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Italy quake kills six, damages historic buildings

SANT' AGOSTINO, Italy (Reuters) - A strong earthquake in northern Italy killed at least six people, injured dozens and damaged historic buildings including a famed mediaeval castle early on Sunday, waking terrified citizens 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. At least two of them reached magnitude 5.1, sowing fresh panic, further damaging already weakened buildings and causing more structures to collapse. ...

Dale Chihuly's 'Glass House' shines in Seattle

(Reuters) - Pioneering glass artist Dale Chihuly, whose work has been shown in over 200 museums worldwide, will be honored in his home city Seattle when "Chihuly Garden and Glass" opens on Monday, offering the most comprehensive collection of his work ever. Spanning one and a half acres in the shadow of the Space Needle, the show includes an exhibition hall, a garden and a "Glass House" structure by Chihuly, inspired by his two favorite buildings, Paris' Sainte-Chapelle and London's Crystal Palace. ...

Dale Chihuly's 'Glass House' shines in Seattle

(Reuters) - Pioneering glass artist Dale Chihuly, whose work has been shown in over 200 museums worldwide, will be honored in his home city Seattle when "Chihuly Garden and Glass" opens on Monday, offering the most comprehensive collection of his work ever. Spanning one and a half acres in the shadow of the Space Needle, the show includes an exhibition hall, a garden and a "Glass House" structure by Chihuly, inspired by his two favorite buildings, Paris' Sainte-Chapelle and London's Crystal Palace. ...

'Avengers' sinks 'Battleship" to remain No. 1

"The Avengers" continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking naval rival "Battleship" and other new releases.

Former Israeli PM: Jerusalem must be partitioned

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday urged Israeli leaders to relinquish the idea of a unified Jerusalem if they truly want peace, contending in a pair of interviews that years of government neglect have kept the Jewish and Arab sectors irreparably divided.

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. ...

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi has died in Libya: brother

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie, died of cancer on Sunday at age 60, leaving many questions on the attack and its aftermath unanswered. Megrahi who said he was not responsible for bringing the jumbo jet down on the Scottish town and killing 270 people, was found guilty in 2001 but released in 2009 and returned to Libya because he had terminal cancer and not expected to live long. ...

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi has died in Libya: brother

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie, died of cancer on Sunday at age 60, leaving many questions on the attack and its aftermath unanswered. Megrahi who said he was not responsible for bringing the jumbo jet down on the Scottish town and killing 270 people, was found guilty in 2001 but released in 2009 and returned to Libya because he had terminal cancer and not expected to live long. ...

Party leaders refuse to budge on debt positions

Republicans and Democrats are refusing to budge when it comes to their already hardened positions on spending cuts versus tax increases to deal with the nation's debt.

Party leaders refuse to budge on debt positions

Republicans and Democrats are refusing to budge when it comes to their already hardened positions on spending cuts versus tax increases to deal with the nation's debt.

Party leaders refuse to budge on debt positions

Republicans and Democrats are refusing to budge when it comes to their already hardened positions on spending cuts versus tax increases to deal with the nation's debt.

For NY farmers, fracking means salvation _ or ruin

When Dan Fitzsimmons looks across the Susquehanna River and sees the flares of Pennsylvania gas wells, he thinks bitterly of the riches beneath his own land locked up by the heated debate that has kept hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, out of New York.

U.N. seeks Iran nuclear deal before Baghdad talks

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear supervisor flies to Tehran on Sunday looking for a deal to inspect suspected weapons sites - a potential breakthrough that Iran may hope could persuade the West to start lifting sanctions and deflect threats of war. But though IAEA chief Yukiya Amano scheduled Monday's talks with Iran at such short notice that diplomats said agreement on new inspections may be near, few see Tehran convincing Western governments to ease back swiftly on punitive measures when its negotiators meet big power officials in Baghdad on Wednesday. Amano, director general of the U.N. ...

U.N. seeks Iran nuclear deal before Baghdad talks

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear supervisor flies to Tehran on Sunday looking for a deal to inspect suspected weapons sites - a potential breakthrough that Iran may hope could persuade the West to start lifting sanctions and deflect threats of war. But though IAEA chief Yukiya Amano scheduled Monday's talks with Iran at such short notice that diplomats said agreement on new inspections may be near, few see Tehran convincing Western governments to ease back swiftly on punitive measures when its negotiators meet big power officials in Baghdad on Wednesday. Amano, director general of the U.N. ...

