AP Breaking

As mobster Tony Soprano, James Gandolfini had the kind of role that reached the very heights of popular culture - a character so famous we end up quoting him, comparing real-life people to him and knowing more about him than our own friends and neighbors. Gangsters have long made for some of the most colorful and quotable characters in TV and movie history. Here are a few who top the list:...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- James Gandolfini's lumbering, brutish mob boss with the tortured psyche will endure as one of TV's indelible characters....

James Gandolfini, who won three Emmy Awards for his indelible role as mob boss Tony Soprano in HBO's "The Sopranos," died while on vacation in Italy at age 51. While Tony Soprano was a larger-than-life figure, Gandolfini was exceptionally modest and obsessive - he described himself as "a 260-pound Woody Allen." HBO called the actor a "special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone, no matter their title or position, with equal respect."...

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) -- Former investigators are pushing to reopen the probe into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more - and we will do more," Obama said Wednesday in Berlin....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a move that could send interest rates higher, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ended weeks of speculation Wednesday by saying the Federal Reserve will likely slow its bond-buying program this year and end it next year because the economy is strengthening....

BOSTON (AP) -- A man found dead in an industrial park about a mile from New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's home had been killed, a prosecutor said Wednesday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After secretive talks, key senators expressed optimism Wednesday night that they were closing in on a bipartisan agreement to dramatically toughen the border security requirements in immigration legislation that also offers a path to citizenship to millions living in the country illegally....

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hopes dimmed for talks aimed at ending the Afghan war when an angry President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday suspended security negotiations with the U.S. and scuttled a peace delegation to the Taliban, sending American officials scrambling to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the militants....

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:...

BOSTON (AP) -- After struggling for more than 120 minutes to score even once, the Blackhawks beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask a half-dozen times in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals to send the series back to Chicago tied two games apiece....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- James Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate crime boss in HBO's "The Sopranos" was the brilliant center of one of TV's greatest drama series and turned the mobster stereotype on its head, died Wednesday in Italy. He was 51....

EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) -- A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- James Gandolfini's fans and colleagues shared reaction to his death Wednesday:...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students applying for financial aid for the coming school year could find some comfort in a bipartisan student loan compromise taking shape in the Senate that would prevent interest rates from doubling and set a single rate each year for undergraduate students, rich or poor....

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Beneath a swimming pool, under a horse farm and now a weed-grown field north of Detroit. For at least the third time in a decade, FBI agents grabbed shovels and combed through dirt and mud in the search for Jimmy Hoffa's remains or clues to the disappearance of the former Teamsters boss....

SAO PAULO (AP) -- With massive protests by middle-class Brazilians demanding wholesale government reforms, people all over this continent-sized country have reached a verdict on the streets and online: "The giant has awakened."...

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Celebrity cook Paula Deen said while being questioned in a discrimination lawsuit that she has used racial slurs in the past but insisted she and her family do not tolerate prejudice....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Men's Wearhouse doesn't like the way its founder looks anymore....

SAO PAULO (AP) -- Leaders in Brazil's two biggest cities said Wednesday that they reversed an increase in bus and subway fares that ignited anti-government protests that have spread across the nation in the past week....