MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune "Only Teardrops," despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

By Charlie Zhu and Bill Powell HONG KONG (Reuters) - In a 2010 speech before a packed ballroom of university students in Sydney, Shi Zhengrong, founder of Chinese solar-panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, listed the people who had been important in his rise to fame and riches. Two were of particular note: Yang Weize and Wang Rong, senior Communist Party officials from the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi. A decade earlier, Shi had been research director of a solar energy firm, a spin-off from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where he attended graduate school. ...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Chella Choi shot her second straight 6-under 66 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Jessica Korda and Anna Nordqvist, the Swede who broke the course record with a 61 in the third round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Orb came up short in the Preakness, frustrating everyone who made the Kentucky Derby winner a 3-5 favorite — no one more than trainer Shug McGaughey.

PARIS (AP) — Never a stranger to the big stage, David Beckham was finally overwhelmed and reduced to tears as he went out in a burst of fireworks and cheers Saturday in his final home game for Paris Saint-Germain before retirement.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — It was just about a day after Argentine strongman Jorge Rafael Videla had seized power in March of 1976, and the bloodletting was already beginning.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Keegan Bradley still hasn't gotten things right on the 18th hole at the Byron Nelson Championship, even when finally going left.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Gary Stevens came out of retirement for the chance to get back in the winner's circle in a Triple Crown race.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Oxbow put D. Wayne Lukas in the record books again with an upset of Orb in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving the Hall of Fame trainer his 14th win in a Triple Crown race.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Ed Carpenter knew he was capable of another fast run, and it earned him the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

CANNES, France (AP) — Little could lessen the fever-pitched excitement for "Hunger Games: Catching Fire," but heavy rain nevertheless dampened the film's lavish Cannes party.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis lamented that investment losses by banks trigger more alarm in the economic crisis than the struggle of people to feed their families, as he led a huge rally Saturday to invigorate the church's moral conscience, hours after he held talks at the Vatican about the economic crisis with Germany's leader.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — The commuter train derailment and collision that left dozens injured outside New York City was not the result of foul play, officials said Saturday, but a fractured section of rail is being studied to determine if it is connected to the accident.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Oxbow put D. Wayne Lukas in the record books again with an upset of Orb in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving the Hall of Fame trainer his 14th win in a Triple Crown race.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It's all about the odds.

DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) — About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Chargers agreed Saturday to a two-year deal with aging star pass rusher Dwight Freeney that could be worth $13.35 million.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Will Power was the most relieved man in Roger Penske's garage Saturday.

CHICAGO (AP) — In case they weren't aware already, the Chicago Blackhawks now know they're going to have to earn it if they want to get past Detroit.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama has some advice for some Tennessee high school graduates: Strike your own path in college and life and work to overcome inevitable failures with determination and grit.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war.

ROME (AP) — Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will renew their rivalry in the Italian Open final Sunday — exactly a week before the French Open starts.

OTTAWA (AP) — Jason Spezza doesn't have much time to return to form if the Ottawa Senators want to extend their season.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — A wanted man with a criminal history dating back nearly 15 years was identified by police Saturday as the masked home invader involved in the death of a Hofstra University student early Friday morning.

PARIS (AP) — With fans chanting his name, David Beckham began his final home game before retirement as captain of Paris Saint-Germain.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Officials described a devastating scene of shattered cars and other damage where two trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in Connecticut, saying Saturday it's fortunate that no one was killed and that there weren't even more injuries.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone strike killed four al-Qaida militants Saturday in a southern Yemeni province once overrun by the group, according to security officials.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has taken two Cabinet secretaries out for a round of golf — in the rain.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Ken Venturi was a 14-year-old with a camera trying to get a picture of Byron Nelson when he first met the golfer who would become a mentor and dear friend.

BALTIMORE (AP) — In front of one stage, a mother propped her young child on her shoulders while watching the country music group Florida Georgia Line.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

MOSCOW (AP) — Wrestling's governing body hopes rule changes designed to make matches more exciting and easier to understand will get the sport back in the Olympics.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down and will instead "face the storm," raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — A funeral has been scheduled for Wednesday for a 21-year-old Hofstra University student who was gunned down during a break-in at her apartment near the school's Long Island campus.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state TV says a powerful explosion has hit the nation's capital, causing an unknown number of casualties.

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Russia's Sergey Karjakin won the €100,000 ($130,000) Norway chess championship on Saturday after drawing against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

CANNES, France (AP) — Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred. Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq have been amplified by the conflict between mostly Sunni rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite-dominated forces in neighboring Syria. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups.

By Karen Brooks (Reuters) - Federal investigators on Saturday searched for the cause of a rush-hour train crash in Connecticut that injured dozens of people commuting home from New York City, three of them critically. More than 60 people were hospitalized Friday night after an eastbound commuter train derailed and collided with a westbound passenger train on an adjacent track near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield. Eight people remained hospitalized on Saturday, three in critical condition, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said. ...

GEZIRAT AL-FADEL, Egypt (AP) — In 1948, Suleiman Mamoudi fled by foot with his parents and other families from their village of Bir el-Sabae in Palestine. The 28-year-old and his family walked west for several hundred miles, crossing the Sinai Peninsula before settling in an area around 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Cairo.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Officials described a devastating scene of shattered cars and other damage where two trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in Connecticut, saying Saturday it's fortunate that no one was killed and that there weren't even more injuries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented. Eight months later, it is the decisions made back in Washington that remain murky and in perpetual dispute.

MOSCOW (AP) — Part of an airliner carrying more than 130 people caught fire as it was landing in Moscow, and passengers evacuated the plane by jumping off one of its wings and shooting down an evacuation slide.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It's all about the odds.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday, while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, the latest in a wave of violence to grip the country.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, prompting Western powers to urge Pyongyang to exercise restraint. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions raise concerns about the region's security. "North Korea fired short-range guided missiles twice in the morning and once in the afternoon off its east coast," an official at the South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman's office said by telephone. ...

CANNES, France (AP) — The magic and glamour of Cannes can be hard to spot on a day when rain is lashing the palm trees, roiling the gray Mediterranean and pooling in puddles along the Croisette.

GRANDE RIVIERE, Trinidad (AP) — Giant leatherback turtles, some weighing half as much as a small car, drag themselves out of the ocean and up the sloping shore on the northeastern coast of Trinidad while villagers await wearing dimmed headlamps in the dark. Their black carapaces glistening, the turtles inch along the moonlit beach, using their powerful front flippers to move their bulky frames onto the sand.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Political scandals have strange ways of causing collateral damage, and Republicans are hoping the furor over federal tax enforcers singling out conservative groups will ensnare their biggest target: President Barack Obama's health care law.

ROME (AP) — A week out from the French Open, Serena Williams is one victory away from winning her fourth straight tournament.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A look at key moments this past week in the wrongful death trial in Los Angeles between Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, and concert giant AEG Live LLC, and what is expected at court in the week ahead:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mindful of the importance of Christian voters in September elections, met with Pope Francis on Saturday during a quick trip to Rome that focused on helping victims of Europe's economic crisis and emphasizing the continent's Christian roots.

ROME (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Rome on Saturday against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession. "We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience," said Enzo Bernardis, who joined the sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts. ...

By James Mackenzie VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy", called for stronger regulation of financial markets. On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries. Merkel visited Rome for a few hours specifically to meet the pontiff and spoke with him privately in his library for 45 minutes, unusually long for a private papal audience. ...

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Even before the first drops flow, Uganda's oil sector is beset by bribery allegations against officials, tax-related cases abroad that cost the government millions in legal fees, and the alleged interference of a president whose firm control of the sector worries transparency campaigners.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions for women's freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen on Saturday abducted the elderly father of Syria's deputy foreign minister, the official's office said, in the latest kidnapping targeting family members of figures in President Bashar Assad's regime.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted an upbeat picture on Saturday for the potential of innovation to lift living standards, delivering a sweeping look at the last 100 years that included memories of his 1963 South Carolina home. Bernanke made no reference to monetary policy or the immediate outlook for the U.S. economy in prepared remarks to graduates of Bard College at Simon's Rock, Massachusetts. But the die-hard baseball fan did manage to work in a reference to one of the sport's greats. ...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main opposition bloc said on Saturday that a Muslim Brotherhood-backed bill to regulate human rights groups and other private organisations was an attempt to stifle their work. The National Salvation Front (NSF), an alliance of liberal and leftist opposition parties, said the draft law submitted to the Shura Council, which for now has legislative powers, was more restrictive than laws under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. ...

