Turkey's prime minister on Friday urged a small delegation of protesters to persuade hundreds of others occupying an Istanbul park to withdraw.

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group vowed Friday to keep fighting in Syria "wherever needed" and said his Shiite Muslim group has made a "calculated" decision to defend the Syrian regime no matter what the consequences.

Iran's supreme leader delivered a salty rebuke to the U.S. Friday as Iranians lined up to vote in a presidential election that has suddenly become a showdown across the Islamic Republic's political divide: hard-liners looking to cement their control and re-energized reformists backing the lone moderate.

A top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit accused of burning villages filled with women and children lied to American immigration officials to get into the United States and has been living in Minnesota since shortly after World War II, according to evidence uncovered by The Associated Press.

Some questions about Friday's presidential election and beyond:

Phone call logs, credit card records, emails, Skype chats, Facebook message, and more: The precise nature of the NSA's sweeping surveillance apparatus has yet to be confirmed.

The House overwhelmingly passed a sweeping, $638 billion defense bill on Friday that imposes new punishments on members of the armed services found guilty of rape or sexual assault as outrage over the crisis in the military has galvanized Congress.

Turkey's prime minister on Friday urged a small delegation of protesters to persuade hundreds of others occupying an Istanbul park to withdraw.

Authorities were investigating Friday what caused the outdoor deck at a Miami-area sports bar to collapse, causing dozens of fans watching the NBA finals to plunge into a bay in a chaotic scene that sent 24 people to hospitals.

Newtown held a moment of silence Friday for the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School at a remembrance event that doubled as a call to action on gun control, with the reading of names of thousands of victims of gun violence.

Egypt's Sufi Muslims say their places of worship are under threat by rising radicalism, as shrines sacred to them are coming under attack by Islamist hard-liners who deem them heretical.

Laura Poitras' skill and boldness as a documentary filmmaker have gained her Oscar and Emmy nominations, Sundance Film Festival honors and a public TV showcase, even if her work fell short of making a "Super Size Me" splash.

Iran's supreme leader delivered a salty rebuke to the U.S. Friday as Iranians lined up to vote in a presidential election that has suddenly become a showdown across the Islamic Republic's political divide: hard-liners looking to cement their control and re-energized reformists backing the lone moderate.

President Barack Obama's decision to authorize lethal aid to Syrian rebels marks a deepening of U.S. involvement in the two-year civil war. But U.S. officials are still grappling with what type and how much weaponry to send the opposition forces and how to ensure it stays out of the hands of extremists battling for control of Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he has asked a small delegation of protesters to persuade the hundreds of others occupying an Istanbul park to withdraw, hopefully by the end of the day.

Firefighters are holding the line on a wildfire near Colorado Springs that has destroyed 379 homes and might have killed two people as they tried to escape.

Turkish activists leading a sit-in were considering a promise Friday by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to let the courts _ and a potential referendum _ decide the fate of an Istanbul park redevelopment project that has sparked Turkey's biggest protests in decades.

The British government has warned airlines around the world not to allow Edward Snowden, who leaked information on top-secret U.S. government surveillance programs, to fly to the United Kingdom.

A look at the political power structure in Iran.

Iranian voters appeared to heed calls to cast ballots Friday in a presidential election that has suddenly become a showdown across Iran's political divide: Hard-liners looking to cement their control and re-energized reformists backing the lone moderate left in the race.