16 dead: Militants infiltrate UN's Somalia office
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Seven al-Qaida-linked gunmen detonated a pick-up truck rigged with explosives at the gate of the U.N. compound in Somalia's capital Wednesday, launching a bombs-and-gunfire assault that saw militants pour into the complex, killing at least nine people, including three foreigners, officials said....

Afghan leader backs away from Taliban talks
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghanistan's president said Wednesday he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations, while also insisting the militant group stop its violent attacks on the ground after it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed four Americans....

Obama renews calls for nuclear reductions
BERLIN (AP) -- Appealing for a new citizen activism in the free world, President Barack Obama renewed his call Wednesday to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles and to confront climate change, a danger he called "the global threat of our time."...

Protesters out again in Brazil's biggest city
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Scattered street demonstrations popped up around Brazil early Wednesday as protesters continued their collective cry against the low-quality public services they receive in exchange for high taxes and high prices....

Iceland: 'informal talks' about Snowden asylum
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- A WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Edward Snowden has reached out to government officials in Iceland about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country, officials there said Wednesday....

AP PHOTOS: 3 little liligers cavort at Russian zoo
The zoo in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, is home to a unique animal - the liliger. That's a big cat breed where the father is a lion and the mother is a lion-tiger hybrid, called a liger....

Egypt top cleric: Protests against Morsi permitted
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's top Muslim cleric says peaceful protests against the president are permitted, dismissing declarations by Islamist hard-liners that those behind protests planned for June 30 are heretics....

Turkey's 'standing man' to join ranks of icons?
The image was stark: a silent, solitary figure standing in passive defiance to the Turkish prime minister's demand for protesters to clear Taksim Square in central Istanbul....

Palace sheds some light on Kate's baby plans
LONDON (AP) -- With Prince William and the former Kate Middleton expecting their first child in mid-July - and much of the world interested in the birth of a future monarch - officials at Clarence House have released some of the couple's plans, although many details are still being kept private. Kate has made several public appearances recently but is expected to keep a low profile in the final weeks of her pregnancy. Here is the latest news about the infant who will, upon entering the world, be third in line for the British throne....

China's Xi harks back to Mao in party 'cleanup'
BEIJING (AP) -- China's new leader Xi Jinping is commanding wayward Communist Party cadres to purify themselves of corruption, and he's summed it up in a pithy slogan as Mao Zedong might have done: Look in the mirror, take a bath....