World

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For about an hour, the deeply divided lawmakers of the US Congress closed ranks yesterday behind Pope Francis, the powerful and popular leader of the world’s Catholics.

MINA, Saudi Arabia, (Reuters) – At least 717 pilgrims were killed today in a stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage in 25 years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pope Francis yesterday urged the United States to help tackle climate change and touched on other divisive US political issues such as immigration and economic inequality on his first visit to the world’s richest nation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers who stole security clearance data on millions of Defense Department and other US government employees got away with about 5.6 million fingerprint records, some 4.5 million more than initially reported, the government said yesterday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders concluded a summit early today that was expected to back offers of new aid for Syrian refugees and also patch up bitter divisions over the migration crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pope Francis hopes the United States will lift its long trade embargo on Cuba as a result of negotiations between the two countries but does not plan to raise it in his address to Congress this week, the pontiff told reporters yesterday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union approved a plan yesterday to share out 120,000 refugees across its 28 states, overriding vehement opposition from four ex-communist eastern nations.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that his government will speed up efforts to build an open economy and will not go back on the reform process.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and India agreed yesterday to train troops in six African countries before they are deployed to UN peacekeeping missions, U.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Alexis Tsipras took the oath of office for a second term as Greek prime minister yesterday, promising to revive the crippled economy while demanding debt relief from creditors as his “first big battle” following an unexpectedly clear election victory.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – At least 80 people were killed and about 150 injured in multiple bomb attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state on Sunday evening, police and witnesses said yesterday.

LONDON (Reuters) – Sergei Pugachev, a tycoon once dubbed “Putin’s banker” because of his influence in the Kremlin, has filed a claim against Russia for more than $10 billion after his business empire was carved up when he fell out of favour with President Vladimir Putin.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Burkina Faso soldiers marched into the capital Ouagadougou without resistance late yesterday as army leaders began surrender talks with the elite presidential guard that staged a coup against the government last week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US national security adviser Susan Rice yesterday issued a stern warning to China before President Xi Jinping’s visit that state-sponsored cyber espionage must stop, calling it a national security concern and critical factor in US-China relations.

VIENNA, (Reuters) – Environmental samples have been taken at a sensitive military site in Iran, the head of the U.N.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek leftist Alexis Tsipras stormed back into office with an unexpectedly decisive election victory yesterday, claiming a clear mandate to steer Greece’s battered economy to recovery.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Regional mediators seeking to peacefully roll back a military coup in Burkina Faso said they negotiated a draft deal yesterday to end the crisis though they failed to secure the immediate restoration of civilian rule.

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Nearly four years after dozens of black-clad police rappelled into his New Zealand mansion and cut him from a safe room, flamboyant German tech entrepreneur and would-be hip-hop star Kim Dotcom may finally be about to face the music.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – If you donated cash to survivors of the Nepal earthquakes this year, you may want to consider exactly how – or if – your money has been used.

(Reuters) Jackie Collins, the best-selling author of dozens of steamy novels who depicted the boardrooms and bedrooms of Hollywood’s power crowd, died on Saturday of breast cancer at age 77, her family said.