SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's largest party GERB declined on Thursday to try to form a new government, opening the way for the rival Socialists to put together a technocrat administration and end a political impasse. The center-right GERB won most seats in a May 12 election in the European Union's poorest country but cannot command a majority, as other parties are shunning it after its resignation during protests against low living standards in February.

BEIJING, May 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's special envoy's visit to China is drawing international attention with focus being given to whether he will be able to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, diplomatic sources here said Thursday. Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, flew into Beijing Wednesday as an envoy to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He met with Wang Jiarui, the head of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) central committee's external affairs department, shortly after his arrival.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani sharply criticized the country's leadership, opposition website Kaleme said on Thursday, two days after he was disqualified from running in next month's presidential election. "I don't think the country could have been run worse, even if it had been planned in advance," Rafsanjani reportedly told members of his campaign team on Wednesday, the well respected website reported.

By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - IMF chief Christine Lagarde was questioned in court by a French magistrate on Thursday over her role in a 285-million-euro ($366 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde risks being placed under formal investigation at the hearing for her 2007 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a long-running court battle between the state and high-profile businessman Bernard Tapie.