The Iraqi Oil Ministry says seven international oil companies have qualified to bid for developing a promising oil field and build a refinery in the country's south.

Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Wednesday that the companies will vie for developing the 4.4-billion-barrel Nasiriyah field and the construction of a 300,000 barrel a day refinery nearby. Jihad added that the actual date for receiving bids has not been set yet.

Spanish clothes retailer Inditex, which owns the Zara store chain, has posted a 22 percent increase in net profit in 2012 thanks to growth in eastern Europe and in online sales in Canada and China.

Inditex said Wednesday that profit for last year grew to €2.36 billion ($3.08 billion). Sales were up by 16 percent to €15.9 billion.

Some South African Catholics say they hope a new pope will reform their church to allow them to help prevent the spread of AIDS, deal with pregnancies resulting from rape, and think about allowing priests to marry.

Congregants at a progressive parish in downtown Johannesburg say a new pope should balance tradition with the needs of a flock negotiating a modern world dangerous with sexual abuse, AIDS, poverty and contempt of women.

Iranian media say authorities are planning to sue Hollywood over the Oscar-winning "Argo" because of the movie's allegedly "unrealistic portrayal" of the country.

Several news outlets, including the pro-reform Shargh daily, said on Tuesday that French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre is in Iran for talks with officials over how and where to file the lawsuit. Coutant-Peyre is also the lawyer for notorious Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal.

Facing public outrage over smog-choked cities and filthy rivers, China's leaders are promising to clean up the country's neglected environment — a pledge that sets up a clash with political pressures to keep economic growth strong.

An array of possible initiatives discussed by officials and state media ahead of this week's meeting of China's legislature include tightening water standards and taxing carbon emissions. No change is expected at the National People's Congress, which will be dominated by the installation of a new Cabinet under Communist Party leaders who took power in November. But the meeting offers a platform to try to appease the public by discussing possible changes.

The Cannes Film Festival has an American flavor this year, with a Hollywood icon heading the jury and a quintessential U.S. literary figure opening the event: The Great Gatsby.

Organizers said Tuesday that the film "The Great Gatsby," with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann, will open this year's Cannes festival — in 3D, no less.

President Barack Obama on Monday, just days ahead of his Mideast trip, met with about 10 leaders of Arab-American groups who encouraged him to deliver a message of hope to the Palestinian people even if he is unable to immediately deliver a peace plan with Israel.

Obama met with the officials Monday, four days after meeting with Jewish leaders as part of his preparation for the visit.

It wasn't too long ago that America had a love affair with soda. Now, an old flame has the country's heart.

As New York City grapples with the legality of a ban on the sale of large cups of soda and other sugary drinks at some businesses, one thing is clear: soda's run as the nation's beverage of choice has fizzled.

Macedonia on Monday marked the 70th anniversary of the deportation of nearly its entire Jewish community to a Nazi death camp during World War II, while a U.S.-based diaspora group called on neighbor Bulgaria to apologize for its role in the Holocaust.

Culture Minister Elizabeta Milevska led the memorial to honor the 7,144 people who were deported. Only about 50 of them survived.

A defense lawyer says prosecutors are not seeking jail time for actor Stephen Baldwin, who's accused of not paying his New York income taxes for three years.

There's a court conference Monday in the case against Baldwin, the youngest of the four acting Baldwin brothers.