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Explosion near U.N. ceasefire monitor chief's convoy: Reuters witness

DOUMA, Syria (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded on Sunday about 150 meters (yards) from a United Nations convoy carrying the head of a Syria ceasefire monitoring mission and a senior U.N. official in the town of Douma, a Reuters witness said. Major General Robert Mood's car was stopped at an army checkpoint when the bomb detonated in an nearby alleyway and the convoy left, the Reuters journalist said, adding that there were no reports of casualties. United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous, who is visiting Syria, was also part of the convoy. ...

Egypt's would-be "president of the poor" touts past

QALYUB, Egypt (Reuters) - The motorcade of Hamdeen Sabahy, a dark horse in Egypt's presidential race, inched over the bumpy roads of this Egyptian town led by a car booming 1960s nationalist music in homage to his hero, Gamal Abdel Nasser. The smiling leftist politician has a long history of opposition, first to Nasser's successor Anwar Sadat and then to Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed in last year's popular uprising. ...

Sudan releases four detained foreigners: officials

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has released four foreigners detained near the border with South Sudan following weeks of heavy clashes between the two African neighbors, officials said on Sunday. Sudan said it had arrested the four - a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese - last month, accusing them of illegally entering an oil-producing border area to spy for South Sudan. South Sudanese officials denied those allegations, saying the men were working with the United Nations and aid groups clearing mines, and had got lost in the remote territory. ...

APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi has died in Libya: brother

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people has died, his brother said on Sunday. He was 59. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi died at home after a long battle with cancer. His health had deteriorated quickly overnight, his brother Abdulhakim told Reuters. "He was surrounded by his family and died in his house," Abdulhakim said on Sunday. Megrahi had been in and out of hospital for weeks and he was taken for an emergency blood transfusion in April. ...

Where Romney, Sen. Brown stand on various issues

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown publicly support each other and even share key advisers. But on many topics, from foreign policy to social issues, the Massachusetts Republicans take very different positions.

Where Romney, Sen. Brown stand on various issues

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown publicly support each other and even share key advisers. But on many topics, from foreign policy to social issues, the Massachusetts Republicans take very different positions.

Romney, US Sen. Brown play down past connections

Massachusetts Republicans Mitt Romney and Scott Brown have a history of supporting each other throughout their political careers.

Romney, US Sen. Brown play down past connections

Massachusetts Republicans Mitt Romney and Scott Brown have a history of supporting each other throughout their political careers.

Nancy Pelosi Defends Dems Rev. Wright Fundraising Appeal

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi defended the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on “This Week” for sending a fundraising email that attempted to capitalize on the apparently dead advertising plan to link President Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The plan has been repudiated by Mitt Romney...

Speaker John Boehner Insists on Tying Debt Limit Increase to Spending Cuts

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stood by his call insisting that any increase in the debt limit should be offset by greater cuts in spending and tax reform before the end of the year, saying that working toward an agreement now would improve the economy....

John Boehner on GOP House: 'Hard to Keep 218 Frogs in a Wheelbarrow'

Republican House Speaker John Boehner compared trying to pass a bill in the House of Representatives to keeping “218 frogs in a wheelbarrow” on “This Week” this morning. “It is hard to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow long enough to get a bill...

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi has died in Libya: brother

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people has died, his brother said on Sunday. He was 59. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi died at home after a long battle with cancer. His health had deteriorated quickly, his brother Abdulhakim told Reuters on Sunday. (Reporting By Hadeel Al-Shalchi)

Italy quake kills four, damages historic buildings

SANT' AGOSTINO, Italy (Reuters) - A strong earthquake killed four people, injured dozens and damaged churches, towers and a mediaeval castle early on Sunday, waking terrified citizens across northern Italy and sending thousands running into the streets. The quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey recorded at magnitude 6.0, struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT) and was followed by a series of jolting aftershocks. "I am 83 and I have never felt anything like this," said Lina Gardenghi, a resident of Bondeno. ...

Iraqi Kurdistan to push ahead with oil export plan

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region said on Sunday it expects to start exporting its crude oil along a new pipeline to the Turkish border by August 2013, defying Baghdad in a long-running dispute over who controls the country's oil sales. The Kurdistan region, which has its own government and armed forces, has already clashed with Iraq's central government over autonomy and oil rights, and halted its crude exports in April after accusing Baghdad of not making due payments. ...

