Argentine leader raises cash handouts 35 percent
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentina's president announced a $3.2 billion annual increase in cash handouts for the poor, students and pregnant women Wednesday, saying the programs will reach nearly 700,000 additional children, pay their families 35 percent more and encourage consumer spending in what is an election year.... 5/22/2013 7:38 PM

Mexico cartel dominates, torches western state
LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) -- The farm state of Michoacan is burning. A drug cartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic order has set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passenger buses in a medieval-like reign of terror.... 5/22/2013 7:05 PM

Little done in Brazil to improve safety after fire
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Little has been done to improve the safety of public gathering places since a nightclub fire killed 242 people earlier this year in southern Brazil, relatives of the victims said Wednesday.... 5/22/2013 6:36 PM

Puerto Rico legislator targets parents of dropouts
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A legislator in Puerto Rico has submitted a bill that would increase fines and jail time for parents whose children skip classes or drop out of school.... 5/22/2013 6:23 PM

Kerry: US, allies ready to step up aid to rebels
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria's civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime's military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.... 5/22/2013 5:59 PM

Congo fighting persists as UN chief arrives
GOMA, Congo (AP) -- M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city.... 5/22/2013 5:56 PM

Puerto Rico's Culebra awaits new hospital, school
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rico's tiny island of Culebra has been forever dependent on the U.S. territory for food, jobs and health care, but the territory's governor is cutting some of those strings.... 5/22/2013 5:54 PM

Argentine dictator Videla's burial protested
MERCEDES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentines in the hometown of former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla are upset at the prospect that he may be buried there.... 5/22/2013 5:48 PM

New Paraguay leaders promise more free milk
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) -- Paraguay exports enough soy, wheat and corn to feed 80 million people, more than 10 times its population, and its rivers provide abundant fresh water. But 14 percent of its children suffer chronic malnutrition, and many others lack clean drinking water.... 5/22/2013 5:41 PM

Colombia: 10 soldiers killed by in rebel attack
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- At least 10 Colombian soldiers were killed and six wounded Wednesday in a pre-dawn attack on an army patrol with homemade explosives by the country's second-largest leftist rebel band, the military said.... 5/22/2013 5:40 PM

Toronto mayor's brother delivers defense
TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's brother said Wednesday that Ford has told him that reports of a purported video that appears to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine are untrue and that the media is trying to destroy his brother.... 5/22/2013 5:34 PM

London terror attack leaves 1 dead near barracks
LONDON (AP) -- In a brutal daylight attack which raised fears that terrorism had returned to London, two men with butcher knives hacked another man to death near a military barracks Wednesday before police wounded them in a shootout.... 5/22/2013 5:24 PM

4-nation Pacific Alliance trade bloc forges ahead
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- The presidents of Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico meet in the western city of Cali on Thursday in hopes of completing a nascent trade bloc that looks to the European Union as a model and aims to further open their trade with Asia.... 5/22/2013 5:23 PM

IAEA report: Iran expands nuclear technology
VIENNA (AP) -- The U.N. atomic agency on Wednesday detailed rapid Iranian progress in two programs that the West fears are geared toward making nuclear weapons, saying Tehran has upgraded its uranium enrichment facilities and advanced in building a plutonium-producing reactor.... 5/22/2013 5:22 PM

Am. Samoa to keep flier miles of govt travelers
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) -- American Samoa plans to take away frequent flier miles from government workers who travel on behalf of the U.S. territory and use the loyalty points to help medical patients and students travel off the islands when necessary.... 5/22/2013 5:16 PM

Argentine Indians ask president for their lands
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentina's Qom Indians have asked President Cristina Fernandez for help in recovering some of their ancestral land.... 5/22/2013 5:00 PM

Egypt leader claims victory in captives' release
CAIRO (AP) -- The safe release Wednesday of seven conscripts kidnapped by suspected militants in Sinai brought a victory for Egypt's Islamist president after months of criticism that his government is mismanaging the country.... 5/22/2013 4:39 PM

Vatican releases 1st report of financial watchdog
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican took another step Wednesday to show greater financial transparency by publishing the first annual report from its financial watchdog agency and announcing new regulations to fight money laundering and terror financing.... 5/22/2013 4:31 PM

Costa Rican volcano spews ash, smoke
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) -- Scientists say one of Costa Rica's largest volcanos is spewing clouds of ash and gas, setting off a small-scale evacuation.... 5/22/2013 4:21 PM

Polish man gets quick face transplant after injury
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. It was Poland's first face transplant.... 5/22/2013 4:17 PM