BENGHAZI (Reuters) - Armed groups attacked military posts in Libya's second city Benghazi with bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, an army commander said on Saturday. Nearly two years after the uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, the government still exerts little control over the armed brigades that helped overthrow him. Oil-producer Libya is largely split into fiefdoms of such brigades that are competing for influence. No one was hurt in the four overnight attacks on three Benghazi army posts, said the military commander, Hamed Belkhair. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking maximum political gain from the string of controversies swirling around the White House, Republicans are on the attack against Democratic lawmakers who accepted donations from the union that represents Internal Revenue Service employees.

CANNES, France (AP) — It took an international production starring a Puerto Rican and a Frenchman to bring the Native American tale "Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian" to the big screen.

MALMO, Sweden (AP) — An ethno-inspired flute and drum tune from Denmark is the bookmakers' favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, which also features a bizarre opera pop number from Romania and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.

With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travelers, witnesses said. The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions. Gunmen demanding the release of jailed Islamist militants had seized seven policemen and soldiers on a road between the Sinai towns of el-Arish and Rafah. ...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A little more than a year after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mindful of the weight of Christian voters in September elections, made a quick trip to Rome Saturday for a private meeting with Pope Francis, focusing on how Europe's struggling economy should be at the service of the people.

By David Lewis BAMAKO (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al Qaeda. Rebel and military sources both confirmed the clashes, although they differed over precisely which groups were involved. ...

CAIRO (AP) — The pale, young Christian woman sat handcuffed in the courtroom, accused of insulting Islam while teaching history of religions to fourth-graders. A team of Islamist lawyers with long beards sang in unison, "All except the Prophet Muhammad."

BALTIMORE (AP) — All eyes will be on Kentucky Derby winner Orb in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. The 3-year-old colt will take on eight challengers in the second leg of the Triple Crown. If he wins, Orb will attempt to become the first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978 at the Belmont Stakes on June 8. In the Preakness, Orb will be facing five horses he defeated in the Derby and three who did not run in the race.

BEIRUT (AP) — A wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings between rival Islamic militant groups in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo risks sparking large-scale internal fighting between rebels after clashes killed at least four militants earlier this week, activists said Saturday.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police say Predrag Danilovic, who played for the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, is seriously injured after being stabbed in a fight.

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose. Sectarian bloodshed in neighboring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathizers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were all reminders of how the two-year-old civil war is metastising. ...

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say that a wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings between rival Islamic militant groups in the northern city of Aleppo risks sparking large-scale internal fighting between rebels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling attention to his economic proposals and efforts to expand the middle class.

By Agnieszka Flak JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Operations at a chrome mine in South Africa owned by chemicals group LANXESS have been suspended since Thursday after workers started an illegal strike over bonus payments, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Saturday. The dispute at the mine in Rustenburg, 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, adds to growing labour tensions around South Africa's platinum belt, which are set to intensify over looming job cuts and wage talks in the sector. ...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travellers, witnesses said. The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions. Gunmen demanding the release of jailed Islamist militants had seized seven policemen and soldiers on a road between the Sinai towns of el-Arish and Rafah. ...

MOSCOW (AP) — Wrestling's governing body has approved new rule and constitutional changes aimed at modernizing the sport and keeping it in the Olympics after 2016.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday appointed former Dutch development minister Albert Gerard Koenders as U.N. special envoy for Mali and head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the West African country. Ban said Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane of Niger would replace Koenders as head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast. Souleymane is currently deputy envoy for the African Union and U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Koenders was the Dutch minister for development cooperation between 2007 and 2010 before he took up the Ivory Coast role in 2011. ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's former lawyer defended himself point-by-point Friday against allegations he botched the former football star's armed-robbery trial, after giving damaging testimony that Simpson actually knew his buddies had guns when they went to a hotel room together to reclaim some sports memorabilia.

MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Flashy skirts, fake tans, fur and feathers: It's the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Friday defended her government's record on good governance and transparency, following an independent audit that cast doubt on her anti-corruption efforts. She said a recent audit of resource contracts by accounting firm Moore Stephens contracts had been commissioned to fix, and not hide, problems in the West African country. The independent audit showed that almost all the $8 billion worth of resource contracts signed by Liberia since 2009 violated the country's laws and showed widespread irregularities. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

By Daniel Bases NEW YORK (Reuters) - Europe's top trade official for the first time late on Friday officially cited Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE Corp for violating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines. European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was prepared to launch a formal investigation into anti-competitive behavior by these Chinese companies in order to protect a "strategic" sector of Europe's economy. ...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dan Bylsma has spent more than four years watching Sidney Crosby be Sidney Crosby.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The last thing Keegan Bradley wanted to do at the 18th hole with a cozy lead was flirt with the water on the left.

BALTIMORE (AP) — There are only two outcomes when it comes to Saturday's Preakness Stakes — either the Kentucky Derby winner Orb wins the race to set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes in three weeks, or another horse pulls an upset and prevents a shot at history.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Orb is ready for his whirl at history.

BERLIN (AP) — Engineering a financial bailout for Cyprus in March was such a chaotic process that top European officials say it is time to rethink how the region manages its crisis — and who should be involved.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bills defensive end Mario Williams isn't any closer to getting back his $785,000 diamond engagement ring from his former fiancee, Erin Marzouki.

TORONTO (AP) — A video purportedly of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack has caused an uproar in Canada. Ford on Friday called the allegations "ridiculous."

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Ottawa Senators have plenty of respect for Sidney Crosby.

Ken Venturi, who overcame dehydration to win the 1964 U.S. Open and spent 35 years in the booth for CBS Sports, died Friday afternoon. He was 82.

ATLANTA (AP) — A metro Atlanta woman who lost both hands, her left leg and right foot after contracting a flesh-eating disease was on her way back from Ohio Friday after being fitted with prosthetic hands.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Residents whose homes were torn apart or blown away by a North Texas deadly tornado can soon return to retrieve what belongings may be left and start cleaning up, authorities said Friday.

NECKER ISLAND, British Virgin Islands (AP) — Surrounded by a turquoise sea and a menagerie of exotic animals on a billionaire's private island, political and business leaders gathered Friday to back an initiative aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — One of Alaska's most restless volcanoes shot an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the air Friday in an ongoing eruption that is visible for miles when the weather allows.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Jessica Korda shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead over Hall of Famer Karrie Webb after the second round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — The owner of the Italian entry in the America's Cup said Friday his boat will compete in this summer's races after all, but he suggested a new precaution.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, injuring about 50 people, authorities said. There were no reports of fatalities.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets running back Mike Goodson is facing drug and weapons charges after he was found in a car with an acquaintance early Friday morning on Interstate 80 in New Jersey.

By Andy Sullivan and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The outgoing head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service angered Republican lawmakers on Friday by resisting their demands that he identify who at the tax-collection agency had inappropriately targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny. But during the first hearing into a growing IRS scandal that could preoccupy Washington for months, Republicans did learn that a top official in President Barack Obama's administration knew that the IRS was looking into targeting by the tax agency nearly a year ago. ...

MADRID (AP) — The Copa del Rey trophy could have been coach Jose Mourinho's parting gift for Real Madrid, or at least a consolation prize after a disappointing season filled with locker-room turmoil and failure in La Liga and the Champions League.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A New York-area commuter railroad says two trains have collided in Connecticut. Police say that 20 or more people were injured, but that there were no fatalities.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Everything seems to be lining up for Michael Andretti this May.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sonic the Hedgehog is rolling with Nintendo.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — An Organization of American States study released Friday is calling for a serious discussion on legalizing marijuana.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Finals week was dangerous for Thomas Saenz.

