Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (R) flash the victory sign as Mashaie registers his candidacy at the Interior Ministry during the registration for Iran's upcoming presidential election on 14 June, in Tehran, Iran, on May 11.

DUBAI -- Iranian authorities have barred two potentially powerful and disruptive candidates from running in next month's presidential election, ensuring a contest largely among hardliners loyal to the clerical supreme leader.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a veteran companion of the Islamic Republic's founder, a former president and thought potentially sympathetic to reform, was denied a place on the ballot by the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists, state media said Tuesday.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was also barred. His hardline followers have jockeyed with those of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third consecutive term himself, said on Wednesday he would challenge the ban on Mashaie, calling him a "righteous person and beneficial for the country," according to the ISNA news agency.

"In my opinion there will be no problem with the Leader and I will take up this issue until the last moment with him," Ahmadinejad said. "I am hopeful the problem will be solved."

Supreme leader's website via EPA

A handout picture made available by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's official website shows Ayatollah Khamenei delivering his Persian New Year message to the nation in Tehran, Iran, 20 March 2013.

Mashaie was quoted by Fars news agency as saying he considered his disqualification "unjust and I will pursue a resolution to it via the supreme leader."

His campaign office issued a statement calling for restraint by his followers.

"We ask all grassroots and spontaneous staff and supporters of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie to stay calm and organize their activities so that they do not provide the means for malice by enemies of the Islamic Revolution," it said.

But Eshaq Jahangiri, head of Rafsanjani's campaign, was quoted by INSA on Wednesday as saying the veteran politician would not object to the Guardian Council's decision.

"Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and his campaign as a whole entered the field on the basis of following the rule of law and morals, and will continue in this way as well," Jahangiri said.

Two of Rafsanjani's children have recently been imprisoned.

Most of the remaining eight men on the ballot for the first round on June 14 are seen as loyalists to Khamenei, who seems determined to avoid a repeat of the popular unrest that followed Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009.

The election comes at a time when Iran is engaged in bitter economic, diplomatic and military confrontations with the West, Israel and its Arab neighbors.

There is no clear frontrunner in a field that now includes Saeed Jalili, the chief negotiator for Iran's controversial nuclear program, Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei's foreign policy adviser, and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran.

With economic hardships increasing as a result of Western sanctions over the nuclear dispute, some Iranians have favored a change of tack and there is still substantial public support for reformist leaders who disputed their electoral defeat four years ago and are now under house arrest.

Khamenei could over-rule the Guardian Council and reinstate candidates but analysts said the moves at this stage, especially against Rafsanjani, appeared designed to nip protest in the bud.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

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Four years ago, Ahmadinejad was declared outright winner in the first round against three other candidates including the reformist Mirhossein Mousavi, sparking weeks of protests. Mousavi and another leader of the liberal "Green Movement," Mehdi Karoubi, have been under house arrest for over two years.

The other five approved candidates on the Interior Ministry list for this year’s election were: Mohsen Rezaie, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards; Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, another close aide to Khamenei; Hassan Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator close to Rafsanjani; Mohammad Gharazi, a former telecommunications minister; and Mohammad Reza Aref, the only clear reformist left on the list.

"All of the approved candidates are either loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei or are mostly irrelevant," said Alireza Nader, an analyst at RAND Corporation. "Khamenei may still overturn the decision, but Rafsanjani's disqualification shows that Khamenei is determined to wield all power. This appears to be a presidential selection rather than an election."

Related:

• Iran election primer: After Ahmadinejad, who will lead?
• Analysis: Iran's Ahmadinejad will fight 'like Scarface' for his political future
• Who's who in Iran's presidential race

A man has died and two were injured Wednesday after police were called to reports of a machete attack in a London street that some eyewitnesses described as a beheading.

Eyewitnesses told ITV News said a man was attacked in the street by two individuals who were later shot by officers.

Local lawmaker Nick Raynsford said the dead man was a soldier serving at a nearby barracks but the Ministry of Defence could not confirm this.

Prime Minister David Cameron described the incident as “truly shocking."

The UK government has convened a meeting of its emergency committee, called COBRA, and local media cited government sources saying the gruesome incident was being investigated as a possible terror attack.

One eyewitness posted on Twitter that he had seen the victim "with his head chopped off" but this was not confirmed by any police or government officials.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for further updates.

This story was originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 12:45 PM EDT

Tiziana Fabi / AFP - Getty Images, file

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino leaves after a session of the trial in the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster on April 15, 2013 in Grosseto.

ROME -- He was judged guilty by public opinion after his cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, capsized off the tiny Italian island of Giglio last year, killing 32 people and leaving thousands traumatized. Now Captain Francesco Schettino will face justice in a court of law.

