NEW YORK – Alec Baldwin is lending his voice to critics of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s homelessness policies. The “30 Rock” actor narrates a public service announcement released by the Coalition for the Homeless, a charity blasting Bloomberg’s follow-through on a 2004 pledge to slash the number of homeless …

JERUSALEM – Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel Thursday, causing no injuries but further straining a shaky, week-old truce. Israel did not hit back, but it kept vital Gaza crossings closed, triggering Palestinian charges that Israel was violating terms of the cease-fire. Despite the rocket attack, the second …

Police arrested a man Tuesday in connection with an attempted child enticement case in Denver. Mohammed Al Hamdani, 39, was taken into custody after an 11-year-old girl snapped a photo of a man with her cell phone who was allegedly trying to abduct her at Bible Park in southeast Denver. …

Top NBC anchorman Brian Williams will host the next “Meet the Press” but the network hasn’t chosen who will permanently replace Tim Russert, an NBC News spokeswoman said Thursday. The guests will be Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Biden, D-Del., who had been lined up to speak with Russert …

WIMBLEDON, England – Defending champion Venus Williams scraped through a tight first set and then pulled away for a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over British teenager Naomi Cavaday to begin her bid for a fifth Wimbledon title. As reigning champion, Williams was up first on “Ladies Day” on Centre Court …

BANGKOK, Thailand – Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food — whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist. Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish. Groups of long-tailed …

ZEILLERN, Austria – A woman born and raised in the cellar where her mother allegedly was kept captive as a sex slave for 24 years has emerged from an induced coma with two requests: to go on a boat ride and to see pop singer Robbie Williams in concert, doctors …

SAO PAULO, Brazil – A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported Sunday. The 314-B1 Super Tucano propeller-driven fighter — the same used by the Brazilian military — was bought for US$4.5 million and …

NEW YORK – Retail gas prices rose to a record high overnight, a daily survey by motorist group AAA showed Monday. The nationwide average price of a gallon of regular gasoline Monday was $4.09, according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service. That compares with $4.08 a gallon Sunday and …

CHICAGO – A forensic expert testified Thursday at R. Kelly’s child pornography trial that a fingernail-sized mark seen on the lower back of the man in the sex tape at the center of the case was not a mole but video distortion. Video analysis expert Charles Palm testified for the …