NEW YORK (AP) — Add starting pitcher Andy Pettitte to the long list of All-Stars on the New York Yankees' disabled list.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason is diving into several new ventures, including indulging his inner rock star with an album of "motivational business music."

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge said he fears he's done a "soul-wrenching injustice" to a man he freed from prison after more than 27 years, only to see him ordered back behind bars by a higher court.

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin was suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season on Friday after the league announced he violated the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances.

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket chain Wm Morrison is investing more than 200 million pounds in a 25-year deal with online grocer Ocado, seeking to catch up with rivals in home delivery and sending Ocado shares to a record high. Morrison, which trails Tesco, Wal-Mart's Asda and J Sainsbury in annual sales, has suffered falling profits and market share, partly due to its late entry into online grocery which is growing about 16 percent a year. Morrison and Ocado said their deal would not affect Ocado's arrangement with upmarket grocer Waitrose, due to run to 2020. ...

By Simon Falush and Timothy Gardner LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A European probe into possible oil price manipulation expanded with the investigation of a small niche trading house in the Netherlands, while a key U.S. senator on Friday called for the Justice Department to join the investigation. Dutch trading house Argos Energies, a mid-sized trading company that deals in physical oil products and owns storage facilities, was visited by inspectors from the European Commission on Tuesday, a source familiar with the investigation said on Friday. ...

HAVANA (AP) — A week of drag shows, colorful marches and social and cultural events in Havana culminates Friday with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Melissa Torrez didn't even think when teenagers in her apartment complex said a man had just grabbed her 4-year-old girl and drove away.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Treasury officials were made aware in June 2012 that investigators were looking into complaints from tea party groups that they were being harassed by the Internal Revenue Service, a Treasury inspector general said Friday, disclosing that Obama administration officials knew there was a probe during the heat of the presidential campaign.

CHICAGO (AP) — Pavel Datsyuk is one of the NHL's most feared scorers, a wizard with the puck who is equally adept at setting up his teammates for easy plays. Jonathan Toews has at least 23 goals in each of his six seasons in the league, and Patrice Bergeron is one of the top offensive threats for one of the league's best teams.

ROME (AP) — Novak Djokovic can't seem to find any consistency on clay courts. And with the French Open less than 10 days away, he will enter Roland Garros on the back of two early defeats.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unemployment rates dropped in 43 out of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia in April from a year before, according to Labor Department data released on Friday. A handful of states, including Illinois, Delaware, Indiana, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New Hampshire saw their jobless rates rise over the year. Illinois' rate fell in April to 9.3 percent from 9.5 percent in March but rose from 8.8 percent a year before. "April data reflects the unevenness of this recovery," said the director of the Illinois employment department, Jay Rowell, in a statement. ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A mother who chased down an abductor and ran into his car after he grabbed her 4-year-old said Friday her "mother's instincts" kicked in when she launched her pursuit.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds gathered Friday to remember the late grandson of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X as mourners said Malcolm Shabazz was well on his way to cementing his own legacy.

By Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal BALTIMORE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday sought to turn the spotlight from controversies threatening to swamp his agenda back to his top priority - the economy - and announced he will try to cut in half the time it takes to get federal approval for large job-creating projects. Obama traveled to Baltimore, a short helicopter ride from the White House, to talk about steps he is taking to streamline permits for infrastructure, early childhood education, and positive signs in the economy. ...

By Andy Sullivan and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The outgoing head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service angered Republican lawmakers on Friday by resisting their demands that he identify who at the tax-collection agency had inappropriately targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny. But during the first hearing into a growing IRS scandal that could preoccupy Washington for months, Republicans did learn that a top official in President Barack Obama's administration knew that the IRS was looking into targeting by the tax agency nearly a year ago. ...

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose. Sectarian bloodshed in neighboring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathizers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were all reminders of how the two-year-old civil war is metastising. ...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — He was a Russian-speaking truck driver who came to Idaho nearly four years ago to join hundreds of other Uzbekistan refugees for whom the state has become a sanctuary from violence in their home country.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — A Hofstra University junior sharing an off-campus house with her twin sister and several other college students was shot and killed during an early morning break-in Friday that also left the armed intruder dead, police said.

Two-time major champion Rory McIlroy is leaving Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management to set up his own management group.

By Emily Flitter and Katya Wachtel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors told investors on Friday it would no longer cooperate "unconditionally" with the U.S. government's insider trading investigation. In a brief letter to investors, the $15 billion hedge fund did not elaborate but said it believes the next few months will be critical in the investigation. The firm said that "over the coming months there will be more clarity about the outcome of these matters. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has subpoenaed the co-chairman of the independent review board that investigated last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, to answer questions about the panel's findings behind closed doors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department on Friday conditionally approved a Texas company's proposal to export liquefied natural gas, only the second such project allowed to move forward amid a production boom that has led to glut of domestic natural gas.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch holds a 3-0 advantage over Kasey Kahne this season and understands Kahne may be planning some retaliation.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Days after bursts of gunfire brought a chaotic and bloody end to a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans, news of now seven arrests gave an organizer of the traditional event reason to celebrate again.

NEW YORK (AP) — Encouraging news about the U.S. economy extended the stock market's rally Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday ordered the military to recertify all 25,000 people involved in programs designed to prevent and respond to sexual assault, an acknowledgement that assaults have escalated beyond the Pentagon's control.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two bombs hidden in a motorcycle and a car exploded inside an elite gated community linked to the family of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 70 near the southern city of Kandahar, an official said.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry says the tornado-wrought devastation in a North Texas neighborhood is almost incomprehensible.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Miami Heat have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Spurs have dominated for years with the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

CANNES, France (AP) — Before "Fruitvale Station," Michael B. Jordan was glimpsed sporadically in supporting roles on TV shows like "The Wire" and "Friday Night Lights," and in films like "Chronicle" and "Red Tails."

NEW YORK (AP) — "The Voice" is leaving the judging drama to its rivals.

NEW YORK (AP) — It was supposed to be our IPO, the people's public offering.

CANNES, France (AP) — The Weinstein Company's fall slate of awards contenders will feature a glamorous Grace Kelly, a brawny Nelson Mandela and a mysterious J.D. Salinger.

LEXINGTON, Mich. (AP) — Carol Connell remembers well the gift she gave Sara Ylen, a friend seemingly forced to bear too much misery. Ylen, a Michigan mother of two young boys, said she was battling cancer just a few years after a man was convicted of her rape.

DETROIT (AP) — Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, closing above their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years.

In workplaces across the nation, Americans are inviting their colleagues to chip in $2 for a Powerball ticket and a shared daydream.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces have fired tear gas at protesters hurling firebombs at them in central Cairo, hours after hundreds of opponents of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi rallied peacefully in the streets denouncing his rule and demanding early presidential elections.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow citizens in a dirty war to eliminate so-called "subversives," died quietly in his sleep Friday while serving life in prison for crimes against humanity. He was 87.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombs ripped through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months. The major spike in sectarian bloodshed heightened fears the country could again be veering toward civil war.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration denounced Russia on Friday for providing Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime with anti-ship missiles, saying the weapons would only worsen a war that Washington and Moscow have been promising to work together on stopping.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Soldiers in Nigeria launched their first raid against suspected Islamic extremists in a campaign to take back control of the nation's northeast, killing at least 21 people, a security official said Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — A special audience will get to see Helen Mirren onstage next month in London in the play "The Audience" — some retired show business veterans in a New Jersey nursing home.

CANNES, France (AP) — Two directors from countries with tough film censorship brought bold and probing movies to the Cannes Film Festival on Friday — one exploring China's social problems, the other delving into the mysteries of the human heart.

By Joanne von Alroth SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois Senate on Friday voted to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes, which if signed into law would make it the second-most-populous state in the nation after California to allow the drug's use for medical purposes. The bill, approved by the Illinois House in April, now moves to Governor Pat Quinn's desk to await his signature. Quinn has indicated he is sympathetic to the bill, especially as it would benefit injured veterans. "We fully expect Gov. ...

PETARE, Venezuela (AP) — Stern-looking soldiers clutching assault rifles wave down the beat-up Chevy Caprice entering this sprawling slum on the outskirts of Caracas.

BALTIMORE (AP) — President Barack Obama tried on Friday to leave behind the political battles that have overshadowed his second-term agenda, saying lawmakers should work on creating more middle-class jobs in the slowly growing economy. "Our work is not done, and our focus cannot drift," Obama said.

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain hopes to strike a deal with David Beckham in the next two weeks in which the former England captain will work with the French club after retirement, possibly in an ambassadorial role.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — People who were missing in the wake of the destructive tornadoes in North Texas have been found safe, officials said Friday, but they didn't indicate when residents of one hard-hit neighborhood will be allowed to return to survey damage to their homes.

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence. Several other bombings claimed lives around the country - with 19 killed near a commercial complex in the west of Baghdad, as mounting violence intensified fears of a return to all-out civil conflict. Attacks on Sunni and Shi'ite mosques, security forces and tribal leaders have mounted since troops raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk a month ago. ...

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Mark Martin received a piece of advice very early in his career from Dick Trickle that he's never forgotten.

NEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

CARRINGTON, England (AP) — Alex Ferguson is looking forward to a retired life of luxury vacations, watching thoroughbreds, enjoying good wines and perhaps studying languages.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Trying to reset the agenda amid scandal in Washington, President Barack Obama turned his attention Friday to the economy and said lawmakers should spend every day resolute on how to help it grow and get people back to work. "Our focus cannot drift," he said.

MILAN (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring showgirls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but one woman dressed up as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal.

BEIRUT (AP) — Rights activists visiting abandoned government prisons in the first Syrian city to come under rebel control have found torture devices and other evidence that detainees were abused there, Human Rights Watch said in a report Friday.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A new Organization of American States study commissioned in response to calls by some Latin American leaders for rethinking the drug war discusses possible decriminalization of consumption of marijuana as part of a public health approach.

Epiphanny Prince is headed to Russia.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombs struck Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 58 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in two months, officials said, as a spike in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan plan brokered in the House of Representatives will be tougher on illegal immigrants living in the United States than a Senate counterpart, congressional aides said on Friday. But it fails to address the difficult issue of how many low-skilled foreign workers should be allowed into the country. Late on Thursday, the eight Republican and Democratic House negotiators working on an immigration bill announced that they had successfully wrapped up a four-year effort and had hammered out a tentative deal. ...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a bomb has exploded in a commericial area in a mainly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 20.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama spoke passionately about the importance of education to the African-American community in a commencement address Friday, urging more than 600 graduates of Bowie State University to honor the school's history and to pass their commitment to education on to future generations.

PARIS (AP) — Thieves ripped a safe from the wall of a hotel room near the Cannes Film Festival and made off with around $1 million worth of jewelry, in a brazen late-night burglary just hours after the screening of a film about break-ins at the homes of Hollywood celebrities, French officials said Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings for the "American Idol" finale plunged to a record low for the 12-year-old show.

BALTIMORE (AP) — President Barack Obama says Washington lawmakers should spend every single day focused on the economy and helping people get back to work.

PARIS (AP) — David Beckham's pecs are at least as much a part of his brand as his kick; his brand of shoes ultimately more lucrative than the game he's giving up. Listed as the world's highest-earning athlete for 2013, Beckham's retirement from play still leaves him with valuable endorsements and unparalleled celebrity. The question is whether he can maintain it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force's top general said Friday that sexual assaults in his branch of the military typically involve alcohol use and can be traced to a lack of respect for women.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's deep, six-year recession is likely to end in 2014, but growth will be weak and unemployment will remain above 20 percent for another three years, the country's international debt inspectors said.

NEW YORK (AP) — To find their Mr. Darcy, the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota has turned to a Mad Man.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles is releasing a solo album.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ousted head of the Internal Revenue Service apologized to Congress on Friday for his agency's tougher treatment of tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. He said they resulted from a misguided effort to handle a flood of applications, not political bias.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is putting on a show at the White House next week for singer-songwriter Carole King.

LONDON (Reuters) - Bahraini security forces raided the house of top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim on Friday, the opposition said, an act likely to enrage the island's majority Shi'ite population which is at loggerheads with its Sunni rulers. Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet has its base on Iran's doorstep, has been in violent turmoil since Shi'ite-led pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011. Protests continue and often end in clashes between demonstrators and police. At least two people have died this year. ...

AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets rose steadily on Friday after two key indicators suggested the U.S. economic expansion will continue.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Bombs that exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 15 people Friday, underlining the challenge of militant violence facing a new government set to take power under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge said he fears he's done a "soul-wrenching injustice" to a man he freed from prison after 27 years, only to see him ordered back behind bars by a higher court.

By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader. Al Qaeda's Iraq-based wing, which nurtured Nusra in the early stages of the rebellion against Assad, has moved in and sidelined the organization, Nusra sources and other rebels say. ...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Country music star Randy Travis has filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of patrol car video of his 2012 drunken-driving arrest in North Texas.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's former lawyer said Friday he was surprised when the former football hero told him over dinner at a Las Vegas hotel that he and several other men were planning a "sting" to take back items he believed had been stolen from him in Los Angeles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The organic food industry is gaining influence on Capitol Hill, prompted by its entry into traditional farm states and by increasing consumer demand.

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans felt better about their economic and financial prospects in early May as consumer sentiment rose to the highest level in nearly six years, an encouraging sign after other recent data had suggested broader U.S. growth is cooling. A gauge of future economic activity released on Friday also suggested the expected slowdown will be temporary, with the index rising in April to a near five-year high. Economists expect growth will likely slow in the second quarter from the 2. ...

By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights crimes including the systematic theft of babies born to political prisoners in secret torture centers. ...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Twin explosions ripped through a crowd of Sunni worshippers outside Baghdad on Friday, an attack which, combined with a second deadly bombing at a Sunni funeral to the south of the capital, deepened fears Iraq may be headed toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Twenty-three youths have died in the past nine days at initiation ceremonies that include circumcisions and survival tests, South African police said Friday.

BEIRUT (AP) — About 30 security agents showed up just after midnight, breaking down the door to an apartment in the town of Daraya near the Syrian capital of Damascus. They grabbed a 24-year-old university student and drove off.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of the U.S. economy's future health rose solidly in April, buoyed by a sharp rise in applications to build homes and a better job market.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When the producers of the Academy of Country Music's annual television special approached Tim McGraw about the 2013 edition, the country music star immediately flashed on the program's format.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Uzbekistan national living in Idaho has made his first court appearance on charges he gave support, cash and other resources to help a recognized terrorist group in his own country.

PARIS (AP) — Suspected thieves ripped out a small safe from the wall of a hotel room near the Cannes Film Festival and made off with about $1 million worth of jewelry inside, a French police official said Friday.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The attorney who represented O.J. Simpson during his armed robbery trial in Las Vegas has begun testifying at a hearing in which the former football star is seeking a new trial.

LONDON (AP) — George Michael was being treated at a hospital Friday for what his publicist called minor injuries after being a passenger in a car crash near London.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service's improper use of tougher scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status seems part of a broader pattern of intimidation and cover-ups by the Obama administration, a top House Republican said Friday.

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad had issued arrest warrants for four senior allies of the country's exiled former president and charged them with human rights abuses, a senior government source said on Friday. The source, who asked not to be identified, said they were wanted in connection with atrocities carried out during the rule of the country's former leader Hissene Habre. Habre fled to Senegal after he was ousted in a coup by current President Idriss Deby in 1990. There were no details of the specific accusations against his former officials. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sonic the Hedgehog is rolling with Nintendo.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — The Arab Spring may finally be en route to Algeria.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's former lawyer has some explaining to do.

BEIJING (AP) — China is phasing out its reliance on executed prisoners for donated organs, but an architect of the country's transplant system said Friday that ingrained cultural attitudes are impeding the rise of donations among the general population.

MUMBAI, India (AP) — In the early morning heat and dust, daily practice at the Rambo Circus is in full swing. A trapeze creaks as two performers perfect their throws. A Colombian daredevil shouts to his colleagues scrambling atop a giant set of spinning wheels called the Ring of Death.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow Argentines in a war to eliminate "subversives," died Friday while serving life sentences in prison for crimes against humanity.

