A blind Chinese legal activist who was suddenly allowed to leave the country arrived in the U.S. on Saturday, ending a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Improving weather helped firefighters in Arizona make progress on Saturday against wildfires that have charred more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest and forced the evacuation of several small towns. More than 2,000 firefighters were battling five blazes in Arizona and Colorado from the ground and air. Meanwhile, a small blaze in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness area ballooned in size as wind whipped the flames. ...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Improving weather helped firefighters in Arizona make progress on Saturday against wildfires that have charred more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest and forced the evacuation of several small towns. More than 2,000 firefighters were battling five blazes in Arizona and Colorado from the ground and air. Meanwhile, a small blaze in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness area ballooned in size as wind whipped the flames. ...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis. A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity - an approach long driven by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - with a new dose of U.S.-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro-zone economies. But it was clear that divisions remained. ...

CAMP ROUND MEADOW, Maryland (Reuters) - Britain may keep a small number of soldiers in Afghanistan to fight terrorism after 2014, when NATO forces are due to end combat operations, a senior British government official said on Saturday. It is the first time Britain has given any indication it may keep forces in Afghanistan after 2014 apart from a small training contingent. Britain plans to withdraw 500 soldiers from its 9,500-strong force in Afghanistan this year before ending combat operations in 2014 when Afghan security forces are due to have taken over responsibility for security. ...

CAMP ROUND MEADOW, Maryland (Reuters) - Britain may keep a small number of soldiers in Afghanistan to fight terrorism after 2014, when NATO forces are due to end combat operations, a senior British government official said on Saturday. It is the first time Britain has given any indication it may keep forces in Afghanistan after 2014 apart from a small training contingent. Britain plans to withdraw 500 soldiers from its 9,500-strong force in Afghanistan this year before ending combat operations in 2014 when Afghan security forces are due to have taken over responsibility for security. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies. ...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight major economies raised the pressure on Iran on Saturday, signaling their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Tehran threaten to strain supplies. "We remain united in our grave concern over Iran's nuclear program," the G8 leaders said in a statement summing up the results of their meeting in Camp David in rural Maryland. ...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight major economies raised the pressure on Iran on Saturday, signaling their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Tehran threaten to strain supplies. "We remain united in our grave concern over Iran's nuclear program," the G8 leaders said in a statement summing up the results of their meeting in Camp David in rural Maryland. ...

Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge.

A bomb exploded outside an Italian high school named after the wife of an assassinated anti-Mafia prosecutor, killing one student and wounding at least seven others, officials said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies. ...

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said Sudan wants a lasting peace with South Sudan but Juba needs to end support for rebels in Sudan's border land, state news agency SUNA said on Saturday. Oil, security and frontier disputes ignited border clashes last month and for a while raised fears of full-blown war in one of Africa's most significant oil regions. South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war. ...

Around 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit here. But the protest was much smaller than one attended by an estimated 2,500 people at a downtown plaza on Friday. The biggest rally is expected to be on Sunday near the convention center where world leaders will gather. ...

Around 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit here. But the protest was much smaller than one attended by an estimated 2,500 people at a downtown plaza on Friday. The biggest rally is expected to be on Sunday near the convention center where world leaders will gather. ...

Around 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit here. But the protest was much smaller than one attended by an estimated 2,500 people at a downtown plaza on Friday. The biggest rally is expected to be on Sunday near the convention center where world leaders will gather. ...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Pro-Western Boris Tadic will bid on Sunday for another five years as Serbia's president and the right to lead the nation into EU membership talks, challenged by rightist Tomislav Nikolic who has threatened to contest the result in the streets. Tadic is tipped to defeat Nikolic in the presidential election for the third time since 2004 as Serbia slowly sheds the legacy of a decade of war and isolation under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. A Tadic victory would keep power firmly in the hands of his Democratic Party. ...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Pro-Western Boris Tadic will bid on Sunday for another five years as Serbia's president and the right to lead the nation into EU membership talks, challenged by rightist Tomislav Nikolic who has threatened to contest the result in the streets. Tadic is tipped to defeat Nikolic in the presidential election for the third time since 2004 as Serbia slowly sheds the legacy of a decade of war and isolation under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. A Tadic victory would keep power firmly in the hands of his Democratic Party. ...