NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Gunmen opened fire as dozens of people marched in a Mother's Day second-line parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 12 people, police said.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria's center-right party and its main challenger, the Socialists, finished first and second in Sunday's parliamentary election, with neither one winning a majority needed to form a government, two exit polls indicated.

NEW YORK (AP) — A celebration of Dave Brubeck's life and music turned into an ode to joy as family, friends and fans paid tribute to the groundbreaking pianist and composer who became the best known ambassador of jazz to the world.

CAIRO (AP) — In his first comments to the media since he was detained more than two years ago, Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak said he is dismayed at the country's state of affairs and particularly the plight of the poor.

By Tsvetelia Tsolova and Sam Cage SOFIA (Reuters) - The rightist GERB party held the lead in Bulgaria's election on Sunday but its prospects of forming another government, after the last one was ousted by protests, looked uncertain after its potential partner ruled out a deal. Turnout was the lowest in post-communist history, at around 53 percent, reflecting the disaffection with the political elite in a country where unemployment is close to an eight-year high. ...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's opposition coalition will meet in Istanbul on May 23 to decide whether to participate in a U.S. and Russian-sponsored conference to try to end the Syrian civil war, coalition officials said on Sunday. A session of the 60-member general assembly of the Islamist-dominated coalition will also elect a new head and discuss the fate of provisional prime minister Ghassan Hitto, who has come under heavy criticism for being too influenced by opposition figures with close links to Qatar, coalition insiders said. ...

CHICAGO (AP) — The NBA has fined Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau $35,000 for comments he made about the officiating following Friday's loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — The mother of an 8-year-old girl who was found stabbed to death in her Northern California home and of the 12-year-old boy accused of killing describes the boy as "protective of his sister."

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunfire attacks in Iraq on Sunday killed five people, including a provincial official in a southern city.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looked poised Sunday to return to office with a resounding election victory — a mandate that could make it easier to tackle the country's daunting problems, including growing power outages, weak economic growth and shaky government finances.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Officials at two Libyan government ministries returned to work Sunday after nearly two weeks of protests by militia fighters, who blocked the entrances to the buildings.

By Patrick Temple-West and Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is under investigation for extra scrutiny it gave to conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, a practice that elicited complaints from the groups during the 2012 presidential election campaigns. Following are some key events in the fast-developing scandal that has embarrassed the agency and poses another potential headache for the Obama administration at a time when Republicans continue to raise questions about the administration's actions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. ...

By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Toppled in a 1999 military coup, jailed and exiled, Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif has made a triumphant election comeback and looks set to form a stable government capable of implementing reforms needed to rescue the fragile economy. Sharif may not win enough seats to rule on his own but has built up enough momentum to avoid having to form a coalition with his main rivals, former cricketer Imran Khan's Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Grammy-winning musician Chris Brown's neighbors are unhappy with what some are calling frightening art he's chosen to have painted along the curb of his Hollywood Hills home.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation might pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The seasoned diplomat who penned a highly critical report on security at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, defended his scathing assessment but absolved then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We knew where the responsibility rested," Thomas Pickering said Sunday.

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama congratulated Pakistan on Sunday for the successful completion of its parliamentary elections and said the United States would work with the country's new government as an equal partner. "The United States stands with all Pakistanis in welcoming this historic peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power, which is a significant milestone in Pakistan's democratic progress," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. ...

The following are potential front-runners in Iran's June 14 presidential election to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The list of candidates will be announced next week after vetting by Iran's ruling clerics:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gatsby looks almost as great as a superhero at the weekend box office.

BEIRUT (AP) — TV singing contests around the world tend to serve up light, glitzy entertainment with a dash of emotional drama. But in the Middle East's version of "American Idol," it's the region's troubles that often take center stage.