LONDON (AP) — George Michael's publicist says the singer is being treated for minor injuries after he was a passenger in a car crash.

MILAN (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured women dressed not just as sexy nuns and nurses but also as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor the former Italian premier has accused of persecuting him.

By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard Islamist militant camps in the northeast on Friday, in their biggest military offensive since Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009. "A number of insurgents have been killed," the defence headquarters spokesman said, including at the Sambisa game reserve in Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency. "It is not just Sambisa, every camp is under attack. But we have not done the mopping up operations on the ground to determine the numbers killed," Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade said by ...

By Xola Potelwa RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - The leader of South Africa's biggest platinum mining union threatened on Friday to bring Africa's No. 1 economy "to a standstill" and demanded a meeting with President Jacob Zuma, ramping up the rhetoric in an 18-month labour crisis. The rand, which tumbled to a four-year low against the dollar on Thursday on fears of a strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), extended its slide on concerns about further disruptions to an already struggling economy. The currency fell as low as 9. ...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of anti-gay protesters, including Orthodox priests, occupied a central street in Georgia's capital Friday, with some threatening to lash with stinging nettles any participant in a gay pride parade which was to take place there.

(Reuters) - Lonmin Plc said it had met with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the main union behind the two-day strike at the company's South African operations, on Thursday to discuss a new agreement recognising the AMCU as the platinum producer's majority union. Lonmin said talks with the AMCU, which represents 70 percent of the company's rank and file employees and had called off the strike on Wednesday, were continuing on Friday. ...

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's deep, six-year recession is likely to end in 2014, but unemployment will remain above 20 percent for another three years, the European Commission said Friday in a report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slightly higher in early trading on Wall Street, even as several big retailers slumped after reporting disappointing earnings.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla has died of natural causes while serving life sentences in prison for crimes against humanity.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Across Europe, gay couples are scared of publicly engaging in even the most basic expression of their affection: Holding hands.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said Friday that he will convene the nation's newly elected Parliament next week to begin trying to form a government, a task complicated by the refusal of three parties to enter a coalition with the former governing party which has the most seats.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets shrugged off suggestions the U.S. Federal Reserve may begin to reverse some of its asset purchase programs by the end of the summer, and were mostly higher ahead of key data releases Friday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A bomb killed 28 people at a Sunni mosque in central Iraq, hitting worshippers as they were emerging from Friday prayers, security officials said.

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — The unlikely pair — an itinerant hitchhiker turned Internet celebrity and a lawyer three times his age — met amid the neon lights of Times Square and headed back to a squat brick home on a quiet New Jersey cul-de-sac, authorities say.

BERLIN (AP) — Conveyor belts hum quietly, towering over piles of dark red wax. A giant mauve object that looks like a deflating balloon sprawls and sags its way across three rooms. A dark pigment circle creates the illusion of a black hole opening up in the floor. And there are lots of mirrors: convex, concave, twisting and a painted "blood mirror."

Two-time major champion Rory McIlroy is leaving Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management to set up his own management group, The Associated Press has learned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service has refused to provide documents over the past two years to a congressional panel exploring whether the agency gave tougher scrutiny to tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, a leading Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said Friday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say that a bomb has killed 26 at a Sunni mosque in central Iraq.

By Xola Potelwa RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - The leader of South Africa's biggest platinum mining union threatened on Friday to bring Africa's No. 1 economy "to a standstill" and demanded a meeting with President Jacob Zuma, ramping up the rhetoric in an 18-month labor crisis. The rand, which tumbled to a four-year low against the dollar on Thursday on fears of a strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), extended its slide on concerns about further disruptions to an already struggling economy. The currency fell as low as 9. ...

MILAN (AP) — The Moroccan woman at the center of a sex scandal involving former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi testified Friday in court for the first time, describing how a young woman attending one of Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties dressed up like a nun, danced provocatively and stripped down to her underwear for the premier.

By Siegfried Modola HAMAD-ILE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Abdu Ibrahim Mohammed was 15 years old when he began trekking with caravans of camels to collect salt in a sun-blasted desert basin of north Ethiopia that is one of the hottest places on earth. Now 51 and retired, he has passed his camels to his son to pursue this centuries-old trade in "white gold" from the Danakil Depression, where rain almost never falls and the average temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). ...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Bombs that exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 13 people Friday, underlining the challenge of militant violence facing a new government set to take power under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) has said it will not recognise Andry Rajoelina as Madagascar's president if he wins July's presidential election, piling more pressure on the incumbent leader not to stand. Rajoelina plunged the country into a still-unresolved political crisis in 2009 when he seized power with military support in what the AU called a coup. The ensuing turmoil has stunted foreign investment and badly hurt economic growth. ...

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A main opposition group in Bahrain says police have searched the home of the Gulf nation's most senior Shiite cleric, who has strongly sided with anti-government protesters.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures are rising with markets headed for a positive week overall, as investors shrug off some unsettling reports from retailers this week.

MILAN (AP) — The European auto industry may be showing the first signs of a slowdown in its sales free-fall, according to data from the European automaker's association.

By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - The latest tranche of Japan's growth strategy will aim to triple infrastructure exports and double farm exports by 2020, as well as boost private investment, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday. The government will set a target for domestic private-sector investment of 70 trillion yen ($687 billion) annually, Abe said in a speech to business executives and academics, the level before the 2008 financial crisis and up about 10 percent from the current figure. ...

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government has freed 23 political prisoners, a senior interior ministry official said on Friday, the day President Thein Sein was due to leave for a landmark visit to the United States. The official declined to be identified and would not provide the names of those released or give further details. A member of the 88 Generation Open Society, a pro-democracy activist group, said 10 prisoners had been released from Insein Prison in Yangon, notorious for the harsh treatment of detainees under the military regime that ruled Myanmar almost for half a century. ...

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqis attended the Friday funeral in a southern city of two Shiite fighters killed in Syria. Several such funerals have been held in recent months, the latest sign that the conflict has taken on a sectarian regional dimension.

By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - When Washington D.C. was in financial crisis in the 1990s, Somali-born Abdusalam Omer joined a team that turned its "junk" bonds into investment grade paper. Now, as governor of the Central Bank of Somalia, he wants to transform a "failed" state. There is no escaping the scale of his new assignment. His office in Mogadishu is surrounded by the bombed out shells of former banks, symbols of Somalia's shattered economy and its broken financial system after two decades of conflict. ...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Uzbekistan national living in Idaho has been arrested on federal charges that he gave support, cash and other resources to help a recognized terrorist group in his home country plan a terrorist attack.

1. HOUSE TO GRILL OUSTED IRS CHIEF

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A mother whose 4-year-old was being abducted chased the suspect down and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt and the arrest of the suspect, Albuquerque police said Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forget the DVR.

BANGKOK (AP) — World stock markets were mixed Friday as investors digested a slew of disappointing data from the U.S. ahead of the release of a key measurement of the country's economic outlook.

PHOENIX (AP) — The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point in 2007 when the state passed a groundbreaking law targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation's border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

PHOENIX (AP) — Steven Alexander stood before the jury, looked up at a family picture and grimaced and cried as he ticked off the list of problems that have befallen him in the five years since his brother was murdered: ulcers, depression, a separation from his wife, nightmares.

NEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

BALTIMORE (AP) — After being on this earth for 77 years, winning 13 Triple Crown races and totaling more than $100 million in purse money, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has earned the right to sit in an office and let his assistants do the grunt work in the stables.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The organic food industry is gaining clout on Capitol Hill, prompted by rising consumer demand and its entry into traditional farm states. But that isn't going over well with everyone in Congress.

BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand left the morning skate early. The Bruins were thrilled he was on the ice at the end of the game Thursday night.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Keegan Bradley found his clubs spread out on the floor and an open umbrella near his empty golf bag in the champions' locker room before teeing off at the Byron Nelson Championship.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Trevor Lewis knows all about postseason heroics after scoring two goals in a Stanley Cup-clinching victory last season, even he was a bit overwhelmed by the Los Angeles Kings' latest spectacular playoff feat.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's former lawyer has some explaining to do.

NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony made two jumpers to open the game, knowing it wouldn't stay that easy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pledging to eliminate the "scourge" of sexual assault in the military while cautioning that it will take a long and sustained effort by all military members.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The numbers sum up the frenzy that has taken over the Golden State since it joined the madness over Powerball, which has seen its jackpot soar to $550 million for Saturday's drawing.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs are back in the Western Conference finals for the second straight season with the same style that has carried them to four NBA titles.

LONDON (AP) — End it like Beckham.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians are getting gloomier about their country's future more than two years after an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak, but most retain a favourable view of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, according to a poll released on Thursday. Egypt's economy has been hammered by political turmoil and spasms of violence since the long-ruling autocrat's downfall, and has continued to deteriorate since President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected last June. Facing currency and budget crises, the government has been struggling to secure a $4. ...

PARIS (AP) — After David Beckham's long and distinguished soccer career ends on an artificial turf field in northwestern France, his life promises to be perhaps even more glamorous than it already has been.

The Sacramento Kings' unsteady future finally seems to be settled.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With a flawless voice that recalled past "American Idol" finalist Jennifer Hudson and a sense of determination after not making it in previous seasons, Candice Glover did the one thing Hudson wasn't able to do: She won the title of "American Idol."

CINCINNATI (AP) — The man convicted in a murder trial that hinged on a paralyzed victim blinking his eyes to identify his shooter plans to appeal, a defense attorney said after the verdict.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti will visit South Sudan on Friday, state media said, the first high-level meeting between the neighbours since Khartoum accused Juba of supporting rebels who launched a major attack three weeks ago. Both African countries agrees in March to restart crucial cross-border oil flows and end tensions that has existed since the south seceded in 2011. But despite this thaw, Sudan accused South Sudan on Saturday of supporting a rebel alliance which launched a surprise attack on the central Sudanese city of Um Rawaba. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 20 South African boys have died over the past week during coming of age rituals, police said on Thursday, and they blamed botched circumcisions as the likely cause of death. Northern Mpumalanga province's police department has opened 22 murder cases but no arrests have been made so far, spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said. Every year in South Africa, boys aged 10 to 15 years from several of the country's tribal groups are circumcised in traditional "initiation rituals". The ceremonies usually take place over a number of weeks in remote rural areas. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) reported for work on Friday, a company spokeswoman said, despite earlier calls for a strike by some union leaders. Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said all workers had reported for the morning shift at the world's biggest platinum miner and there had been no trouble. "Everything is normal at Amplats this morning. Workers are going underground and there have been no incidents," Sithole said. ...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Slow at the start of the series and strong at the end, the San Antonio Spurs wore out the Golden State Warriors the way they have so many other opponents.

BEIRUT (AP) — A six-member U.N. team led by a former Syrian planning minister is drawing up a comprehensive postwar reconstruction plan even as the country's civil war rages on with no apparent end in sight.

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank could use its new supervisory role from next year to single out weak banks and make it harder for them to get its financial support, people familiar with the matter say. Such a hardening of approach would keep ECB funding flowing to Europe's most important lenders but compel laggards to beef up their capital buffers, prod national central banks to take on the problem or even force some banks to go to the wall. ...

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for passage of a major immigration bill improved on Thursday when a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives declared they had reached a tentative deal, resolving disputes that had threatened to torpedo negotiations. The breakthrough came at the end of a two-hour private meeting of seven Republican and Democratic negotiators. The eighth negotiator in this so-called House Gang of Eight was unavailable after undergoing surgery on Wednesday. ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Stephen Strasburg had quite the homecoming.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed in holiday-thinned trading Friday as investors digested a slew of disappointing economic data and corporate results from the U.S.

BOSTON (AP) — Good things happen for the Bruins in overtime. Even for Brad Marchand.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Boston Red Sox were down to their last strike when Will Middlebrooks made the most of a mistake.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Habitat for Humanity spent years in a North Texas subdivision, helping build many of the 110 homes in the low-income area. But its work was largely undone during an outbreak of 16 tornadoes Wednesday night that killed six people and injured dozens.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The third time's the charm for Candice Glover on "American Idol."

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A remote Alaska volcano continues to erupt, spewing lava and ash clouds.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The third time's the charm for Candice Glover on "American Idol."

NEW YORK (AP) — That's a wrap!

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home.

BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand scored with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors deciding whether convicted murderer Jodi Arias will get the death penalty heard the victim's brother describe Thursday how he was hospitalized for ulcers, lost sleep and separated from his wife after his brother was killed.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities in Idaho said Thursday they have arrested an Uzbekistan national accused of conspiring with a designated terrorist organization in his home country and helping scheme to use a weapon of mass destruction.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — There is that lasting image of Dick Trickle in the Winston 500 lighting up a cigarette while driving his stock car with his knees during a caution lap.

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A once-fearsome cyclone that was threatening Bangladesh and Myanmar dissipated quickly, causing some deaths but largely relieving authorities who had told more than 1 million people to leave vulnerable coastal areas in preparation for a far worse storm.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two Minnesota women convicted of conspiring to send money to al-Shabab in Somalia were given prison sentences in federal court Thursday, ending a week of punishments tied to long-running investigations into recruiting and financing for the terrorist group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama picked a senior White House budget official to become the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, the same day another top official announced plans to leave the agency amid the controversy over agents targeting tea party groups.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Randy Jackson is no longer in it to win it on "American Idol."

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — The manager of the sexual harassment and assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two brothers with a history of drug arrests and suspected ties to a neighborhood gang each face 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder in a shooting spree that brought a sudden bloody end to a Mother's Day parade in a New Orleans neighborhood.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Despite winning a Grammy and an Oscar, Jennifer Hudson is inseparable from "American Idol."

By Mark Hosenball (Reuters) - Fifteen men of Palestinian origin have been arrested on charges of running a multi-million-dollar cigarette smuggling ring in New York, and New York authorities who announced the arrests on Thursday said several of the suspects have ties to Hamas and other Islamist militant groups. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he saw a good opportunity for progress towards ending the division of Cyprus, a move that could further the exploitation of natural gas and oil in the eastern Mediterranean. The island has been divided since a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by a Turkish invasion of the north in 1974. Turkey keeps some 30,000 troops in the north and is the only nation to recognize the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. ...

By Miyoung Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - Overtaking Apple Inc as the world's leading maker of smartphones has stretched Samsung Electronics Co's in-house supply lines, and the South Korean firm is now courting some of its rival's main parts suppliers. After costly courtroom battles over technology patents, the two gadget giants are now going head-to-head over securing the best supply of parts as they jostle to rule the $253 billion smartphone market. The two took 100 percent of the industry's profit in January-March, Canaccord Genuity data show. ...

SEATTLE (AP) — Officials in Washington state took their first stab at setting rules for the state's new marijuana industry Thursday, nearly eight months after voters here legalized pot for adults.

By Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc, the subject of a takeover battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and the company's billionaire founder, reported a 79 percent slide in profit as personal computer sales continued to shrink. The disappointing results lend weight to Michael Dell's effort. The man who started Dell from a college dorm room wants to take the world's No.3 PC maker private for $24. ...

By Phil Wahba (Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc Chief Executive Myron Ullman told Wall Street on Thursday that the department store chain is emerging from what he called an abyss but warned he needs time to fix the issues of the retailer. Penney reported another steep quarterly loss on weak sales and heavy clearance deals, but Ullman said the company has taken steps in recent weeks to reassure vendors, shore up its finances, and win back shoppers that defected after a move last year away from coupons. ...

By Nick Tattersall and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he reserved the right to resort to both diplomatic and military options to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but insisted that U.S. action alone would not be enough to resolve the Syrian crisis. Taking a cautious line at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Obama voiced hope that the United States and Russia would succeed in arranging an international peace conference on Syria, despite signs of growing obstacles. ...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government's promise to import 50 million rolls.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Keegan Bradley had no thoughts about a course record, or the possibility of a 59, after consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round at the Byron Nelson Championship.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One is a little bit country. The other is a little bit R&B.

