Socialists try to form new govt in Bulgaria
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- The Socialists, who finished second in Bulgaria's election this month, were asked to form a new government Thursday, after the front-running party was unable to.... 5/23/2013 10:00 AM

Britain: Soldier slaying suspects had been probed
LONDON (AP) -- Two men accused of butchering a British soldier had featured in previous investigations by security services, a British official said Thursday, as investigators searched several locations and tried to determine whether the men were part of a wider plot to instill terror on the streets of London.... 5/23/2013 10:00 AM

North Korea envoy awaits chat with China's leader
BEIJING (AP) -- On a visit to repair ties with China and waiting to meet its leader, a North Korean envoy paid deference Thursday to hopes by the North's chief ally for renewed multinational nuclear talks.... 5/23/2013 9:55 AM

Sorrentino serves up a cinema banquet at Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) -- Paolo Sorrentino has a thing about food - appropriately enough, for the director of a sumptuous feast of a film, "The Great Beauty."... 5/23/2013 9:55 AM

AP Interview: Syria conflict uproots Palestinians
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's fighting has uprooted more than half of the country's 530,000 Palestinians - descendants of refugees from a Mideast conflict half a century ago - and their situation is becoming increasingly desperate, the head of a U.N. aid agency said Thursday.... 5/23/2013 9:53 AM

Czech police seek US man suspected of 4 murders
BRNO, Czech Republic (AP) -- An American man suspected of killing four people is on the run in the Czech Republic and likely armed, officials said Thursday.... 5/23/2013 9:45 AM

Taliban rickshaw bomb kills 13 in Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- A large bomb hidden by the Taliban in a rickshaw exploded as a police vehicle passed in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 11 policemen and two civilians, police said.... 5/23/2013 9:39 AM

Suicide attacker takes Niger cadets hostage
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) -- Niger's interior minister says that a suicide attacker, who penetrated a military garrison in the city of Agadez, has taken several cadets hostage.... 5/23/2013 9:36 AM

Court cancels Ukraine's first gay pride rally
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- A court has banned what would have been Ukraine's first gay-pride demonstration.... 5/23/2013 9:20 AM

Japanese man, 80, oldest to top Everest _ for now
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- An 80-year-old Japanese man who began the year with his fourth heart operation became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on Thursday, a feat he called "the world's best feeling" even with an 81-year-old Nepalese climber not far behind him.... 5/23/2013 9:14 AM

Malaysian charged with sedition, 3 more arrested
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysian authorities detained three anti-government figures, charged a student activist with sedition and seized hundreds of opposition newspapers Thursday, raising political tensions after recent national elections triggered claims of fraud.... 5/23/2013 9:11 AM

Report: Rafsanjani blasts Iran's rulers
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has blasted the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers, declaring it impossible for them to do a worse job running the country, an Iranian pro-reform website reported Wednesday.... 5/23/2013 9:07 AM

5 dead in Lebanon clash of Assad foes, backers
BEIRUT (AP) -- Opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad traded heavy machine gun fire and mortar shells in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli, leaving five people dead in what was described as some of the heaviest fighting there in years, officials said Thursday.... 5/23/2013 9:07 AM

German opposition party marks bittersweet 150th
BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's main opposition party marked a bittersweet 150th birthday on Thursday - trailing badly in polls ahead of September elections and hearing praise for its efforts to reform Europe's biggest economy from French President Francois Hollande, a recent left-wing winner who has lost his luster.... 5/23/2013 9:04 AM

Iran denies its drone entered Bahrain's airspace
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian semi-official news agency reports the country is denying that an unmanned drone violated the airspace of Bahrain, the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.... 5/23/2013 9:04 AM

Restaurant torched in 4th night of Sweden riots
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Groups of youths have burnt down a restaurant, torched more than 30 cars and injured three police in a fourth night of riots in suburbs of the Swedish capital that started following a fatal police shooting.... 5/23/2013 8:58 AM

Father of man shot in Boston probe shares regrets
GROZNY, Russia (AP) -- The father of a Chechen immigrant shot dead by U.S. law enforcement agents while being questioned about his ties to a Boston Marathon bombings suspect said Thursday that he regrets allowing his son to go to the United States.... 5/23/2013 8:54 AM

El Salvador presses pope on Romero beatification
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- El Salvador's president gave Pope Francis a relic of assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero on Thursday amid mounting indications that the Vatican might soon move to beatify him.... 5/23/2013 8:49 AM

Russian court denies Pussy Riot's Alekhina parole
MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian court has denied parole to a member of the Pussy Riot punk group.... 5/23/2013 8:47 AM

Russia wary of deeper nuclear arms cuts
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's top military officer has voiced skepticism about deeper nuclear arms cuts, saying they should require parallel cuts in non-nuclear precision weapons.... 5/23/2013 8:42 AM