Comparison of mass protests in Brazil and Turkey

Large-scale protests have engulfed Turkey and Brazil, which are thousands of miles apart, but share some traits such as being new democracies with a growing middle class. Here's a look at the protests in both countries, highlighting the similarities and differences in how they started and developed: ___ Full Story

Afghan leader backs away from Taliban talks

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. Hamid Karzai's strong response and the Taliban attack deflated hopes for long-stalled talks aimed at ending nearly 12... Full Story

'Man of Steel' promoted from the pulpit

Seems Warner Bros. has taken movie marketing to a whole new level — even higher than a bird or a plane. The studio enlisted Christian-focused firm Grace Hill Media to promote "Man of Steel" to faith-based groups by inviting them to early screenings and creating trailers that highlight the film's religious themes. They also enlisted Craig Detweiler, a Pepperdine University professor and author of "Into... Full Story

VP Biden pays tribute to civil rights leader

Vice President Joe Biden is hailing Frederick Douglass for his work to bring about equal justice, leading a series of tributes at the unveiling of a statue of the 19th-century orator and writer. Biden, along with Democratic Sen. Harry Reid and Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, used the U.S. Capitol ceremony to call for equal voting rights for citizens of the District of Columbia —... Full Story

Neighbors: Couple killed waited for order to leave

Bob and Barbara Schmidt dashed to their home on a dirt road in a heavily wooded area northeast of Colorado Springs as smoke from what would become the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history filled the air. After quickly grabbing a few items, they spotted their neighbors. Full Story

Mueller urges caution on NSA program changes

FBI Director Robert Mueller is cautioning Congress to give careful consideration before making any changes to the National Security Agency programs for mass collection of people's phone records and information from the Internet. In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the FBI director says there are 10 or 12 cases in which the phone records program contributed to breaking up terrorist plots. Full Story

Monsoon floods kill 102 in India, strand pilgrims

India's prime minister said Wednesday that the death toll from flooding this week in the northern state of Uttrakhand had surpassed 100 and could rise substantially. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke on his return from an aerial survey of the area, pegging the death toll at 102. Full Story

Obama renews calls for nuclear reductions

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." In a wide-ranging speech that enumerated a litany of challenges facing the world, Obama said he wanted to reignite the spirit that Berlin displayed when it... Full Story

Gyula Horn, former Hungarian prime minister, dies

Gyula Horn, a former Hungarian prime minister who played a key role in opening the Iron Curtain, has died at the age of 80. Horn's death on Wednesday was announced by the Hungarian government and confirmed by the Socialist Party, which he led to victory in the 1994 elections. Full Story

Serena Williams sorry after rape case comments

Serena Williams says she's reaching out to the family of the victim in the Steubenville rape case after the tennis star was quoted in a Rolling Stone article saying "she shouldn't have put herself in that position." "I am currently reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article," Williams said in a statement released through her agent Wednesday. "What was written — what I supposedly said — is insensitive... Full Story

Police at Patriots tight end's home for 2nd day

State police returned to the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Wednesday, two days after a body was found about a mile away. Two troopers knocked on the door of Hernandez's sprawling house in an upscale subdivision Wednesday morning, but no one answered. The night before, police spent hours there as another group of officers searched an industrial park where the... Full Story

Protesters out again in Brazil's biggest city

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. In one of several reported protests, about 200 people blocked the Anchieta Highway that links Sao Paulo and the port city of Santos. They left after two hours and headed to the industrial suburb of... Full Story

Best-selling author Vince Flynn dies at age 47

Best-selling author Vince Flynn, who wrote the Mitch Rapp counterterrorism thriller series and sold more than 15 million books in the U.S. alone, died Wednesday in Minnesota after a more than two-year battle with prostate cancer, according to friends and his publisher. He was 47. Flynn was supporting himself by bartending when he self-published his first novel, "Term Limits," in 1997 after getting more than... Full Story

'Nightline' anchor Moran heading to London for ABC

ABC News "Nightline" anchor Terry Moran is getting a new posting as the network's London-based chief foreign correspondent. Moran will head overseas late this summer, ABC said Wednesday. Moran was ABC's chief White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005 and has done many overseas and domestic stories for "Nightline," most recently from Syria. Full Story

Jodi Arias film: a new case of fatal attraction

She doesn't boil a pet bunny. But Jodi Arias displays wicked knife technique in a new Lifetime movie that could have just as well been titled, "Fatal Attraction for Cable News." Premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT, "Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret" is a ripped-from-cable-news saga of a woman scorned who last month was found guilty of killing her former lover, motivational speaker Travis Alexander.... Full Story

Men's Wearhouse ousts founder, pitchman Zimmer

Apparently, Men's Wearhouse Inc. doesn't like the way its founder looks anymore. In a terse release issued Wednesday, Men's Wearhouse said it has fired the face of the company and its executive chairman, George Zimmer, who appeared in many of its TV commercials with the slogan "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." Full Story

Obama warns EU over high youth unemployment

President Barack Obama raised the prospect Wednesday that Europe might need to adjust its economic policies to tackle high youth unemployment and make sure that some countries don't "lose a generation." Obama warned during his visit to Berlin that, while he was confident the euro area's leaders will resolve their debt crisis, austerity and structural reforms must not cause policymakers to lose sight of the... Full Story

Oil little changed before Fed's Bernanke speaks

The price of oil was down slightly Wednesday as traders waited to hear the latest on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy from chairman Ben Bernanke. Oil fell about 40 cents after the government said U.S. oil supplies rose by 300,000 barrels last week. But it quickly bounced back. Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 12 cents to $98.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in midday trading. Full Story

Airborne laser reveals hidden city in Cambodia

Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex. The discovery was announced late Monday in a peer-reviewed paper released early by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laser scanning revealed a previously undocumented formally planned urban landscape integrating the 1,200-year-old temples. Full Story

'Dead zones' predicted for Gulf, Chesapeake Bay

Scientists in Michigan and Louisiana are predicting a big summer "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico unless a tropical storm hits the area shortly before or during the annual measurement. In the Chesapeake Bay, scientists expect a smaller-than-average area where there's too little oxygen to support fish, shellfish and other aquatic life. The hypoxic zone in the Gulf is likely to be the largest since annual measurements began in 1985, covering 8,561 square miles — about the size of New Jersey, according to scientists... Full Story

Wilson, Nobel winner for physics, dies in Maine

Physicist Kenneth Wilson, who earned a Nobel prize for pioneering work that changed the way physicists think about phase transitions, has died in Maine, where he retired to enjoy kayaking with his wife. He was 77. Wilson, who died from complications of lymphoma, was in the physics department at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., when he won the Nobel Prize in 1982 for applying his... Full Story