OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tony Allen thought it might have been out of desperation that he ended up guarding Kevin Durant in crunch time.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch financial company ING Groep NV reported Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings rose as it sold businesses and improved profit margins at its banking arm. Its insurance arm reported a loss.

By Alonso Soto and Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Roberto Azevedo, picked on Tuesday to head the World Trade Organization, is in every respect the quintessential Brazilian diplomat: a well-spoken, competent and smooth negotiator with a knack for wooing adversaries into his corner. A career diplomat with two decades of experience dealing with trade disputes, Azevedo will need those qualities more than ever to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations if he wants to reboot stalled global trade negotiations and breathe new life into the Geneva-based WTO. It is a huge task. ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — One year after another disappointing early playoff exit, Patrick Marleau gave the San Jose Sharks a new postseason experience.

By Bate Felix DAKAR (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea's elections this month are unlikely to be free as the organising body is controlled by the government and the work of observers will be severely restricted, three human rights organisations said on Tuesday. Voters in the oil-rich Central African state are due to vote on May 26 to choose members of parliament, senators and local councillors in an election expected to tighten President Teodoro Nguema Obiang's 34-year grip on power. ...

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) — The lead singer of Grammy-nominated heavy metal band As I Lay Dying was arrested Tuesday in Southern California as authorities said he tried to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury sat with his head in hands for several minutes before taking questions in the cramped Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room.

BOSTON (AP) — The father of a student charged with conspiracy in the Boston Marathon bombing case insists his son is not a terrorist and said the 19-year-old believes his friend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is "not a human" if he's responsible for the attacks.

DENVER (AP) — The man accused in the deadly Colorado theater shootings wants to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, potentially delaying the trial for weeks or even months while doctors evaluate his mental state and lawyers argue over the constitutionality of the state's insanity law.

ROME (AP) — A cargo ship slammed into a control tower in the port in Genoa, toppling it into the harbor and killing at least three people, rescue officials said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A panel of three judges has decided that the vast majority of the $1 million reward offered in the manhunt for rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner will go to a couple he tied up in their Southern California mountain cabin.

WASHINGTON (AP) — South Korean President Park Geun-hye is getting a grand welcome from Congress as Seoul and Washington resolve to stand firm against North Korean provocations.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a shooting and two car bombs have killed four people and wounded 26 in the western and northern parts of the country.

NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony's shooting woes vanished as quickly as Indiana's lead.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans insist the Obama administration is covering up information about last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, rejecting administration assurances to the contrary and stoking a controversy with implications for the 2016 presidential race.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Deutsche Telekom stopped losing U.S. customers in the first quarter after it dropped conventional two-year contracts and added Apple's iPhone to its lineup, the German company said Wednesday.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The man who was the voice of Charlie Brown in several "Peanuts" television shows faces possible prison time for stalking and threatening his former girlfriend and a plastic surgeon who had given her a breast enhancement.

By John Irish and Daniel Flynn PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby, a survivor of countless rebellions, has stepped into a void left by Africa's traditional heavyweights and turned his desert nation into a powerbroker as France disengages from its former colonies. The success of Chad's 2,000 battle-hardened troops in a French-led mission to hunt down al Qaeda fighters in the deserts of northern Mali has marked it out as the only African nation to quickly deploy an effective fighting force. ...

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Aegon NV, the Dutch insurer that does most of its business in the United States under the Transamerica brand, says first quarter profits fell sharply due to stock market losses.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is seen as a possible presidential candidate for 2016, said Tuesday that he underwent a procedure in February to have a band implanted around his stomach in February in an effort to lose weight.