Egypt unrest — Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfew across three major cities Sunday after violence raged for a third straight day, leaving nearly 50 dead and hundreds injured nationwide. The deployment Saturday of government troops to the coastal cities of Port Said and Suez, which have seen some of the worst violence, failed to quell a public backlash against a court verdict and raised doubts about whether Morsi’s embattled government could contain the situation.
Obama praises Clinton — President Barack Obama lauded Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as one of his closest advisers and said their shared vision for America’s role in the world persuaded his one-time rival — and potential successor — to be his top diplomat while he dealt with the shattered economy at home. During a joint interview that aired Sunday, Obama and Clinton chuckled as they described their partnership and stoked speculation that Obama may prefer Clinton to succeed him in the White House after the 2016 elections.
Same-sex marriage march — Thousands of people marched in the streets of Paris on Sunday to show their support for a same-sex marriage bill that lawmakers will begin to debate on Tuesday. According to the police, about 125,000 people marched, twice the number that took part in a similar demonstration supporting same-sex marriage in mid-December.
Holocaust Remembrance Day — Holocaust survivors, politicians, religious leaders and others are marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day with solemn prayers and the now oft-repeated warnings to never let such horrors happen again. Events Sunday took place at sites including Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former death camp where Hitler’s Germany killed at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, in southern Poland. Sunday was the 68th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Soviet troops in 1945.
Berlusconi praises Mussolini — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi praised Benito Mussolini for “having done good" despite the Fascist dictator’s anti-Jewish laws, immediately sparking expressions of outrage as Europe on Sunday held Holocaust remembrances. Berlusconi also defended Mussolini for allying himself with Hitler, saying he likely reasoned that it would be better to be on the winning side.
Ariel Sharon brain scan — A brain scan performed on Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli prime minister who had a devastating stroke seven years ago and is presumed to be in a vegetative state, revealed significant brain activity in response to external stimuli, raising the chances that he is able to hear and understand, a scientist involved in the test said Sunday.
Somaliland threat — Citing a “specific threat to Westerners," the British government issued a warning Sunday for any of its citizens living in Somaliland to flee the breakaway territory that lies between Ethiopia and the Gulf of Aden, on the northern tip of the Horn of Africa. A person who has been briefed on the new British warning said that a terrorist organization, most likely al-Shabab, had threatened to kidnap foreigners in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
Cities’ heat felt far away — Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes. In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, according to the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change.
Israel issues warning — Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike to stop Syria’s chemical weapons from reaching Lebanon’s Hezbollah or al-Qaida inspired groups, officials said Sunday. The warning came as the military moved a rocket defense system to a main northern city, and Israel’s premier warned of dangers from both Syria and Iran.
Mississippi oil spill — A barge carrying 80,000 gallons of oil hit a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Miss., on Sunday, spilling light crude into the Mississippi River and closing the waterway for eight miles in each direction, the Coast Guard said. A second barge was damaged.
