YANGON (AP) ― Myanmar has sent out a surprisingly broad guest list for elections Sunday, hoping to showcase its democratic credentials to the world.The by-election is likely to mark a symbolic turning point by bringing opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for the first time, an event that would raise hopes for a more representative government after a half century of repressive military rule.However, with less than 7 percent of the chambers’ seats contested,

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that he thinks the U.S. economy will return to its long-term growth of around 3 percent a year despite the weaknesses it still faces.Bernanke made his observation in his fourth and final lecture to George Washington University students. The lectures this month have been intended to both demystify the Fed and defend the steps it took to confront the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession.The Fed chairman showed the stude

MADRID (AP) ― Spanish workers enraged by austerity-driven labor reforms to prevent the nation from becoming Europe’s next bailout victim has slowed down the country’s economy in a general strike, closing factories and clashing with police as the new-center right government tried to convince investors the nation isn’t headed for a financial meltdown.Tens of thousands held protest marches in Madrid and other cities Thursday, and the demonstrations turned violent in Spain’s second-largest city of B

At least 13 people died during an uprising by armed inmates at a Honduran prison Thursday, one of them decapitated and the others killed by a fire started by the rioters, authorities said.Varying reports of local and national authorities said as many as 18 inmates were killed, but national police ch

A Hungarian university decided Thursday to revoke the doctorate of the country's president after an investigation found that large parts of his 1992 thesis were copied from other authors.Rector Tivadar Tulassay said Semmelweis University's senate voted 33-4 in favor of revocation because Pal Schmitt

NEW DELHI (AP) _ The leaders of five of the world's fast-rising powers agreed Thursday to move toward creating a new development bank that would improve access to capital for poor nations.Accusing current international institutions of failing to lift up poor countries, the BRICS group _ Brazil, Russ

(AFP) -- .The world's emerging powers on Thursday said dialogue was the only answer to crises in Syria and Iran at a summit aimed at bolstering their non-Western alliance's influence on global affairs.The BRICS bloc -- comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- vowed to work togethe

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will open the way to resuming $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt that had been suspended over human rights concerns.“Tomorrow, Secretary Clinton will certify that Egypt is meeting its obligations under its peace treaty with Israel,” a senior State Department official said in an email on Thursday.The move will free up $250 million in economic aid that had never been in serious question.Clinton would also waive requirements on whether Cairo is maki

BAMAKO (AP) ― Several thousand people took to the streets of Mali’s capital in support of last week’s coup and to protest against the possible use of force by Mali’s neighbors who are putting a peacekeeping unit on standby in case the country’s military junta refuses to stand down.The coup has been divisive in Mali because many were fed up with President Amadou Toumani Toure’s failure to contain a rebellion by Tuareg fighters in the nation’s north. The wives and mothers of soldiers killed in the