China sentences underground bank operator to death
BEIJING (AP) -- A businesswoman in southern China has been sentenced to death on charges of defrauding investors as the government tightens controls on informal financing that is widely used by entrepreneurs.... 5/20/2013 1:53 AM

Oil price falls below $96 a barrel
BANGKOK (AP) -- The price of oil fell Monday ahead of the release later this week of economic data from the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies, and a speech by the Federal Reserve chief.... 5/20/2013 1:28 AM

Asian stocks rise on signs of steady US recovery
BANGKOK (AP) -- Evidence of a steady economic recovery in the U.S. helped push Asian stock markets higher Monday.... 5/20/2013 1:24 AM

Tons of New Zealand meat stranded on Chinese docks
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Hundreds of tons of frozen mutton, lamb and beef from New Zealand have been stranded on Chinese docks after China halted certain imports from the country due to a certification dispute.... 5/20/2013 12:46 AM

China asks NKorea to release fishing boat, crew
BEIJING (AP) -- China is urging North Korea to release a Chinese fishing boat whose owner says it was seized by gun-toting North Koreans earlier this month and held for ransom, in the latest irritant in relations between the neighboring allies.... 5/20/2013 12:28 AM

More bodies recovered in collapsed Indonesia mine
TIMIKA, Indonesia (AP) -- Rescuers recovered five more bodies from a collapsed underground room at a giant U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia, bringing the confirmed death toll to 14, police said Monday. Fourteen other workers were still missing and feared dead.... 5/20/2013 12:01 AM

SKorea analyzing NKorea's 4 projectile launches
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea is analyzing whether projectiles North Korea fired into its eastern waters over the weekend are short-range missiles or a new type of artillery the country may be developing, officials said Monday.... 5/19/2013 11:18 PM

Syrian troops push into strategic rebel-held town
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the capital to the Mediterranean coast.... 5/19/2013 10:03 PM

Top Libyan official: Benghazi explosion accident
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Libya's deputy prime minister says an investigation has indicated that a deadly explosion in Benghazi last week was an accident and not an attack.... 5/19/2013 4:48 PM

Video shows kidnapped Egyptian security officers
CAIRO (AP) -- Seven men purported to be the members of Egypt's security forces kidnapped by suspected militants last week appeared in a video posted online Sunday and urged the government to secure their release by meeting their captors' demands.... 5/19/2013 4:39 PM

Drug charge for Virgin Islands environment officer
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Federal agents have arrested the top enforcement officer for the U.S. Virgin Islands environment agency on drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with a cache of cocaine on a government patrol boat.... 5/19/2013 4:22 PM

Seen and heard at the Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France (AP) -- Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival:... 5/19/2013 3:47 PM

Tunisia security blocks salafi conference, 1 dead
KAIROUAN, Tunisia (AP) -- Around 11,000 police officers and soldiers blocked an annual conference Sunday at Tunisia's main religious center by a radical Islamist movement that has been implicated in attacks across the country, prompting clashes with angry youths that resulted in one death.... 5/19/2013 2:43 PM

Nigeria military: 17 killed during offensive
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's military says its offensive against insurgents in the country's restive northeast has killed at least 14 suspected Islamic extremists and three soldiers.... 5/19/2013 2:33 PM

Israeli seeks interim deal with Palestinians
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior coalition partner says that reaching a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is unrealistic at the current time and the sides should instead pursue an interim arrangement.... 5/19/2013 2:31 PM

Israel disputes French TV claim on boy's death
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel on Sunday completed an investigation into a decade-old French TV report that claimed Israeli forces killed a Palestinian boy in a gunbattle with Palestinian militants, saying the video was misleading and unfairly blamed Israel.... 5/19/2013 2:27 PM

Coens' folk revival 'Llewyn' serenades Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) -- The Coen brothers' resurrection of the pre-Dylan folk scene in Greenwich Village serenaded Cannes with its period music and melancholy tale of a self-destructive, feline-toting musician.... 5/19/2013 1:53 PM

Chinese premier visits India to boost ties
NEW DELHI (AP) -- Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier visited India on Sunday on his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties.... 5/19/2013 1:45 PM

Slim, broadcasters take fight to soccer field
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexicans often feel that billionaire Carlos Slim owns everything in their country, from telephone and Internet companies to banks and chain stores, but his latest acquisitive foray is meeting resistance after touching a national passion: soccer.... 5/19/2013 1:34 PM

Algerian editor accuses government of censorship
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- An editor has accused Algeria's government of censorship after it blocked the publication of his two newspapers.... 5/19/2013 1:24 PM