Obama's Berlin speech: History raises the stakes
BERLIN (AP) -- Five years and 50 years. As President Barack Obama revisits Berlin, he can't escape those anniversaries and the inevitable comparisons to history and personal achievement....

Karzai suspends talks with US over Taliban move
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Afghan president on Wednesday suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban meant to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war....

Bomb blast, gunmen attack UN compound in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated at least one bomb blast and engaged in ongoing battles with security forces in an attempt to breach the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu, officials said Wednesday....

Floods close Lourdes pilgrimage site in Pyrenees
PARIS (AP) -- Heavy floods in southwest France have forced the closure of the Catholic pilgrimage site in Lourdes and the evacuation of pilgrims from nearby hotels....

UN says 45.2 million refugees and displaced people
GENEVA (AP) -- The Syrian civil war contributed to pushing the numbers of refugees and those displaced by conflict within their own nation to an 18-year high of 45.2 million worldwide by the end of 2012, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday....

World Bank highlights climate-poverty link
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The World Bank says it will increasingly view its efforts to help developing countries fight poverty through a "climate lens."...

Syria state TV says explosion hits military depot
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian state television says an accidental explosion at a military depot outside the northwestern coastal city of Latakia has left six people lightly injured....

Vietnam hunger strike tests official intimidation
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Cu Huy Ha Vu's books come with pages torn out by prison guards. Only some of his letters reach home. He is not allowed to access evidence from his trial or to see his wife alone....

Protesters out again in Brazil's biggest city
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Brazilians again flooded the streets of the country's biggest city to raise a collective cry against a longstanding lament - people are weighed down by high taxes and high prices but get low-quality public services and a system of government infected with corruption....

Red Cross' Guantanamo reports sought in 9/11 case
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross urged a military judge Tuesday to refuse a request to open its confidential communications with U.S. officials about conditions at Guantanamo Bay to the lawyers for the prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 terror attack....