Pope Francis visits Lampedusa as migrant arrivals pick up
LAMPEDUSA, Italy (Reuters) – Pope Francis makes his first official trip outside Rome on Monday with a visit to Lampedusa, the tiny island off Sicily that has been the first port of safety for untold thousands of migrants crossing by sea from North Afri…
Cuba’s Raul Castro criticizes U.S., backs allies on Snowden
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban President Raul Castro on Sunday backed offers of asylum by Venezuela and other Latin American countries to fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and criticized the United States for what he described as bullying ot…
Key Egypt Islamist party rejects PM, vice-president choices
CAIRO (Reuters) – The leader of a key Egyptian Islamist party rejected on Sunday the choice of Social Democratic lawyer Ziad Bahaa el-Din as interim prime minister, saying the post should go to someone politically neutral.
Japan PM Abe seeks personal redemption in upper house election
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a man with a mission: to erase the bitter stain of defeat and attain personal political redemption with a victory in a national election this month.
Magnitude 7.2 quake strikes below sea east of Papua New Guinea
LONDON (Reuters) – An earthquake measuring 7.2 magnitude struck deep below the sea east of Papua New Guinea on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Wanted militia leader hurt in clashes in Darfur’s biggest city
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A prominent Sudanese pro-government militia leader wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court was wounded during clashes in the biggest city in the strife-torn Darfur region on Sunday, officials and witnesses said.
Gunmen kill Iraqi policeman with four family members
HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen killed a police officer along with four members of his family inside their home in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla late on Sunday, police and medics said.
Egypt presidency says social democrat likely to be premier
CAIRO (Reuters) – Social Democratic lawyer Ziaad Bahaa el-Din is likely to be appointed interim prime minister of Egypt under a deal emerging among the country’s new political forces, a presidential spokesman said on Sunday.
Egypt presidential spokesman sees support for possible interim PM
CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian presidential spokesman said on Sunday that there was cross-party support for Social Democratic lawyer Ziaad Bahaa el-Din to be appointed interim prime minister.
Brazil seeks U.S. response to alleged spying on citizens
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over report its citizens’ electronic communications have been under surveillance by U.S. spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on S…




