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 3:53 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

Unmanned aircraft struggle to shed 'drone' image
LE BOURGET, France (AP) -- Unmanned aircraft have helped rescue stranded hikers, worked to contain wildfires and gathered data at nuclear accidents. One helped a Russian tanker find its way through Arctic ice to bring oil to a stranded Alaskan community.... 6/19/2013 3:25 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 and avoid a snap election.... 6/19/2013 3:15 PM

Chile presidential candidate attacked with eggs
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- Chilean protesters have thrown eggs at a conservative presidential candidate after he performed a Zumba dance.... 6/19/2013 3:11 PM

Egypt top cleric: Protests against Morsi permitted
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's top Muslim cleric declared Wednesday that peaceful protests against the president are permitted, in a snub to hard-line Islamist backers of Mohammed Morsi who declared that those behind opposition protests planned for June 30 are heretics.... 6/19/2013 3:10 PM

Protesters out again in Brazilian cities
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Scattered street demonstrations popped up around Brazil Wednesday as protesters continued their collective cry against the low-quality public services they receive in exchange for high taxes and rising prices.... 6/19/2013 3:09 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 3:08 PM

Top UK court overturns sanctions on Iranian bank
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Supreme Court quashed sanctions against an Iranian bank penalized over its alleged links to Iran's nuclear weapons program, saying Wednesday that Bank Mellat had been arbitrarily singled out.... 6/19/2013 3:01 PM

IMF calls for urgent steps on Spain unemployment
MADRID (AP) -- Spain faces the prospect of high unemployment and sluggish growth lasting years unless the country and Europe take "urgent action" to slash the nation's crippling 27 percent unemployment rate and free frozen credit to businesses so they can expand, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.... 6/19/2013 2:44 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 2:41 PM

Critics hail Daniel Radcliffe's latest stage turn
LONDON (AP) -- Daniel Radcliffe has won magical reviews for his latest stage role as a disabled Irish dreamer in Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan."... 6/19/2013 2:35 PM

US and Cuba 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 2:34 PM

World powers to meet on Syrian rebel demands
PARIS (AP) -- World powers will meet this weekend in Qatar to decide on how to answer a list of requests for help from Syrian rebels, a French diplomat said Wednesday.... 6/19/2013 2:33 PM

Bombings kill 7 people in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Bomb attacks in Iraq have killed seven people, including a local political leader and four of his relatives, authorities said Wednesday.... 6/19/2013 2:31 PM