A roadside bomb exploded in a restive suburb of the Syrian capital as senior U.N. officials toured the area on Sunday, the latest incident in which the unarmed observer mission has nearly been caught up in the country's bloodshed.

Profiles of Egypt's main presidential candidates:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday that military action against Iran over its nuclear program was being considered in some Western countries. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was speaking to reporters on a plane on his way back from the G8 summit in Camp David, where the G8 leaders signaled their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Iran threatened to strain supplies. ...

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie, died of cancer on Sunday aged 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 was freed in 2009 and returned to Libya because he had terminal cancer and was not expected to live long. ...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona wildfire whipped up by winds and dry conditions threatened to trigger more evacuations on Sunday, just as firefighters were nearly done battling the biggest of four blazes in the state. Fires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have forced the evacuation of several small towns and torched more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest. ...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona wildfire whipped up by winds and dry conditions threatened to trigger more evacuations on Sunday, just as firefighters were nearly done battling the biggest of four blazes in the state. Fires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have forced the evacuation of several small towns and torched more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters, some dressed as clowns and others bearing anti-war signs, gathered on Sunday in a lakefront park in the biggest test yet for Chicago police trying to keep the peace as world leaders began meeting for a two-day NATO summit. Previous protests in the run-up to the summit Sunday and Monday have been lively but peaceful, resulting in fewer than two dozen arrests over the past six days, according to the Chicago Police Department. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters, some dressed as clowns and others bearing anti-war signs, gathered on Sunday in a lakefront park in the biggest test yet for Chicago police trying to keep the peace as world leaders began meeting for a two-day NATO summit. Previous protests in the run-up to the summit Sunday and Monday have been lively but peaceful, resulting in fewer than two dozen arrests over the past six days, according to the Chicago Police Department. ...

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. ...

(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. ...

(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. ...

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.

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. ...

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.

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. ...

CAMP ROUND MEADOW, Maryland (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron urged countries on Saturday to put in place strong contingency plans to deal with fallout from the euro zone debt crisis as fears grow that Greece could be forced out of the European single currency. Cameron, speaking at a summit of the Group of Eight major economies, also appeared to hint that the European Central Bank should follow the example of the Bank of England by embarking on an asset purchase program to try to boost the economy. ...

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. ...

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. ...

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed proactive policies to make growth a bigger priority, as the world's second largest economy showed signs of weakness, state press said on Sunday.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer who was the only person ever convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, died at home in Tripoli Sunday, nearly three years after he was released from a Scottish prison to the outrage of the relatives of the attack's 270 victims. He was 60.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Normally a big decline would set up Wall Street for a technical rebound. But that may not be the case this week, even after the market posted its worst weekly loss for the year and the S&P fell for six straight sessions. With the corporate earnings season drawing to an end and recent U.S. economic data raising doubts about the pace of growth, the S&P 500, which is down 7.3 percent so far in May, could decline further this week as concerns about the financial health of Europe persist. ...

Spain's "indignant" protest movement against economic inequality and spending cuts continues to enjoy widespread support a year after it was launched, a poll published on Sunday showed.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - From his lagoon-side allotment in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan, Moussa Yanda has a ringside seat to watch the foundations of a $290-million toll bridge slowly rise up from the shore. "I love watching it," enthused the softly-spoken 45-year-old as he packed up his garden tools for the day. "When things are developing, we realize we're going to make it through this." Little over a year ago such optimism was scarce. ...

Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge.

Newly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin has set hugely ambitious targets to catapult the Russian economy into the modern era but their realism remains in doubt despite a benign short-term outlook.