NEWS

June 20, 20134:30 AM ET

ROME (AP) — Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend.

June 20, 20134:31 AM ET

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.

June 19, 20136:13 PM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hopes dimmed for talks aimed at ending the Afghan war when an angry President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday suspended security negotiations with the U.S. and scuttled a peace delegation to the Taliban, sending American officials scrambling to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the militants.

June 20, 20133:34 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past two weeks, President Barack Obama has argued with Chinese President Xi Jinping over cybersecurity, consulted with world leaders over Syria and trade, declared his desire to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons, and embraced the uncertain steps toward reconciliation in Afghanistan.

June 20, 20132:23 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gathering strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, ramping up its fundraising through gangland-style shakedowns and feeding off anti-government anger as it increasingly carries out attacks with impunity, according to residents and officials.

June 20, 20133:37 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis in two Sunni-dominated provinces where provincial elections had been delayed over security concerns were casting ballots Thursday amid tight security measures aimed at thwarting insurgent attacks.

June 20, 20132:47 AM ET

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — It was the worst disaster in the history of the garment industry. When the Rana Plaza factory building crashed down in April, 1,129 people were killed. But many others had to sacrifice their limbs to survive.

June 20, 20132:55 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) — Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people.

June 20, 20133:18 AM ET

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Days after floods killed more than 100 people — possibly many more — rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach nearly 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday.