China's premier has promised to boost consumer spending and reduce reliance on trade but gave no sign in an annual economic report of what Beijing will do about big state companies that reformers warn could handicap future growth.

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doesn't want war with the United States. He just wants President Barack Obama to call him.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the Obama administration is rewarding the Egyptian government with financial aid because of Cairo's promises of economic and political reforms.

Pakistani officials say a bomb blast has killed at least 28 people in a neighborhood dominated by Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Karachi.

The chief of the Syrian National Coalition has, for the first time, visited rebel-held areas near the embattled city of Aleppo in northern Syria.

The cardinal who until recently served as Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader has admitted to unspecified sexual misbehavior and promised to play "no further part" in the public life of the church.

Cardinals from around the globe have descended on Rome for meetings ahead of the election for a successor to Benedict XVI.

Syrian army officials say troops have regained control of several villages along a strategic highway near the embattled northern city of Aleppo.

Secretary of State John Kerry says bickering Egyptian government and opposition leaders need to reach a political consensus to help their country emerge from an economic crisis.

Scotland's top legal officer says Scottish police and the FBI visited Libya this week as part of their investigation of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Tens of thousands of U.S. college students are flooding into the Mexican city of Cancun, where officials have stepped up patrols of marines, soldiers and special tourist police in zones packed with hotels and bars.

Government authorities in Jamaica say they have uncovered a ring involved in trafficking Jamaican children to another Caribbean country.

The State Department is criticizing North Korea for, quote, "wining and dining" visiting ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman while its own people go hungry.

A presidential spokesman says that Chadian President Idriss Deby announced that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group's leading commanders, Abou Zeid.

Taco Bell has become the latest restaurant chain to acknowledge that its beef has been adulterated with horse meat, yanking an unspecified number of products from its three British outlets and issuing a statement saying sorry to its patrons Friday. Meanwhile, in Iceland, a food official said his team had found a beef product which contained no meat at all.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis held mass rallies in the capital and across the country calling for the prosecution of ousted leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is under pressure to leave the country for allegedly hindering democratic transition.

It's a six-day bash that brings together hundreds of cigar sophisticates from around the world, and culminates Saturday night with a gala and auction of humidors worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Spanish police say they have captured a fan of Serbian soccer club Partizan convicted of killing a French fan.

Pope Benedict XVI has greeted the faithful for the last time as pope, telling well-wishers gathered at the Vatican's vacation retreat that he is beginning the final stage of his life as a "simple pilgrim," hours before he becomes the first pontiff in 600 years to resign.

Pope Benedict XVI is beginning a final quiet day as pontiff, meeting with his cardinals before flying off into retirement.

Police are investigating a Roman Catholic priest for alleged sexual abuse of three young girls in his parish in southeastern Brazil.

Oscar Pistorius' representatives have named the substance found in his bedroom after the shooting death of his girlfriend as Testis compositum, and say it is an herbal remedy used "in aid of muscle recovery."

ROME (AP) - The comic who is leading a potent new political force in Italy is ruling out joining any alliance to form a new government, dashing hopes of breaking the country's postelection stalemate.

Prosecutors say a shooting at a wood-processing company in central Switzerland has left three people dead and seven injured, some of them seriously.

Pope Benedict XVI is preparing for his final general audience, the weekly appointment he kept with the faithful and tourists to teach them about the Catholic faith.