NEW YORK, N.Y. - Khaled Hosseini, whose novels have sold more than 38 million copies worldwide, knows what a lucky man he is.

"What separates me from someone in the streets of Kabul is such a thin line," says the Afghan-American author of "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." ''What I have is, in many ways, an undeserved gift."

BEIJING, China - Two emotionless prison guards watch Ai Weiwei as he eats, sleeps, paces, showers — and even sits on the toilet — in the Chinese artist's new obscenity-filled, metaphor-rich music video mocking state power.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Kellie Pickler came into the final "Dancing With the Stars" episode in second place but finished in first.

The 26-year-old country singer won the TV dancing competition show's mirror ball trophy Tuesday.

"This is amazing!" she beamed to her professional partner, Derek Hough.

The pair earned two sets of perfect scores Monday night and another on Tuesday. Judges' scores combined with viewer votes determine the winner.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant will be hosted by a Jonas brother and an E! News personality.

Pageant officials announced Tuesday that Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers pop act and Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of "E! News," will host the June 16 pageant.

The winner of the 62nd annual pageant in Las Vegas goes on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

Jonas' brother Joe Jonas was among the judges last year, and Rancic hosted.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - AEG Live LLC did not conduct any background checks or supervise the doctor who was later convicted of killing Michael Jackson, a corporate attorney testified Tuesday in a lawsuit claiming the concert promoter was negligent in hiring the physician.

AEG Live General Counsel Shawn Trell told jurors that no legal or financial checks were done involving Conrad Murray or anyone else who worked as an independent contractor on the "This Is It" shows.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivia's culture minister calls it actor-activist Sean Penn's "worst performance" ever. He isn't talking about a movie.

Minister Pablo Groux is slamming Penn's proposal to a U.S. congressional subcommittee Monday that Bolivia be cut out of the Dakar motor sport rally unless it frees a U.S. citizen under house arrest two years after he was jailed without charge in a money-laundering probe.

Penn suggested that unless Jacob Ostreicher is freed, sponsors should drop their backing for the January event — which is to include Bolivia for the first time.

LONDON - For fans of the boy wizard, this could be the most coveted copy of all the "Harry Potter" books in the world.

A first edition copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" that contains author J.K. Rowling's notes and original illustrations fetched 150,000 pounds ($228,000) at a London auction on Tuesday.

Sotheby's said the work, offered as part of a charity book sale jointly organized with the English PEN writers' association, was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone.

Television executives are hoping a robust bunch of story lines accompanying this year's Indianapolis 500 will help build interest in IndyCar beyond the signature race.

Rich Feinberg, ESPN's vice-president in charge of motorsports production, acknowledged Tuesday that IndyCar ratings have been "challenged in certain areas." But Feinberg says the best way for ABC-ESPN to help build the sport is through compelling story-telling.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tornadoes are a part of life in Moore, Oklahoma, something country star Toby Keith was reminded of when a deadly, devastating one levelled parts of his hometown on Monday.

"It's happened so many times through my life, I've been in so many," Keith said in a phone interview Tuesday. "During my life, probably on average every four or five years, you probably have one that's devastating. ... It affects you, somebody you know, every time."

CANNES, France - Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival:

___

BALDWIN, AN OCEAN AWAY FROM BROADWAY

Within hours of his last performance of "Orphans" on Broadway, Alec Baldwin was on a plane to Cannes.