CHICAGO (AP) — Landon Donovan was left off the 29-man U.S. roster for a training camp ahead of a trio of World Cup qualifiers next month. But American coach Jurgen Klinsmann anticipates he will rejoin the team at some unspecified point.

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man was found guilty Thursday of fatally shooting a man who authorities say identified his assailant by blinking his eyes while paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors deciding the fate of convicted murderer Jodi Arias became visibly shaken by dramatic statements from the victim's family members as they described how their lives were ripped apart by the killing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday the nation's military leaders told him they are "ashamed" of their failure to end sexual abuse in the armed services. Obama pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in the effort to halt the abuse, which he said undermines the trust the military needs to be effective.

NEW YORK (AP) — The first few months of the year were tough for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

NEW YORK (AP) — The legacy of J.C. Penney's former CEO is being felt at the department-store chain.

SEATTLE (AP) — It's one thing to legalize marijuana. It's another to figure out how to sell it, grow it, regulate it, test it and tax it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American imprisoned in Cuba settled a lawsuit Thursday against the company he was working for when arrested, a lawsuit that claimed he wasn't properly warned about or prepared for the risks of working in the communist nation.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors deciding the fate of convicted murderer Jodi Arias were brought to tears Thursday, visibly shaken by dramatic statements from the victim's family members as they described how their lives were ripped apart by the killing.

Ask someone in Asia or Europe a decade ago what they knew about the Galaxy, and odds are the answer would have been limited to planets or stars. Nowadays, it's likely to include a reference to "Beckham's team," the Major League Soccer franchise in Los Angeles.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors deciding Jodi Arias' fate have been sent home after proceedings were inexplicably delayed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One more time, with feeling! The Republican-led House voted yet again Thursday to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, knowing full well that won't stop it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday the nation's military leaders told him they are "ashamed" of their failure to end sexual abuse in the armed services, and he promised an accelerated effort to find solutions.

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Chabon had long been mystified by that Bob Dylan lyric about "midnight's broken toe."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands will be required to disclose publicly the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, the Obama administration said Thursday. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that federal regulation could hinder an ongoing boom in natural gas production.

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year is wanted for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home, a prosecutor said Thursday.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government troops on Thursday flushed out rebels who had stormed a prison compound in the northern city of Aleppo in a bid to free hundreds of political prisoners inside.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — In a quest to speed up the boarding process, American Airlines is letting passengers board sooner if they travel lightly.

NEW YORK (AP) — Signs of a slowing economy combined with comments from a Federal Reserve official helped pull the stock market down Thursday.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Habitat for Humanity spent years in a North Texas suburb, helping build many of the 110 homes in the low-income area. But its work was largely undone during an outbreak of 10 tornadoes Wednesday night that killed six people and injured dozens.

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball appears set for a vast expansion of video review by umpires in 2014 and is examining whether all calls other than balls and strikes should be subject to instant replay.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The lead defense attorney in O.J. Simpson's armed robbery trial had a conflict of interest because he could have been a witness in the case, a lawyer who worked on Simpson's unsuccessful appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court testified Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan projected a united front Thursday on Syria, keeping stark differences about how much the U.S. should intervene behind closed doors as they looked to Russia and the global community to close ranks behind efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama, seeking to regain his footing amid controversies hammering the White House, named a temporary chief for the scandal-marred Internal Revenue Service Thursday and pressed Congress to approve new security money to prevent another Benghazi-style terrorist attack.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two brothers with a history of drug arrests and ties to a neighborhood gang each face 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder in a shooting spree that brought a sudden bloody end to a neighborhood Mother's Day parade.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota woman was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for sending money to an al-Qaida-linked group in her native Somalia, despite her insistence that she was only trying to help the poor in the war-torn East African country.

By Nick Tattersall and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he reserved the right to resort to both diplomatic and military options to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but insisted that U.S. action alone would not be enough to resolve the Syrian crisis. Taking a cautious line at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Obama voiced hope that the United States and Russia would succeed in arranging an international peace conference on Syria, despite signs of growing obstacles. ...

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Keegan Bradley broke the TPC Four Seasons course record with a 10-under 60 in the opening round of the Byron Nelson Championship.

NEW YORK (AP) — As "The Office" airs its series finale after eight years on NBC, the time feels right to salute the show that spawned it.

NEW YORK (AP) — A controversial oil pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast "absolutely needs to go ahead," Canada's prime minister said Thursday, and he warned that the oil will be transported through America one way or another.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As second top Internal Revenue Service official has announced plans to leave the agency amid the controversy over the targeting of tea party groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday tried to turn the tables on Republicans who have criticized his administration's response to last year's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, calling on lawmakers to approve his request to increase funding for diplomatic security.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — A missing trailer has sparked a feud in NASCAR's Truck Series.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The moment Alissa Parker learned of a shooting at her daughter's school, she suddenly regretted not pointing out what she had seen as security gaps at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

DETROIT (AP) — Only two of 13 small SUVs performed well in front-end crash tests done by an insurance industry group, with several popular models faring poorly in the evaluations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Physicist Ernest Moniz won unanimous Senate confirmation Thursday to be the nation's new energy secretary.

CAIRO (AP) — Suspected militants in Egypt's Sinai abducted seven security personnel as they headed to Cairo for holidays early Thursday, security officials said. It was the first such kidnapping of security forces in the lawless peninsula.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin played the last two games of the Washington Capitals' season with what the team said Thursday is a hairline fracture in his left foot.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Ten tornadoes touched down in several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens injured and hundreds homeless. Emergency responders were still searching for missing people Thursday afternoon.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One is a little bit country. The other is a little bit R&B.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays have put AL Cy Young Award winner David Price on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left triceps.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and Turkey will keep ramping up pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but there's "no magic formula" to stop his violence.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Keegan Bradley shot a 10-under 60 for a course record even with consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round at the Byron Nelson Championship on Thursday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli watchdog group on Thursday accused the government of taking steps to legalize four unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, days before the U.S. secretary of state is set to arrive on a new peace mission.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service controversy dogging President Barack Obama is hardly the first time a White House and the tax agency have been accused of political meddling and bias. Nor is it the first time that political and social advocacy groups have searched for and exploited loopholes and fine points in the federal tax code.

ROME (AP) — Six-time champion Rafael Nadal overcame one of the worst opening sets of his career to edge Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 Thursday and reach the Italian Open quarterfinals.

PHOENIX (AP) — The jury deciding the fate of Jodi Arias has heard dramatic and emotional testimony from the brother of the man she murdered.

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Sherilee Lakmidas JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum reported for work late Thursday, and a labor leader said the workers will strike on Friday in an escalation of unrest that sent the company's shares lower and the rand to a four-year low. The threatened action is to protest Amplats' plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs in a bid to return to profit, down from the 14,000 it initially proposed, and comes just as a two-day wildcat strike ends at platinum producer Longman. ...

PHOENIX (AP) — An attorney for Jodi Arias on Thursday told the jury deciding the former waitress's fate to consider factors including her age, troubled upbringing and talent as an artist, and show her mercy for killing her boyfriend five years ago.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament will leave CBS after nearly a half-century and move all TV coverage to cable starting in 2015 under an 11-year contract with ESPN.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs tore through markets in Baghdad and a suicide attacker blew himself up in a mosque in northern Iraq in violence across the country on Thursday that killed at least 25 people and extended a surge in sectarian-tinged bloodshed. Attacks on Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim mosques, security forces and tribal leaders have spread since security forces raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk a month ago, igniting clashes and fuelling fear of a slide back into all-out inter-communal war. ...

CANNES, France (AP) — Sofia Coppola was just 8 years old when she first came to the Cannes Film Festival. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, was there to premiere a work-in-progress cut of a film he had spent years wrestling with: "Apocalypse Now."