A judge in Grosseto, a town in Tuscany, announced Wednesday that there was enough evidence to try Schettino for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard. Schettino denies the charges.

The Costa Concordia ran aground in January 2012 as it passed very close to the island's shore. It was one of the most high-profile shipwrecks since the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

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The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy killing 32 people - including two Americans.

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Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which will begin on July 9 in Grosseto. Five other defendants have sought plea bargains in separate cases.

Schettino's defense team tried to convince Judge Paolo Molino to drop the charge of abandonment of ship, one of the worst and most embarrassing offenses for a captain. But Molino ruled there was enough evidence to suggest the captain left the cruise liner voluntarily hours before the last passenger was rescued, rather than falling off the ship accidentally as he initially claimed.

"I can only tell you that anyone who has been in a position of authority would feel very, very depressed, exactly as he feels," said Francesco Pepe, Schettino's lawyer. 

He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to his lawyer.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Full coverage of the Costa Concordia disaster on NBCNews.com

Slideshow: The artist strikes a nerve

Sharron Lovell / Polaris

Ai Weiwei, whose sculpture representing the mythical figures of the Chinese zodiac will be unveiled Monday in New York, has been detained by Chinese authorities and accused of serious crimes. Click to see photos of some of his most influential works.

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BEIJING – China’s Ai Weiwei on Wednesday released a profanity-laced heavy-metal single based on the 81 days the firebrand artist and activist spent in detention.

Written and sung by Ai with music by prominent Chinese rocker Zuoxiao Zuzhou, “Dumbass” is “is a wall-to-wall simulation of the prison cell that Weiwei was detained in,” a spokeswoman for Ai said.

Lyrics in the song, translated into English, include "**** forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life’s invincible," and "The field is full of ****ers, dumbasses are everywhere."

A video to accompany the song is available to watch on YouTube [note: profanity in Chinese].

Ai’s detention and the hefty $2.4 million tax bill later levied against him led to protests around the world, as well as an upsurge of support in China for the award-winning artist, who was placed under house arrest following his release.

Ai said that recreating his cell and the traumatic experience of being imprisoned – which Ai claims included 24-hour supervision by two military police sergeants, even as he slept and used the bathroom – was a cathartic experience.   

The Chinese government has never confirmed the details of Ai’s detention.

The track, the first single off his new album “The Divine Comedy,” was described in a press release from his studio as “Ai Weiwei’s reflection on the struggle of protecting human rights and the freedom of expression in China.”

The Divine Comedy is expected to be released fully in June on Ai’s website and on iTunes.

Ai’s spokeswoman said that the artist was working on a second album that will shift away from the heavy-metal and towards a more romantic tone.

Related:

• Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

• Chinese artist Ai Weiwei warned not to attend his own court case

• Ai Weiwei turns camera on himself, citing 'global' problem

Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP - Getty Images

Firemen extinguish a burning car in Kista, Stockholm after riots on Tuesday night.

STOCKHOLM - Hundreds of youths set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in suburbs of Stockholm Tuesday night in Sweden's worst disorder in years.

A police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts center was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

It was the third night of unrest, mainly in suburbs where many immigrants live.

The riots, in one of Europe's richest capitals, have shocked a country that prides itself on a reputation for social justice, and fuelled a debate about how Sweden is coping with both youth unemployment and an influx of immigrants.

"We've had around 30 cars set on fire last night, fires that we connect to youth gangs and criminals," Kjell Lindgren, spokesman for Stockholm police, said on Wednesday.

He said eight people had been arrested on Tuesday night, but there were no reports of injuries.

The riots appear to have been sparked by the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby this month, which prompted accusations of police brutality.

"Everyone must pitch in to restore calm - parents, adults," Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday.

After decades of practicing the "Swedish model" of generous welfare benefits, Sweden has been reducing the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest growth in inequality of any advanced OECD economy.

While average living standards are still among the highest in Europe, governments have failed to substantially reduce long-term youth unemployment and poverty, which have affected immigrant communities worst.

The left-leaning tabloid Aftonbladet said the riots represented a "gigantic failure" of government policies, which had underpinned the rise of ghettos in the suburbs.

"We have failed to give many of the people in the suburbs a hope for the future," Anna-Margrethe Livh of the opposition Left Party wrote in the daily Svenska Dagbladet.

An anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, has risen to third in polls ahead of a general election due next year, reflecting unease about immigrants among many voters.

Some 15 percent of the population is foreign-born, the highest proportion in the Nordic region. Unemployment among those born outside Sweden stands at 16 percent, compared with 6 percent for native Swedes, according to OECD data.

