China, Vietnam talk amid South China Sea tensions
BEIJING (AP) -- Vietnam's president was being feted by China's leaders on a visit through Friday as Beijing continues to shun another rival for South China Sea territory that has challenged its claims on legal grounds, the Philippines.... 6/20/2013 5:08 AM

Russia to fulfill Syria missile system contract
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia says it will honor its controversial contract to deliver S-300 air defense missile systems to Syria.... 6/20/2013 5:07 AM

Tropical Storm Barry headsforms off Mexican coast
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) -- The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Barry is bearing down on Mexico's Gulf Coast, poised to make landfall within hours.... 6/20/2013 4:56 AM

12 Indonesian soldiers on trial over prison attack
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Soldiers from Indonesia's elite special forces have gone before a military court charged with storming a prison and killing four detainees on the main Java island.... 6/20/2013 4:53 AM

Asian stocks down as Fed sees slower bond buys
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- World stock markets fell sharply Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it could start scaling back its huge economic stimulus program later this year and a survey showed a slowdown in manufacturing in China.... 6/20/2013 4:48 AM

Fire blazes at Dutch firelighting block factory
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Authorities in the Dutch city of Oisterwijk say a fire has broken out at a factory that makes firelighting blocks for barbecues and campfires.... 6/20/2013 4:46 AM

Singapore haze at worst yet, Malaysia schools shut
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Singapore urged people to remain indoors amid unprecedented levels of air pollution Thursday as a smoky haze wrought by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia worsened dramatically. Nearby Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.... 6/20/2013 4:40 AM

Italy film fest dedicates homage to Gandolfini
ROME (AP) -- Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend.... 6/20/2013 4:32 AM

AP EXCLUSIVE: Taliban offer to free US soldier
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.... 6/20/2013 4:32 AM

France threatens Google with privacy fines
PARIS (AP) -- France is giving Google three months to abide by the country's data privacy laws or be fined.... 6/20/2013 4:29 AM

Regulators order lenders to raise more capital
LONDON (AP) -- British regulators are ordering its biggest banks to bolster their balance sheets by 27. 1 billion pounds ($42.1 billion) to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.... 6/20/2013 4:11 AM

SKorean nuclear operator raided in cable probe
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's sole nuclear power plant operator said Thursday that investigators raided its offices, a sign that a probe into faulty nuclear plant cables is widening.... 6/20/2013 3:51 AM

Medical care lags behind Afghan military growth
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHINWAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- The young Afghan soldier lay in great pain on a cot at an army base, his uniform pants cut up to his thigh so medics could clean the wound in his right knee where he was shot fighting insurgents.... 6/20/2013 3:41 AM

Iraqis vote in 2 Sunni-dominated provinces
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqis in two Sunni-dominated provinces where provincial elections had been delayed over security concerns were casting ballots Thursday amid tight security measures aimed at thwarting insurgent attacks.... 6/20/2013 3:38 AM

India floods strand thousands; more than 100 dead
LUCKNOW, India (AP) -- Days after floods killed more than 100 people - possibly many more - rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach nearly 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday.... 6/20/2013 3:19 AM

AP NewsAlert
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Taliban say they're ready to hand over captive US soldier in exchange for Guantanamo prisoners.... 6/20/2013 3:11 AM

Jewish educator who survived Soviet Gulag dies
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, a religious educator who survived a brutal Gulag in Siberia and secretly taught Judaism under an oppressive Soviet regime, has died in Israel. He was 84.... 6/20/2013 3:02 AM

China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture
BEIJING (AP) -- Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people.... 6/20/2013 2:55 AM

AP PHOTOS: Bangladesh collapse left many amputees
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- It was the worst disaster in the history of the garment industry. When the Rana Plaza factory building crashed down in April, 1,129 people were killed. But many others had to sacrifice their limbs to survive.... 6/20/2013 2:47 AM

In northern Iraqi city, al-Qaida gathers strength
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gathering strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, ramping up its fundraising through gangland-style shakedowns and feeding off anti-government anger as it increasingly carries out attacks with impunity, according to residents and officials.... 6/20/2013 2:23 AM