Deadline for Darfur pact extended

The African Union extended the Tuesday midnight deadline for a peace pact aimed at resolving violence in Sudan’s Darfur region that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, the chief AU mediator said.

The 48-hour extension came as the United States, Britain and Libya sent top envoys to press the Sudanese government and rebels to reach a compromise to ending fighting that has also driven millions from their homes.

The Sudanese government has agreed to the peace proposal, but rebels have been holding out for regional autonomy and more power in the central government.

Rome

Italian leader reluctantly resigns

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned Tuesday, formally and begrudgingly accepting defeat in last month’s national elections and vowing to undermine the government chosen to succeed his own.

“We will be missed,” Berlusconi was quoted as telling his Cabinet in its final meeting earlier Tuesday. “We will be remembered as the best government in the history of the republic.”

Then Berlusconi performed the ritual that he had stubbornly refused to do for three weeks: He walked down a red carpet into the Quirinale Palace and handed his letter of resignation to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

The formality finally cleared the way for center-left leader Romano Prodi to put together a government. Prodi and his fragile coalition won the April 9-10 vote by the skinniest of margins over Berlusconi’s conservative alliance.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Benefits sought during shutdown

Hundreds of public-sector employees lined up to seek unemployment benefits Tuesday, as a partial government shutdown went into a second day with no sign of a resolution to Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis.

The workers – among the nearly 100,000 thrown out of work by the shutdown – were filing claims for much as $133 per week at one of the few non-emergency government agencies that has remained open.

The shutdown began Monday, after Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and the opposition-dominated legislature failed to resolve a stalemate over a $740 million budget shortfall.

Oslo, Norway

Three convicted in painting thefts

A Norwegian court convicted three people Tuesday in the theft of Edvard Munch masterpieces “The Scream” and “Madonna,” delivering a verdict that left questions surrounding the identities of gunmen who carried out the robbery.

The three Norwegian men sentenced Tuesday to prison terms of between four and eight years were convicted of providing or driving the getaway car.

But the Oslo court did not find proof that any of them, or three others who were acquitted Tuesday, were the masked, gun-wielding robbers who actually stole the Norwegian national treasures in front of shocked witnesses.