NEW YORK (AP) — James Gandolfini would have hated all this fuss.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. needs more time to study a key proposal from a U.S. hedge fund to spin off a part of its entertainment unit as a way to propel its fledgling revival, the chief executive told shareholders Thursday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi state TV says voters have begun casting ballots in two Sunni-dominated provinces amid tight security aimed at thwarting insurgent attempts to disrupt the elections.

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

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.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — When Justin Grimm threw his last pitch, the Texas Rangers were trailing the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — In the kind of pitchers' duel the College World Series hadn't seen in three decades, Matt Boyd was just a bit superior to Aaron Slegers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Some memorable lines spoken by the late James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in "The Sopranos":

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.

NEW YORK (AP) — Yasiel Puig kicked back in his chair, his well-worn uniform streaked in red clay, and calmly answered questions in Spanish. Then, suddenly, he threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Pow!"

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."

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.

VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Tropical Storm Barry formed off Mexico's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, prompting Mexican authorities to ready hundreds of shelters.

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.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins came from behind to tie the Chicago Blackhawks for the third time and sent Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals into overtime with the teams even 5-5 on Wednesday night.

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets shuddered Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it could start scaling back its huge economic stimulus program later this year and end it by the middle of next.

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.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Best-selling author Vince Flynn, who wrote the Mitch Rapp counterterrorism thriller series and sold more than 15 million books in the U.S. alone, died Wednesday in Minnesota after a more than two-year battle with prostate cancer, according to friends and his publisher. He was 47.

BOSTON (AP) — Jonathan Toews broke a scoring slump in Chicago's three-goal onslaught in the second period against previously stingy goalie Tuukka Rask, and the Blackhawks led the Boston Bruins 4-3 through two periods in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday night.

FAIRPORT, Mich. (AP) — A wooden beam that has long been the focus of the search for a 17th century shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan was not attached to a buried vessel as searchers had suspected, but still may have come from the elusive Griffin or some other ship, archaeologists said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI uses drones for surveillance of stationary subjects, and the privacy implications of such operations are "worthy of debate," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.

The death in Italy of James Gandolfini, who played Mafia boss Tony Soprano on the popular HBO show "The Sopranos," was part of an unusual convergence of mob-related news making headlines this week. Here's a look:

BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping is commanding wayward Communist Party cadres to purify themselves of corruption, and he's summed it up in a pithy slogan as Mao Zedong might have done: Look in the mirror, take a bath.

The death in Italy of James Gandolfini, who played Mafia boss Tony Soprano on the popular HBO show "The Sopranos," was part of an unusual convergence of mob-related news making headlines this week. Here's a look:

CLEVELAND (AP) — A mentally disabled mother authorities said was enslaved for two years along with her daughter spent time in jail this year after pleading guilty to beating the girl, but her attorney told a judge that her captors forced her to do it.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said Thursday he was "in tears" after a European company deleted all the data it was hosting from his shuttered file-sharing site.

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

TOKYO (AP) — On the Internet, no one can save you from yourself. That is a lesson many Japanese politicians have learned recently in painful, awkward and at times costly fashion.

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.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman and her two daughters were charged Wednesday with murder in the death of their 32-year-old son and brother, who had Down syndrome, after officials said he was severely neglected and underfed, weighing just 69 pounds when he died.

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Monsoon flooding that has stranded thousands of people and caused landslides in northern India has killed almost 120 people, and the prime minister said the toll could rise substantially.

By Roberta Rampton and Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama used a speech in Berlin on Wednesday to call on Russia to revive the push for a world without nuclear weapons, offering to cut deployed nuclear arsenals by a third, but Moscow immediately poured scorn on his proposal. Speaking in Berlin where U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave rousing Cold-War speeches, Obama urged Russia to help build on the "New START" treaty that requires Moscow and Washington to cut stockpiles of deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 each by 2018. ...

By Hamid Shalizi and Lesley Wroughton KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Revived Afghan peace talks hit their first roadblock on Wednesday, a day after they were announced, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not join U.S. talks with the Taliban and would halt negotiations with Washington on a post-2014 troop pact. The United States and the Taliban had announced on Tuesday that officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in coming days, in a step forward for a stuttering peace process after 12 years of bloody and costly war between U.S. ...

BOSTON (AP) — They have come to wave flags or meet the players or just appear on the video screen, invariably to a standing ovation, during the Boston Bruins' run to the Stanley Cup finals.

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.