ROME (AP) — Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend.Organizers Mario Sesti and Tiziana Rocca said that instead of receiving an award from the resort … [Read more...]

PARIS (AP) — France is giving Google three months to be more upfront about the data it collects from users — or be fined.The legal action accelerates a Europe-wide fight against Google over its use of personal data. While the fines threatened are small by the standards of one of the world's richest … [Read more...]

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — One potential juror in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial belongs to the National Rifle Association. Another says she was the victim of a violent crime that is constantly on her mind. A third is a competitive arm-wrestler.The 40 members of the possible jury pool — some of … [Read more...]

EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) — Dozens of homes were evacuated near Denver as a wind-driven wildfire flared, one of many in the western states where hot and windy conditions were making it easy for the wild land blazes to start and spread.The fire in the foothills about 30 miles southwest of Denver forced … [Read more...]

LONDON (AP) — British regulators are ordering some of the country's biggest banks to bolster their balance sheets by 27. 1 billion pounds ($42.1 billion) to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.The Prudential Regulation Authority said Thursday that Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of … [Read more...]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.The offer follows this week's official opening of … [Read more...]

BOSTON (AP) — The Blackhawks are heading back to Chicago having regained home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup finals and with a renewed faith in an offense that took more than 120 minutes to push a puck past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask."It's time to put all those other games behind us, the games where we … [Read more...]

MIAMI (AP) — He is the best player in the game and this is the best moment in his sport.Game 7, NBA title on the line."The moment is going to be grand," LeBron James said.And it might redefine someone's legacy.No matter what happens Thursday night, he and the Miami Heat, and Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs … [Read more...]

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. (AP) — No parent here has rushed onto a playing field to jump a referee who made an unpopular call. No adult has gotten angry and slugged or pushed a coach or a young player, as has happened elsewhere. Nor have there been any of those embarrassing sideline brawls you sometimes see posted … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The immigration protesters advanced on the news conference, poking signs that read "Do Not Reward Criminals" and "No Amnesty!" over the heads of Republicans who had just finished speaking about finding a civilized tone in the year's most difficult debate.As the politicians ducked out of … [Read more...]