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Sitting on a dirty straw mat on the parched ground of southern Afghanistan, Masooma sank deeper inside a giant black shawl. Hidden from view, her words burst forth as she told her side of what happened to her family sometime before dawn on March 11, 2012.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate Agriculture Committees laid the groundwork this week for reducing the size of the federal food stamp program, approving farm bills that would shrink food aid and alter the way people qualify for it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama dismissed the idea of a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, saying probes by Congress and the Justice Department should be able to figure out who was responsible for improperly targeting tea party groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama tried to defuse a trio of controversies Thursday, pledging to work with Congress to ensure the IRS doesn't abuse its power, urging legislators to provide more money to strengthen security at U.S. diplomatic outposts and promising to seek "a balance" between national security and a need to protect freedom of the press.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Growing up, Kentucky Derby winner Orb was just another horse who fit in with the crowd.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland will cut 1,400 jobs over the next two years in a restructuring of its retail head office in Britain, the part-nationalised bank said on Thursday. In a statement, the chief executive of RBS's UK retail business, Ross McEwan, said the bank would try to avoid compulsory redundancies by redeploying staff where possible. Trade union Unite described the job cuts as "brutal". (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Anthony Barker)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he reserves the right to resort to a range of diplomatic and military options if he gets conclusive proof that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons in the country's civil war. Obama, at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, said there was evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria but that it is important to get "more specific information" to confirm this before deciding how to respond. ...

LONDON (AP) — Nobel Literature laureate J.M. Coetzee has called on Spain to abandon plans to protect bullfighting, making a rare public appeal against what he called "an archaic form of entertainment."

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and France recognize that their cooperation is key to overcoming Europe's persistent economic crisis, but comments Thursday by the leaders of the continent's No. 1 and 2 economies suggested they still have diverging priorities.

LONDON (AP) — David Beckham is retiring from soccer, ending a career in which he transcended the sport with forays into fashion and a marriage to a pop star that made him a global celebrity.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs hit Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital for the second day in a row on Thursday, part of a series of attacks across the country that left 21 people dead and raised concerns over a return to sectarian bloodshed.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A second suspect has been arrested in the shooting that injured 20 people at a parade on Mother's Day, police said Thursday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.

GRANBURY, Texas (AP) — Ten tornadoes touched down in several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens injured and hundreds homeless. Emergency responders were still searching for missing people Thursday afternoon.

NEW YORK (AP) — "The Vampire Diaries" is known for its twists and turns, and one of its stars, Ian Somerhalder, says Thursday night's season finale won't be any different.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama confronted a trio of controversies Thursday, pledging to work with Congress to ensure the IRS doesn't abuse its power, urging legislators to provide more money to strengthen security at U.S. diplomatic outposts and promising to seek "a balance" between national security and a need to protect freedom of the press.

By Matt Spetalnick and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington's top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny. With three congressional probes of the IRS looming and Republicans' calls for firings at the agency growing louder, Obama said he told Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to demand the resignation of Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner. Lew had done so, the president said. ...

SEATTLE (AP) — They've spent nearly eight months visiting marijuana grow houses, studying the science of getting high and earning nicknames like "the queen of weed." Now, officials in Washington state are taking their first stab at setting rules for the state's new legal weed industry.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jane Lynch doesn't mind being upstaged by her latest co-star, Olivia — after all she "has no bad side, she is always ready to pose and she sits perfectly still when you put her in your lap.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats rallied behind President Barack Obama in the long-running, bitter dispute over the administration's handling of the Benghazi attack, arguing that the White House's latest email disclosure undermines Republican claims of a cover-up.

CANNES, France (AP) — Emma Watson is reveling in her post-"Potter" freedom at the Cannes Film Festival, relishing a Valley Girl role far from her wise-beyond-her-years Hermione.

SEATTLE (AP) — They've spent nearly eight months visiting marijuana grow houses, studying the science of getting high and earning nicknames like "the queen of weed." Now, officials in Washington are taking their first stab at setting rules for the state's new legal weed industry.

David Beckham won league titles with four clubs in four countries in a long career that included a record 115 appearances for England. The soccer superstar who also became a fashion icon and a global celebrity announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the season.

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy showed fresh signs of slower growth in the second quarter, with factory activity slipping in the mid-Atlantic region while groundbreaking declined at home construction sites. Other data on Thursday showed a spike in new claims for jobless benefits last week as well as soft underlying inflation that could point to weak demand in the economy. "We are seeing a soft start for growth in the second quarter," said Sam Bullard, an economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

LONDON (AP) — Hit boy band One Direction has announced plans for an ambitious world tour in 2014.

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon runners who were stopped on the course when bombs went off at the finish line will have a chance to come back and run again next year, race organizers said on Thursday.

MILAN (AP) — Global sales of luxury goods are off to a slow start in 2013 and aren't expected to match the double-digit growth of the last three years, consultancy Bain & Co. said in a study released Thursday.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish museum officials say that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins.

PHOENIX (AP) — Attorneys for Jodi Arias asked to step down from the case after their client was convicted of first-degree murder, but a judge denied the request, according to court minutes obtained Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cisco Systems led the Dow Jones industrial average slightly higher Thursday after the technology company reported higher sales. Mixed corporate earnings and economic reports kept the major stock indexes flipping between slight gains and losses.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A video published on Thursday showed fighters of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria executing 11 men they accused of taking part in massacres by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The film is believed to be from eastern Deir al-Zor province and dates from some time in 2012, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. The Observatory's head, Rami Abdelrahman, said the Nusra Front has recently been releasing several videos of their past operations. ...

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and France recognize that their cooperation is key to overcoming Europe's persistent economic crisis, but comments Thursday by the leaders of the continent's No. 1 and 2 economies suggested they still have diverging priorities.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As the official tally of those wounded in a Mother's Day parade shooting ticked up to 20 on Thursday, the suspect made his first court appearance in the case, remaining silent as a judge set his bond at $10 million.

By Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel may not have a "bosom friendship" with her French counterpart, she said on Thursday, but her working relationship with Francois Hollande was strong and crucial for Europe. With her foreign minister saying Germany must not act with "Teutonic arrogance" towards its euro zone neighbors, Merkel played down criticism she has received from France's ruling Socialists. "Living in an open society we must have nuances between conflict and bosom friendship. ...

LONDON (AP) — Financial markets were subdued Thursday despite encouraging growth figures out of Japan, as investors digested a mixed batch a U.S. economic data a day after Wall Street indexes hit record highs.

By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron ordered rebellious MPs on Thursday to back his plan for a law guaranteeing a vote on Britain's European Union membership as he sought shore up his party, his leadership and the coalition. Conservative rebels have been pushing him to take a hard line on Europe, resurrecting party splits that contributed to the downfall of former prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major in the 1990s. An election is due in 2015. ...

What are you doing after the apocalypse?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with a trio of controversies, President Barack Obama is trying to halt a perception spreading among both White House opponents and allies that he has been passive and disengaged as unexpected developments consume his second term.

By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - Google Inc faced angry questions on Thursday from British lawmakers investigating its tax affairs and whether it had misled parliament in testimony last year, adding fuel to a debate on taxation that has risen to the top of the UK political agenda. Google's Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, was called back to testify to parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after a Reuters investigation showed the company employed staff in sales roles in London, even though he had told the committee in November its British staff were not "selling" to UK clients. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't look for the outcry over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of tea party groups to subside with the ouster of the agency's acting commissioner.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hundreds of sweating Sufis chant and sway as the lead sheik moves into the middle of a circle of worshippers and bursts into a chant louder than anyone else's

LONDON (AP) — David Beckham is retiring from soccer, ending a career in which he transcended the sport with forays into fashion and a marriage to a pop star that made him a global celebrity.

MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Nigerian forces began attacking Islamist hideouts in the northeast on Thursday, security sources said, part of an offensive to wrest control of the region from increasingly bold and well-armed Boko Haram insurgents. Soldiers raided areas in the Sambisa Game Reserve, a remote savannah of some 500 sq km in Borno state where Islamists have established bases, two security sources who asked not to be named said. They did not give further details. President Goodluck Jonathan this week declared a state of emergency in three northeastern states.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top defense leaders were summoned to the White House Thursday to talk about the military's escalating sexual assault crisis as the Pentagon's top general said women in uniform were losing confidence the problem will be solved.