The accused came from all walks of life: Retirees, dads and twentysomethings. An engineer, a business owner and an auto worker. A man in a wheelchair. Men in need of Spanish or Farsi translators. About 40 men somberly entered a classroom on a recent Saturday morning. About half of them wore shiny wedding bands. All had tried to buy a prostitute's services and were caught by police. It was their first offense, and a county court referred them to a ...

Pop singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years probation and more than 1,400 hours in "labor-oriented service" for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said in the sentencing she wants to see Brown conduct "actual physical labor, as opposed to some type of community service." The sentencing was delayed earlier this month because documents detailing Brown's proposed community service plan in Virginia, where he maintains a legal residence and ...

Van Thy says the government evicted her from her home in the Cambodian capital and trucked her and others out to a town an hour away where she now lives in a hot green metal shed with no running water and dim prospects. Before the move, she had a job as a dishwasher, but now the 36-year-old woman is unemployed, penniless and her health has taken a turn for the worse. She has AIDS like many of the others in ...

Pakistani forces in the last month foiled a planned attack on the parliament building, the intelligence agency and other federal institutions, the country's interior minister told CNN Sunday. More than 600 firefighters and soldiers -- aided by residents -- used whatever was at their disposal to bring the blaze under control as the flames inched closer to the capital from the northeast edges of the city. "I have ashes on my desk but I'm not smoking. Penteli mountain is," said ...

Weary but determined, crews battled to save homes as fires tore through suburb after suburb around Athens for a third day Sunday. More than 600 firefighters and soldiers -- aided by residents -- used whatever was at their disposal to bring the blaze under control as the flames inched closer to the capital from the northeast edges of the city. "I have ashes on my desk but I'm not smoking. Penteli mountain is," said Alexander Liaros, referring to the community ...

Jewish groups and the Argentine government condemned Friday the nomination of a man accused in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish center to serve as Iran's defense minister. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominated Ahmad Vahidi to fill the cabinet position on Wednesday, which drew a rebuke from Jewish leaders in Buenos Aires, including one from the Delegation of Israeli-Argentine Associations, or DAIA. "The decision adopted by the Iranian president, who systematically denies the Holocaust and calls for the destruction ...

Blog fans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw PittGirl as their masked superhero -- a comedian and local commentator who jibed the mayor without reserve and ranted freely about her hatred of pigeons. But despite her effort to keep her real name secret, people started to figure out who PittGirl was. Feeling pressure to take control of her identity before someone else outed her, PittGirl on Wednesday posted pictures of herself on her blog and introduced readers to her real-world self: Virginia ...

Wayne Rooney showed his determination to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo as Manchester United began their English Premier League title defense with a 1-0 victory at home to promoted Birmingham on Sunday. The England striker netted the only goal in the 34th minute -- his 99th for the club -- after starting up front in a more central role than last season along with Dimitar Berbatov. Rooney combined with the Bulgarian to set up Nani on the ...

The tiny one-room house rests on a hill; no electricity and no running water. A creaky metal cot and a rusting wood-burning stove is all the comfort Herbert Hale says he needs. CHERRY CREEK, South Dakota (CNN) -- The tiny one-room house rests on a hill; no electricity and no running water. A creaky metal cot and a rusting wood-burning stove is all the comfort Herbert Hale says he needs. "All it is is logs, glue -- dirt and water ...

The Philadelphia Eagles welcomed Michael Vick back into the National Football League on Friday after the quarterback spent almost two years in federal prison on a felony dogfighting conviction. Vick, formerly with the Atlanta Falcons, has signed a two-year deal with the Eagles. "I think everybody deserves a second chance," Vick said at a news conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday. "Now I want to be part of the solution and not the problem." The league suspended Vick indefinitely in ...