Obama pushes for post-2014 vision for Afghanistan

President Barack Obama says the NATO alliance agrees on a vision for post-2014 Afghanistan and is pressing world leaders to implement that strategy following a decade of war.

Two more men charged in probe of NATO attack plots

CHICAGO (Reuters) - One man was arrested on terrorism-related charges and another for possession of explosives, bringing to five the number of people arrested ahead of the NATO summit on Sunday in an alleged plot to target U.S. President Barack re-election headquarters. Chicago residents Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, and Mark Neiweem, 28, were charged as part of the investigation that led to the arrest of three self-described anarchists on terrorism-related charges. ...

Newt Gingrich Owed $4.78M When He Suspended Campaign, Report Shows

By the time he announced his plans to suspend his campaign in late April, Newt Gingrich owed $4.78 million, according to his FEC filing for April, released today. The Gingrich campaign had just $806,960 cash on hand by the close of the reporting period, which...

Iran economy minister says EU embargo to push up oil price - CNN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's economy minister said oil prices will "certainly" rise if the European Union moves ahead with an embargo in July and that sanctions will backfire on those who impose them. The European Union is preparing for a total embargo on the purchase of Iranian crude oil in July. The United States has also imposed sanctions targeting Iran's energy and banking sectors. ...

Strong quake kills 4 in Italy cheese region

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake shook several small towns in northeast Italy Sunday, killing four people, knocking down a clock tower and other centuries-old buildings and causing millions in losses to the region known for making Parmesan cheese.

Mighty Merkel may be the odd woman out

CHICAGO (Reuters) - There are weeks in the political life of Angela Merkel that were surely more pleasant than the last one. Last Sunday, the German chancellor's party suffered a big loss in the regional election of North Rhine-Westphalia. On Wednesday, she sacked one of her cabinet ministers, a rare move for her, after he led the party to the election defeat. On Saturday, she looked isolated with her insistence on fiscal austerity - also known as "consolidation" -for the ailing euro zone at the G8 summit hosted by President Barack Obama at Camp David in Maryland. ...

George Will Slams New York Times for Joe Ricketts Story

ABC News’ George Will this morning slammed The New York Times for its story this week outlining a proposed advertising campaign to link Rev. Jeremiah Wright and President Obama. Will argued on the “This Week” roundtable that the story did not accurately reflect the actions of Joe Ricketts –...

Egypt presidential candidate joins hunger strike

Several hundred Egyptians including a presidential candidate began a 24-hour hunger strike on Sunday to protest the continued detention of around 300 people rounded up in a mass arrest who face possible military prosecution.

Secular or Islamist? Egypt chooses a president

Sixty years after their country came under military dictatorship, Egyptians are for the first time freely electing their president.

NATO chief insists no rush to exits in Afghanistan

The United States and NATO leaders insist the Afghanistan fighting coalition will remain whole despite France's plans to yank combat troops out early, but leaders wary of plummeting public support for the war are using an alliance summit Sunday to show they want to move quickly away from the front lines.

Bahraini activist granted bail but not released

DUBAI (Reuters) - A leading Bahraini opposition activist accused of insulting authorities remained in jail on Sunday, despite being granted bail, because he faces a second charge of organizing illegal protests, his lawyer said. Nabeel Rajab is the founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights who led many protests that were part of an on-going uprising led by the Shi'ite Muslim majority against the Sunni ruling Al Khalifa dynasty that rules the Gulf Arab island. ...

Apple, Samsung CEOs set for U.S. court talks

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that "as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate" in the discussions. ...

Senators decry convicted Lockerbie bomber's death in freedom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Sunday criticized the Scottish government for allowing convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Bassett al-Megrahi to die a free man in what he said "smelled of a deal for oil." Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on CNN that the death of Megrahi, reported on Sunday by the former Libyan intelligence officer's brother, meant the full truth about the bombing of a Pan Am airliner in 1988 over Scotland may never be known. He has questioned whether Megrahi was released from prison as part of a deal for Libyan oil. ...

Italy PM Monti shortens U.S. trip after bomb and quake

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday he would return home early from the United States following a bomb that killed a teenager in the south on Saturday and an earthquake that struck northern Italy on Sunday. Monti said in Chicago, where he is attending a NATO summit, that he would stay for only the first session, leave on Sunday night and be in Rome by Monday. His comments were broadcast on Italian television. (Reporting By Philip Pullella)

Italy PM Monti shortens U.S. trip after bomb and quake

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday he would return home early from the United States following a bomb that killed a teenager in the south on Saturday and an earthquake that struck northern Italy on Sunday. Monti said in Chicago, where he is attending a NATO summit, that he would stay for only the first session, leave on Sunday night and be in Rome by Monday. His comments were broadcast on Italian television. (Reporting By Philip Pullella)

NATO chief: No "rush for the exits" in Afghan war

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO's chief sought on Sunday to dispel fears of a "rush for the exits" in Afghanistan as Western allies gathered to chart a path out of an unpopular war that has dragged on for more than a decade. President Barack Obama hosts the summit in his home town, Chicago, a day after major industrialized nations tackled a European debt crisis that threatens the global economy. ...

NATO chief: No "rush for the exits" in Afghan war

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO's chief sought on Sunday to dispel fears of a "rush for the exits" in Afghanistan as Western allies gathered to chart a path out of an unpopular war that has dragged on for more than a decade. President Barack Obama hosts the summit in his home town, Chicago, a day after major industrialized nations tackled a European debt crisis that threatens the global economy. ...

Libya's NTC says Megrahi death will not shut Lockerbie file

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's National Transitional Council said on Sunday the death of Abdul Basset al-Megrahi, convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, will not end the government's investigation into the attack. "We would have liked to uncover more truths but his death will not shut the Lockerbie file," NTC spokesman Mohamed al-Harizy told Reuters. "The Libyan government will continue to investigate the crimes committed by the Gaddafi regime using other witnesses." (Reporting by Taha Zargoun; Writing By Hadeel Al-Shalchi)

What to look for at the NATO summit

A look at the main issues for the NATO alliance at the summit meeting for heads of government in Chicago on Sunday and Monday.

Facebook shares could fall below IPO price: Barron's

(Reuters) - Shares in social media company Facebook Inc could fall below the initial public offering price of $38, Barron's wrote in its May 21 edition. Facebook saw its shares rise a scant 0.6 percent to $38.23 on Friday in the first day of trading. The stock stayed above the $38 IPO price, supported in the market by the deal's underwriters. But Barron's said the "big question" this week will be whether they continue to do so. ...

Insight: China pays high price to spare state firm from bankruptcy

WEIFANG, China (Reuters) - The Chinese official was adamant the city of Weifang would keep its rayon factory open, noting that local authorities had just stepped in to help the plant's owner repay $60 million in commercial paper. The bailout averted what would have been China's first ever bond default and was good news for domestic bond investors, who were reassured that in China even mid-sized state-owned firms can count on "too-big-to-fail" treatment. ...

Lone bomber, not mafia, sought for Italy school attack

BRINDISI (Reuters) - A bomb attack which killed a teenage girl and wounded 10 other people in the southern Italian town of Brindisi was probably done by an individual operating alone, a senior official said on Sunday, playing down initial suspicions of mafia involvement. Saturday's attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school, a vocational training institute named after the wife of a famed anti-mafia judge, horrified Italy and sparked speculation it was the work of southern Italy's organized crime gangs. ...

Lone bomber, not mafia, sought for Italy school attack

BRINDISI (Reuters) - A bomb attack which killed a teenage girl and wounded 10 other people in the southern Italian town of Brindisi was probably done by an individual operating alone, a senior official said on Sunday, playing down initial suspicions of mafia involvement. Saturday's attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school, a vocational training institute named after the wife of a famed anti-mafia judge, horrified Italy and sparked speculation it was the work of southern Italy's organized crime gangs. ...

North Korea releases detained Chinese fishermen

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea released a number of Chinese fishermen and boats on Sunday two weeks after seizing them, ending a rare public dispute between the two allies, Chinese state media reported. The boats were taken in the Yellow Sea between China and North Korea on May 8 - although it remains unclear whether the action was authorized by the North Korean government. The North Koreans who took the boats had demanded 1.2 million yuan ($189,800) for releasing the fishermen, then cut their price to 900,000 yuan, the owner of one of the captured vessels said last week. ...

North Korea releases detained Chinese fishermen

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea released a number of Chinese fishermen and boats on Sunday two weeks after seizing them, ending a rare public dispute between the two allies, Chinese state media reported. The boats were taken in the Yellow Sea between China and North Korea on May 8 - although it remains unclear whether the action was authorized by the North Korean government. The North Koreans who took the boats had demanded 1.2 million yuan ($189,800) for releasing the fishermen, then cut their price to 900,000 yuan, the owner of one of the captured vessels said last week. ...

NATO chief sees financial aid for Afghan forces

NATO's secretary-general says he's optimistic that the international community will continue to finance the Afghan security forces.