AP - Croatia's ruling conservatives, who have brought the country to the threshold of the European Union but are enmeshed in corruption scandals, are on course to lose power in Sunday's election.

Reuters - The storming of the British embassy compound in Tehran provides extra ammunition to European governments pushing for stronger sanctions against Iran, in particular a contentious embargo on Iranian oil, diplomats said on Wednesday.

AP - Hungary's postal service says it has issued a numbered commemorative sheet incorporating a stamp-sized image of Steve Jobs, in memory of the co-founder of Apple Inc. who died in October.

AP - A Paris court has convicted five of six Somali pirates on trial for hijacking a sailboat off the African country's coast and kidnapping its two-person crew in the Gulf of Aden three years ago.

AP - As the euro crisis rages, people in Europe are facing a question not only about a financial crisis but about an identity crisis as well.

Reuters - Britain will support an embargo on Iranian oil imports following the deterioration of relations between the two countries, diplomatic sources told Reuters Wednesday, as France tried to rally support for new sanctions within the EU.

AP - Pope Benedict XVI voiced support Wednesday for political actions around the world aimed at eliminating the death penalty, reflecting his stance as an opponent of capital punishment.

AP - EU nations will significantly expand the pooling and sharing of their military resources in order to achieve savings at a time when the European debt crisis is biting into national defense budgets, the head of the European Defense Agency said Wednesday.

AP - Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was taken into custody by the International Criminal Court Wednesday to face charges of murder, rape and other crimes allegedly committed by his supporters as he clung to power after last year's elections.

Politico - Berkshire Hathaway is buying the Omaha World-Herald Co, publishers of Buffett’s hometown paper.

AP - Leka Zogu, whose father served as Albania's king until it was occupied by fascist Italy, and who twice returned home from exile to try to claim the throne himself, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 72.

AP - Six Catholic dioceses in Ireland that shielded child-molesting priests from the law in the past are protecting children from sexual abuse today, the Irish church's own investigatory arm reported Wednesday.

AP - Residents of Fukushima, the radiation-stricken area around Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear reactors, are touring Germany to learn how renewable energy could work in their homeland.

AP - A senior German official says the government has approved the subsidized sale of another Dolphin-type military submarine to Israel.

AP - The European Union should block Iraq from shutting down a camp of Iranian dissidents and prevent a "massacre" of its residents, a prominent EU parliamentarian said Wednesday.

AP - Prosecutors say an Italian judge, politician and police official are among 10 people detained in a crackdown on the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate.

AP - Belarus' Supreme Court has convicted two men of terrorism for carrying out a deadly attack in the capital and ordered them executed.

AP - Russia's top investigative body says the prime suspect in the 2006 radioactive poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko was himself poisoned with polonium.

AP - Norway has closed its embassy in Tehran due to security concerns after Britain's mission was stormed by Iranian protesters, an official said Wednesday.

AP - Multiple gun shots heard from Istanbul's Topkapi Palace.

AP - Turkey's Kandilli observatory says a magnitude-5.0 quake has shaken eastern Turkey — a region already devastated by two powerful tremors.

AP - The newspaper coverage was troubling: London's huge international showcase was beset by planning problems, local opposition and labor woes — and the transportation was a mess.

AP - The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday it has appealed a Portuguese judge's decision denying the extradition of an American fugitive who spent 41 years on the lam on three continents.

Reuters - A U.N. Security Council committee has imposed sanctions on a Congolese militia leader allegedly implicated in a highly publicized mass rape case last year, the committee said in a statement on Tuesday.