Merkel’s Candidate Elected German President (ap)
AP – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s candidate was elected German president Wednesday in a lackluster victory that took an embarrassing three rounds of voting and dashed hopes of a strong show of support from her governing coalition. Read more
Cypriot Police Say Russian Spying Suspect Vanished (ap)
AP – Cypriot police began searching late Wednesday for an alleged Russian spy wanted in the United States who vanished after being released on bail a day earlier in the Mediterranean island nation. Read more
Hurricane Alex Threatens Mexico, Texas Coasts (ap)
AP – The first Atlantic hurricane of the year plowed ahead toward a collision with the Mexican Gulf coast and south Texas on Wednesday, whipping up high waves that frustrated oil-spill cleanup efforts and delivering tar balls and globs of crude onto already soiled beaches. Read more
Uzbeks Plead For Help After Return To Kyrgyzstan (ap)
AP – A simple plea is scrawled in meter-high (three-foot) letters across the charred remains of homes torched in violence against ethnic Uzbeks: SOS. Read more
Pope Shuffles Vatican Bureaucracy Before Vacation (ap)
AP – Preoccupied for months by the clerical sex abuse scandal, the pope on Wednesday shuffled the Vatican bureaucracy before heading off on vacation. His most significant appointment: the head of a new office designed to fight secularism in the West. Read more