New MERS virus spreads easily, deadlier than SARS
LONDON (AP) -- A mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than SARS, doctors reported Wednesday after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia.... 6/19/2013 5:23 PM

Militants storm UN compound in Somalia; 20 killed
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Seven al-Qaida-linked militants on a suicide mission attacked the U.N. compound Wednesday with a truck bomb and then poured inside, killing at least 13 people before dying in the assault.... 6/19/2013 5:22 PM

WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama ditches jacket
BERLIN (AP) -- President Barack Obama invoked President John F. Kennedy's famous Cold War speech in Berlin 50 years ago in his Brandenburg Gate speech Wednesday. But he was not trying to best him. Not when his crowd of 4,500 was one one-hundredth the size of Kennedy's.... 6/19/2013 5:19 PM

Greek coalition talks drag on to end TV crisis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's governing coalition failed to end a political crisis triggered by the closure of state broadcaster ERT, but said talks would continue Thursday to try to avoid a snap election that could delay vital economic reforms and disrupt the country's bailout program.... 6/19/2013 5:17 PM

US and Cuba agree to resume migration talks
HAVANA (AP) -- The United States and Cuba have agreed to resume bilateral talks on migration issues next month, a State Department official said Wednesday, the latest evidence of a thaw in chilly relations between the Cold War enemies.... 6/19/2013 5:14 PM

Italian icons find no respite from tax man
MILAN (AP) -- Sophia Loren wore green silk and sunglasses for her date with the taxman, Luciano Pavarotti a suit and sneakers. Diego Maradona gave up his diamond stud earring to pay off a tax debt.... 6/19/2013 5:09 PM

Scattered street protests pop across Brazil
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Brazilian leaders in Sao Paulo say they are reversing a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares that has sparked widespread protests across the nation.... 6/19/2013 5:27 PM

Syria troops fight rebels near major Shiite shrine
BEIRUT (AP) -- Hezbollah fighters joined Syrian forces in battling rebels in a Damascus suburb that is home to a revered Shiite Muslim shrine, in a push to secure the area around the ornate, golden domed mosque.... 6/19/2013 4:40 PM

UK banking commission urges better standards
LONDON (AP) -- British bankers could soon be facing harsher penalties for behaving badly.... 6/19/2013 4:23 PM

Obama urges 'bold' nuclear cuts in Berlin speech
BERLIN (AP) -- Summoning the harsh history of this once-divided city, President Barack Obama on Wednesday cautioned the U.S. and Europe against "complacency" brought on by peace, pledging to cut America's deployed nuclear weapons by one-third if Cold War foe Russia does the same.... 6/19/2013 4:18 PM

US tries saving Taliban talks after Karzai objects
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hopes dimmed for talks aimed at ending the Afghan war when an angry President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday suspended security negotiations with the U.S. and scuttled a peace delegation to the Taliban, sending American officials scrambling to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the militants.... 6/19/2013 4:16 PM

Syrian exiles get taste of home: Beloved ice cream
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- For Syrians, no visit to Damascus' Old City is complete without a stop at a more than century-old ice cream parlor in its main souq where you can watch them make their distinctive desert by pounding it into shape with giant wooden mallets, then enjoy a bowl of it sprinkled with pistachios.... 6/19/2013 4:10 PM

Former Hungarian prime minister Gyula Horn dies
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Gyula Horn, a former Hungarian prime minister who played a key role in opening the Iron Curtain, has died at the age of 80.... 6/19/2013 4:09 PM

Syria infiltrators, Jordan military clash, 1 dead
ZAIN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordan's military says infiltrators from Syria have clashed with Jordanian soldiers near the border. One infiltrator was killed and two wounded.... 6/19/2013 4:07 PM

Militants kill 6 soldiers in northwest Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A senior police official says militants attacked a military convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons in northwest Pakistan, killing six soldiers.... 6/19/2013 3:48 PM

UN says 45.2 million refugees and displaced people
GENEVA (AP) -- The Syrian civil war contributed to pushing the numbers of refugees and those displaced by conflict within their own nation to an 18-year high of 45.2 million worldwide by the end of 2012, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday.... 6/19/2013 3:42 PM

Group: Exclude Chad troops from UN force in Mali
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A network of human rights groups on Wednesday criticized plans to include Chadian troops in a new U.N. peacekeeping force for Mali while Chad's military remains on a U.N. `list of shame' for child recruitment. But U.N. officials made clear they had no intention of excluding a country whose soldiers are considered among the best African desert fighters.... 6/19/2013 3:41 PM

China, North Korea hold strategic talks in Beijing
BEIJING (AP) -- Negotiators from North Korea and China held strategic talks in Beijing on Wednesday as they work to repair strained relations, but offered little indication they will lead to a resumption of nuclear disarmament talks any time soon.... 6/19/2013 3:39 PM

World Bank highlights climate-poverty link
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The World Bank says it will increasingly view its efforts to help developing countries fight poverty through a "climate lens."... 6/19/2013 3:34 PM

Secret hearings debated in Guantanamo 9/11 case
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- Prosecutors in the Sept. 11 war crimes case at Guantanamo are asking a judge to allow secret pretrial hearings that would exclude even the defendants.... 6/19/2013 3:30 PM