Among 44 industrialized countries, Sweden ranked fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to U.N. figures. 

Kim Kwang Hyon / AP

Choe Ryong Hae, center, and other North Korean delegates pose before leaving Pyongyang airport for China on Wednesday.

North Korea says that a "special envoy" for leader Kim Jong Un has left for China.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch Wednesday that the envoy was Choe Ryong Hae.

There were no other details. Choe is the North Korea military's top political officer tasked with supervising the 1.2-million-strong force.

China is North Korea's only major political and economic benefactor. Beijing has faced pressure from Washington to use its influence to push Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Kim Jong Un hasn't visited Beijing since he took power after his father Kim Jong Il died in December 2011.

Choe was one of a handful of new vice marshals North Korea announced last year.

The Associated Press

Yoan Valat/EPA

Notre Dame Cathedral is evacuated by the police in Paris on May 21, 2013.

A man committed suicide inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday, prompting the clearing out of hundreds of tourists, who had been waiting in a snaking line to visit the 850-year-old landmark.

Before pulling a gun and shooting himself in the head, the elderly man placed a letter on the altar, The Associated Press reported. Its contents were not known.

The man said nothing before he pulled the trigger, Reuters reported. He died just after 4 p.m. local time.

Europe 1 radio and French media identified the man as 78-year-old Dominique Venner, an activist and historian known in France for his far-right political essays.

A May 21 post on Venner's blog criticized a law passed last week allowing same-sex marriage.

Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, the cathedral's rector, told the AP this was the first suicide in decades at the historic site.

"It's unfortunate, it's dramatic, it's shocking," Jacquin told the AP. The motives for the suicide were unclear.

Police evacuated visitors out of the cathedral after the shooting, the AP reported, in an unusual move for a landmark site visited by about 13 million people every year.

NBC News' Nancy Ing in Paris contributed to this report.

Arif Ali/ AFP – Getty Images

Pakistan's incoming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addresses his party's newly elected members of parliament in Lahore on May 20, 2013.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's prime minister designate Nawaz Sharif told a packed hall of his party stalwarts that talks with the Taliban -- who have been fighting the state for almost a decade -- are not off the table.

"All options should be tried, and guns and bullets are not a solution to all problems … Why shouldn't we sit and talk and engage in dialogue?" said Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, a center-right group that traces its roots back to the origin of Pakistan in 1947.

The party, once nurtured by military regimes, has now morphed into a modern, conservative, pro-business faction that secured a majority of the seats in the country’s parliament earlier this month.

Sharif's announcement in Lahore on Monday has created a schism among Pakistan's divided political classes.

For many, this is a war which must be committed to and won.

Days before the May 11 election -- the first, largely peaceful and constitutional transfer of power from one civilian administration to the next -- the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, reminded audiences in a rare public speech that "there can be no doubt that this is our war.”

“The soldier of the Pakistani army cannot fight under conditions of doubt …The army cannot fight this war alone. The Pakistani people must also fight alongside us,” he added.

The military says more than 5,000 people have been killed with over 20,000 wounded in the fight against the Taliban.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

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Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, director general of Inter-Service Public Relations, said there was “no ambiguity about the military's position.”

“Pakistan will do what it can to protect itself from domestic as well as foreign threats. This is a national effort,” he said.

The Pakistani Taliban would be willing to partake in peace talks, according to their spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan. He said they had already been willing to participate in peace talks with the previous government – and that they had wanted to work with Sharif as a guarantor to implement accords, if they were agreed to.

"Before he was not part of the government and that's why we wanted him to become guarantor,” the Taliban spokesman told NBC News. “Now he will have his own government, so let us see what type of polices he formulates about us.”

Senator Pervez Rashid, spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, did not respond to an interview request.

For his part, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination was claimed by Pakistani Taliban, insists that the war-ravaged country has lost almost a $100 billion in the battle against the Taliban.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that more than 40,000 civilians have died in Pakistan's version of the War on Terror. Sharif's rival during the recent election, the charismatic former cricket star Imran Khan and leader of a neo-nationalist political party called the Movement for Justice, calls it the state's "War of Terror on Pakistan."

Khan has been pushing for talks with the Taliban and has also called for Pakistan to shoot down U.S. drones that operate over the country’s unruly tribal areas.

The recent election secured a federal government for Sharif and a provincial government for Khan in the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

This means that two of Pakistan's major political opponents are now broadly in agreement about talks with the Taliban.

But there are still others who disagree.

"If our elected office holders think that the Taliban are not at war with the state, then with due respect, I don't think the Taliban got that memo," said Asad Khwaja, a host on a liberal radio network, soon after Sharif's announcement became national news.