Explosion near U.N. ceasefire monitor chief's convoy: Reuters witness

DOUMA, Syria (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded on Sunday 150 meters from a United Nations convoy carrying the head of a Syria ceasefire monitoring mission in the town of Douma, a Reuters witness said. Major General Robert Mood's car was stopped at an army checkpoint when the bomb detonated in an nearby alleyway and the convoy left, the Reuters journalist said, adding that there were no reports of casualties. (Reporting by Khaled Al-Hariri; Writing by Oliver Holmes)

Weaker euro zone nations need more support from core - UK

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone can protect its currency if its stronger countries provide more support for the weaker to help them deal with their problems, British finance minister George Osborne said in a newspaper on Sunday. The future of Europe's 17-country single currency bloc is under threat from a political stalemate in Greece, which could lead to its departure from the monetary union at unknown costs to the financial system and global economic stability. ...

Sudan releases four detained foreigners: officials

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has released four foreigners who were detained last month near the border with South Sudan shortly after clashes between the two African neighbors, officials said on Sunday. Last month Sudan said it had arrested the four - a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese. "We thank the president for their release," former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating between the two sides, told reporters as he sat next to the four. Sudan's defense minister confirmed their release. ...

Weaker euro zone nations need more support from core: UK

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone can protect its currency if its stronger countries provide more support for the weaker to help them deal with their problems, British finance minister George Osborne said in a newspaper on Sunday. The future of Europe's 17-country single currency bloc is under threat from a political stalemate in Greece, which could lead to its departure from the monetary union at unknown costs to the financial system and global economic stability. ...

Lebanese soldiers kill two anti-Assad group members

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese soldiers shot dead a Sunni cleric and a second member of a Lebanese political alliance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in northern Lebanon on Sunday, security sources said. Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid and Khaled Miraib, members of the March 14 alliance, were shot in their car as they sped through an army checkpoint without stopping, the sources said. Residents of the northern region of Akkar said that they had blocked off roads to protest against the deaths. The army confirmed in a statement that the two men had been shot but gave no details. ...

Lebanese soldiers kill two anti-Assad group members

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese soldiers shot dead a Sunni cleric and a second member of a Lebanese political alliance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in northern Lebanon on Sunday, security sources said. Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid and Khaled Miraib, members of the March 14 alliance, were shot in their car as they sped through an army checkpoint without stopping, the sources said. Residents of the northern region of Akkar said that they had blocked off roads to protest against the deaths. The army confirmed in a statement that the two men had been shot but gave no details. ...

Italy bomb attack was probably isolated act: investigator

BRINDISI, Italy (Reuters) - The bomb attack which killed a teenaged girl and wounded 10 others in the southern Italian town of Brindisi was probably done by an individual with no links to the mafia, a senior official said on Sunday. The attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school, a vocational training institute offering courses in fashion, tourism and social services, has horrified Italy. Thousands have taken to the streets in demonstrations of sympathy for the school and the family of Melissa Bassi, the teenager who died in the explosion. ...

Italy bomb attack was probably isolated act: investigator

BRINDISI, Italy (Reuters) - The bomb attack which killed a teenaged girl and wounded 10 others in the southern Italian town of Brindisi was probably done by an individual with no links to the mafia, a senior official said on Sunday. The attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school, a vocational training institute offering courses in fashion, tourism and social services, has horrified Italy. Thousands have taken to the streets in demonstrations of sympathy for the school and the family of Melissa Bassi, the teenager who died in the explosion. ...

Lawyers for fugitive Iraqi VP quit case in protest

Lawyers for Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president charged with running death squads that targeted Shiite officials and pilgrims quit the case on Sunday in protest after judges would not let them present evidence at the trial.

Opposition groups report clashes in Syrian capital

A restive district of the Syrian capital that has been a hotbed of dissent against President Bashar Assad was rocked by fighting overnight between government forces and army defectors, opposition groups said Sunday.

Pakistan blocks Twitter access over "blasphemous content"

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Sunday blocked access to Twitter in response to "blasphemous" material posted by users on the microblogging and social networking website, a senior government official said. "This has been done under the directions of the Ministry of Information Technology. It's because of blasphemous content," said Mohammed Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). "They (the ministry) have been discussing with them (Twitter) for some time now, requesting them to remove some particular content," he said. ...

