Published: Wed, May 22, 2013

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Little has been done to improve the safety of public gathering places since a nightclub fire killed 242 people earlier this year in southern Brazil, relatives of the victims said Wednesday. The relatives met in Brasilia to discuss what safety measures have been adopted...

Updated: Wed, May 22, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — The safe release Wednesday of seven conscripts kidnapped by suspected militants in Sinai brought a victory for Egypt's Islamist president after months of criticism that his government is mismanaging the country. Seated with top military brass and senior officials, an animated...

BRADLEY S. KLAPPER KARIN LAUB

Published: Tue, May 21, 2013

BEIRUT (AP) -- Despite recent rebel setbacks in Syria's civil war, the main opposition bloc signaled a tough line Tuesday on attending possible peace talks with President Bashar Assad's regime. Two senior members of the Syrian National Coalition said the group first wants ironclad guarantees...

ROB GILLIES

Published: Tue, May 21, 2013

TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford continued to duck questions Tuesday about a video that purportedly shows him smoking crack cocaine despite calls by allies and rivals for further comment. The video has not been released publicly and there is no way to verify whether it is authentic....

ANGELA CHARLTON GREG KELLER

Published: Tue, May 21, 2013

PARIS (AP) -- Some 1,500 visitors were cleared out of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a man put a letter on the altar of the 850-year-old monument Tuesday, pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. It's the first suicide in decades at the landmark site, Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, the...

MARK STEVENSON

Published: Tue, May 21, 2013

COALCOMAN, Mexico (AP) -- Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents." Interior Secretary Miguel...

KIMBERLY DOZIER

Published: Tue, May 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them...

AMIR SHAH KAY JOHNSON

Published: Mon, May 20, 2013

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed 14 people including a prominent provincial council chief outside the council headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Monday, authorities said. The Taliban insurgency quickly claimed responsibility. Seeking to weaken...

ARON HELLER

Published: Mon, May 20, 2013

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A new Israeli report into the death of a Palestinian boy during a fierce gunbattle in the Gaza Strip more than a dozen years ago has reignited an emotional debate over who killed him -- and how the incident has shaped perspectives of the Mideast conflict. Israel says a French...

MARIA CHENG

Published: Mon, May 20, 2013

LONDON (AP) -- More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease....