R. Kelly convicted on many counts

CHICAGO — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.

Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.

But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.

His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.

Jurors, who deliberated for 11 hours over two days, wrote several questions to the judge on Wednesday, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.

Right-wing bloc wins majority in Swedish parliament

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A right-wing bloc that includes a nationalist anti-immigration party won a narrow majority in Sweden’s parliament Wednesday. It was a major political shift in the Scandinavian country that had a decades-long history of welcoming refugees, but is grappling with a crime wave linked with immigration.

Center-left Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson conceded defeat with 99.9% of the vote from the weekend elections counted Wednesday. She said she would step down Thursday.

Populist Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson declared victory for the four-party bloc. He said his party would be “a constructive and driving force” in the work of rebuilding safety in Sweden. He said it was “time to put Sweden first.”

Shootout: Officer, 2 gunmen killed

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, killing an Israeli army officer, Israel’s military said. Palestinian officials said that troops killed the two gunmen.

The overnight incident was the latest in a string of deadly clashes in recent months in the northern West Bank, where Israeli troops conduct nightly raids. Most of that fighting, including Wednesday’s, has taken place near the city of Jenin, which is known as a bastion of Palestinian militants.

The military said soldiers spotted the two militants approaching Israel’s separation barrier in the northern West Bank and that it dispatched forces to the area. It said the two suspects began shooting automatic weapons at troops, who returned fire.

The Israeli army said that Maj. Bar Falah, 30, was killed in the shootout.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the Israeli army was holding the bodies of the two men. It identified them as Ahmad Abed, 23, and Abd al-Rahman Abed, 22, both from a village near Jenin.

The bloc that includes the Sweden Democrats — the country’s second-largest party — won a thin majority in parliament.

WIRE SERVICES