Scattered street protests pop across Brazil
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Scattered street demonstrations popped up around Brazil on 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 4:55 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 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 4:03 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 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