By Tom Perry and Yousri Mohamed CAIRO/ISMAILIA (Reuters) - Seven Egyptian security men kidnapped by Islamist militants in Sinai last week were freed on Wednesday and President Mohamed Mursi vowed to pursue a crackdown on lawlessness in the desert peninsula. The abduction underlined the threat posed by jihadists who have exploited a security vacuum that opened up in the isolated Sinai after the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The state has struggled to restore order there since. ...

KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian official undermined state prosecutors' case against protest leader Alexei Navalny at his trial on theft charges on Wednesday, saying that he had done no harm. Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest critics, said the testimony of Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh showed he was not guilty of charges of stealing from a timber company. But he said he still expected to be convicted because he was not getting a fair trial. ...

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered a dozen local reporters to be barred from covering government meetings after they staged a protest on Wednesday over attacks on journalists at a rally. When reporters at the cabinet meeting stepped in front of television cameras and turned their backs, emblazoned with slogans, on Azarov and his colleagues, the prime minister reacted sharply. "What kind of show is this?" he said. ...

By Pedro da Costa and Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus is helping the U.S. economy recover, and the central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas, central bank chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday. In testimony that offered no sign that he is ready to retreat from the Fed's latest round of bond buying, Bernanke emphasized the high costs of unemployment and inflation that continues to run below the central bank's target. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose in April to the highest level in nearly 3-1/2 years as surging prices lured sellers back into market, which should support the housing sector and the overall economic recovery. The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales advanced 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.97 million units, the highest level since November 2009. The March sales pace was revised up to 4.94 million units from the previously reported 4.92 million units. The increase, however, was below expectations for a rise to a 4.99 million-unit rate last month. ...

By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders will discuss how to combat aggressive tax avoidance by major companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple at a summit on Wednesday, and cut the estimated 1 trillion euros a year the EU loses to tax evasion or avoidance. The four-hour summit was originally called to discuss energy policy, but investigations in Britain, France and the United States exposing how little tax major international companies have been paying by carefully structuring their European operations has forced the issue to the top of the agenda. ...

CANNES, France (AP) — The problem with New York these days is there's just not enough litter.

CANNES, France (AP) — Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

CANNES, France (AP) — The Cannes Film Festival is missing one of its biggest stars of this year's festival: Ryan Gosling.

VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Sergio Garcia apologized to Tiger Woods on Wednesday for saying he would have "fried chicken" at dinner with his rival, a comment that Woods described as hurtful and inappropriate.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — When Tony Parker started running low on masterful plays, Tim Duncan was there to take over and lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

BOSTON (AP) — Build a new stadium, host the Super Bowl to show it off.

Confirming the worst-kept secret in politics, former Rep. Anthony Weiner has announced he’s running for New York City mayor -- telling voters that he wants a second chance in politics. "I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," Weiner said in [...]

For a talented, creative few, there’s David Letterman. For most, there’s a labyrinth of paperwork, hard decisions and painful sacrifices that could have dramatic repercussions on their financial health decades from now. Paying for college in America is hard. And a fight may be brewing in Washington that could leave college grads paying more—maybe a [...]

Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, who leads the exempt organizations division under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, is refusing to testify before Congress, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lerner was supposed to appear before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. The Times reports that Lerner's attorney, William W. Taylor III, [...]