MOSCOW / AP With President Vladimir Putin heading to China this weekend, officials in both countries extoll a blossoming “strategic partnership” between the two former communist rivals. But despite Moscow’s push to strengthen ties with Beijing amid a bitter strain in relations with the West, Russia-China trade has shrunk sharply and a slew of ambitious projects have remained largely on ...

  BEIJING / AP Diplomats from the US and North Korea are attending a six-nation security forum in Beijing on Wednesday, in a rare opportunity for contact between them after the North fired two suspected powerful new ballistic missiles. Despite their attendance at the event, the US State Department has said there were no plans for direct talks between the ...

  LOS ANGELES / AP For days, wildfires have raged amid spiking heat across Southern California and much of the West, driving hundreds of people from their homes. Yet homes have overwhelmingly remained safe so far, after aggressive and strategic firefighting and a dose of luck. In the foothill suburbs northeast of Los Angeles, a major wildfire gave a major ...