International Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have likely used chemical weapons on their own people, senior officials in the Obama administration said on Thursday, confirming similar claims made during recent days by authorities in Israel, France and Britain.

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) , Rescuers tried to free dozens of people believed trapped Wednesday night in a collapsed eight-story building that housed garment factories, killing at least 87. Workers had complained about cracks in the structure before it came tumbling down, but were assured it was safe.

CAIRO (AP) , U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel indicated on Wednesday that he was caught by surprise when Israeli officials publicly revealed their assessment that Syria has used chemical weapons in its civil war. Hagel told reporters that his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Yaalon, did not alert him to the assessment when they met in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Taiwan confirmed Wednesday the first case of the H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China. The 53-year-old man, who had been working in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, was hospitalized after showing symptoms three days after returning to Taiwan via Shanghai, the Centers for Disease Control said, according to AFP.

A federal judge said this week that the Obama administration is likely violating the law by telling immigration agents and officers not to arrest illegal immigrants they deem low priority, in a case that could upend President Obama's enforcement policy.

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) , Swiss bank Credit Suisse Group said Wednesday that its cost-cutting efforts helped it record a huge jump in first-quarter profits compared with a year earlier. Switzerland's...

Looking for a job? Stonehenge, the mysterious rock formation that served as a monument to the ancients - it's believed , needs a manager. The pay is $99,229 a year, Newser reported. And the job description calls for the successful candidate to have a proven ability to lead the monument "into a new era," ABC News reported.

President Obama has canceled plans to deliver a keynote address at Planned Parenthood's annual fundraising dinner Thursday night after critics decried his high-profile role at the abortion rights group amid new concerns about the brutality of illegal forms of abortion.

A conservative group called out Coca-Cola on Wednesday for lobbying to keep soda and candy eligible for purchase with food stamps, asking why the company expects taxpayers to pay for poor Americans' unhealthy purchases under part of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler all took deep hits in profits Wednesday, as industry first-quarter results indicated the European recession was dragging down car sales. Germany's Volkswagen AG reported a drop of net profits of 38 percent to $2.5 billion. Daimler's dropped 60 percent, The Associated Press reported.

Editor of The New Yorker and former Washington Post reporter David Remnick suggested Monday night that the Senate gun control legislation would have made the Boston Marathon bombing "a hell of a lot more difficult to pull off."

PARIS (AP) , France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate that has exposed deep conservatism in the nation's heartland and triggered huge protests that tapped into deep discontent with the Socialist government.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) , A car bomb exploded Tuesday outside the French Embassy in Tripoli, wounding three people and partially setting the building on fire in the worst attack on a diplomatic mission in the North African nation since the U.S. ambassador was killed last year.

Senators from both sides of the aisle criticized the White House on Tuesday afternoon for refusing to send a witness to testify at a hearing on drone warfare and targeted killings. "I hope in future hearings we'll have an opportunity to work with the administration more closely" said Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution.

White House spokesman Jay Carney Tuesday said President Obama would consider a congressional attempt to fix flight delays caused by sequester cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration but blamed the traveling inconvenience on Republicans for letting the budget cuts take place.