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Pope sparks row with Turkey by calling Armenian massacre genocide

By Steve Scherer VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic row on Sunday by calling the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians 100 years ago “the first genocide of the 20th century,” prompting Turkey to accuse him of inciting hatred. Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but

Obama and Castro hold historic meeting

President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro sat down together Saturday in the first formal meeting of the two country’s leaders in a half-century, pledging to reach for the kind of peaceful relationship that has eluded their nations for generations.

Four killed by wildfires in Russia's Siberia: TASS

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Four people have been killed by wildfires raging though the grasslands of Russia’s Khakassia republic in southern Siberia, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday. More than 20 villages and towns have been damaged by the fires that have been burning for several days in dry and windy weather, the Emergency Ministry said. Seventy-three people have suffered burns or smoke inhalation. Two planes and a helicopter have

Retrieving dead and wounded can be fatal in Yemen conflict

By Mohammed Mukashaf ADEN (Reuters) – Bodies are piling up in the streets of Aden and some of the wounded are stranded in agony. There are dead and wounded left in the street whom we cannot reach,” said Abdullah Radman, a doctor with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies have been bombing Yemen for over two weeks, aiming to halt the advance