Top figures barred from Iran's June ballot
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's state TV says overseers of next month's presidential election have rejected a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.... 5/21/2013 1:36 PM

France: Drugmaker on trial, suspected in deaths
NANTERRE, France (AP) -- The makers of a diabetes and weight loss drug suspected in the deaths of hundreds of people went on trial Tuesday, facing charges they misled the public about the product's safety.... 5/21/2013 1:35 PM

Israel warns Syria against attacks on Golan
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli and Syrian troops exchanged fire across their tense cease-fire line in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, prompting an Israeli threat that Syria's leader will "bear the consequences" of further escalation and raising new concerns that the civil war there could explode into a region-wide conflict.... 5/21/2013 1:30 PM

Germany's SAP to recruit tech staff with autism
BERLIN (AP) -- German software giant SAP AG said Tuesday it plans to recruit people with autism to take make full use of their talents to process information.... 5/21/2013 1:28 PM

Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
PARIS (AP) -- Some 1,500 visitors were cleared out of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a man put a letter on the altar of the 850-year-old monument Tuesday, pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head.... 5/21/2013 1:22 PM

Warsaw ghetto insurgent Boruch Spiegel dies at 93
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Boruch Spiegel, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising by poorly armed Jewish insurgents against the powerful Nazi German force that occupied Poland, has died. He was 93.... 5/21/2013 1:10 PM

The pope and the devil: Is Francis an exorcist?
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Is Pope Francis an exorcist?... 5/21/2013 1:04 PM

SAfrican court acquits brother of Oscar Pistorius
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- One Pistorius brother is free of charges - acquitted Tuesday of culpable homicide in the death of a woman in a road accident. The famous younger brother, Olympian double-amputee Oscar Pistorius, still must face his day in court for shooting and killing his girlfriend.... 5/21/2013 1:03 PM

Spain backs sending defensive arms to Syria rebels
MADRID (AP) -- Spain favors a partial lifting of sanctions against Syria that would allow the delivery of "defense material" to rebel groups to help protect the population, its foreign minister said Tuesday.... 5/21/2013 12:59 PM

Markets choppy ahead of Bernanke testimony
LONDON (AP) -- Markets were choppy Tuesday as investors remained cautious in the run-up to a much-anticipated statement from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.... 5/21/2013 12:57 PM

Pope expresses solidarity with tornado survivors
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis has expressed his `'closeness to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado," with special concern for `'those who lost young children."... 5/21/2013 12:53 PM

India offers more aid for rebuilding Afghanistan
NEW DELHI (AP) -- India offered on Tuesday to provide more training and reconstruction aid for Afghanistan as most international troops prepare to withdraw next year.... 5/21/2013 12:41 PM

Egyptian troops mistakenly fire on a Sinai funeral
CAIRO (AP) -- Egyptian officials say troops and police mistakenly fired on a Bedouin funeral in the Sinai during a sweep searching for security personnel kidnapped by suspected militants.... 5/21/2013 12:41 PM

China vice-premier arrives in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Chinese vice-premier Wang Yang has arrived in Zimbabwe at the start of an official trip to view his nation's burgeoning trade and development ties in Africa.... 5/21/2013 12:40 PM

Hundreds seek compensation in Japan nuclear crisis
TOKYO (AP) -- Hundreds of people living just outside Japan's Fukushima prefecture say they have been denied adequate compensation after the country's 2011 nuclear disaster despite suffering elevated radiation levels.... 5/21/2013 12:39 PM

Pigeon sale yields world record for feathered Bolt
BRUSSELS (AP) -- Flying high above Europe's economic crisis, a local lightning-fast pigeon called Bolt became the world's most expensive racing bird when his Belgian breeder sold it for 310,000 euros ($400,000) to a Chinese businessman.... 5/21/2013 12:36 PM

South Africa: Winnie Mandela forced auction flops
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- There were no bidders and no locksmiths willing to force entry for a scheduled auction Tuesday to sell artworks and other belongings of Nelson Mandela's ex-wife.... 5/21/2013 12:35 PM

Fighting for 2nd day between army, rebels in Congo
GOMA, Congo (AP) -- Fighting between the M23 rebels and the army continued for a second day Tuesday near Congo's eastern provincial capital of Goma, in clashes that have so far killed 19 people, all of them either soldiers or rebels, officials said.... 5/21/2013 12:35 PM

US envoy in Cuba engages critics on and offline
HAVANA (AP) -- The meeting on a sunny Havana square was a little bit revolutionary for Cuba's revolution. And for U.S. diplomacy as well.... 5/21/2013 1:40 PM

New Egypt tax law: cuts for poor, business hikes
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's president has signed a new tax law that cuts the amount paid by poorer Egyptians while increasing taxes on small and medium-sized businesses.... 5/21/2013 12:33 PM