Syrian leader seeks support
Jiddah, Saudi Arabia Syrian President Bashar Assad made surprise trips to Saudi Arabia and Egypt on Sunday, apparently seeking support from Arab leaders as he faces a U.N. probe into alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of a former Lebanese leader.
Arab diplomats said the trips were aimed at finding a face-saving way for Assad to handle U.N. requests to interview him about the Feb. 14 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a Beirut bombing.
The diplomats said one proposal put to Assad called for him to send an envoy to take investigators’ questions. Assad would then respond in writing.
Vatican official to face lawyers in U.S. court
San Francisco A high-ranking Vatican official is expected at a deposition today where lawyers plan to ask him how the Portland diocese handled priest sex abuse allegations during his tenure there.
Former Archbishop William Levada was served with a subpoena before he left for Rome last summer to take over as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the position formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI. It is the highest Vatican post ever held by an American.
Levada served as archbishop in Portland from 1986 to 1995 before transferring to San Francisco. In 2004, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits that sought more than $155 million in damages.
About 150 of those lawsuits are still pending, according to plaintiffs’ lawyer Kelly Clark.
Australia, Canada shut Amman embassies
Amman, Jordan The Australian and Canadian embassies in the Jordanian capital closed Sunday for security reasons, a day after Britain also shut its embassy.
On Saturday, the British Foreign Office closed its Amman embassy – the first Western country to do so – saying there was a danger of a terrorist attack.
The U.S. embassy in Amman remains open.
Fugitive tries to hijack school bus, is killed
Sacramento, Calif. A fugitive broke through the window of a patrol car and attempted to commandeer a school bus loaded with children before he was fatally shot by a deputy, authorities said.
Deven Lepierro’s run-in with police began Friday when he was accused of stealing from a Wal-Mart and deputies learned that he was a parolee wanted on two felony warrants, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. R.L. Davis.
The deputies cuffed his hands behind his back and secured his legs with plastic restraints. But en route to jail, Lepierro, 24, managed to free his legs, smash the car window and escape, Davis said.
As he fled, Lepierro tried to carjack at least six cars and a school bus. Davis said the bus driver kept him out by holding the door closed while students watched in disbelief.
Pricey paintings stolen from Serbian museum
Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro Two robbers broke into the City Museum of Novi Sad, northern Serbia, on Sunday, tied up the guards and made away with four precious oil paintings, including works by Rembrandt and Rubens, police said.
The stolen pieces included Rembrandt Van Rijn’s “Portrait of Father,” Peter Paul Rubens’ “Seneca,” as well as a miniature by Pier Francesco Mola, an Italian baroque era painter, and a painting by an anonymous 16th-century Dutch author.