Pakistan blocks Twitter over contentious material

Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter on Sunday because it refused to remove material considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.

Pakistan blocks Twitter over contentious material

Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter on Sunday because it refused to remove material considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.

Mali coup leader backs transition president

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's caretaker president Dioncounda Traore will have his mandate extended beyond a 40-day period expiring Monday after the soldier who led Mali's March 22 coup agreed to drop his objections to the move. The accord between Captain Amadou Sanogo and mediators from the ECOWAS bloc of West African states keeps Mali's fragile transition to civilian rule on track and could open the way for the arrival of peacekeeping troops from neighboring countries. "I can tell you that a deal has been reached in principle," Sanogo told state television late on Saturday. ...

Mali coup leader backs transition president

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's caretaker president Dioncounda Traore will have his mandate extended beyond a 40-day period expiring Monday after the soldier who led Mali's March 22 coup agreed to drop his objections to the move. The accord between Captain Amadou Sanogo and mediators from the ECOWAS bloc of West African states keeps Mali's fragile transition to civilian rule on track and could open the way for the arrival of peacekeeping troops from neighboring countries. "I can tell you that a deal has been reached in principle," Sanogo told state television late on Saturday. ...

General Allen plays down urgency of Pakistan deal

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. commander in Afghanistan told Reuters he would not be disappointed if a long-sought agreement with Pakistan on supply routes failed to materialize by the end of the NATO summit in Chicago on Monday. General John Allen, who is also the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview he was confident a deal would eventually be struck but "whether it's in days or weeks, I don't know. ...

2 NATO service members killed in Afghanistan

An insurgent attack in Afghanistan killed two NATO service members on Sunday, the alliance said, while Afghan officials reported that a suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in the country's south.

General strike freezes Nepal as constitution deadline looms

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Thousands of schools closed, roads were empty and businesses shuttered across Nepal on Sunday at the start of a three-day general strike over a state boundary dispute that could push lawmakers past a May 27 deadline to write a new constitution. At least two dozen vehicles were damaged by stone-throwing activists, police said, and 46 people were detained in the capital Kathmandu, where children played football on normally traffic-choked streets. Instability has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006, and the subsequent overthrow of the monarchy. ...

Serbians vote for president under threat of protest

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic and rightist Tomislav Nikolic went head to head on Sunday in a tense run-off election for Serbian president and the right to lead the struggling nation into talks on joining the European Union. In a vote marred by opposition accusations of fraud, Tadic is tipped to defeat Nikolic for the third time since 2004 as Serbia slowly sheds the legacy of a decade of war and isolation under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. ...

Serbians vote for president under threat of protest

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic and rightist Tomislav Nikolic went head to head on Sunday in a tense run-off election for Serbian president and the right to lead the struggling nation into talks on joining the European Union. In a vote marred by opposition accusations of fraud, Tadic is tipped to defeat Nikolic for the third time since 2004 as Serbia slowly sheds the legacy of a decade of war and isolation under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. ...

China's Wen urges more support for growth

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's premier called for additional efforts to support growth on Sunday, signaling Beijing's willingness to take action after a recent series of economic indicators suggested that the world's second-biggest economy will slow further in the second quarter. "We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy while giving more priority to maintaining growth," Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments reported by state news agency Xinhua. Chinese exports rose by 4. ...

Israel blasts foreign proposal on settlement goods

The Palestinian campaign to boycott goods produced in Jewish settlements in the West Bank has received a boost from abroad with an unprecedented South African proposal to have the name of Israel dropped from labels on merchandise made in the settlements.

Powerful quake kills at least 4 in northern Italy

One of the strongest earthquakes to shake northern Italy rattled the region around Bologna early Sunday, a magnitude-6.0 temblor that killed at least four people, toppled buildings and sent residents running into the streets, emergency services and news reports said.

Germany's Schaeuble says Greek euro zone exit preventable

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Greece's exit from the euro zone could definitely be prevented but that it was up to Greece to abide by its agreements. "European solidarity isn't a one-way street," Schaeuble told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "You can't have one without the other. If anyone in Greece thinks that's the case, then they're massively fooling themselves and the voters. ...