"We have lost thousands - soldiers, men, women, children - to this menace. I really hope that our leaders understand what they're asserting, for the sake of Pakistan."

Related:

• Sharif declares victory in landmark Pakistan election
• The ex-cricket star vs. the comeback kid: Who will be nuclear-armed Pakistan's next leader?
• Pakistan intelligence agency claims Afghanistan supports Taliban splinter groups

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 2:15 PM EDT

CAIRO -- Syria's opposition and government are preparing to take part in an internationally-sponsored peace conference, the United Nations-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday.

"The Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference," he told reporters at the Arab League.

"The United Nations is working to organize the conference in the best way possible,” he added.

The talks are due to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva in June.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to discuss current planning for the conference at a meeting in Jordan on Wednesday of the "Friends of Syria" club of countries.

Brahimi admitted there were “many problems in the preparation for this conference,” saying that the first was to decide on who would represent the regime and the opposition.

"The Geneva 2 conference is a great opportunity, and we hope that the brothers in Syria and the regional and international parties will cooperate to make it succeed,” he added.

Syria's opposition is also due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday to announce its stance while the Arab League's Syria committee will meet in Cairo at the request of Qatar.

Related:

• Israel and Syria clash on Golan Heights cease-fire line
• Analysis: In Syria, 'winning' is a relative term
• Report: Syria's Assad vows 'no dialogue with terrorists'

Alexander Joe / AFP

Carl Pistorius, the older brother of South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, at Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

The brother of Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was acquitted on Tuesday of the unlawful killing of a motorcyclist in a traffic accident.

Oscar Pistorius is currently facing a murder charge after shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home near Pretoria on Valentine’s Day. He says he mistook her for an intruder while she was in a bathroom.

His brother Carl Pistorius was facing a charge of “culpable homicide” – unlawful, negligent killing -- over the death of Maria Barnard in 2008.

However, he was acquitted at Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation and other media reported.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Medupe Simasiku said that prosecutors had failed to prove the case against him, SABC reported.

"We are satisfied with the end of it all. We are delighted," Carl Pistorius’ lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, told the station.

South Africa’s Times newspaper reported that Pistorius’ “bakkie” or truck had collided with Barnard’s motorcycle on March 8, 2008, and she had died a few days later.

The paper said Pistorius was also cleared of charges of reckless or negligent driving, and driving without reasonable consideration for another person using the road.

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail of a million rand ($108,000) in March, pending his trial over the Steenkamp’s death.

Related:

• Judge: 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius can leave South Africa while on bail in murder case
• Slain model's father: Pistorius will 'suffer' if he's lying about her death
• Oscar Pistorius murder case detective quits South African police

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said Tuesday it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the cease-fire line in the Golan Heights overnight, while the Israeli military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol, damaging a vehicle and prompting its troops to fire back.

The two sides appeared to be referring to the same incident.

Sporadic fire from Syria's civil war has occasionally hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured in the 1967 war. Israel assumes most of the incidents are accidental fire but its forces have responded on several occasions.

Tuesday's incident, however, marked the first time that the Syrian army has acknowledged firing at Israeli troops across the frontier, and appeared to be an attempt by President Bashar Assad's regime to project toughness following three Israeli airstrikes near Damascus this year.

The strikes, which targeted alleged Syrian arms shipments bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, marked a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in the Syrian civil war.

They also raised fears that a conflict that has repeatedly spilled over Syria's borders could turn into a full-fledged regional war.

Syria vowed to retaliate and Assad said Syria is "capable of facing Israel" and would not accept violations of its sovereignty. Firing at an Israeli target seems to be in line with the tougher rhetoric that followed the airstrikes.

A statement issued Tuesday by the Syrian Armed Forces said its troops destroyed the Israeli vehicle along "with those in it."

It said Israel later fired two missiles toward one of the Syrian positions in the village of Zobaydiya village, causing no casualties.

The village is located inside the Syrian-controlled Golan and the state-run SANA news agency said rebels were operating in the area. The border zone has seen repeated breaches during Syria's two-year civil war as rebels took control over some villages near the cease-fire line.

The army statement carried by SANA said any attempt to infiltrate Syria's sovereignty will face "immediate and firm retaliation."

Earlier Tuesday, Israel's military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol on the Golan Heights overnight, damaging a vehicle and prompting the troops to fire back.

It said that the Israeli troops reported a "direct hit" from the return fire but provided no further details.

Related:

• On the Brink: Syria chaos looms large over Obama's Israel trip
• Analysis: Israel prepares for the worst as militants eye Syria's chemical weapons
• UN: About 20 Golan Heights peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels