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A blind Chinese legal activist who was suddenly allowed to leave the country arrived in the U.S. on Saturday, ending a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.

(Reuters) - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck near Bologna, Italy, on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake, which initially registered at magnitude 6.3, was centered 22 miles north-northwest of Bologna in northern Italy at a relatively shallow depth of 6.3 miles, the USGS said. The last major earthquake to hit Italy was a 6.3 magnitude quake in the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009, killing nearly 300 people. In January, a 5.3-magnitude quake in northern Italy was felt in Genoa, Bologna, Turin and Italy's financial capital, Milan. (Writing by Doina Chiacu)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday and declared "equality and justice have no boundaries" after China let him leave a Beijing hospital to quell a sensitive diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen escaped from house arrest in northeastern China last month and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, embarrassing China and creating an uncomfortable backdrop for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Chicago on Saturday for a NATO summit to what could be a chilly reception if a hoped-for deal allowing trucks to again supply alliance troops in Afghanistan fails to materialize. While Western officials sought to portray Zardari's presence as a sign of improving NATO-Pakistan ties, possible friction at the meeting underscores the challenges NATO countries face as they struggle to ensure a stable future for Afghanistan after Western troops withdraw. ...

Schools have to deal with not only 4-year-olds being enrolled in kindergarten, but parents who opt to redshirt their children

Is your child ready for kindergarten? Experts say the answer lies in the experiences children have leading up to kindergarten.

Monjes budistas encabezaron las oraciones de decenas de miles de personas que se congregaron en la capital tailandesa el sábado, en el segundo aniversario de los mortíferos choques entre soldados y los manifestantes "Camisas Rojas".

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis. A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity - an approach long driven by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - with a new dose of U.S.-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro-zone economies. But it was clear that divisions remained. ...

CAMP ROUND MEADOW, Maryland (Reuters) - Britain may keep a small number of soldiers in Afghanistan to fight terrorism after 2014, when NATO forces are due to end combat operations, a senior British government official said on Saturday. It is the first time Britain has given any indication it may keep forces in Afghanistan after 2014 apart from a small training contingent. Britain plans to withdraw 500 soldiers from its 9,500-strong force in Afghanistan this year before ending combat operations in 2014 when Afghan security forces are due to have taken over responsibility for security. ...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight major economies raised the pressure on Iran on Saturday, signaling their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Tehran threaten to strain supplies. "We remain united in our grave concern over Iran's nuclear program," the G8 leaders said in a statement summing up the results of their meeting in Camp David in rural Maryland. ...

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.

The night before he was killed in his grandparents' West Bloomfield condo, 17-year-old Jonathan Hoffman had a quintessential teenage night - a movie with friends that they barely watched because they were cracking up and having a good time. Two days later, those same friends were preparing for his funeral.

A bomb exploded outside an Italian high school named after the wife of an assassinated anti-Mafia prosecutor, killing one student and wounding at least seven others, officials said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies. ...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis. A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity - an approach long driven by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - with a new dose of U.S.-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro-zone economies. But it was clear that divisions remained. ...

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said Sudan wants a lasting peace with South Sudan but Juba needs to end support for rebels in Sudan's border land, state news agency SUNA said on Saturday. Oil, security and frontier disputes ignited border clashes last month and for a while raised fears of full-blown war in one of Africa's most significant oil regions. South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war. ...

President Barack Obama says there's an "emerging consensus" that more must be done to promote jobs growth in Europe as the continent faces a daunting debt crisis.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Pro-Western Boris Tadic will bid on Sunday for another five years as Serbia's president and the right to lead the nation into EU membership talks, challenged by rightist Tomislav Nikolic who has threatened to contest the result in the streets. Tadic is tipped to defeat Nikolic in the presidential election for the third time since 2004 as Serbia slowly sheds the legacy of a decade of war and isolation under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. A Tadic victory would keep power firmly in the hands of his Democratic Party. ...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators protested in Mexico City on Saturday against opposition presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, who is far ahead in polls and poised to lead the party that ruled Mexico for much of the 20th century back to power. A contingent of mainly students, accompanied by groups of unionized workers and peasant farmers, held banners lambasting the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and its candidate, Pena Nieto. "I have a brain, I won't vote for the PRI," one banner read. ...

Yemeni officials say fresh clashes with al-Qaida fighters in the south have left at least 34 people dead, while a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed two militants.