 2020 candidates who qualified for the next Democratic presidential debate have vowed to bow out of the event because they don't want to cross a picket line to get there.

Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer announced on Friday that they would pull out of the...Read more

GENEVA -- Chile's security forces have injured, killed, detained, tortured and raped citizens during the recent mass protests, United Nations human rights investigators reported Friday in Geneva.

Police had managed the demonstrations in a repressive manner and failed to distinguish between the majority of peaceful protesters and the violent ...Read more

Religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations could end in New Jersey

Controversial legislation that could do away with New Jersey's religious exemption for vaccinating children is scheduled for a state Senate vote Monday.

In a hearing that drew hundreds of parents opposed to the bill as well as public health advocates who support it, the ...Read more

CHICAGO -- State officials confirmed Friday that two child welfare professionals who were recommended for dismissal for their handling of a hotline investigation into AJ Freund four months before the 5-year-old boy's tragic death are no longer employed with the agency.

Carlos Acosta and his supervisor, Andrew Polovin, are no longer state ...Read more