Birthday visit
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's brother is spending the weekend at the Vatican ahead of the pontiff's 85th birthday today.
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published photos of the two sitting side-by-side in prayer after Mass on Saturday in the Pope's private chapel.
It said Benedict on Friday night cut short an Easter week vacation at the papal holiday retreat in the hills outside Rome to welcome Georg Ratzinger, an 88-year-old priest and former choirmaster who is nearly blind.
Grenade kills 2
MANILA, Philippines - A grenade explosion inside a cockfighting arena in the restive southern Philippines has killed two spectators and wounded dozens.
Police say a man tossed the grenade in the crowded arena during a town fiesta on Saturday.
Muslim rebels and criminal syndicates are active in the area but regional military commander Colonel Leopoldo Galon says the explosion is believed to have been triggered by a personal feud.
Drone kills 7
SANAA, Yemen - Yemeni military officials say an unmanned US drone targeted a vehicle carrying seven al-Qaeda members south of the capital of Sanaa, killing all of them.
Two officials say the drone fired a missile at the vehicle on Saturday in the town of al-Zahar south of Sanaa.
It was heading to the southern province of Abyan where al-Qaeda militants and government forces are fighting.
Open to debate
CARTAGENA, Colombia - President Barack Obama says legalising drug use is not the answer to trafficking in illegal narcotics in the Americas, countering a growing chorus in Latin America to discuss decriminalisation as a way to ease deadly cartel violence.
Obama says he is open to having a debate about legalisation but he doesn't believe it will lead to an agreement to legalise drugs. Obama was speaking to an assembly of top executives from the hemisphere as part of the sixth Summit of the Americas here.
Vanuatu quake
SYDNEY - A 6.5-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu but there is no tsunami threat, authorities say.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of eight kilometres, around 150 kilometres south east of the capital Port Vila.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the South Pacific nation as a result of the quake that hit just after 9am, the USGS said.