http://hosted.ap.org/ AP Top International News At 8:20 p.m. EDT &copy; 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms">Terms of Use</a>. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN_WOMENS_RIGHTS?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SWEDEN_EUROVISION?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_FRANCE_GAY_MARRIAGE?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT PARIS (AP) -- France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President Francois Hollande signed a law Saturday authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples and ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_MISSILE?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ARGENTINA_VIDELA_MEMORIES_OF_FEAR?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_MYANMAR_US_FAULTY_SANCTIONS?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- If you're American and want to do business in Myanmar, there's a list of people and companies you have to steer clear of by law. But it leaves off a former minister's son U.S. officials suspected of brokering arms deals with North Korea, and high-rolling relatives of the man who led the repressive military government for 19 years.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_NIGERIA_VIOLENCE?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's military declared a 24-hour curfew Saturday on neighborhoods in a northeastern city that's the spiritual home of an Islamic extremist network as soldiers continued the government's emergency campaign in the region, with authorities saying they killed 10 suspected insurgents.... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VATICAN_GERMANY?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 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....