Assad: Syria transition talks are internal matter
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war.... 5/18/2013 4:53 PM

Suspected US drone in Yemen kills 4 militants
SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike killed four al-Qaida militants Saturday in a southern Yemeni province once overrun by the group, according to security officials.... 5/18/2013 4:19 PM

Reporter remembers fear in Videla's Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- It was just about a day after Argentine strongman Jorge Rafael Videla had seized power in March of 1976, and the bloodletting was already beginning.... 5/18/2013 4:09 PM

French president signs gay marriage into law
PARIS (AP) -- France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President Francois Hollande signed a law Saturday authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples and ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.... 5/18/2013 3:15 PM

Russia's Karjakin wins Norway chess tournament
STAVANGER, Norway (AP) -- Russia's Sergey Karjakin won the (EURO)100,000 ($130,000) Norway chess championship on Saturday after drawing against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.... 5/18/2013 2:53 PM

Pope leads pep rally at Vatican, meets with Merkel
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis toured St. Peter's Square to greet tens of thousands of people attending a rally of prayer, music and speeches Saturday, and he embraced the brother of a Pakistani politician who was assassinated in his country after calling for greater religious freedom for Christians there.... 5/18/2013 2:47 PM

Hot off the press: Seen and heard in Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) -- Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival:... 5/18/2013 2:44 PM

SKorea says NKorea fires 3 short-range missiles
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.... 5/18/2013 2:36 PM

Blasts rock Libya's capital and eastern city
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Libyan officials say explosions went off in the capital Tripoli and the restive eastern city of Benghazi, but no casualties were reported.... 5/18/2013 2:27 PM

AP PHOTOS: Palestinians in Egypt exiled, forgotten
GEZIRAT AL-FADEL, Egypt (AP) -- In 1948, Suleiman Mamoudi fled by foot with his parents and other families from their village of Bir el-Sabae in Palestine. The 28-year-old and his family walked west for several hundred miles, crossing the Sinai Peninsula before settling in an area around 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Cairo.... 5/18/2013 1:46 PM

Plane catches fire landing in Moscow; no injuries
MOSCOW (AP) -- Part of an airliner carrying more than 130 people caught fire as it was landing in Moscow, and passengers evacuated the plane by jumping off one of its wings and shooting down an evacuation slide.... 5/18/2013 1:38 PM

Ivory Coast army arrests militia leader
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) -- A militia leader accused of grave crimes during Ivory Coast's 2010-11 postelection violence was taken into custody Saturday not far from the national park where his forces had been illegally occupying in the country's volatile western region, officials said.... 5/18/2013 1:32 PM

Attacks kill 16 in Iraq, 8 police kidnapped
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday, while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, the latest in a wave of violence to grip the country.... 5/18/2013 1:19 PM

Landing gear issue leads to plane's belly landing
NEWARK, N.J (AP) -- An airline official says a US Airways Express flight with 34 people aboard was forced to make a belly landing at Newark International Airport after experiencing landing gear trouble. No injuries were reported.... 5/18/2013 1:06 PM

Sea turtle comeback in a corner of the Caribbean
GRANDE RIVIERE, Trinidad (AP) -- Giant leatherback turtles, some weighing half as much as a small car, drag themselves out of the ocean and up the sloping shore on the northeastern coast of Trinidad while villagers await wearing dimmed headlamps in the dark. Their black carapaces glistening, the turtles inch along the moonlit beach, using their powerful front flippers to move their bulky frames onto the sand.... 5/18/2013 12:57 PM

Cannes helps actors Bejo and Rahim cross borders
CANNES, France (AP) -- The magic and glamour of Cannes can be hard to spot on a day when rain is lashing the palm trees, roiling the gray Mediterranean and pooling in puddles along the Croisette.... 5/18/2013 12:57 PM

3 killed, 3 injured in Puerto Rico shooting
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Three people have been killed and three others injured during a shooting at a gas station in Puerto Rico.... 5/18/2013 12:55 PM

Journalist found dead in eastern Congo
GOMA, Congo (AP) -- The body of a Congolese journalist was found on the bank of the Ngezi River near the provincial capital of Bunia in eastern Congo, the city's mayor said Saturday.... 5/18/2013 12:49 PM

Union leads march in Rome calling for job creation
ROME (AP) -- A union of Italian metal workers has led thousands of people in a march through the heart of Rome to press the new government for measures to spur job creation.... 5/18/2013 12:46 PM

Nigeria military declares 24-hour curfew in city
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's military declared a 24-hour curfew Saturday on neighborhoods in a northeastern city that's the spiritual home of an Islamic extremist network as soldiers continued the government's emergency campaign in the region, with authorities saying they killed 10 suspected insurgents.... 5/18/2013 12:33 PM