Headlines from the Associated Press

Pope seems at ease with cast in blessing faithful

By COLLEEN BARRY — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:03:57 GMT

ROMANO CANAVESE, Italy (AP) -- A beaming Pope Benedict XVI raised his cast-encased right arm to bless thousands of faithful Sunday during his first public appearance since surgery to set a wrist fractured in a fall....

Madonna to visit victims of French stage accident

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:59:04 GMT

MARSEILLES, France (AP) -- Madonna is expected to visit some of the eight workers who were injured in an accident in which two workers were killed while assembling a music stage for the singer in the French port of Marseilles....

Turkey extends smoke ban to bars, restaurants

By SUZAN FRASER — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:53:27 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Patrons of a usually smoke-filled hookah bar stepped outside to light up Sunday as Turkey extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars, restaurants and coffeehouses....

Biden to greet eager allies in Ukraine and Georgia

By MARIA DANILOVA — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:32:39 GMT

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Georgia and Ukraine starting Monday, meeting leaders eager for further reassurance that Washington still supports their joining NATO and that its effort to warm relations with Russia won't come at their expense....

Nun becomes top-selling Polish cookbook writer

By VANESSA GERA — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:23:50 GMT

KRAKOW, Poland (AP) -- Emerging from the quiet of her convent, Sister Anastazja Pustelnik was confronted by a jarring image - her smiling face on posters plastered around town to hawk the cookbooks that have made the 59-year-old nun one of Poland's best-selling authors....

Former UN auditor awarded damages for harassment

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:54:15 GMT

GENEVA (AP) -- A U.N. labor tribunal ordered the global body's weather agency to pay damages to a former auditor fired in 2006 after clashing with the organization's top official over a corruption probe....

World's oldest man, WWI veteran dies

By DANICA KIRKA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:10:27 GMT

LONDON (AP) -- Only death could silence Henry Allingham....