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RUSSIA

Chinese president: Strengthen ties with Russia

President Xi Jinping of China made a case on Saturday for closer economic and foreign policy cooperation with Russia, using a speech at a university in Moscow to argue that the countries have converging goals, including an expansion of the oil and gas trade, as they pursue dreams of “national revival” and seek to offset the influence of the developed West. More than a half-century has passed since the communist ideological alliance between China and the Soviet Union collapsed in acrimony, and Xi suggested that the two countries could now find common ground as they each seek to claim a place as a respected great power. Xi, who was making his first trip as president to Russia, now will go to Durban, South Africa, for a conference of leaders from the emerging BRICS economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

MALI

African al-Qaida chief’s death confirmed

France on Saturday officially confirmed the death of the regional al-Qaida leader Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, weeks after he was reported to have been killed in fighting in northern Mali at the end of February. President Francois Hollande of France issued a statement saying that the death of Abu Zeid was “definitively confirmed” and that his death “marks an important step in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel.” Abu Zeid was considered the leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a regional affiliate and offshoot of al-Qaida, and is thought to be responsible for the kidnapping of numerous Western hostages and the deaths of at least two of them.

LEBANON

Resigning leader calls for unity

A day after announcing his resignation as prime minister, Najib Mikati on Saturday called for a “salvation” government to run deeply divided Lebanon amid grave concerns about ongoing instability and increasing spillover effects from the war in neighboring Syria. President Michel Suleiman accepted Mikati’s resignation Saturday, and the outgoing prime minister agreed to head a caretaker government until his replacement is named. Lebanon’s two major political blocs have backed opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, dividing the sympathies of Lebanese who fear the violence will spread further on their side of the border.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Rebel forces on march in capital

Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Central African Republic on Saturday, posing the gravest threat to President Francois Bozize’s government in a decade. In at least one part of Bangui, the insurgents faced resistance and were battling their way through, a group monitoring the situation said. The rebels, who signed a peace agreement in January that was to allow Bozize to stay in power until 2016, have been threatening to overthrow the president unless he meets their demands on an array of grievances and demands.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Car bomb may have targeted police

British Army experts defused a car bomb Saturday that had been abandoned on a rural roadside in Northern Ireland, a threat that is raising concerns about the region’s hosting of the G8 summit later this year. Police said the car contained a beer keg packed with about 130 pounds of homemade explosives. Police District Commander Pauline Shields said detectives suspected that an IRA splinter group planned to blast the nearby police base in the County Fermanagh border town of Lisnaskea, but may have been forced by a police patrol to abandon the bomb short of its target.

EGYPT

Factions blame each other for conflict

Egypt’s political groups blamed one another on Saturday for one of the year’s worst bouts of violence between supporters and opponents of the president’s Muslim Brotherhood group. The powerful Brotherhood said it holds the opposition partly responsible for giving “political cover” to “thugs” who attacked and beat hundreds of the group’s members outside its Cairo headquarters. Opposition groups said President Mohammed Morsi is to blame, accusing him of polarizing the country and of failing to provide stability nine months after being elected in the country’s first free presidential race.

SYRIA

Fighting nears Israeli-controlled Golan

Syrian regime forces routed rebels in fighting on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week, leaving at least 35 dead, activists said Saturday as the country’s civil war reached the doorstep of the strategic plateau. The rebel effort to overrun the Quneitra region along the cease-fire line separating Syria and Israel has heightened worries that Islamic extremists among those fighting President Bashar Assad could take over the front line with Israeli troops and gain a potential staging ground for attacks on the Jewish state.

PAKISTAN

Ex-president vows return despite threats

Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said he doesn’t fear arrest despite facing criminal charges as he vowed Saturday to return to his homeland and contest upcoming elections after more than four years in exile. But legal problems are only one challenge facing Musharraf as the Taliban warned they have an assassination team ready to kill the one-time military strongman if he sets foot in the country today, as promised. Musharraf announced in early March that he would return to Pakistan to take part in upcoming elections, despite allegations he was part of a conspiracy to assassinate ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, militant threats to his safety and a waning popularity.

IVORY COAST

Village burned in continuing violence

Unidentified gunmen attacked a village in western Ivory Coast and set it ablaze early Saturday, killing three people and prolonging a spate of recent violence that has displaced thousands, a U.N. official said. The attack is the third in less than two weeks in Ivory Coast’s western region, where some of the worst atrocities were committed during the country’s 2010-11 postelection conflict after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down despite losing the November 2010 presidential runoff to current President Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo, who ruled Ivory Coast for a decade, is awaiting trial on allegations of crimes against humanity at The Hague.

FRANCE

New bells draw thousands of listeners

Thousands gathered Saturday outside Notre Dame Cathedral to hear the inaugural ringing of nine gargantuan new bells at the Paris landmark. The bells, the largest of which weighs in at 6 1/2 tons,were ordered for the cathedral’s 850th birthday — to replace the discordant “ding dang” of the previous four 19th century chimes. They join the cathedral’s oldest surviving bell, named Emmanuel, to restore the 10-bell harmony originally conceived for Notre Dame’s bell towers.

MYANMAR

Army in control after regional rioting

Army units restored order Saturday to a city in central Myanmar devastated by three days of religious rioting and arson attacks. The state news media revised the death toll upward, saying 32 people had died in the violence between Buddhists and Muslims, which destroyed large portions of Muslim neighborhoods in Meiktila. The deaths, which follow spasms of religious violence in western Myanmar last year, have shaken the country’s fragile shift toward greater democracy after decades of military rule.